COMMENTS
We are pleased to offer PEANUTS fans this unique one-of-a-kind piece of animation art.
”It’s the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown” is the 32nd prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on September 27th, 1988.
Spike stars with Jill Schulz (the youngest of Mr. Schulz’s children) in this live-action TV special, which has some of the best animated Spike scenes ever animated. Not only is the animation terrific, the inking, painting and color wash shadows on Spike are superb! These scenes were animated solely by Bill Melendez! How do we know this? The scene production folders by this era of Peanuts animation had the details of who animated, who assisted, who checked, etc.  Bill’s name was the only name listed on these folders and the drawing style is unmistakable!

A wonderful cel featuring a huge image of Spike sitting on the side of the road, which is featured in scene 54.

Each animation cel has been fashioned in the finest tradition of the studio to preserve this classic film moment. Hand -painted cel(s) transferred from an animator's drawing are uniquely one-of-a-kind. The animation art used in this production bears the Peanuts Film Gallery seals of authenticity establishing it as such.

This beautiful artwork was created at the studio of Bill Melendez, in association with Lee Mendelson Film Productions, and the creator of PEANUTS, Charles M. Schulz. Each hand painted cel is applied with a reproduction background, and comes with the original set of production drawings. The artwork measures 12.5" x 10.5" inches (unframed), and is accompanied with the studio certificate of authenticity.

STORYLINE:
”It’s the Girl in the Red Truck Charlie Brown” is a departure from the usual Peanuts specials. Apart from the animated introduction, the entire show is a mixture of live-action and animation. While most specials include a variety of characters from the comic strip like Charlie Brown Snoopy, Linus and Lucy this one is centered on Snoopy's brother Spike.
Spike waves to a young woman driving an old red Chevrolet pickup truck through the desert of Needles, California every day; it is the highlight of his day. In this combined animated and live-action special, we meet her, aerobics instructor Jenny, who wants to be a big city jazz dancer. She and Spike drive around, looking at the desert scenery and spending some time at a roller rink. However, when Spike is accidentally thrown out of the rink, he runs off, and is pursued by people on a nighttime coyote hunt. A sub-plot sees Jenny's boyfriend, Jeff, set up an audition for her, which she is angry about because he did it without consulting her.