The title cartoon is 2003�s �Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown.� It�s a cute cartoon, like most of the recent ones a compilation of like-themed comic strips set to animation. It�s sweet, it�s fun, but it doesn�t quite pop.

�Charlie Brown�s All-Stars,� the classic cartoon in this set, DOES. Charlie Brown convinces his baseball team to stick around with the promise that Mr. Hennessy, the hardware store owner, will sponsor the team and buy them uniforms. The deal is jeopardized, however, when Charlie Brown learns that joining a league would force him to kick Snoopy and the girls off the team. Out of all the older �Peanuts� cartoons, this is one of the ones with the strongest emotional content and real message. It�s a touching cartoon, even today.

�It�s Spring Training Charlie Brown� from 1992 closes off the set and, frankly, leaves me scratching my head. Apparently the league has relaxed their rules, because this time out Mr. Hennessy is again offering to sponsor Charlie Brown�s team and get them uniforms... but ONLY if they can actually win a game. Following the same plot as the previous cartoon, it was probably a mistake to put them on the same DVD. And the weird rap Franklin performs makes me think it may have been better not to put this one out at all -- it was just plain annoying.

This is a decent set, and with Paramount dropping the prices on the Peanuts DVDs there�s almost no reason for a real fan of the characters NOT to buy it.

Which I don't get.

Sure, these newer specials are completely different from the older ones, in that they are strip-by-strip segments. Not one big story.

But, you know what? The "later" cartoons (1970's-today) have better animation and much better timing in between dialogue.

What does this mean? The classic Peanuts gags we have all come to love -- and chuckle out loud at via the daily comics and endless array of Peanuts books -- are better executed. Way better. How many of us who watch the Halloween special every year yawn and think "ho-hum" whenever Charlie Brown says, "I got a rock"? I know I do. And why? This piece of dialogue is one of many that just wreaks of poor execution and boredom.

These newer cartoons still contain the classic Peanuts humor we all crave and adore; and none of the lines are delivered in poor fashion.

Throughout the years, in terms of animation, timing and dialogue-delivery, Peanuts specials have only become better.

Some fans do not think like this. Some will forever insist that everything about the vintage programs are far superior. The original Christmas special or Halloween show could be re-made today with better animation and overall execution, and they would still insist the original is best.

To each his own. But I don't think that anybody would deny that everything about the later Peanuts programs, in terms of how each one is executed, is superior to the 1960's-mid '70's era of specials.

No, this brand of newer features, much like episodes from The Charlie Brown & Snoopy Show, are not full-length stories. But, they do succeed in bringing Schulz's strips to life. And with the highest possible quality in traditional animation today, mind you.

Shulz would be proud.

I mean, it's like, what do you want? Nobody is allowed to create new stories, and I don't know about anyone else, but I would rather have new programs based on the strips than no Peanuts television specials at all.

But it's up to you. Don't want any new shows based on the comic strips? Don't buy them; nobody's forcing you to.