Pool / REUTERS

Peter Robbins at his arraignment at San Diego County Superior Court.

The former child actor who was the voice of Charlie Brown in the 1960s "Peanuts" animated television specials pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges he threatened his girlfriend and a surgeon who carried out her breast enhancement surgery.

Peter Robbins, 56, from Oceanside, Calif., pleaded not guilty in San Diego Superior Court to two counts of stalking and 10 counts of criminal threats. If convicted, he could face up to nine years in prison, Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth McClutchey said.

Robbins was arrested on Sunday on outstanding warrants by U.S. Customs officers at the San Ysidro port of entry as he returned to San Diego from Mexico. He remains in jail.

McClutchey said on Dec. 31 Robbins threatened Dr. Lori Saltz, the plastic surgeon he paid to perform breast enhancement surgery on his girlfriend, Shawna Kern.

The prosecution also alleged Robbins left several threatening phone messages for Kern, saying in one, "You better hide Shawna, I'm coming for you ... and I'm going to kill you."

Robbins allegedly threatened to kill a police sergeant who arrested him on Jan. 13 after he refused to pay a restaurant bill at the San Diego hotel where he was staying.

Robbins was released on $50,000 bond the following day and given a Jan. 28 court date.

McClutchey urged Judge David Szumowski to keep Robbins' bail set at $550,000 because Kern and Saltz believed Robbins was a "desperate man" and "had nothing to lose."

Defense attorney Marc Kohnen said the bail was excessive because Robbins had no criminal record and had never been in trouble with the law.

Robbins was 9 years old in 1965 when he became the voice of the world-weary yet optimistic title character of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the first of many animated TV specials based on the popular "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles Schulz.

With its jazz-inflected music score and a storyline involving Charlie Brown's search for the true meaning of Christmas in a season corrupted by commercialism, it became a holiday TV classic.

The actor went on to voice Charlie Brown in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," "You're In Love, Charlie Brown" and "A Boy Named Charlie Brown," which aired in the 1960s. He was replaced in later versions of the animated specials. 

-- reporting by Marty Graham

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Alberto E. Rodriguez / WireImage file

Voice actor Peter Robbins and Charlie Brown attend the DVD release for "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown" in Hollywood on Oct. 7, 2008.

The onetime voice of Charlie Brown in the animated "Peanuts" TV series was arrested on Sunday on five felony charges, NBC News confirms.

Peter Robbins has been charged with four felony counts of making a threat to cause death or great bodily injury, and a single felony count of stalking. After being booked in San Diego just after 3:30 a.m. local time on Monday, he was held on $550,000 bail. He is scheduled for arraignment on Wednesday.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Robbins was arrested on Sunday evening as he crossed into the United States from Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. He was alone in his 2006 Mercedes-Benz C230 when a border officer pulled him aside for an examination. During that check, the officers learned he was wanted by the San Diego Sheriff's Department on a felony warrant for crimes against a person, said a U.S. Customs and Border Protection representative.

During an interview at San Diego's Comic-Con, Robbins, 56, said he'd begun as the original voice of Charlie Brown when he was 9 (video below). He voiced several "Peanuts" TV specials and films, including "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and "A Boy Named Charlie Brown." When he reached 14, "it was time to move on," he said in that interview. His acting career also included roles on shows like "My Three Sons" and "F Troop."

Robbins' manager told the Union-Tribune that she was unable to discuss his arrest at the time, but planned to comment later Wednesday.

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You're a bad example, Charlie Brown? One dad argues that the taunting and bullying in Charlie Brown make it unfit entertainment.

As Halloween nears, many families will gather around the old television set for the annual viewing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” But, one dad says it’s time to retire the classic cartoon because of its taunting messages and unkind words.

“The show is riddled with the kids calling each other stupid, dumb, and blockheads. There is continous teasing and bullying. Charlie Brown is supposed to be the hero, instead he is kicked and demeaned at every turn, even by the adults giving out candy,” Buzz Bishop, otherwise known as DadCamp, wrote at Babble.com recently.

Bishop argues that apart from a sense of nostalgia for parents, the Charlie Brown specials have nothing of value to offer today’s kids. He finds the shows’ acceptance of schoolyard teasing to be antiquated. And, as the father of young kids, he finds the constant use of words like “stupid” “dumb” and “blockhead” to be a bad message for those little ears. “Charlie Brown is always an outsider, the cool kids continue to play tricks, and nobody is ever held to account. In an era of hashtags like #RIPAmandaTodd, these types of attitudes are no longer appropriate,” Bishop wrote.

As the gang goes trick-or-treating, Charlie Brown is repeatedly given a rock while the other children are given treats. Bishop points to this as evidence that even the adults are in on the bullying. Of course, since Charlie Brown is wearing a costume, it could be argued that the adults aren’t intentionally singling the poor kid out.

Throughout life, most of us have times when we feel like everyone else is getting treats (or bags full of candy, if you will), while we get nothing but a sack of rocks. Maybe it’s helpful and reassuring for kids to know that everyone else has those “sucks to be me” moments once in a while. Admittedly, old Charlie Brown seems to have more than his fair share.

Although Bishop believes it’s time for a new era in children’s programming, not everyone is on board.

