The Chipmunks

[Drtooth]

I'd appreciate it more if I really was into Magic Girl type shows, but I have to admit, it's not cloying in the least. A certain level of those shows have something cloying about them be it an overly cute character, or some cases the whole setting and style. I like that Madoka Magica used that cloyingess to make the dark twists and turns of the series even more of a contrasting shock. But Miraculous seems a bit more grown up and down to Earth than most. Most of these kinds of shows tend to skew a little younger, but this one seems to know its fanbase of slightly older girls if not outright tweens and teens. And I like that it has a healthy compliment of giving it a certain Western Super Hero sort of flair. It's the best of both worlds, and it's a show I find high quality and even enjoyable. It's not something I would regularly watch, but nothing I would seek to avoid.

I also applaud the English dub for not hiding its French setting and keeping most of the French names, though I'm iffy about Chat Noir becoming "Cat Noir" rather than a full-on English translation into "Black Cat". Though I do understand the change from "Le Papillon" (The Butterfly) into Hawk Moth. Sounds more intimidating that way.

I'd say what really strikes this show is that it actually has a competent dub. Not too "American Englishy," the acting's good with some great talent, overall a great job. It would be silly to do that obnoxious Dub Town Change thing, actually. I can get behind the everyone speaks English in France with no accent bit, and I also like that (at least in the episodes I've seen) they didn't blank out, replace, or in anyway alter the French language on posters and signs. Especially since they didn't pull that pathetic thing where they have that jumbled nothing language like certain other French animated cartoon exports.

 

[mr3urious]

Especially since they didn't pull that pathetic thing where they have that jumbled nothing language like certain other French animated cartoon exports.

Funny you mention that, because ALVINNN! itself (A French co-production) utilizes the very same gibberish text in many episodes.

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm assuming they do that intentionally so that the series can easily be translated/dubbed into any language, without the text looking like it belongs to another language people in those countries aren't familiar with. Have you seen foreign exports of American and other English-language programs and movies? Depending on the country, they either include an on-screen translation underneath the original text, or a V/O translator reading the text aloud (as is common in a lot of Latin countries). This way, they don't have to worry about any of that.

 

[D'Snowth]

I have to ask my fellow Muppet Freaks: when Jeanette was trying to make her student film and they kept having to do countless takes because Dave kept screwing up the simple act of tossing his keys on the hall table . . . was anyone else reminded of the infamous drum rolling out the door bloopers from Emmet Otter?

 

[D'Snowth]

Knowing that the Chipmunks were named after record producers Ross Sr. knew, I always wondered if the Chipettes were named after anybody in particular, and according to Munkpedia, Brittany apparently was: they had a studio singer named Brittany, and considering that Janice liked the name, and this was back in the day before Britney Spears, Brittany Murphy, and all these other Brittany's we know of now, that's how Brittany got her name.

 

[D'Snowth]

So all that ALVINNN merchandise we were possibly going to be getting later this summer isn't going to happen after all; that information that was reported of the company that was supposedly going to be making said merchandise turned out to be misinformation, so I guess that's that. I'm not the crazy collector type that I was as a kid, however, I certainly wouldn't mind snatching up toys for this show if they look decent enough . . . it's hard to find good-looking Chipmunk merchandise - one of the best and one of the most hardest to come by merchandise out there is a set of Spanish-made figurines that came out in the early 90s that actually look like very accurate representations of the characters. So yeah, if any figures or plushes actually looked like the ALVINNN characters came out, I'd probably get 'em. I started to collect Chipmunk merchandise years ago - aside from a few DVDs I have, I tried to get things on eBay, but the only thing I actually managed to get was a Happy Meal item of Brittany in her little 1950s outfit, as I used in this video:

Then eBay went and made payment Paypal only, so that was that. So much for trying to start a collection, lol. But, like I said, I'm just not a crazy collector type anymore, and I'm kind of glad about that anyway.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't see why there shouldn't be Chipmunks merchandise patterned after the new show. Isn't it a hit? Wouldn't it only make sense to cash in off this show with some level of merchandising? Might even become more popular as a result.

 

[D'Snowth]

To be fair, there are DVDs of the new show, but, Region 1 DVDs are pretty much those standard compilation sets; other regions have the first season split into two volumes.

 

[D'Snowth]

Time to employee the new meme I tried to start, because oy vey. . . .

So, it's happened again: somebody getting all butthurt over what the Chipettes wear. This time, it was the episode where Alvin tries to film his own reality pilot, and he brings in the girls to help: apparently someone out there had their mind in the gutter enough to whine about how inappropriate it was for little girls to be dancing on the dinner table while "dressed like little strippers."

Yeah, so once again, the Chipettes were created simply to promote impure thoughts apparently . . . like the butthurt guy says, somebody could have just drove up alongside and snatched them off the street dressed like that. Oh yeah, and Brittany was just oh-so provocative dancing on the table, just look at that mangy little harlot:

Really, the only real crime here? Making Jeanette look anorexic.

 

[Drtooth]

So, it's happened again: somebody getting all butthurt over what the Chipettes wear. This time, it was the episode where Alvin tries to film his own reality pilot, and he brings in the girls to help: apparently someone out there had their mind in the gutter enough to whine about how inappropriate it was for little girls to be dancing on the dinner table while "dressed like little

Jeez. Did this guy leave the Amish farm for that one week a year? This is no more or less provocative than stuff they wore in certain episodes of the 80's show. Well...the 90's episodes maybe. The point of this was it was completely out of character and goaded by Alvin, right? I hate how kid's cartoons are under more scrutiny than the reality TV they're parodying. Besides, kids don't know or care what is and isn't provocative. I'm sure the target demographic of young boys hate the Chipettes because they still think girls are gross. And I'm sure the girls love the Chipettes for the opposite reason.