A warning from the top: don't come to this Peanuts special looking for humor and a lot of laughs. This really doesn't have many, but that doesn't mean it's not worthwhile. It's more serious in tone, perhaps the most drama-like Peanuts episode to this point in time (1978).
The plot is simple: It's February, snow is on the ground, and Charlie Brown tries to get Snoopy to drag his sleigh, like an Arctic sled dog might; Snoopy is having none of it, and in fact it's Charlie who winds up pulling the sleigh. After this, Snoopy settles down to sleep and has a nightmare (thus the title of the special). His dream, which makes up the bulk of the episode, is that he is now somewhere in the Yukon and has been forcibly added to an unseen man's team of sled dogs.
Being a beagle, Snoopy struggles to adjust to this new kind of life, and it only gets worse because the other dogs not only don't accept him, but are outwardly hostile towards him. Yet he must somehow persevere under the harsh weather conditions, the relentless crack of the whip, and undernourishment. It really is the stuff of nightmares for a domesticated beagle!
There is one funny scene in the middle of the dream that has Snoopy in a saloon. But after that it's back to the sled team before things come to a final climax that wakes him from the nightmare. It's definitely a departure from the usual Peanuts fare, but again, that doesn't make it bad. If you can adjust your expectations you just might enjoy it for what it is.
7/10. A different kind of Peanut. But not bad at all. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Yes.
