Rerun James van Pelt is Linus and Lucy's younger brother in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts.
| Peanuts character | |
Rerun on the back of his mother's bicycle |
|
| Age | 4[citation needed] |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Sister Lucy, Brother Linus, Blanket-hating grandmother and unnamed parents |
| First Appearance | March 26, 1973 |
Rerun was "born" into the strip on May 23, 1972, during a storyline in which Lucy threw Linus out of the house only to learn that yet another little brother had just been born (causing her to exclaim in exasperation "A new baby brother? But I just got rid of the old one!"). After this exclamation, Linus laughs himself silly at the irony and poetic justice of it all. This sets off Lucy's hair-trigger temper and she ties his blanket over his mouth. Rerun's first actual appearance was on March 26, 1973. Initially, he looks like a smaller version of Linus. Lucy, who always wanted to be an only child (or to have a younger sister), is less than thrilled at the prospect of having a second younger brother, and comments that getting one was like watching reruns on television; thus, Linus comes up with the idea of calling the family's new addition "Rerun." ("Rerun van Pelt. Good Grief!" muttered Lucy.)
Eventually, Lucy warms up to Rerun and becomes something of mentor to him, being much more kind and patient with Rerun than she ever has been with Linus. Linus also takes Rerun under his wing in later years, attempting to "convert" Rerun to his belief in "The Great Pumpkin," and taking his little brother along on door-to-door "missions" to spread the word of the Great Pumpkin. ("You're just trying to trick me, aren't you?" says Rerun).
The first storyline in which Rerun is featured involves a still pre-verbal Rerun becoming a player on Charlie Brown's baseball team and being involved in a gambling scandal that ends in the team having to forfeit one of their rare victories. Later strips have him verbalizing in thought balloons and feature him as a nervous passenger on the back of his mother's bicycle.
Rerun was rarely used in the 1980s; in fact, by that time, Schulz had come to believe that introducing Rerun into the strip was a mistake. However, in the 1990s, he resurfaces, having grown to where he is almost equal in height to his siblings and the other kids. Schulz's drawing style had suffered by this time, and sometimes it is hard to tell Rerun from Linus [1]. To distinguish him, Schulz added overalls and a flattened hair style.
Schulz made Rerun into a main character in the strip's final years, and much of the its focus during this time is from Rerun's perspective. (Schulz admitted in a 1997 interview with Gary Groth that the character virtually "took over" the comic.) Most of his storylines involve his anxieties and struggles with being a "little kid" among big kids, and his desire to play with Snoopy and have a dog of his own. Snoopy usually wants no part of it, unless Rerun gives him cookies. Failing that, Rerun is often shown trying to sell Charlie Brown something in order to make money to buy his own dog.
Rerun: How would you like to buy some homemade fudge?
Charlie Brown: Who made it?
Rerun: My grandma, my mother and my sister.
Charlie Brown: Are you the middleman?
Rerun: No, they're all taller than me.
A running gag in the strip has Rerun hiding under his bed in an attempt to get out of going to school, a ploy that usually does not work. Though intelligent, Rerun displays a rebellious streak in school, always drawing "underground comics" (usually referring to them as "basement comics") instead of painting flowers, as his teacher instructs. Rerun is also often shown flirting with an unnamed pigtailed girl in his kindergarten class. On one occasion he jokes about taking her away to Paris (which was featured as a location the 1980 film Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)), and is suspended from school for harassment.
Rerun's animated debut is in the animated television special It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, and his first major appearance in the strip was adapted in the first produced episode of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. Rerun only made one other appearance in a television special before 2000, Happy New Year, Charlie Brown. The 2003 animated television special I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown uses Rerun as its primary character. Rerun's most recent television appearance is in the 2006 television special He's a Bully, Charlie Brown. Various actors have voiced Rerun since 1976, including Jason Mendelson (in 1983).
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