A Chipmunk Reunion
Encyclopedia
A Chipmunk Reunion is a 1985 animated
special
produced by Bagdasarian Productions
, in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises
, and is spun off of NBC
's popular animated series, Alvin & the Chipmunks
, starring The Chipmunks and The Chipettes.
The special originally aired on NBC on Saturday April 13, 1985, as a primetime special, in between seasons two and three of the series. When the series went into syndication in the fall of 1988, this special was included in the syndication package as a regular episode.
Meanwhile, the boys are in the forest, after having been told by a Forest Ranger that the great winter drove animals over Eagle's Peak. As they continue their journey, they imagine what their mother might be like (except Alvin who wonders why their mother abandoned them), while asking other forest animals about her (with no such luck), climbing mountains, and swinging across rivers. Later that night, the boys decide to go home, when they encounter a wild boar that is presumed to have escaped from hunters. It chases them into a log, then it grabs the log by its tusks, and throws it to the bottom of a mountainside, knocking them unconscious. However, someone at a nearby home finds them, and takes them in.
When the boys come to the next day, they find themselves inside the home of their long lost mother named Vinny, who is happy to see her boys again. Meanwhile, Dave and the Chipettes are hot on the boys' trail, while Dave wonders why they left him. However, the girls assure him that just because the boys are looking for their mother, doesn't mean that they don't love him anymore. Back at Vinny's home, the boys reminisce with her about when they were babies, and then she tucks them in with a tendersweet lullaby that she used to sing to them when they were babies.
The next morning, the boys, hoping to have waffles for breakfast, end up being disappointed when they hear that they're having maple leaves, berries and nuts. A bitter Alvin then claims that Vinny never loved him and his brothers to begin with, as she left them on "a stranger's doorstep". However Vinny then tries to explain that she had her reasons for doing this, those reasons being that the boys were too young to survive the long winter, that there was a severe nut shortage, and that it was the great winter that was very cold and wasn't getting any better. However, she knew of a man (Dave Seville) who was very kind to the forest animals, and had no choice but to leave them there with him. She then admits that giving them up was the hardest thing for her to do. Alvin feels guilty for thinking otherwise. Suddenly, the boar appears, and tries to ram its way into the house several times, but soon notices a small rabbit, and chases it instead. Meanwhile, Dave and The Chipettes are still looking for them.
Back at Vinny's home, after noticing the door being completely broken, the boys decide to have her come with them to live with Dave. But she tells them that she doesn't know anything about life in the city, and that she wants them to live with her. Alvin, failing to understand and not wanting to leave Dave behind, walks away to a nearby log, while Simon and Theodore try to comfort him, telling him that they can't expect her to live in the city, that it would be like them trying to live in the forest, and that their lives are completely different, even though it doesn't mean that she doesn't love them. Suddenly, the Boar appears and attacks them. After missing the boys, the boar then sees Vinny and rams into her, injuring her very badly. A weakened Vinny then backs up by the cliffside, and jumps up to a nearby branch, while the boar misses and falls into the river, dying a well-deserved death. The boys hurry to their mother and fear the worst. They take her home and tend her wounds, while Alvin recites something that Simon and Theodore told him.
The next day, the boys find that Vinny is nowhere to be seen, and when they reach downstairs, they learn that Vinny and the others are throwing them a surprise party, and that she tells them they she never forgets their birthday and that she always celebrates it on the 14th. They then celebrate with some blues music. Dave and The Chipettes, all of whom are tired and exhausted, find them, but decide not to disturb them. However the boys notice Dave, and run up to him to give him a hug, telling him that they are coming back with him after all, but they'll be back for visits. After another celebration at Vinny's house, this time with Dave and the girls, the special ends with the boys later that night back at home in bed with their birthday presents. They thank Dave for the presents, and then Alvin, after being asked what his birthday wish was, says that he initially wished they were like other families, but he has now realized that they have parents who love them very much. A teary but happy Dave then closes the door as he leaves, after hearing this.
), along with episode #1 of The Alvin Show
and Rockin' Through the Decades
.
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
produced by Bagdasarian Productions
Bagdasarian Productions
Bagdasarian Productions is an American production company which holds the rights to Alvin and the Chipmunks and related intellectual property assets. It is owned and operated by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman...
, in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises
Ruby-Spears Productions
Ruby-Spears Productions is a Burbank, California-based entertainment production company that specializes in animation...
, and is spun off of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's popular animated series, Alvin & the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....
, starring The Chipmunks and The Chipettes.
The special originally aired on NBC on Saturday April 13, 1985, as a primetime special, in between seasons two and three of the series. When the series went into syndication in the fall of 1988, this special was included in the syndication package as a regular episode.
Plot
The special begins at home at night when Alvin, Simon and Theodore arguing about when exactly they were born. Theodore insists it was the 12th, Alvin insists it was the 15th, and Simon insists that it was the 18th. But not even their father Dave Seville knows the exact date (he celebrates their birthday on the day he found them), so Alvin decides that the only way to find out would be to look for their long lost mother. However, Dave would never let them go, so they decide to have their female friends The Chipettes take over the house. When Dave come downstairs the next morning and sees the girls there, he realizes that the boys went to find their mother, and fears that they could get hurt by wild animals in the forest. Thus, he sets out to find them, while the girls join him on his search.Meanwhile, the boys are in the forest, after having been told by a Forest Ranger that the great winter drove animals over Eagle's Peak. As they continue their journey, they imagine what their mother might be like (except Alvin who wonders why their mother abandoned them), while asking other forest animals about her (with no such luck), climbing mountains, and swinging across rivers. Later that night, the boys decide to go home, when they encounter a wild boar that is presumed to have escaped from hunters. It chases them into a log, then it grabs the log by its tusks, and throws it to the bottom of a mountainside, knocking them unconscious. However, someone at a nearby home finds them, and takes them in.
