Charlie Brown references Neil Armstrong from the first moon landing aboard Apollo 11. The preceding Apollo mission, Apollo 10, nicknamed the Command Module and the Lunar Module... Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
This is an all-new origin story for Franklin Armstrong, but it contains elements of how he was introduced in the comics, such as Franklin and Charlie Brown meeting at the beach and Franklin's father being in the military-although the comics specified that he was in Vietnam.
Despite having a number 2, Snoopy's car has vibes of the Mach 5 from Speed Racer.
A scene at the end corrects an unintentional slight to Franklin from the Thanksgiving Special where Franklin is seated all by himself on one side of the table. This show has the same situation but Franklin is invited to sit with everyone else.
Franklin, the first African-American character in the "Peanuts" comic strip, made his first appearance on July 31, 1968.