8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Christmas lights may be twinkling red and green, but Charlie Brown has the Yuletide blues. To get in the holiday spirit, he takes Lucy's advice and directs the Christmas play. And what's a Christmas play without a Christmas tree? But everyone makes fun of the short, spindly nevergreen Charlie Brown brings back - until the real meaning of Christmas works its magic once again.
Starring: Peter Robbins (I), Tracy Stratford, Christopher Shea (I), Cathy Steinberg, Chris Doran (I)Family | 100% |
Animation | 76% |
Comedy | 69% |
Holiday | 40% |
Short | 17% |
Comic book | 7% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1, 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
UV digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In a review several months ago, I questioned Warner Brothers' 4K strategy, particularly its decision to release animation UHDs where the source material didn't appear to allow for any meaningful upgrade. Having now viewed the three Peanuts specials that are being released both in single editions and collectively as the Peanuts: Holiday Collection (in fact, it's really nine specials, but we'll get to that in a moment), I can't say that my doubts have been assuaged. It's apparent, however, that Peanuts Worldwide LLC, which owns these independently produced TV presentations, has made a serious attempt to supply 4K fans with something not only improved but also new. Each of the three Holiday Collection UHDs contains content not found on the previous Blu-ray editions and, in the case of A Charlie Brown Christmas, Peanuts Worldwide has done it right. They've provided all the new content on a remastered Blu-ray accompanying the UHD disc, so that 4K fence-sitters can enjoy the new content now, while future-proofing their collection. Had the same been done with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown—both of which have only a reprint of the original Blu-rays released in 2010—all three of these Peanuts 4K sets would merit a recommendation. As things stand, only Christmas is positioned to appeal both to fans who have already upgraded their hardware to 4K and to those who are sticking with standard Blu-ray.
(Note: Screenshots accompanying this review have been captured from the remastered standard
Blu-ray.)
All three of the Peanuts specials on the UHD of A Charlie Brown Christmas are based on new
4K scans of the hand-drawn animation's original camera negative. The work was performed
under the auspices of Peanuts Worldwide LLC, which controls all of the Peanuts animated
properties and was the motivating force behind this release, with Warner serving as distributor.
For unknown reasons, the 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD of Christmas is the only 4K
holiday reissue that Peanuts Worldwide has graced with a new Blu-ray disc—and the comparison
is revealing. With the same 4K scan as their shared origin, the Blu-ray and the UHD exhibit
equally good levels of sharpness, clarity and detail, and both masters have been expertly cleaned of any dirt, damage or age-related wear. The
only real difference between them is the HDR encoding that gives the UHD's image a slightly
(but only slightly) enhanced color intensity, which is especially noticeable in Christmas' seasonal
theme and decor and in Flashbeagle's flamboyant disco setting. Christmastime Again shows the
least difference between the two versions. HDR also provides the UHD with slightly (but only
slightly) improved contrast and highlights, enhancing what little sense of depth the original
animation has to offer. In short, the UHD is a minor visual upgrade over the Blu-ray, but either
disc provides a fine viewing experience.
The decision to offer widescreen versions of all three specials will no doubt alarm some fans,
because it exemplifies an unfortunate trend in the creation of HD presentations of material
originally framed for 1.33:1 broadcast. (See, e.g., HBO's reformatting of The Wire.) Although I
haven't tried to compare every scene, the 1.78:1 presentation of Peanuts appears to be a simple
matter of matting the 1.33:1 image at top and bottom, cutting off slightly more above than below. In some scenes (but not consistently), a sliver of
additional picture information is visible at the left and right.
While it's surprising how effectively these programs translate to widescreen, an occasional shot
is obviously too tight, and some scenes lose entire elements from the composition (e.g., the
auditorium seats when Linus recites the Gospel from the stage; see screenshots 18 and 19).
Regardless of one's attitude toward "modernizing" aspect ratios of television programs (or any
other material), the producers of these discs should be commended for including the "classic"
versions, which have obviously been prepared with equal care and attention. Traditionalists are
free to ignore the widescreen option in favor of the "classic" versions. If you're going to translate
NTSC TV into widescreen for home media, this is how it should be done.
Using the Blu-ray as a source, I have accompanied this review with comparative frames of the
"widescreen" and "classic" versions of A Charlie Brown Christmas; they appear at screenshots 2
through 21. The same choice of aspect ratios is offered on all nine of the specials included in the
4K Peanuts: Holiday Collection, and
these samples are intended to convey a sense of how the
reframing was performed. (Screenshots 23 through 31, following the menu image at screenshot
22, are from the "classic" versions of Christmastime Again and Flashbeagle.)
[System calibrated using a Klein K10-A Colorimeter with a custom profile created with a
Colorimetry Research CR250 Spectraradiometer, powered by SpectraCal CalMAN 2016 5.7,
using the Samsung Reference 2016 UHD HDR Blu-ray test disc authored by Florian Friedrich
from AV Top in Munich, Germany. Calibration performed by Kevin Miller of ISFTV.]
Peanuts Worldwide cheated with its 2009 Blu-ray of A Charlie Brown Christmas, porting over a bit-starved Dolby Digital 2.0 mix from the special's previous DVD release. Ken Brown's review was appropriately critical. A year later, when A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown were released, they received 5.1 remixes encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, and Christmas has now been given the same upgrade, with comparable results. The audio for Christmas retains its vintage quality, with a front-centered mix and voices that often betray their dubbed character (especially Charlie Brown's), although the dialogue remains clear and well-prioritized. Vince Guraldi's signature jazz score has been allowed the full dynamic range of which the recordings are capable, and its presence is expansive in the surround array. By the time we get to Flashbeagle, with its songs by Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette (who would go on to score Garfield and Friends), the sound field is more expansive and the fidelity is refined, although the mix still reflects the character of its mono TV origins. Christmastime Again is by far the most sonically impressive of the three specials, with distinct stereo separation in Guraldi's themes (arranged and performed by David Benoit) and a robust dynamic range that feels contemporary.
The UHD disc has no extras. The included Blu-ray contains the same 2008 retrospective featurette about A Charlie Brown Christmas previously reviewed here.
I'm still not sure who the audience will be for these 4K Peanuts releases. Early adopters of UHD
generally look for discs with a sufficient "wow!" factor to showcase the format to best advantage,
and while these discs are certainly well-made, I doubt anyone will be wowed by the image. In the
case of A Charlie Brown Christmas, however, at least the accompanying Blu-ray offers the same
new content as the UHD, which may be enough of an incentive for devoted Peanuts fans to
acquire this set, even if they haven't upgraded their hardware to 4K. The lossless audio
represents a quantum leap; the video presentations are improved from the 2009 Blu-ray's image;
and the additional special (Flashbeagle) and alternate framing are entirely new content.
Recommended (especially at Amazon's current bargain price).
Peanuts Collection / + It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown
1965
+ It's Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown / It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown
1965
Peanuts Collection / + It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown / Exclusive Lenticular + Postcards
1965
Special Edition | A Charlie Brown Christmas / It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown / It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown
1965
Special Edition
1965
Iconic Moments
1965
1965
Peanuts Collection / + Mayflower Voyagers
1973
+ It's Magic, Charlie Brown / Charlie Brown's All-Stars
1966
Deluxe Edition
1964
Warner Archive Collection
1930-1969
The Ultimate Edition | + Halloween Is Grinch Night / The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
1966
Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular
2010
1989-2008
2013
2004
2011
1999
Collector's Edition
2015
Deluxe Edition
1969
2018
Peanuts Collection
2011
2017
Warner Archive Collection
1940-1967
2011
Deluxe Edition
1970
2007-2012