When the boys come to the next day, they find themselves inside the home of their long lost mother named Vinny, who is happy to see her boys again. Meanwhile, Dave and the Chipettes are hot on the boys' trail, while Dave wonders why they left him. However, the girls assure him that just because the boys are looking for their mother, doesn't mean that they don't love him anymore. Back at Vinny's home, the boys reminisce with her about when they were babies, and then she tucks them in with a tendersweet lullaby that she used to sing to them when they were babies.
The next morning, the boys, hoping to have waffles for breakfast, end up being disappointed when they hear that they're having maple leaves, berries and nuts. A bitter Alvin then claims that Vinny never loved him and his brothers to begin with, as she left them on "a stranger's doorstep". However Vinny then tries to explain that she had her reasons for doing this, those reasons being that the boys were too young to survive the long winter, that there was a severe nut shortage, and that it was the great winter that was very cold and wasn't getting any better. However, she knew of a man (Dave Seville) who was very kind to the forest animals, and had no choice but to leave them there with him. She then admits that giving them up was the hardest thing for her to do. Alvin feels guilty for thinking otherwise. Suddenly, the boar appears, and tries to ram its way into the house several times, but soon notices a small rabbit, and chases it instead. Meanwhile, Dave and The Chipettes are still looking for them.
Back at Vinny's home, after noticing the door being completely broken, the boys decide to have her come with them to live with Dave. But she tells them that she doesn't know anything about life in the city, and that she wants them to live with her. Alvin, failing to understand and not wanting to leave Dave behind, walks away to a nearby log, while Simon and Theodore try to comfort him, telling him that they can't expect her to live in the city, that it would be like them trying to live in the forest, and that their lives are completely different, even though it doesn't mean that she doesn't love them. Suddenly, the Boar appears and attacks them. After missing the boys, the boar then sees Vinny and rams into her, injuring her very badly. A weakened Vinny then backs up by the cliffside, and jumps up to a nearby branch, while the boar misses and falls into the river, dying a well-deserved death. The boys hurry to their mother and fear the worst. They take her home and tend her wounds, while Alvin recites something that Simon and Theodore told him.
The next day, the boys find that Vinny is nowhere to be seen, and when they reach downstairs, they learn that Vinny and the others are throwing them a surprise party, and that she tells them they she never forgets their birthday and that she always celebrates it on the 14th. They then celebrate with some blues music. Dave and The Chipettes, all of whom are tired and exhausted, find them, but decide not to disturb them. However the boys notice Dave, and run up to him to give him a hug, telling him that they are coming back with him after all, but they'll be back for visits. After another celebration at Vinny's house, this time with Dave and the girls, the special ends with the boys later that night back at home in bed with their birthday presents. They thank Dave for the presents, and then Alvin, after being asked what his birthday wish was, says that he initially wished they were like other families, but he has now realized that they have parents who love them very much. A teary but happy Dave then closes the door as he leaves, after hearing this.
Voice actors
- Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. - David "Dave" Seville, Alvin, Simon
- Janice Karman - Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette, Eleanor, Allie
- June ForayJune ForayJune Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...
- Vinny - Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
- Boar (uncredited)
Songs
- Mother and Child ReunionMother and Child Reunion"Mother and Child Reunion" is a song by Paul Simon on his album, Paul Simon , his first solo album after Bridge Over Troubled Water. It was released as a single on February 5, 1972, reaching #4 on the U.S...
- Written by and originally performed by Paul SimonPaul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles... - Vinny's Lullaby (owing to DumboDumboDumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
's "Baby Mine") - Vinny's Blues
- Shake It Up - Written by Ric OcasekRic OcasekRic Ocasek is an American musician and music producer. He is best known as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band, The Cars....
and originally performed by The CarsThe CarsThe Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
Trivia
- In the scene where The Chipettes are making breakfast for Dave, there's a shot where Jeanette slips and gets eggs all over the newspaper that is lying on Brittany's head. But in the next shot, Brittany is covered in eggs.
- This was the first appearance of the Chipmunks' long lost mother Vinny. She made her second and final appearance in a season six episode of the original Chipmunks series titled "Vinny's Visit" (the sequel to the special in episode form). By that point, the show was now simply called The Chipmunks, and was now being co-produced by DiC Entertainment.
Home Media Availability
This special has been released twice on home video. The first time was on VHS in 1989 on Alvin and the Chipmunks in The Chipmunk Family Tree (from The Chipmunk Video Library), along with the season 1 episode "The Chipmunks Story". The second time was on DVD September 8, 2009 as The Very First Alvin Show (from Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
), along with episode #1 of The Alvin Show
The Alvin Show
The Alvin Show is an American animated television series. It was the first to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks, although a series with a similar concept The Nutty Squirrels Present had aired a year earlier...
and Rockin' Through the Decades
Rockin' Through the Decades
Rockin' Through the Decades is a live-action and animated television special based on characters from Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was directed by Steve Karman, produced by Bagdasarian Productions, premiered on NBC in 1990, and released on VHS by Buena Vista Home Video in 1992 as Rockin' with the...
.