“This is the Alvin Show, you’re positively gonna love the Alvin Show.
There’s Dave Seville, and what is more here’s the boy who giggles known as Theodore.
Now you see, on camera three, the brother known as Simon on the family tree.
And here’s the star of the show… Alvin”
The hilarity continues with a second release: The Very First Alvin Show. This disc also contains three episodes. The spotlight piece here is the very first Chipmunk adventure ever from the 1961 series The Alvin Show. You’ll be amazed at just how little these guys have changed over the years. The three shows are:
The Alvin Show Episode #1:
The boys are bored and get into their usual brand of trouble, but end up helping Dave out in producing their very own show. This show introduces the classic Chipmunk character of Professor Clyde Crashcup and his assistant Leonardo.
A Chipmunk Reunion:
This goes forward to the Alvin And The Chipmunks series. The boys go in search of the mother who abandoned them.
Rockin Through The Decades:
This is actually a longer show and is hosted by Will Smith and aired in 1990. It’s really a clip show featuring some of the best bits through the years.
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. The extra 2 episodes are considered “bonus episodes,” but when your feature is only 20 minutes, I don’t consider them as extra.
Final Thoughts
The first episode is more of a mix and match and doesn’t really tell a story. The boys end up in France and learn their own twisted take on French history. All in all it has the classic songs and chatter, but this one’s a little leave it behind in my opinion. Rest assured there will be more and even better Chipmunk releases to come. “So, let’s go.”
