Read the text below.
Fans may know that Charlie Brown has self-esteem issues and Lucy is opinionated, but the stewards of Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” universe have been producing specials that they hope give fans more backstory on some of their favorite, but lesser-known characters.
The latest is “Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie,” which focuses on Peppermint Patty’s sidekick, the quiet brunette with the glasses who seems to have all the answers, but not the courage to offer them. Marcie enjoys her solitude and solving problems and wants to stay out of the spotlight.
The special deals with relatable issues like how to handle pressure and not taking friends for granted, lessons that resonate with adults and kids. Executive producer Craig Schulz says his father’s comic strip was never aimed specifically at kids, but adults, and the new “Peanuts” specials target both.
“He never wrote the comic strip for children. And even though children could enjoy it, it really was multi-dimensional,” Craig Schulz said in a recent interview with The AP. “When we set out to do this series called ‘Snoopy Presents’ on Apple TV+, our goal was to do the same thing. We wanted shows that kids could enjoy, but there was a deeper message there and we were going to hope that it would… invoke a conversation between the parent and the child after watching the episode.”
The production team hired an “introvert consultant,” cognitive scientist Scott Barry Kaufman, to make sure they got the storyline right, including explaining how anxiety feels and some tools to cope with it.
“He did a lot of consulting on this because, number one, we want to be really true to what an introvert is. And, you know, we didn’t really understand ourselves,” Schulz said. “The inspiration for the show came from the movie ‘Hidden Figures,’ you know, about the people behind the scenes in the Apollo program. And we thought, what character better represents, a hidden figure and an introvert, it would be Marcie, because poor Marcie, she’s always living in the shadows of Peppermint Patty. Peppermint Patty gets all the glory,” he added.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.