The Mayflower Voyagers

Though Thanksgiving was three days ago, I had to at least watch this first episode of "This Is America, Charlie Brown" miniseries-which was a bonus feature on the "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" DVD-before November turned into December. As Charlie Brown narrates about the Pilgrims' voyage from England, we see him and the rest of the Peanuts gang suffer with the adults during the weeks-long sea trip. I'll stop there and just say what an entertaining and educational animated show this is with much of Charles Schulz' humor intact involving his kid characters along with dog Snoopy and bird Woodstock. Lucy, of course, is her normal bossy self who's not above occasionally touting her feminine wiles while Peppermint Patty and Marcie provide their own humorous give-and-take concerning a snake in the forest. Then there's the round headed kid's worrying contrasted with Linus' belief in faith that gives the viewers the various feelings about the passengers' wonderment of whether the trip to leave their home country was worth it. This is highly recommended to Peanuts fans, especially those kids who would otherwise probably avoid learning history which they'd possibly dismiss as something from a boring textbook.

'The Mayflower Voyagers' is a quick, simplified overview of what basically happened to the passengers of the real Mayflower ship. The tale goes from the voyage itself, it's first settlers and right into the first Thanksgiving. The film is a short, and it doesn't tell the full story of what really happened BUT it's a cute Peanuts movie to watch around the holidays.

I don't have the full film "This is America, Charlie Brown" (seen it years ago) but I do have The Peanuts Holiday Collection and 'Mayflower Voyagers' is included on the Thanksgiving disc so I was pleased to watch this episode again.

8/10.

In this episode from "This is America, Charlie Brown" the Peanuts gang recreate the famous Mayflower Voyage and trials and perils of the passengers and crew as they make their way to the new world. Having never studied this in school I never knew what Thanksgiving was about other than eating a turkey. This episode details all the main parts of the story and is quite a history lesson.

It's a natural companion piece to A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving as is obvious by it's inclusion on the DVD. But for all of you non-American people who don't fully understand the holiday perhaps you should watch this first.

I don't get why the starving passengers didn't just eat Woodstock though.

As a descendent of one of the Mayflower passengers, seeing their story played out by familiar characters is a refreshing change of pace.

Since most people skip right from Halloween to Christmas, it seems that the story get lost in between the two other holidays. The only other telling of this story I can remember is from 5th grade history class.

This show is set as a double-bill with the Peanuts Thanksgiving special and makes an effective one-two combination. To really get the better effect, see this one first and then the Thanksgiving special.