There’s another Holiday on the horizon, and I’ll bet you know what that means. It means that we’ll be in for more Chipmunk adventure tied to the season. For the last year or so Paramount has been hard at work filling your Chipmunks addiction with these holiday themed releases. Easter will be no different as we get The Mystery Of The Easter Chipmunk. It’s no Great Pumpkin, but you can be sure to sink those buck teeth into more revved up Chipmunk mischief and trouble.
The Chipmunks began life oddly enough as a singing group, of sorts. They were the brainchild of struggling songwriter Ross Bagdasarian and were named after the three chief executives at Liberty records. His own alter ego David Seville’s name came from his World War II Army station in Spain. The Chipmunks first appeared in a 1958 record called The Witch Doctor, but wouldn’t officially become The Chipmunks until later that year when The Chipmunks Christmas Song was released. It is for that Christmas music that I most remember the group. They first appeared as puppets on The Ed Sullivan Show. Alvin and the boys got their own television show in 1961. When Ross died in 1972, the Chipmunks would continue on under the guidance of his son. In 1983 The Chipmunks had yet another popular cartoon show and had appeared in countless specials and films. Today they are pretty much a hallmark at the holidays, and a Christmas song collection just wouldn’t be complete without them.
This collection gives you 5 Chipmunk adventures, also making sure to include good ol’ Saint Patrick’s Day.
The Easter Chipmunk, Snow Wrong, Special Kind Of Champion, Thinking Cap Trap, and Luck O’ The Chipmunks.
Video
Each episode of The Chipmunks is presented in its original full frame broadcast format. Colors are actually pretty good here, but the print suffers from a lot of damage. There are a lot of specks and other unfriendly artifacts covering the entire print. The animation lines often appear fuzzy. It looks as though no real restoration effort was made here.
Audio
The Dolby Digital Mono track is actually in better shape than the video, but not by much. The songs sound pretty distorted, and I can’t even figure out what they’re saying most of the time. Of course, that might mean the songs are in for a comeback with the younger audiences of today. With some modern music you either can’t understand them or wish that you couldn’t.
Special Features
Nothing.
Final Thoughts
I’m still in favor of a major couple of releases to capture all of the Chipmunk cartoons in a small number of releases. The trouble is, it’s hard to keep up with what you have and what you might need to complete the collection. I have no doubt that these themed releases will continue as long as the sales keep up. Once Paramount has extinguished the theme angles about as far as they can, and likely just a little bit further, will we ever see a complete Chipmunks collection? “I think you have a good chance.”
