TV on DVD

American history, as told by Charlie Brown and his gang

What is it? This Is America, Charlie Brown, eight half-hour episodes on two discs from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

How much? $26.99

When? Now

Is this a travelogue? No. It's a history lesson as presented by Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and their friends.

In this 1988 series of eight episodes, the Peanuts gang visit some key moments in American history:

• The Mayflower Voyagers: Snoopy and the kids board the Mayflower for a dangerous, miserable voyage across the sea, then setting up a new colony with the help of friendly American Indians like Squanto and Samoset. Special attention is paid to the Pilgrim children's experience.

• The Birth of the Constitution: The gang help out at Independence Hall during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. While fetching water, filling ink wells and cleaning the hall, they're witnesses to the creation and ratifying of the Constitution.

• The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk: Linus and Charlie Brown visit Linus' cousin Dolly near Kitty Hawk, N.C., in time for the Wright brothers' successful flight.

• The NASA Space Station: Linus dreams he and his friends are the crew of a new space station where they demonstrate what it's like to live in outer space, then must work together when an emergency (in the form of a meteoroid) hits.

• The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad: Charlie Brown gives a school talk about the struggles to connect east and west by rail.

• The Great Inventors: The children present reports on inventors, inventions and "firsts," meeting the inventors of the telephone, the phonograph and the automobile.

• The Smithsonian and the Presidency: The kids visit Washington and explore the Smithsonian's treasures. They also join Abraham Lincoln on his train trip to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

• The Music and Heroes of America: Schroeder and the others perform a school concert and report on American popular music through the years (including the creation of jazz and ragtime) and heroes like Martin Luther King and George Washington Carver.

Is this for children? Yes, definitely. But the target age is really children in elementary school more than toddlers or preschoolers. There are some of the typical antics, like Snoopy and Woodstock trying on powdered wigs and Lucy tricking Charlie Brown with a football, that could keep smaller ones entertained. On the whole, though, much of the story will go over their heads.

The events and people the series explores are simplified and condensed, as one would expect from a half-hour animated series, but adult viewers may be surprised by the amount of information that comes across. It's surprisingly detailed and complex for a children's show without being unfathomable for grade-school kids.

In all, it's a fun way to impart some important information to children without dumbing it down or making it too esoteric.

Also, Peanuts purists may find it alarming, but adults do appear and speak in normal voices.

New this week: Helix, Season 1; The Twilight Zone, Essential Episodes.

Next week: The Big Valley, Season 3; Doctor Who, Season 3 Part 2; Endeavour, Season 2; The Soul Man, Season 1; Vicious, Season 1.

Style on 06/29/2014

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