They call him Flash, Flash, Flash, Flash, Flashbeagle!
When he moves around, the whole room starts to reel!
You know he's Flash, Flash, Flash, Flash, Flashbeagle!
When he jumps up high, he flies like a wild eagle!
When he moves around, the whole room starts to reel!
You know he's Flash, Flash, Flash, Flash, Flashbeagle!
When he jumps up high, he flies like a wild eagle!
"Who can fly a doghouse up in the bright, blue sky?
It's Snoopy, it's gotta be him"
It's Snoopy, it's gotta be him"
The 27th Peanuts TV Special, It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown originally aired on CBS on April 16, 1984.
This special was designed to be a love letter to the post-disco craze of The '80s, taking much inspiration from the likes of MTV and Flashdance. The story is set up in musical vignette format, jumping from one plot thread to the next in a very short timespan, allowing for each segment to have their own dedicated song numbers. Snoopy gets major focus in a majority of the segments, culminating in him donning his now-(in)famous "Flashbeagle" alter-ego.
It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown contains examples of:
- The Ace: Snoopy is shown in this special to be a great football player, dancer, stylist, violin player, and player of Simon/Lucy Says.
- Cartoon Throbbing: Peppermint Patty's nose once she manages to pull her binder off of it.
- The Faceless: Inverted. Whereas adults' faces are usually hidden in Peanuts, this special is one of the few times their faces are shown.
- Hidden Depths: Franklin is shown in this special to be an excellent breakdancer, which prompts Snoopy to take him as his partner to the discothèque.
- Hostile Show Takeover: At the party, a game of Simon Says is going normally, but midway through the game, Lucy shoves the caller aside and rebrands it as Lucy Says.
- Humiliation Conga: As a result of falling asleep in class, Peppermint Patty has her binder clip onto her nose, then onto her scalp. Once Marcie finally gets it off for her, Peppermint Patty realizes that her essay has been torn up from her shenanigans.
- I Drank WHAT?!: Charlie Brown is initially flattered by Snoopy's offer of a cup of punch, but ends up gagging himself once he realizes that not only has Snoopy sipped the straws of every cup of punch, but Woodstock was outright swimming in the punch bowl.
- Improvised Clothes: Snoopy's Flashbeagle attire is made of one single sweater made into a t-shirt, with the top hole cut off to form the headband, while the sleeves are cut off to form the leg-warmers.
- Medium Blending: During the "Flashbeagle" song number, Snoopy is seen flying into a photorealistic night sky, complete with footage of real exploding fireworks overlaid on top of it.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, this wasn't the first time Snoopy went out as Flashbeagle.Charlie Brown: (seeing Snoopy coming home tired) Flashbeagle?! ...I can't stand it!
- Passionate Sports Girl: Explored in "Peppermint Patty's P.E. Program (I'm in Shape!)". Peppermint Patty laments that she's not nearly as cute as the Little Red-Haired Girl, doesn't have Frieda's naturally curly hair, or has Lucy's intelligence, but she takes great pride in her athletic prowess, which impresses even her dad.I run five miles every morning
I do a hundred push-ups every day
I pedal every night, take a swim, take a hike
I'm in shape, I'm in shape, I'm in shape - Screw This, We're Outta Here!: Towards the end of "Pig-Pen Hoedown", Lucy, as the current caller, directs the hoedown dancers to leave the scene per all the dust that Pig-Pen's kicked up throughout the song number.If you really wanna dance,
If we stick here, we've got no chance
Just nod to the ceiling, and bow to the floor
Leave Pig-Pen here, and head for the door - Self-Serving Memory: Sally reminisces on her experiences with Linus at parties, whether being asked out by him or being invited to dance with him. Charlie Brown and even Linus himself point out that such instances never happened, to which Sally replies, "Well, it/you should have!"
- Shaking the Rump: Snoopy does this whenever he scores a touchdown or piles up the opposing team in the football game at the start of the special.
- Shout-Out:
- Snoopy's attire, the visual style of the special, and the genre of music are all meant to be homages to Flashdance. Marine Jahan, the dance double for Jennifer Beals in that film, was the model for Snoopy's rotoscoped dance moves.
- The way that Peppermint Patty says, "Hey, Linus," in "Peppermint Patty's P.E. Program (I'm in Shape!)" is a reference to Toni Basil's "Mickey".
- That Reminds Me of a Song: While "Flashbeagle" and "Pig-Pen Hoedown" are directly incorporated into the story, this ends up being the case with "Peppermint Patty's P.E. Program (I'm in Shape!)" and "Lucy Says".
- There Are No Adults: Surprisingly averted. At first, the special starts off this way, but once Snoopy and Franklin arrive to the discothèque, there are adults physically shown dancing in pairs to the music.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Snoopy dancing for Sally's classmates awards her the first A she's ever gotten for show-and-tell, which she fails almost all the time.
- Training from Hell: Peppermint Patty's extreme P.E. program is shown to be agonizing to all of the students she's training, but in particular, Charlie Brown can't keep up, and is shown to be physically exhausted by the end when nobody else is.
