It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
This is not a Halloween Special. It's the Halloween special.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown first aired on CBS in 1966, based on the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. It was the second holiday-themed Peanuts special after the sensation that was A Charlie Brown Christmas, and is nearly as beloved today.
As night falls on Halloween, Linus is headed for the local pumpkin patch and, he hopes, the arrival of the Great Pumpkin -- a Halloween analogue to Santa Claus that only he believes in. While he and Charlie Brown's sister Sally (who has a crush on him) wait on the Great Pumpkin, the other kids trick-or-treat and attend a party, and Snoopy is off on his own pretending to be a World War I flying ace.
- Berserk Button: In the last scene and Closing Credits, when Charlie Brown tries to comfort Linus by relating, "I've also done a lot of stupid things in my life", Linus berates him, through all of the closing credits.
- Also, Sally after realizing that they've wasted Halloween night in a pumpkin patch.
- Bootstrapped Theme: The music from the title sequence, "Linus and Lucy", is often considered the Peanuts theme song.
- Butt Monkey: "Thanks, Charlie Brown, you were a very good model."
- Comedic Sociopathy: As noted elsewhere, in order for Charlie Brown to get a bagful of rocks while trick-or-treating there has to be an entire town full of adults who would give a kid a rock.
- Fainting: Linus faints when he thinks he sees the Great Pumpkin coming (it's actually Snoopy).
- Jerkass: Every single neighbor who gave poor Charlie Brown a rock.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Lucy is her usual crabby self here, mocking Linus for believing in the Great Pumpkin. However, she does ask for candy for him too when she goes trick-or-treating, and when he does not return home from the pumpkin patch by 4:00 A.M., she gets out of bed, walks out to the pumpkin patch, leads her brother home and puts him to bed.
- More than that- it wasn't that he just wasn't home, she set her alarm to make sure he got to bed.
- Kick the Dog: Again, the neighbors that give all the kids candy but keep giving Charlie Brown rocks.
- Long Runners: It's only one special, but considering how long it's been on TV? It definitely counts.
- Off-Model: This special was produced cheaply and quickly; the animation suffered as a result.
- Recursive Canon: At one point Lucy is shown holding an issue of TV Guide with her own picture on the cover.
- Shout-Out: Snoopy's imagination sequence about being shot down and trekking to the Halloween party references Wings.
- The Speechless: Snoopy may be a dog who can't talk, but he seems to be treated as good as human by the rest of the cast.
- The Unseen: The Red Baron, as well as all adults. And, of course, the Great Pumpkin himself.
- Viewers Are Geniuses: How many watching the show realize that when Snoopy smiles, smiles, smiles as Schroeder is playing "Pack Up Your Troubles," he is doing so in response to the lyrics of the song?
- Woman Scorned: After Sally flips out at Linus for convincing her that the Great Pumpkin exists:
Linus: You've heard about fury in a woman scorned, haven't you?
Charlie Brown: Yes, I guess I have.
Linus: Well, that's nothing compared to the fury of a woman who has been cheated out of tricks-or-treats.
- World War I: Snoopy famously costumes himself as a World War I Flying Ace, and seems to have been somehow transported into the 1910s until he actually enters the house where the Halloween party is being held. Schroeder there plays him a medley of WWI era tunes: "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"; "There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding"; "Pack Up Your Troubles In the Old Kit Bag"; and "Roses of Picardy."
- Xenophone: Schroeder's toy piano, on which he can mimic a grand piano (or an early 20th-century bar piano).