Why didn't snoopy ever talk/think in the toons?

[Hypestyle]

obviously, in the strips he never talked to the humans, but I'm curious as to why his thoughts and conversations with woodstock never translated to the toons.. I think the only one was the adaptation of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", based on the musical...

[DianaGohan]

Maybe the writers thought it would be better if Snoopy was a silent character and didn't talk with Woodstock or have Thought Balloon Conversation about writing a novel or something like that. There's words for when things like this happen: Wasted Potential.

[Delia]

I like how his character works... he's all about the acting and not about talking and it works quite well. He, perhaps, is one of the most expressive characters I can think of, and he never really says anything. I guess he did grumble a few times in anger but... never really speaks.

[Matthew Williams]

They tried many different methods of how to display his character... from doing a Garfield-esque v/o to even having on-screen thought balloons. In the end, they decided to play him in mime like the great Charlie Chaplin. For some reason I actually prefer this approach to the character, and they really succeeded in making him very expressive without having him utter a word.

There WAS one special in which he DID "talk"... the animated adaptation of "You're a good man, Charlie Brown". In that he was voiced by one of the members of the original broadway cast.

[Zorak Masaki]

I have a copy of "Snoopy: the musical" where he "talks".

[Elven Moon]

Yep, he "talks" in that musical. Well, talks and sings. Oh, and he also makes grumbling and mumbling noises which I guess counts as "talking" :p He even types and it's obviously in English, so anyone can read them and he can communicate that way as well.

By the way, is anyone else aware of the new special airing this weekend?

[TnAdct1]

By the way, is anyone else aware of the new special airing this weekend?

I am, but unfortunately, my local ABC station thinks a college football preview special is more important than a Peanuts special (one reason why it was a dumb idea for my local cable company to get rid of a second set of "big 3" network stations, even though my region received those channels before I got cable).

Joe Klemm

[Auggie Doggie]

Yeah, it is weird. Schulz thought it be best if Snoopy didn't talk (as he is a dog) but in the comics and musical specials, we hear his thoughts. Personally, I thought hearing his thoughts really worked (especially in Snoopy: The Musical where his voice actor was Cam Clarke, Leonardo from the original Ninja Turtles and Prince Adam/He-Man from the new Masters of the Universe cartoons).

[Looneytunes]

Neither Garfield and Snoopy can actually talk. Even though, Garfield talks a lot more. He stills talks in his thoughts, just like Snoopy. Yet they both use their intertwined humanlike and animallike abilities. Sometimes I think Snoopy and Garfield are too similar.

Looneytunes\/Disneytoons

[Howard]

Charles Schulz just couldn't think of what Snoopy would sound like, and didn't want it to look like Snoopy was talking to the kids, since being a dog, Snoopy can't talk. Bill Melendez did get around this, having Snoopy laugh and occasionally growl out "Yipes!", "Yipe!" or "HEY!". There's even a funny scene in one of the Saturday morning shows where Snoopy "talks" to Pepermint Patty on the phone by sort of growling quietly as if he was saying something, when she invited him to a "turnabout" dance. Schulz's insistence that Snoopy can't talk actually lost him a second Saturday Morning series about Snoopy and his brothers and sisters as kids, possibly titled The Daisy Hill Puppies. He had done about five or so scripts for it, then CBS told him that Snoopy and the other dogs should talk. Schulz never liked to take other people's ideas, so that ended that project.

[Pyro]

I'm a little confused. Was Snoopy: The Musical where they sang songs like, "I'm gonna be the big bow wow" and "if just one person believes in you" and "Poor Sweet Baby" and one song about the clouds, and another about the Great Pumpkin? My sister has a recording of it from when I was young I think. Because I remember watching it a lot and that was my memory of him talking. Now that I think of it, he did sound like He-Man. I never noticed the non-talking of Snoopy in movies like Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, and Bon Voyage Charlie Brown, yet I did notice the silence. Maybe that is why I always thought those movies dragged too much. I fell asleep on that particular one when it came on Nick recently. Anyway, what is this new special airing you all speak of? I would like to see it.

[Auggie Doggie]

Okay, maybe Sparky should have let the show go on with the dogs "thinking" their lines ala Garfield. Then I think it would have been a hit if the stories were great (I wonder how I can get the scripts posted online).

And Pyro~Maniac, you DID describe Snoopy: The Musical. BTW, Linus was played by Jermey Miller, Ben from the ABC hit Growing Pains. (I also heard of other child stars voicing the characters, I wonder which ones?)