Alvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...

, 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...

 from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...

 from 1988-90.

It aired from 1983 to 1990 on 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...

 and is the follow-up to the original 1961–62 series, 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...

. The show introduced The Chipettes
The Chipettes
The Chipettes are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers first appearing on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes...

, three female Chipmunks with their own human caretaker, Miss Beatrice Miller (who joined the cast in 1986). In 1988, the show switched production companies to DiC Enterprises
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...

 (with 11 additional episodes produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson) and was renamed just The Chipmunks.

In 1987, during the show's fifth season, the Chipmunks' first animated feature film, The Chipmunk Adventure
The Chipmunk Adventure
The Chipmunk Adventure is a 1987 American animated film featuring the characters from NBC's Saturday morning cartoon Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Chipmunk Adventure was directed by Janice Karman from a screenplay by Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr....

, was released to theaters by The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1979.-Background:...

. The film was directed by Janice Karman
Janice Karman
Janice Felice Karman is an American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist. She is the co-owner of Bagdasarian Productions with her husband Ross Bagdasarian, Jr....

 and featured the Chipmunks and Chipettes in a contest traveling around the world. In its eighth and final season, the show again switched titles to The Chipmunks Go to the Movies. Each episode was a spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of a Hollywood film like Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...

or King Kong
King Kong (1976 film)
King Kong is a 1976 American monster movie produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Guillermin. It is a remake of the 1933 classic film of the same name, about a giant ape that is captured and imported to New York City for exhibition....

. Several television specials featuring the characters were also released. In 1990, the special 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...

was produced. That year, the Chipmunks also teamed up with other well-known cartoon characters (such as Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...

 and Garfield
Garfield
Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie...

) for the drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...

-prevention special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue
Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue
Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue is an animated drug prevention television special starring many of the popular cartoon characters from American weekday, Sunday morning and Saturday morning television at the time of this film's release...

.

From 1993 to 2001 Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (United States)
Cartoon Network is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting which primarily airs animated programming. The channel was launched on October 1, 1992 after Turner purchased the animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1991...

 aired the 65-episode syndication package of the series. From 1995 to 1997, Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

 aired the show. It is still airing in Canada on Teletoon Retro
Teletoon Retro
Teletoon Retro is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel based on the Teletoon programming block Teletoon Retro. The service consists of animation series from Canada and around the world, all of which commenced production at least 10 years prior to their exhibition...

.

Characters

  • The Chipmunks: The main characters of the series
    • Alvin Seville: The leader of the Chipmunks, Alvin is the talented troublemaker of the group.
    • Simon Seville: The tallest brother. Simon is the intelligent realist and the most responsible of the group.
    • Theodore Seville: The youngest brother. Theodore is the cute innocent butterball of the group.

  • The Chipettes: The Chipmunks' female counterparts and on-and-off girlfriends
    • Brittany Miller: Brittany, the leader of the Chipettes, is Alvin's counterpart. She is as equally vain and self-centered as Alvin. But like him, she really does care about others.
    • Jeanette Miller: Jeanette is Simon's counterpart. However, unlike Simon, who stands up to Alvin easily, she does not stand up to Brittany as easily. She is also very smart, which is what she does have in common with Simon. However, she is very shy and clumsy.
    • Eleanor Miller: Eleanor is Theodore's counterpart. She shares his love for food and cooking. But she is more athletic, more caring, and more likely to stand up to Brittany than Theodore is to Alvin.

  • David "Dave" Seville: The Chipmunks' adoptive father, songwriter and manager, Dave's patience is tested nearly every day by Alvin, usually to the point where he yells "ALVIN!!!". Despite this, he loves all of the boys equally.

  • Miss Beatrice Miller: The kindly, absent-minded adoptive mother of the Chipettes. She occasionally babysits the Chipmunks and has a crush on Dave, even though she's old enough to be his mother. In her youth, she was part of an all-girl singing group called "The Thrillers".

  • Lilly: The Chipmunks' Rossini puppy who they adopted from the shelter following the death of their original pet, Cookie Chomper III, a kitten.

  • Vinny: The Chipmunks' birth mother (originally voiced by June Foray
    June Foray
    June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...

    , then by Janice Karman). The Chipmunks find their long-lost mother after days of searching. Alvin gets upset because he doesn't understand why she abandoned them. Their mother explains that the year she abandoned them there was a horrible winter and all of the animals in the forest were forced to leave their homes. She realized that they wouldn't survive the journey if she brought them with her, so she decided to leave them with a nice man who was always kind to the forest animals (Dave). She told them that when spring came and she could finally return to get them, she saw how happy they were with Dave, and thought they would be better off with him. Eventually, Alvin forgives his mother. They return to Dave, but the brothers agree to keep in touch with their mother. In a later episode she and Dave clash on how to bring the boys up. Eventually they make up.

Main Voice Actors

  • Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
    Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
    Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. is an Armenian-American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist and the son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.-Life and career:...

