The Peanuts gang is back with a recent special specializing in Marcie, otherwise referred to as tomboyish Peppermint Patty’s quiet sidekick.
“Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie,” premiering Aug. 18 on AppleTV+, a 40-minute animated special, trains the highlight, for the primary time, directly on Marcie (Arianna McDonald), who famously refers to Peppermint Patty (Lexi Perry) as “sir.”
“We liked the concept of exploring different characters,” executive producer Craig Schulz, 70, the son of the late Peanuts creator Charles M. Schultz, told The Post.
“We thought the fan base would need to know more about them. Marcie got here up, and we thought ‘What could be the story for Marcie?’ I threw out the movie, ‘Hidden Figures,’” he said. “Marcie is a classic example of a hidden figure. The movie was about people beyond the Apollo program. In Marcie’s case, she’s the hidden figure behind the success of Peppermint Patty.
“Marcie has all types of great attributes — she just doesn’t wish to be recognized for them, and needs to remain out of the highlight.”
Marcie is seen within the special assisting Peppermint Patty as her caddie during a golf championship. At college, Marcie unexpectedly gets nominated for sophistication president, and starts to assist with stopping traffic jams within the hallways — and ensuring that everyone gets more slices of pizza at lunch.
As an introvert, nevertheless, she struggles with the brand new attention … but eventually figures out learn how to be a pacesetter in her own way.
“We feel we’ve locked the characters within the timeframe between the late Nineteen Sixties and the Eighties,” Schulz said. “And so we never allow them to get out of that universe, with cell phones or iPads or any of that stuff.
“Apart from that, my objective has all the time been to honor my dad’s legacy,” he said. “I consider myself the gatekeeper of the Peanuts universe, and my son [fellow producer Bryan Schulz] has followed that path.”
Although the special is targeted on Marcie, Snoopy and Charlie Brown (Etienne Kellici) still make appearances.
“Snoopy is great comic relief,” director Raymond Persi told The Post.
“So should you find the right balance of if you sprinkle him in, it helps keep things from getting too melodramatic. You bring the levity at just the fitting time. And one in every of the things about Charlie Brown is that he’s type of this moral compass for plenty of these characters. Marcie turns to him for advice and thoughts.”
“My dad all the time said that Snoopy could take over the comic strip,” said Schulz.
“That was at the back of our minds — everybody loves Snoopy, and needs to see Snoopy. So the bottom line is, how do you balance it? We felt that every of those stories have a selected message to inform, and something you may learn from watching them together with your children. We didn’t want Snoopy to spoil that messaging. So it was a matter of how do you balance the humor of Snoopy with the messages we wish to convey?
“There have been plenty of discussions of learn how to reign in Snoopy.”
Schulz said that there are more Peanuts specials coming down the pike that can concentrate on various other characters.
“We’ve already give you stories … we have now a story for Pigpen, a story for Schroeder, a story for Sally,” said Schulz.
“Whether those stories will hit the TV set, we don’t know. Franklin is coming out next yr [and] it’s an amazing story. You’ll see that in 2024.”