Rerun Van Pelt

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Rerun first appeared in the strip in 1972, initially as a minor character. For many years, he was mostly seen perched in a seat on the back of his mother's bicycle, wryly commenting on her riding skills and habits. Schulz was inspired by the sight of young children strapped down for transport, saying, "You look at these little kids hanging on to their elders... and you wonder what goes through their minds." Rerun was "a kind of interpreter to those silent thoughts and impressions." In the 1990s, Schulz began using Rerun to explore the grandparent/grandchild relationship. Rerun attends his first day of school on September 11, 1996, having spent the previous week hiding under the bed. He ages to 5 years old at this point. In a 1997 interview, Schulz said, "He's different from Lucy and Linus. He's a little more outspoken. And I think he's going to be a little on the strange side..." One of Rerun's major concerns is his desire for a dog; he sees Snoopy as an ideal companion, but the dog has no particular regard for him. Rerun's real name is never revealed—in the September 11, 1996 strip, he tells his teacher, "Yes ma'am, my name is 'Rerun'...I don't know...That's what they all call me." In the final years of the strip, Schulz used Rerun to express his ambivalence about his own talents and limitations. In a January 1999 sequence at an art museum, Rerun looks at a small line drawing of the dog from Patrick McDonnell's comic strip Mutts while others gaze at a large oil painting. The next day, Rerun struggles with his own watercolor, telling his classmate, "I think I learned something very important. I'll never be Andrew Wyeth." One critic says that "here, Rerun is parroting Schulz's own self-deprecating attitude toward his own medium, comic art." Rerun draws a curtain over Peanuts' final installment of Lucy pulling the football away. In the 1999 Sunday strip, Rerun holds the football for Charlie Brown, but the audience never sees whether he kicks it. When Lucy asks what happened, he replies, "You'll never know."

In Their Own Story

Rerun made his first appearance in animation in the 1976 special It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, voiced by Vinnie Dow. He returned in the 1983–1985 series The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, voiced by Jason Mendelson, the four-year-old son of producer Bill Mendelson. Rerun was the main character in the 2003 special I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown, with a storyline drawn from the strip's Rerun-heavy final years. He also has an important role in the 2006 special He's a Bully, Charlie Brown. In the 1986 special Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!, his attempts to blow up balloons for the New Year's party ended in failure, as he blew them up as cubes rather than spheres (a scenario adapted from a comic strip story involving Linus from December 1954). Rerun was mentioned, but not seen, in the 1985 special Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown when Charlie Brown informed Snoopy that Rerun had already been chosen as ring-bearer. He was given a speaking role in the 2002 special Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales. He was not seen or mentioned in the 2015 film The Peanuts Movie, although a drawing of him can be seen during the credits.

Reader's Guide

Rerun bears a strong physical resemblance to Linus. In appearances from the 1970s and 1980s, Rerun is virtually identical to Linus, though he is smaller, wore a plain T-shirt (it appears that he got many hand-me-downs from Linus, as he wore a long-sleeved shirt with Linus's shirt design), and his hair sprang up. Rerun's appearance evolved in the 1990s, as he aged beyond infancy. Rerun was mostly shown wearing overalls, and his hair was shown as shorter and flatter. While he continued to share Linus' facial features, Rerun's head also grew rounder and larger in proportion to his body. In his early TV appearances, he wears a green or white shirt with black shorts and saddle shoes. In I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown, he wears an orange striped shirt under light blue overalls. Initially, toddler Rerun was shown playing cards with an equally confused Snoopy, and learning to tie his shoes from Lucy. One critic writes, "Mrs. Van Pelt exposes Rerun to the harsher truths of the outside world. He has to fend for himself in fighting off dogs, handle burdens like her purchases, and deal with setbacks in life, such as potholes. Perhaps she wants to prepare Rerun for the cruelties and failures that Charlie Brown's gang frequently encounters. After all, his older brother, Linus, basically hides under a blanket." Various actors have voiced the animated Rerun since 1976, including Vinny Dow, Jason Mendelson, Timmy Deters, and Jimmy Bennett.

Did You Know?

• Rerun was first mentioned in the strip on May 23, 1972, during a storyline where Lucy throws Linus out of the house, only to relent when she learns another little brother had just been born.
• Rerun's real name is never revealed—in the September 11, 1996 strip, even he doesn't know what it is, telling his teacher, "Yes ma'am, my name is 'Rerun'...I don't know...That's what they all call me."
• In the 1999 Sunday strip, Rerun holds the football for Charlie Brown's final attempt to kick it, and when Lucy asks what happened, he replies, "You'll never know."
• Rerun's first animated appearance was in the 1976 special It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, voiced by Vinnie Dow.
• In the 1986 special Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!, Rerun blows up balloons as cubes rather than spheres, adapted from a 1954 Linus storyline.