#10: "Starstruck (Episode 2)"
HPDrummerman: This is only the second episode of the series. This is where I first introduce Charlie Brown's cousin singing sensation Trevor B. into the PEANUTS world. I also made it that Trevor had cross paths with Snoopy's brother Spike and adopted him for his own. And, as you can see in the recent episodes from the second season, Spike has adjusted well. I actually liked doing this episode because it made Charlie Brown seem important. To have a relative who's a well-known celebrity is always great. I, myself, have a few. Anyway here's where Trevor meets Charlie Brown's friends.
1st Clip from "Starstruck":
After the show, Charlie Brown and his friends were escorted backstage to meet up with Trevor. Snoopy was with them, keeping his security disguise on so he wouldn't be kicked out of the arena. As soon as they reached the green room where Trevor was, he greeted them.
"Charlie! Sally!" he said happily. "I'm so glad to see my two favorite cousins! How have you been?"
"Pretty good, Trevor," said Charlie Brown. "I got some friends for you to meet. You know Linus and Lucy already."
"How are you guys?" said Trevor. "You still have that sibling rivalry going between you two?"
"Every single day of our lives, Trevor," lamented Linus.
"But I keep trying to straighten him out," added Lucy.
"This is Schroeder," Charlie Brown continued. "He's a musician, as well."
"Wow, really?" said Trevor. "What do you play, Schroeder?"
"I play the piano," Schroeder said. "No offense to you but I'm more into classical than pop music."
"Especially when it's Beethoven," Lucy said right away.
"You like Beethoven, too?" asked Trevor.
"He's only the best composer around," Schroeder said with pride.
"I love his music," said Trevor. "When I'm not rehearsing for a recording session or concert, I listen to him as well."
"Wow!" said Schroeder. "Who would've thought a pop star actually listens to Beethoven?"
"It blows the mind," said Lucy sarcastically.
"And this is Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Franklin, Hans, Franco, and Melanie," said Charlie Brown.
"Very nice to meet you, Trev," said Peppermint Patty. "I hope you play baseball better than your cousin here, who I can strike out with three pitches." Charlie Brown turned red and smiled with embarrassment.
"I'm actually more into basketball," Trevor said.
"How do you do, Mr. B?" said Marcie.
"Mr. B's my father, Marcie," Trevor said with a smile. "Call me Trevor."
"Okay, Trevor." Marcie smiled at Trevor.
"Guten tag, Trevor," said Hans.
"Nice to meet you, mien friend," added Franco.
"How's it going, Trev?" said Franklin.
"Omigosh!" Melanie shouted. "THE Trevor B.! I am your biggest fan! Are you single? Are you looking for a girlfriend? May I…"
"Melanie!" shouted Franklin.
"Oops, sorry Frankie," said Melanie. "I got a little carried away there."
"It's okay," Trevor said. "I get this all the time. I'm used to it."
"And last, but never least," Charlie Brown continued, "this is my girlfriend, Frieda."
"Hi, Trevor," said Frieda, softly. "How are you?"
"Pretty great, Frieda," Trevor said. "So you're the girl who stole my cousin's heart."
"You could say that," she said, blushing.
"Frieda can sing too, Trevor," Sally added.
"Is that right?"
"Yeah," said Frieda. "I have done some concerts and talent shows."
"I'd like to hear you sing while I'm here," Trevor said.
"You would?"
"Absolutely. I like hearing new talent. I'm going to hang out here for a few days with my cousins before I go on to the next stop on the tour. So I'll be here to hear you sing."
"Oh wow," Frieda said with a smile.
"Plus anyone who can make my cousin happy is good in my book," said Trevor. Charlie Brown placed his arm around Frieda.
"She does make me happy," Charlie Brown said.
"I can tell, cuz," Trevor said. "You are one lucky guy." At that point Snoopy walked up to Trevor and put his paw out to shake. Trevor returned the shake.
"I haven't forgotten about you, Snoopy," he said. "In fact, I got a little surprise for you. You will have a playmate while I'm here. I adopted a beagle that was kind of living on his own. I found him as my tour bus was passing through Needles, California, and…"
"Wait a minute!" Charlie Brown said. "Did you say Needles?"
"Yeah, we were passing through there when we saw this skinny dog with a fedora on."
"That's Snoopy's brother Spike!" shouted Charlie Brown. "He's the one who lives out in Needles!"
And sure enough, Spike walked into the green room and saw Snoopy and both beagles got excited to see one another.
"Spike!" Snoopy said through his thoughts. "How did you join up with the round-headed kid's cousin?"
"I didn't know he was related to your owner," said Spike through his thoughts. "That must explain why we're in your town. He adopted me and now I live with him. No more sweeping out coyote dens for this beagle."
"Looks like Rerun's going to be happy to see Spike," said Linus.
"He almost adopted Spike himself, Trevor," said Charlie Brown.
"Really?" said Trevor. "I'll make sure Spike spends some time with him since they were that close."
Snoopy and Spike pointed at Lucy and ganged up on her and they both kissed her on the cheeks.
"YUCK!" she screamed. "Double dog germs! Trevor, do you have any facial disinfectant?" Everyone laughed. It was going to be a good few days with Trevor and Spike in town.
