Alvin and the Chipmunks (animation)/Trivia
The 1980s animated series
- Cross-Dressing Voices:
- Theodore voiced by Janice Karman (wife of Ross Bagdarsian Jr.).
- The Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon and Theodore) for the Italian dub.
- Edited for Syndication: 65 episodes were syndicated by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1988. They were the first five seasons, both Valentines and Reunion prime-time specials, and the 11 Murakami-Wolf-Swenson episodes from Season 6. In most markets, almost every episode from the first three seasons, as well as a handful from the fourth are sped up (similar to PAL) to conserve time for longer commercial breaks. Some Season 3 episodes left the speed alone, but trimmed certain scenes out. In the U.S., a later broadcast on the Cartoon Network left out the the individual episode title cards from the Ruby-Spears episodes, though international markets always retained them.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes:
- Bagdasarian Productions keep re-releasing the exact same compilation DVDs (with maybe an additional entry or two with certain releases) year after year, under different titles.
- Different episodes, in different forms, continually pop up on various different video sharing sites, such as YouTube or Dailymotion, though they do suffer from being pulled for copyright, whether from Bagdasarian Productions, or other companies such as Warner Bros (particularly uploads from Cartoon Network recordings).
- Show Accuracy, Toy Accuracy: In their debut episode, The Chipettes don matching pleated yellow dresses for concerts and public appearances. It was the only episode of the series to feature them in these dresses. However, when The Chipmunks Posable Play Pals line was released, figures of The Chipettes wearing the dresses were released.
- Talking to Himself: Really taken to new levels during the DiC era of the show; by then, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman did almost all of the voices themselves (notice an increase in characters who sound almost like Dave, and all the female characters have the same voice), while their associate producer, Thom Watkins, did the rest. By then, the only characters who weren't voiced by Bagdasarian, Karman, or Watkins were Miss Miller (Dody Goodman) and Lilly the puppy (Frank Welker).
- Technology Marches On: Many times you see Simon referencing the latest computers as being incredible, despite graphics which have visible pixels and being roughly the size of a microwave oven. Audio equipment is similarly out-dated, using reel-to-reel recording devices instead of digital media which was gaining popularity even in the late eighties when this show was produced.
- Back to our Future lampshades this phenomenon by having the 60's Chipmunks all amazed at the advances in technology.
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60's Alvin: Incredible! There's music coming from these little silver thingies! |
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