     - Alvin, Simon, David "Dave" Seville, Grandpa Seville (second voice), most additional male voices (1988-1991)
  • Janice Karman
    Janice Karman
    Janice Felice Karman is an American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist. She is the co-owner of Bagdasarian Productions with her husband Ross Bagdasarian, Jr....

     - Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor, most additional female voices (1988-1991)
  • Dody Goodman
    Dody Goodman
    Dolores "Dody" Goodman was an American character actress known for her playing the mother of the title character Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman...

     - Miss Beatrice Miller
  • Thomas H. Watkins - Uncle "Adventure" Willy, Lilly the dog, most additional voices (1988-1991)
  • Alan Young
    Alan Young
    Alan Young is an English-Canadian actor and voice actor, best known for his role as Wilbur Post in the television series Mister Ed and as the voice of Scrooge McDuck in Disney films, TV series and video games...

     - Grandpa Seville (first voice)
  • Rainy Hayes - Chipette Song vocal artist
  • Sherwood Ball - Chipmunk Song vocal artist
  • Nancy Cartwright
    Nancy Cartwright
    Nancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...

     - Additional voices
  • Tress MacNeille
    Tress MacNeille
    Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the...

     - Additional voices
  • Frank Welker
    Frank Welker
    Franklin 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:...

     - Additional voices
  • Vanessa Bagdasarian - Additional voices
  • Michael Bagdasarian - Additional voices
  • Derek Barton - (voice)
  • Natalie Brown
    Natalie Brown (actress)
    Natalie Brown is a Canadian actress who grew up in Timmins, Ontario. Brown landed her first print campaign for Bonne Bell when she was sixteen and went on to become the Heinz Ketchup girl. She modeled for Noxema and Max Factor. She studied fine arts at York University in Toronto...

     - (voice)


Episodes

Original Network Run

The series made its debut on September 17, 1983 on NBC, originally under the name Alvin and The Chipmunks, and was animated by Ruby-Spears Productions. Beginning with the 1988-89 season, the series was renamed to simply The Chipmunks, and production switched to DiC Enterprises
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...

 for the remainder of the series' run (with the exception of five episodes produced for the syndication package by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, which aired on NBC in fall 1988 for reasons currently unknown - this was not due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America Strike
1988 Writers Guild of America strike
The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike was a strike action taken by members of both the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West against major United States television and film studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers...

, which did not affect any animated series). For its final season in 1990, the series was renamed again, this time, The Chipmunks Go to the Movies, as all episodes in this season were spoofs of popular Hollywood movies.

Syndication Package

The series went into syndication in the fall of 1988 under the original Alvin and The Chipmunks title, distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures
Lorimar-Telepictures
Lorimar-Telepictures was a production and television syndication firm established in 1986 with the merger of Lorimar and Telepictures until both TV divisions became separate in 1988...

 (and later Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...

 after Warner Communications
Warner Communications
Warner Communications or Warner Communications, Inc. was established in 1971 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....

' purchase of Lorimar, Warner Bros. would later buy Ruby-Spears in 1996). The package contained all 52 episodes produced by Ruby-Spears (#901-952), as well as the Valentine's and Reunion specials. To round the package out to the common-practice syndication package length of 65 episodes (5 days a week for 13 weeks, allowing for exactly four cycles a year), an additional 11 episodes were produced specifically for the package by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson. In the syndication order, these episodes followed the 54 Ruby-Spears shows; in the fall 1988 cycle (September 12-December 9), they aired from November 25-December 9. (5 of these episodes would air first on NBC in September-October, for reasons unknown.)

Also, in an attempt to make way for more commercials, most of, if not all of the syndicated reruns of the show were not only edited, but also time compressed, thus resulting in the episodes running faster than the way they originally ran. All episodes of the show that have been released on VHS and DVD thus far, have the original proper speed reinstated. The title cards that opened each episode were intact on local syndication, and on Nickelodeon, but were completely absent on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network kept Alvin's introductions from the first season that featured clips from today's episode(s), which were shown on NBC but not included in syndication or on Nickelodeon. The introductions originally aired before the opening credits on NBC, but were shown after on Cartoon Network. The initial syndication run in 1988 added commercial bumpers that were voiced by both Alvin and Dave Seville, as well as voiceovers for the titlecards on the Ruby Spears episodes (also voiced by Alvin and Dave). These bumpers and voiceovers were also used when the show aired on Nickelodeon from 1995-1997. A variation of the 1987 Bagdasarian Productions logo, but with the words "Produced by" instead of "Produced in association with", replaced the earlier logos that were used from 1983-1987.

Junior Channel in Germany showed all the episodes from all 8 seasons (including both Valentine's and Reunion specials), in their original speed, and with all the scenes and original closing logos intact.

Home Media Releases

  • Some VHS and DVD releases have the title card, and others do not. No news yet on possible future single season DVD sets of the show's eight complete seasons.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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