Important characters who never appear

[slackster]

Kerry’s mum is only heard (regularly shouting downstairs at her daughter) but never seen in This Country.

[Patrick Thistle]

The Bounty Hunter that Han Solo and Princess Leia ran into on Ord Mantell.

[Hot Pepsi]

The General in Dastardly & Muttley.

The little red-haired girl in Peanuts. (Until ruined by that recent movie.)

She was seen before that. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red-Haired_Girl)

I completely disagree that that "ruined it." Charlie Brown was beaten down by life for FIFTY FUCKING YEARS. We should allow him some small victories.

[Patrick Thistle]

Hamster Huey (of Gooey Kablooie fame)

[pebblethefish]

If we're allowed to include that, then we have to mention the noodle incident.

[Eggchaser]

Also Captain Coriander Salamander.

[Jah Womble]

She was seen before that. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red-Haired_Girl)

I completely disagree that that "ruined it." Charlie Brown was beaten down by life for FIFTY FUCKING YEARS. We should allow him some small victories.

Nah, it's total sacrilege. Life isn't fair - and Peanuts reflected this beautifully: allowing Charlie Brown to cop off with her is like the sitcom in which the star suddenly escapes his situation (ie, not permissible), or indeed those modern school sports days where 'everyone's a winner'. (Besides which, Chuck won the motocross and also picked up a baseball trophy - albeit with his name misspelled - so he did okay. He was also the long-term focus of Peppermint Patty's attentions, so was never likely to go short.)

I'm very, very surprised that Schulz didn't veto that first 'sighting' of the LRHG.

[Hot Pepsi]

He wrote that special that had her first appearance but considered it non-canon.

I don’t agree it’s a sacrilege or anything of the sort. It’s ok for the story to evolve. In 2019, it’s good for female “love interest” characters to be allowed to be fully fledged characters of their own with names and subjectivity rather than mere objects of interest for the male lead.

I’m confident that’s mainly why the creators of the recent film, which include at least one of CS’ kids, did that. And they wanted it to be more positive and upbeat. That may be seen as placating the “participation trophy generation,” but I vastly prefer that to more of the “untreated chronic depression generation” CS came from.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Next you'll be saying that the teacher deserves a face, a voice and a backstory to her hard, worthy but possibly unloved role in life

[Hot Pepsi]

No, that’s different.

[Guy Profumo]

His Divine Shadow

(One for the teenagers there)

[Bored Of Education]

The Archers has a whole load of non-speaking characters.

Kerry's mother in "This Country" is unseen but is actually

[Jon]

He wrote that special that had her first appearance but considered it non-canon.

I don’t agree it’s a sacrilege or anything of the sort. It’s ok for the story to evolve. In 2019, it’s good for female “love interest” characters to be allowed to be fully fledged characters of their own with names and subjectivity rather than mere objects of interest for the male lead.

I’m confident that’s mainly why the creators of the recent film, which include at least one of CS’ kids, did that. And they wanted it to be more positive and upbeat. That may be seen as placating the “participation trophy generation,” but I vastly prefer that to more of the “untreated chronic depression generation” CS came from.

I think the Peanuts Movie by and large worked in bringing the characters more up to date to modern sensibilities but still in keeping with the original feel of the strip. However, I don't know how many new fans it picked up. I suspect not many. For a more traditional take on Peanuts (ie stories mostly taken from the comic strips), I have recently discovered the Peanuts TV series from 2014 on Netflix.

[Hot Pepsi]

There’s a Snoopy show on Disney+

[Jah Womble]

No, that’s different.

It isn’t, especially. ‘Off-screen’ characters are all designed with that express purpose. When you’re a kid, so much is and remains off-limits - this includes both teachers’ conversations and unattainable girls who chew their pencils.

There really shouldn’t be the ‘development’ of which you speak: story arcs in Peanuts are short-term only (whether a school election or a protracted game of ‘Ha Ha Herman’) - that’s why the characters are never seen to grow up. And also why Lucy never breaks Schroeder, Linus never gives up his blanket and why Charlie Brown should never kiss the LRHG.

But I suspect we won’t agree on this...

[Hot Pepsi]

We will not.

[jwdd27]

In Hi-De-Hi!, Joe Maplin is never seen at his eponymous holiday camp, presumably with Billy Butlin still alive when they started the series they were a bit wary, or else Croft and Perry thought he worked better as an ominous presence like Mrs Mainwaring - he used to visit in disguise to sample the level of service his campers were receiving, and his employees being unaware of his appearance was a plot device.

The cleaning supervisor Miss Cathcart is similarly never seen, although Peggy lives in fear of her.

Hi-De-Hi! didn't age as well as Dad's Army, despite also being set in the past. It was also deeply inferior to its predecessor, so perhaps that's why it's not on constant repeat on Saturday evenings on BBC2.

[Patrick Thistle]

Going back to Peanuts, do we ever see the Red Baron?

[Hot Pepsi]

I don’t think so, since he’s only in Snoopy’s imagination.

[Jon]

There’s a Snoopy show on Disney+

Also one on Apple TV - Snoopy in Space.

[Hot Pepsi]

Oh, that’s what I was thinking of. Not D+

[Jah Womble]

Also one on Apple TV - Snoopy in Space.

’Snoopy in Space’.

I shudder at the very thought.

[Guy Profumo]

In Hi-De-Hi!, Joe Maplin is never seen at his eponymous holiday camp, presumably with Billy Butlin still alive when they started the series they were a bit wary, or else Croft and Perry thought he worked better as an ominous presence like Mrs Mainwaring - he used to visit in disguise to sample the level of service his campers were receiving, and his employees being unaware of his appearance was a plot device.

The cleaning supervisor Miss Cathcart is similarly never seen, although Peggy lives in fear of her.

Hi-De-Hi! didn't age as well as Dad's Army, despite also being set in the past. It was also deeply inferior to its predecessor, so perhaps that's why it's not on constant repeat on Saturday evenings on BBC2.

Aged better than “Oh Doctor Beeching” though.

[3 Colours Red]

Or indeed "You Rang, M'Lord?"

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Hi-De-Hi! didn't age as well as Dad's Army, despite also being set in the past. It was also deeply inferior to its predecessor, so perhaps that's why it's not on constant repeat on Saturday evenings on BBC2.

The BBC's key target audience are also far less nostalgiac about having to spend their summers in shitty holiday camps than they are about a war they like to think their parents enjoyed fighting in.