“Next, where is the line drawn at sheltering children? The moment those children go to school, or are out of your control they are going to deal with issues like bullying. What’s a better way to first encounter it, Charlie Brown or alone in the playground? Bullying exists and comparing calling a kid a 'blockhead' like in Charlie Brown to the abuse that Amanda Todd had to put up with is like comparing a fender-bender with vehicular manslaughter. The scope is nowhere near the same. Bullying is a serious problem when it reaches serious levels such as with Amanda Todd, but at lesser levels it is an unfortunate fact of life, one which I can’t imagine will ever disappear. Avoidance of a problem will only hurt you when the problem must be confronted,” a commenter by the name of Allan stated on Babble.

Of course, Charlie Brown isn’t the only children’s show to use questionable words or themes, as SusanP, another commenter, mentioned. “Interesting perspective — what about the Christmas Story? Home Alone? It’s amazing to watch these old favorites with parent eyes in these modern day times,” she posted. 

Do you think Charlie Brown and other classic shows are worth showing to kids, even if their messages don’t always work in today’s society, or do you think it’s time to retire them?

Dana Macario is a Seattle-area mom who, like DadCamp, has been surprised to find words like “stupid,” “dumb,” and “cannibal” in children’s movies – thanks a lot, "Toy Story," that last one was something I wasn’t quite ready to explain to preschoolers.

The "Peanuts" gang never really went away, they were just ... hibernating. Vacationing. Playing baseball and feeding Snoopy and dragging Linus' blanket around and telling Pig-Pen to take a bath.

Courtesy PNTS

But now the beloved comic-strip characters, who taught us about the Great Pumpkin and the Red Baron and how happiness is a warm puppy, are heading back to the theaters with a new big-screen movie planned for 2015.

"Peanuts" ran in newspapers for 50 years. Charles Schulz, its creator, died in 2000, the night before the final strip was published.

Schulz's son, Craig; grandson, Bryan; and writer Cornelius Uliano will write and produce the film.

"We have been working on this project for years. We finally felt the time was right and the technology is where we need it to be to create this film," Craig Schulz said in a statement. " I am thrilled we will be partnering with Blue Sky/Fox to create a Peanuts movie that is true to the strip and will continue the legacy in honor of my father."

Although the "Peanuts" gang's television specials are perhaps better known, the gang has appeared in four big-screen movies -- "A  Boy Named Charlie Brown," "Snoopy, Come Home," "Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown," and "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!)."

No title or plot description has yet been released for the upcoming movie.

2015 will mark the 65th anniversary of "Peanuts" debut and the 50th anniversary of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the most famous television special in the series.

Are you happy the Peanuts gang will be back in theaters? Tell us on Facebook.

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An old parody of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" from Denis Leary -- whereby the title character converts to Islam -- didn’t get much attention when the politically incorrect comedian posted it online last week, but on Tuesday it was being dissected in political circles.

Under the description, “In advance of Your Merry HappyHannakwanzaxmas,” the video starts with Charlie Brown seeking Lucy’s help with his doubts about Christianity. After she dismisses Tom Cruise as a “blockhead,” Linus steps in to advise his friend to convert to Islam.

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Whereas the classic TV special has Charlie Brown purchasing a Christmas tree seemingly too weak to support a single bulb, Leary’s version features him constructing a bomb that merely detonates a few puffs of smoke. Instead of Linus delivering his true-meaning-of-Christmas speech, this bearded, camouflaged version announces: “It is the duty of the Jihadist to bring terror to the enemy and create one global, Islamic state where there is no music, no alcohol and no Western Influences.”

“Isn’t he the cutest radical Islamist you’ve ever seen,” coos Charlie Brown’s sister, Sally, who has a crush on Linus. (The video is below).

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The parody also features lines like “Merry F-king Christmas” and others that could cause Christians to cringe, but judging from the response thus far the only complaints are coming from Muslim activist groups or their liberal sympathizers.

Islamopohobia-Watch.com announced that “a jaw-droppingly Islamophobic video has been posted by Irish-American comedian Denis Leary,” and Gothamist.com says “we had a very tough time sitting through this particularly xenophobic one-note joke.”

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Many right wingers, meanwhile, are supportive of Leary’s parody. BigHollywood.com editor John Nolte, for example, writes: “Screaming ‘Islamophobia,’ ‘xenophobia,’ ‘homophobia,’ ‘bullying’ or anything of the like, is just the cowards’ way of telling the satirist to shut up.”

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Leary, the self-described "five-time Emmy award loser," tweeted the arrival of the three-minute cartoon from his Apostle production company twice last week and it hit the well-trafficked site WhoSay.com five days ago, though it seems to be getting more attention after Christmas than it did prior to the holiday. On Tuesday, WhoSay listed it among its biggest-trending videos, even though the video is actually several years old and once resided at the Comedy Central website. Versions have been on YouTube for years.

But on Tuesday, Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze.com linked it without much commentary, as did the Islamic news site Crescent Post and dozens of others that weren’t sure what to make of the suddenly hot, years-old cartoon, so they simply asked their readers to weigh in on the controversy.

Note: The video makes use of strong language.

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