End of Clip
HPDrummerman: What also made this episode good was the "B" plot, dealing with Thibault and his anger issues. He was another character I resurrected for this series. I have seen other fanfics which pretty much kept him the same ill-tempered curmudgeon he had always been. But for my series, I decided to dig deeper into his psyche. Picking up from the debut episode, he was banned from approaching Patty (Violet's friend) after stalking her after their breakup in "New Love". This next couple of clips addresses his anger issues and why he acts the way he does.
2nd Clip from "Starstruck":
Around that time, Thibault was walking by himself down a street. He was in a sour mood, due to being banned from being near Patty after stalking her after their breakup. Plus, he hasn't been allowed back into school as of yet. He's been getting his learning at a remedial school for bad and underprivileged kids. It was then he bumped into Peppermint Patty.
"Hey kid, watch where you're… Thibault?!" she said shocked to see him.
"Hey Patty," he said, still frowning. "I'm sure you heard what happened with me."
"Are you kidding?" she said. "The talk about you just now died down. Everyone was talking about you stalking Patty. What in the world were you thinking?"
"I don't know," said the curmudgeon. "I was still upset about how we broke up."
"I heard about you getting thrown out at the Spring Dance by every girl at Patty's school. This is why I kicked you off the team, Thibault. You are a great player, but your attitude about us girls stinks. I was upset when Marcie decked you at first, but then I understood why she did it. You are a male chauvinist. You have views about girls that date back to the dark ages. I don't know why you listen to that uncle of yours and why your dad lets you still visit him."
"Actually, he's cut me off from seeing my uncle after, you know, this recent incident."
"Probably for the best," Peppermint Patty said. "But that's not the only issue. How about when you refused to give Chuck's glove back to him without a fight, only because you thought he thought he was better than you? Nothing could be further from the truth, Thibault. If you only knew how his life really is. He's the last person who would think he was better than anyone else. I think I know what your problem really is."
"What's that?" asked Thibault.
"You don't know how to deal with people, Thibault," said Patty. "You got these ill-conceived ideas about everyone from you thinking everyone thinking they're better than you and what girls should be doing. You act so angry at everyone when you have no reason to be angry at them. Nobody has ever done anything to you. So why are you so angry all of the time?"
And for the first time, Thibault's angry face disappeared to one that looked sad; almost on the verge of tears. "I-I don't know," he managed to say, almost breaking.
"Maybe you should talk to your dad about getting you some help," Patty continued. "Maybe with some professional help, you can get to the bottom of what is angering you all the time. Who knows? This could be the key to you getting back into school, and possibly getting that restraining order lifted. But if you're going to make peace with everyone, this is the first step you must take. And if you want, Franco and I can be there for some support."
"I'd like that," said Thibault, who looked like he was fighting back tears. His angry demeanor finally gone for the first time in ever.
"Come to my house first," Patty finished. "I'll call Franco, and then we can all go to your house and you can talk to your dad about getting some counseling." And Peppermint Patty and Thibault walked over to her house.
3rd Clip from "Starstruck":
"I think it started when my mom died," said Thibault to his psychiatrist. "She died when I was probably two. I have no memory of her. My dad pretty much raised me alone. He did date every so often, but it always ended when the women saw he had a son. I got to feeling that they didn't like me. Maybe that's why I act the way I do towards girls. I know my uncle Max was also a contributing factor to this. Whenever he'd take me on a fishing trip or to a ball game when my father was too busy with work to do it, he'd go on about the women's place was at home and the only work they needed to be doing was cleaning the house, doing the laundry, and cooking the meals. I started to believe what my uncle was saying. When my dad heard about what my uncle was telling me, he was angry, but I didn't listen to him. As far as I was concerned, Uncle Max was more a father to me than my real father was.
"Anyway, I started getting these thoughts about girls not doing what boys do. It was engrained in me. I also started being angrier for some reason. I don't know why. I also felt like people thought they were better than me. I know it's crazy, but it's true. I even tried to pick a fight with this round-headed kid over his glove that I borrowed for a baseball game. I tried to make him fight to get his glove back because I thought that he thought he was better than me. I don't know why I thought that, but I did.
"I even had a girlfriend briefly recently. I know right? The male chauvinist who hates women gets a girlfriend. Anyway I started mouthing off about the same stuff my uncle told me. Well she and her friends didn't take too kindly to what I had to say and at the Spring Dance back in April; I got tossed out by every girl at my girlfriend's school, not before being decked by a huge girl with an even nastier temper than mine. That's when the real downward spiral started. I started stalking my ex just because I blamed her for what happened to me. If those police didn't stop me, I probably would've continued to do it. Because I was a juvenile I couldn't go to jail but I still paid dearly. I was suspended from school indefinitely; I had to go to a remedial school because no public school would take me in any district. I had to do community service, which I'm still doing. And worse of all, I have a restraining order against me banning me from contacting my ex.
"I think had my mother lived, I think I would have turned out different. I'm just realizing the consequences of my actions and what it has done to those around me. I think that had my mother not died, I would've respected women and girls, rather than talk bad about them. I now see that I was wrong, and I want to make things right with the people that I wronged. But most of all, I just want to tell my ex-girlfriend that I'm sorry."
Thibault ended his story right there. A single tear fell down his cheek. He was truly ashamed of how he acted over the years. He regretted how he treated Patty, Marcie, Charlie Brown, and even Peppermint Patty, the only girl he halfway respected. He knew he had to do better. It was going to be a long road to redemption for young Thibault, but when he shared his thoughts with the psychiatrist, it was just the start to the healing process.
End of Clips
UP NEXT: NUMBER 9