| Genre: | Animated TV special |
| Creator: | Charles M. Schulz |
| Director: | Bill Melendez Larry Leichliter |
| Executive Producer: | Lee Mendelson |
| Producer: | Bill Melendez |
| Company: | United Feature Syndicate Mendelson-Melendez |
| Voices: | Jimmy Bennett Adam Taylor Gordon Ashley Rose Orr Corey Padnos Hannah Leigh Dworkin Nick Price Jake Miner Kailtyn Maggio Bill Melendez |
| Theme Music Composer: | Vince Guaraldi |
| Opentheme: | "Linus and Lucy" |
| Endtheme: | "Re-Run's Theme" |
| Composer: | David Benoit |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Runtime: | 49 minutes |
| Network: | ABC |
I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown is the 43rd prime-time animated television special based upon the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. The special first aired on ABC on December 9, 2003 (A Veteran’s Day Salute).[1] The special is about Linus and Lucy's younger brother, Rerun, wanting a pet dog for Christmas.[2]
It was released to DVD and VHS by Paramount on October 26, 2004, and Warner Home Video released it as a remastered deluxe edition on DVD on October 6, 2009, which also included Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! as a bonus feature. This special was re-released as part of the box set Snoopy's Holiday Collection on October 1, 2013. The special continued to air on ABC until 2019. As of 2020, the special will be among the collection of Peanuts productions available only to Apple TV+ subscribers; it was released on that platform on December 2, 2022.[3]
After unfair treatment by his older siblings Linus and Lucy and getting in trouble at school, Rerun thinks that having a pet dog will cheer him up. He writes a letter to Santa Claus asking for a dog, but is later discouraged by the expensive costs of owning a pet and his mother's objections. Watching Snoopy dance to Schroeder's music, Rerun asks Charlie Brown if Snoopy has any siblings, and Charlie Brown shows him pictures of Snoopy's brothers and sisters. Rerun asks Charlie Brown if he can play with Snoopy sometime.
Rerun has fun playing with Snoopy, but in the following days, Snoopy is busy and refuses to play. Rerun again searches for a dog, and Lucy argues that Rerun would not know how to take care of a dog if he got one. Rerun learns by watching Snoopy, who gets a letter from his brother Spike, who lives in the desert. Rerun wants Spike as a pet and has Snoopy write him a letter.
After Spike visits, Rerun has fun with him, but his mother does not allow Spike to stay. Charlie Brown tries to get Spike re-adopted, but fails and has to send him back to the desert. Noticing that Rerun is upset over Spike leaving, Lucy signs him up for a Christmas play, in which he forgets his line. Rerun then asks to play with Snoopy, who wants to be pulled on a sled; Rerun comments, "Maybe a dog is too much trouble."
Shermy, Patty and Eudora also appear, but they are silent.[4]
This special is the second time Snoopy's brothers Marbles, Olaf, and Andy appear in a Peanuts special, the first being 1991's Snoopy's Reunion. His sister Belle is also mentioned, but not seen.
The scene in which Lucy fattens Spike up was previously used in the "Snoopy's Brother Spike" episode of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, with several lines being near-identical to the original episode.
Anita Gates of The New York Times gave mixed opinions, who wrote that the special "feels like a hodgepodge of four-frame strips strung together in an unsuccessful attempt to create a unified story," understanding that Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson had made a committent to create new specials working from material only from the strip. She wrote that the "one-two-three-punch-line" structure of the strips poorly translated into animation, but otherwise felt the special kept "the bittersweet charm" of Charles Schulz's work.[5]
The music score for I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown is a mix of classic Peanuts melodies composed by Vince Guaraldi and new themes composed by David Benoit. All songs composed by Guaraldi (except where noted) and performed and arranged by Benoit.
No official soundtrack for I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown was released. However, a version of "Re-Run's Theme" was commercially released by Benoit on Jazz For Peanuts: A Retrospective Of The Charlie Brown Television Themes (2008).