Never let it be said that Charles Schulz didn’t remain connected to popular culture as Peanuts went through its fourth decade. 1984’s TV special It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown becomes more influenced by then-current domains than most Peanuts programs.

Snoopy likes to hit the nightclubs and strut his stuff. Done up in hip fashions, “Flashbeagle” impresses with his steps on the dance floor.

Despite that synopsis, Flashbeagle comes without a real plot. Obviously influenced by 1983’s smash hit Flashdance, not much occurs.

It shows the kids at school and at parties; the story elements really exist as an excuse for some dance numbers.

Flashbeagle works okay for two reasons. It actually sort of feels like it comes from the Peanuts universe, and it also provides a few laughs. That automatically makes it better than some other Peanuts projects.

That doesn’t mean it’s good, however. The absence of a true story ensures an awkward nature to the show, and the musical numbers are uniformly bad.

These make Flashbeagle often feel like a collection of music videos, and poor ones at that. All these factors create the impression the program exists to cash in on the fads of the day.

The sight of Snoopy in Jennifer Beals mode is awfully embarrassing, though his big disco number feels more like Saturday Night Fever than Flashdance. This isn’t an awful show, but it’s mediocre at best.

Footnote: “Stacy Ferguson” plays Sally. She’d later earn fame as “Fergie” from Black Eyed Peas.

It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The specials enjoyed appealing visuals.

Sharpness worked fine. No issues with softness emerged, so this became a well-defined image.

Shimmering and jaggies remained absent, and I witnessed no edge haloes. The show came with a decent layer of grain and no source flaws beyond some of the expected cel dust and some sloppy clean-up animation.

As expected, the program went with primary colors that generally satisfied. They could’ve been more vibrant but they held up reasonably well.

Blacks appeared dense, while shadows showed positive clarity. While nothing here dazzled, the show looked good for 41-year-old TV animation.

As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Flashbeagle, it demonstrated an inconsistent soundscape. At its best, the mix managed to spread the special’s songs across the channels in a fairly appealing manner.

Did these instances come with terrific localization? No, but given that other Peanuts remixes brought little more than broad mono, the manner in which the tunes occupied the various speakers satisfied.

However, not every number enjoyed this dimensionality. For instance, “Pigpen’s Hoedown” clearly remained pure monaural.

Effects also lacked much to do, so the soundscape concentrated almost entirely on music. Still, that seemed good enough given the program’s vintage.

Audio quality seemed positive when I considered the era of the show’s creation. Speech always appeared crisp and concise.

Music mostly brought pretty good range and warmth. As noted, effects became a minor aspect of the mix but that came across with appropriate accuracy. Although not about the audio impressed, the track seemed satisfactory.

No extras appear attached to Flashbeagle, but I didn’t expect any because it comes to us via a package called Peanuts Ultimate TV Specials. It includes a total of 40 Peanuts shows.

As such, I didn’t expect bonus features for Elected so I didn’t give this set a grade for these elements. We do find a booklet that offers brief plot synopses for 21 of the 40 shows along with quick bios for 11 of the characters.

Obviously dated, It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown remains firmly attached to the pop culture of the 1980s. It manages mild entertainment nonetheless but seems mediocre at best. The Blu-ray comes with good picture and adequate audio but it lacks supplements. Chalk this up as forgettable Peanuts fare.