It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown

1974 animated television special

It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown is the 11th prime time animated television special based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on the CBS network on February 1, 1974. This was the first Charlie Brown television special that Bill Melendez did not direct, but he still served as producer and provided the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock.

The soundtrack for It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown was composed by Vince Guaraldi and conducted and arranged by John Scott Trotter. The score was performed by the Vince Guaraldi Quartet on January 5, 11, 23 and 30, 1974, at Wally Heider Studios, featuring Guaraldi (piano, electric piano, electric harpsichord, electric guitar and whistling), Tom Harrell (trumpet), Seward McCain (electric bass), Eliot Zigmund (drums, January 11) and Mike Clark (drums, all other dates). The song "Mystery Theme" was reworked in an uptempo version for It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, which was broadcast two months later. A live version of "Cops and Robbers" was also recorded by Guaraldi on February 6, 1974, for a radio performance released on Live on the Air.

This special was released on DVD for the first time, in remastered form as part of the DVD box set, Peanuts 1970's Collection, Volume One. Before that, it was released on RCA's SelectaVision CED format in 1983, and on VHS by Kartes Video Communications in 1987, and by Paramount on August 17, 1994 (as part of a sweepstakes contest with Travelodge), and a mass market release on October 1, 1996. The Paramount release is notable for fixing an animation error where Charlie Brown, Sally, and Snoopy are shown in mid air by zooming in the footage