The Chipmunks

[Drtooth]

Alvin is a jerk some of the times, so it is justified in certain cases. Though I could definitely see him blaming the bag's design rather than himself for breaking it.

I think the designer comes off as a complete tool in this one, unintentionally. You'd think that the bag would have gone through some stress test if it's going to sell for that much. I mean, if Alvin didn't break the thing, it would have fallen apart anyway. Though it's weird because everyone kinda came off a level of jerkish. Brit was being nasty and shoving the win in Elenor's face. Elenore wasn't exactly a gracious loser. As much as Alvin was trolling Brit, I'd say Brit and Elenore had just as much coming to them.

As far as Alvin's disproportionate retribution goes, the episode that kinda bugs me is the one with the robo-parent device. I know Alvin's an egotistical wad sometimes, but that episode really felt like Alvin was getting his butt handed to him by the writers.

Then again, if there's one older episode that I've always had a problem with, it's the one where Alvin puts Theo in a wrestling match so they can win money to buy some appliance Theo wanted. And even then it's for cooking food for others, but that's not important. I know Dave likes to teach the kids humility, but I really disliked the outcome of the episode. In other words, Theo risks his life for money in a wrestling match only to lose it all because some weirdos that decided to dress nicely for wrestling got their clothes soiled at a wrestling match and Dave tells them the money that Theo earned by putting his life in danger should go to the dry cleaning of idiots that knew it was a wrestling match and dressed to the nines for it.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, don't forget, it wasn't just a food processor Theo was wanting, Simon was also wanting a new microscope, and Alvin a new skateboard . . . and somehow, $50 was enough to cover the cost of all three items, apparently even at 1983 rates.

 

[mr3urious]

"I Will Survive" was another prime example of how Derek the Bully is really Derek the Walking Status Quo.

I think Derek needs a visit from Mr. T, if you ask me.

 

[D'Snowth]

As I said before, that's really my one and only beef thus far with ALVINNN, that anti-bullying episode they did where Derek and his posse kept bullying Simon for wearing those outlandish and effeminiate glasses until his new pair came in and Simon's attempts to stand up to them . . . yeah, in the end, Derek finally came around and realized how wrong it was for them to bully Simon . . . but since then, Derek's gone right back to being a bully, so it's like that anti-bullying episode is completely useless and makes it come off as a preachy episode that must have been mandated by higher-ups or something.

 

[D'Snowth]

Good news / bad news.

Good news: new episodes resume in a couple of week.s

Bad news: They're splitting them into halves again.

I guess because there's like only two full episodes left of this season.

 

[Drtooth]

That's the big problem with this show. While there was no doubt it was going to air in the US at some point, the show was made for an international audience and probably made all at once for a single season like those usually are. None of the major networks wanted it because...well... big name aside, it's a cartoon and those hip youngsters don't watch cartoons anymore, except they do. I'll put a leash on that because I don't want to go down that long rant about subpar live action shows.

Nick probably picked it up with the mindset of not having to pay to produce it, and can easily burn off the series in a flash, maybe dumping it on Nicktoons 10 episodes in. Then they get the double edged sword. The show is a success. Suddenly the big name cartoon that no one wanted became their biggest show. Like Spongebob marathon every day big. Something unprecedented for a cartoon on Nickelodeon, especially one they didn't produce. Now here comes that edge. They ran out of episodes, and while I'm sure they're going to pressure them into making another season, the fact the show was produced all at once a couple years ago is going to make this tricky. No wonder they're trying to get the shows to last. Unlike, say, their original animated fare. Spongebob is that special kind of TV popular where they can afford to run only a few new episodes a year. But the others also have the same "split up" format. Though..HA HA! Pig Goat Banana Cricket can't be split because it's a full half hour and can't be without making less sense.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, they produced two seasons that are twice as long as regular cartoon seasons, and from what I've heard, they're possibly working on a third season right now since the show's been doing so well.

None of the major networks wanted it because...well... big name aside, it's a cartoon and those hip youngsters don't watch cartoons anymore, except they do.

Dude, that goes way back: when I was in Grade 8 in 2003, suddenly you were considered "too old" to watch cartoons, yet somehow, SpongeBob was the only exception, otherwise, if you watched any other cartoon, you were "immature" and "needed to grow up." And that was then.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah, but it's always been like that for teenagers. The whole "let's pretend we're more grown up than we really are, and show it by being as immature as possible to others" is their right of passage. That's when the only cartoons acceptable to watch are ones made specifically for adults. I got crap for Ren and Stimpy, and that's totally not a cartoon for younger kids no matter how they were marketed. I mean, it was the number one cartoon for college kids and comic book nerds back in the day.

But I'm talking about that awful mid00's movement to copy Disney's tweencoms success that I'm always going on about. Now, cartoons are plentiful and every cartoon out there worth a darn has some level of buzz on the internet. But it still needs major arm twisting to get a network to buy a cartoon series. You also have to figure in the fact that even if kids still watch these things, they're probably doing it on a phone or something. I get on the whole thing about how Nick is still convinced it's 2005 a lot, so I'll skip it. But suffice to say "Short run in Peru" still applies to cartoons and that's why certain ones are made for the rest of the world first, and maybe coming back to the US a few years later on some odd channel or online streaming.

Then again, if CN got the Chipmunks, it would probably dump it on a 6Am Saturday time slot like TF:RID and Sonic Boom. Disney XD would have probably got it, but it would have faded into obscurity like Xiaolin Chronicles or the Doraemon dub (which is disheartening that it didn't become popular). Nick made the show successful, and frankly I think that's a nice little stab at the fact they swear kids love that idiotic show about the quadruplets.

 

[D'Snowth]

Now that Season 2 is airing, you can tell the animation has improved when they play Season 1 reruns afterwards. Then again, the last few Season 1 episodes had improved animation: Alvin's nightmare of Julie, Dave, and his brothers turning into cuckoo birds was surprisingly amazing.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I don't watch the show often, but when I do catch it I never see the very beginning of the episodes. I watched part of an episode on Hulu and was very surprised to see that they use the same theme song as the 80s series.