“And here’s the star of the show…Alvin…Alvin…ALVIN!”

Year:  1961
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Run time:  74 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     Was this really the very first show?  The one that started it all?  The first Chipmunks show from 1961 that spawned year after year of series and movies and songs and albums and so on and so forth?  I guess so.  The DVD says so.  And I have no reason to doubt the veracity of the back of this DVD.  What I do doubt, however, is the taste of audiences in 1961, who apparently liked this enough to make it a cultural institution.  At least I can understand the voices of the chipmunks a little better than I could in later years.  But wow, is this show ever tiresome!

     In this first show, the chipmunks, who are never really introduced, except in the intro, try to teach a bird how to fly.  And the bird keeps crashing.  And eventually learns how to fly and becomes a far happier bird.  The end.  Oh – the bird is an eagle.  But it doesn’t eat the chipmunks.  That’s implausible.  But it’s far from the worst thing about this show.  Dave is the worst thing about this show.  Early Dave is easily angered, which is upsetting.  He doesn’t pay attention to the chipmunks, and when he does, he doesn’t believe their stories.  What shoddy parenting.  What a shoddy show.  However, if you’re a big-time Chipmunks fan (and I’m sure there are at least four out there), then you’ll want the show that started it all.  And it’s on DVD September 22nd from Paramount Home Entertainment.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 3:23 pm and is filed under 1961, Animation, Cartoon, Classic, Garbage, Kids, TV series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.