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Peter Martin
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Posted: 21 July 2017 at 5:43pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

I think Shulz, who maintained an unfiltered control of his own artistic property, is talking about the ultimate ability to maintain authorial intent. If you open up the property to multiple interpretations, you open Pandora's box. You cannot ever truly undo in one form what someone has introduced for the character in another, no matter how hard you try. You are always compromising in some way or another the purity of one medium to try and ameliorate the concerns of another.

If you are a fan of the medium in which a character is introduced and you love everything about that character originally and the way they are designed to fit that medium, you are most likely going to consider it a dilution if that character is moulded to fit within the framework of another medium. Doing so may open the character to a much wider audience, but you have altered the character from the way it was for those who loved it from the very beginning.
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 7:16am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

He didn't actually say it during that interview, but I got the impression, and could be wrong, that he wasn't enamoured with the TV adaptation of PEANUTS. 
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Noah Smith
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 7:32am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I love Charles Schulz dearly.  Peanuts is one of the greatest influences on my life and work. But if anyone has ever overexposed his creation onto too many platforms, it's Charles Schulz.  I find this criticism highly hypocritical. 
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Drew Spence
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 7:40am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

It could also be the feeling that THE CARTOON became the real property that people considered "officially Peanuts" and his strips were an ignored staple. To be honest, the holiday specials ARE the franchise.

Hell, the music is more of an official ambassador to that property than the newspaper strips.

Maybe he felt that his creation was getting away from him. In that sense, he'd be more than 100% right.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 8:22am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I love Charles Schulz dearly. Peanuts is one of the greatest influences on my life and work. But if anyone has ever overexposed his creation onto too many platforms, it's Charles Schulz. I find this criticism highly hypocritical.

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Then I think you miss his point.

PEANUTS, despite the elements of fantasy, is about the "real world". These are not characters that can be "diluted", simply because there is nothing to dilute. There is nothing "special" about any of those kids.

Superman, at least as Schulz remembers him, is VERY special. He is far beyond human nature, and as such, if we are bombarded with examples of him flying, and lifting enormous weights, and seeing thru walls, etc, these things become more and more ordinary.

When was the last time you thought of Superman as "special". More than a few people, in fact, would call him boring.

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Anthony J Lombardi
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 8:23am | IP Logged | 6 post reply


Maybe he felt that his creation was getting away from him. In that sense, he'd be more than 100% right.
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From the documentary I saw He never felt that way. He maintained control over everything. Nothing was done anywhere without his approval. 


Edited by Anthony J Lombardi on 22 July 2017 at 8:24am
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Anthony J Lombardi
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 8:34am | IP Logged | 7 post reply


He didn't actually say it during that interview, but I got the impression, and could be wrong, that he wasn't enamoured with the TV adaptation of PEANUTS.
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If you haven't seen it already I highly recommend watching the Amercain Masters episode about Charles Schulz. He was in charge of what went into those tv shows. Those characters spoke with his voice and his feelings. So I doubt he was disappointed in them.
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Anthony J Lombardi
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 8:36am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Here's the youtube link to the documentary. 
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 8:47am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Thanks. I guess I was wrong. :)
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Anthony J Lombardi
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 8:49am | IP Logged | 10 post reply


Thanks. I guess I was wrong. :)
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You're Welcome Robbie glad to be of service :)
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Robert Shepherd
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 10:25am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

I can't imagine Superman without flight. I know he couldn't fly when he started and I'm always in favor of the heroes staying true to the creator's intent, but this is one time I think the evolution of a character was a good thing. Superman epitomizes flight as a power.

Strength, Invulnerability, Flight, to me those are Superman's powers. Heat-Vision at least makes sense if you like Superman as a living solar battery. The other powers....could all go away and I'd never miss them.

My take on Shulz's comment is he likes the MAN in Superman. Once he got too powerful, he lost that connection to being a MAN because he evolved into a demigod.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 22 July 2017 at 10:35am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

I've felt for a long time that x-ray vision makes more sense than heat-vision. If we take Superman's powers as human abilities extrapolated to the ultimate degree, it figures that he can see the entire spectrum. But what human ability equates to firing beams out of his eyes?
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