Funny / It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

The first of many animated football fumbles to come.

• The very first line of the cartoon, which occurs after a long sequence where Linus struggles to carry home a pumpkin Lucy picked from the pumpkin patch and Lucy begins carving the pumpkin once they're home:
  Linus: (anguished) Oh! You didn't tell me you were gonna kill it! AWH!
• Lucy's advice on choosing the perfect Halloween costume before donning her witch costume:
  Lucy: A person should always choose a costume that is in direct contrast to her own personality.
  Sally: Is Linus taking me to the party?
  Lucy: That stupid blockhead of a brother of mine is out in the pumpkin patch making his yearly fool of himself.
  • Somewhat ironic, in that this is one of the few specials in which Lucy shows flashes of altruism - she gets extra candy for Linus, and sets an alarm so she can go bring him inside from the pumpkin patch instead of letting him shiver out there throughout the night.
• Sally getting scared by her own Bedsheet Ghost costume.
• Charlie's bedsheet ghost costume with a surplus of eyeholes. It takes effort to botch something so simple that badly, and is all the funnier for it. "I had a little trouble with the scissors."
• After Linus tells Sally about the Great Pumpkin:
  Sally: That's a good story.
  Linus: You don't believe the story of the Great Pumpkin? I thought little girls always believed everything that was told to them. I thought little girls were innocent and trusting.
  Sally: Welcome to the 20th century.
  • Manages to be even funnier now that we're in the 21st century.
• When Lucy uses her sweetest voice to ask an adult for some candy she can give to "her stupid brother."
• "I Got a Rock."
  • When the kids are going door to door, you can actually see the rocks being tossed into his bag.
• When Lucy goes bobbing for apples and comes up with one that has Snoopy on the other side and freaks out.
  Lucy: Blecch! My lips touched dog lips!
  • Right before that, when Lucy is preparing to demonstrate the proper way to bob for apples, one of the kids^note The subtitles for the 2010 Warner Bros. DVD and Blu-ray release identify as the voice as Schroeder snarks, "Yeah, Lucy, you should be good at this; you have the perfect mouth for it!"
• When Schroeder plays "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," "There's a Long Long Trail" and "Pack Up Your Troubles" in succession, and Snoopy's responding mood shifts from happy to sad accordingly...
  • Culminating when Schroeder's rendition of "Roses of Picardy" provokes an "OwwwOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOhhhhhhhhh!" from Snoopy. ^note This scene was omitted from post-2011 ABC broadcasts to make room for Scared Shrekless and later Toy Story of Terror.
• Snoopy rising out of the pumpkin patch and causing Linus to faint, then disappearing immediately after.
• When the Great Pumpkin fails to appear, Sally gives Linus an epic dressing-down that ends with her violently shaking him while hollering, "YOU OWE ME RESTITUTION!"
  • The whole tirade comes across as an angry woman chewing out her cheating husband/boyfriend... and it's followed by that "Woman Scorned" bit between Linus and Charlie.
  • Linus accidentally saying "If the Great Pumpkin shows up," realizing he said "if" when it should've been "when," leaving him to Freak Out.
  Linus: ...I'm doomed. One slip of the tongue and the Great Pumpkin will pass you by.
• Charlie trying to console Linus:
  Charlie: Well, don't take it too hard, Linus. I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, too.
  • He ends up pushing Linus' Berserk Button saying that, who proceeds to berate him all through the credits.
• Violet forcing Charlie to be a model... for a jack-o'-lantern.
• A brief visual gag with Lucy holding a copy of TV Guide with her own picture on it.
• When Snoopy first sees Linus writing to the Great Pumpkin, he starts laughing hysterically. Still laughing, he walks over to Lucy... and she promptly tosses him away like a rag doll.
• Right after the above occurs, Lucy walks up to Linus, glances in annoyance at the letter he's composing, then abruptly grabs and shakes her brother violently.
  Lucy: NOT AGAIN! Writing a letter to a stupid pumpkin?!
• In the beginning, Linus jumps into Charlie's leaf pile with a lollipop and ends up with a leaf-covered confection and a "beard" of leaves. Quoth the leaf-bearded Van Pelt boy, "Never jump into a leaf pile with a wet sucker!"
• This promo for a 2003 Canadian airing of the special.
• Lucy asking Charlie to kick the football, holding a signed document promising she won't pull it away. Charlie runs up to kick the ball, only for her to still pull it away though, causing him to fall flat on his back.
  Lucy: Peculiar thing about this document, it was never notarized.
• Pig-Pen wears his ghost costume bragging that "They'll never guess it's me under here!"...only for one of the kids to greet him prompting him to lift up his costume and ask "How did you know it was me?"

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