The Chipmunks

[D'Snowth]

It's a good think I have two Nicks: one is just Nick, the other is "Nick 2" which is simply the west coast broadcast. If there isn't a good ARTHUR episode on at 4:00, I'll definitely watch it then, otherwise, I'll catch it again at 7:00 (that is, provided TBS isn't showing a good SEINFELD at that time).

 

[Drtooth]

I'm just disappointed this wasn't met with more fanfare on the Internet's part. Usually you'd find somewhere that announced something like this at least a few weeks in advance. I didn't even see it as of last week watching any of Nick's Saturday Morning shows. Just yesterday during that one new show (disappointed as heck there wasn't a Harvey Beaks or Sanjay and Craig...not even in rerun). Maybe they advertised it during their awful tweencoms? I wouldn't know.

But at least we don't have to wait 3 years for it to be dumped on Qubo or something. So that's good. Hopefully they won't get as ridiculous as they were with Oggy and the Cockroaches that they aired until one episode wasn't watched by the censors and they had a topless woman for like a fifth of a second because French cartoon. Then they dumped the heck out of it.

 

[Rugratskid]

I've known about it for around 4-5 days. It's pretty disappointing about the lack of advertisement. Usually, when Nick starts airing a new show, they'll air ads for it like twice during 1 commercial break (I've seen it happen a lot). I'm glad that they're at least promoting it a little, but it would have been nice to see more ads to hopefully draw more people to watch it. A lot of Chipmunk fans know about it, and will be watching it; hopefully, the ratings will be good enough for Nick to keep it on the channel. I know at least 40 of the 12 minute episodes have been made, but I've also been told they've made a lot more then that, but I can confirm at least 40.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah. On the plus side they aired a couple adverts during the new episode of TMNT today...which also didn't get any advertisement. Maybe because it wasn't that terrible "Middle School Mystery" telefilm that's clearly another pilot for another by the numbers, piece of garbage kiddycom.

 

[Rugratskid]

Although I had already seen a few episodes way back in like May or June, I still wanted to share my thoughts. I watched both episodes, and just wow. It's SUCH a big improvement over those horrible CGI films. Dare I say, from what I've seen, I like it on the same level, if not higher then the 80's cartoon (1961 cartoon is still my all time favorite). The new series actually improves on some things that I disliked about the 80's show. First and most important to me, all the songs, except the theme song, are original and all the songs I've heard are pretty catchy.

Spoiler

The only time I cringed in the episodes I saw was when Theodore's image was changed to a wrapper called "Lil' T"; some of those scenes had me cringing SLIGHTLY, but it seemed like they intentionally made it cringe-worthy; it's hard to explain why I'm 99% sure it was intentional, but maybe you'll understand when the episode airs on August 5th.

No immature jokes about farts, butts, and things seen in most other Nick shows were found (at least none I remember), the characters have the same voices as they did in the 80's (except Eleanor, she's now voiced by the creator's son's daughter), including Dave. I really hope the ratings are high, because the writing isn't horrible like Nickelodeon's other shows, the animation, while CG and having new designs for the characters, was very easy for me to like and have no issues with, and just the overall feel of the show was that it wasn't something they made super quick JUST for cash (obviously they got money but they didn't seem to be the main point of making it). It felt like the people involved worked really hard to make the show great, and in my opinion, they did that. Maybe my point of view is distorted because of how big of a fan of The Chipmunks I am, but then again, even I can't deny those CGI movies were horrid, so I don't love every single thing they do. I'd recommend for people to watch a few episodes, and make their own opinion on it. I'm interested to hear what others think (other then people who bash it because of design, or the voices, or the fact that it's another reboot; basically people who'll find any reason to hate it).

 

[Drtooth]

Other than the CGI, a couple at the moment references, and small size, I could almost swear this is the early 90's version of the show. It was by all means pretty good, and I really like the character designs on this one. Much better than the "this is how they'd look in real life" CGI movie designs. Really liked the gag of Alvin hiding among a bunch of bobbleheads singing the Christmas Song.

Overall, pretty good. The humor's there and the characters seem to be the same as ever. Alvin's creepy crush on an older woman's always a recurring theme, and I'm glad they kept that around. I enjoyed that the episode where he was enamored by the principal was different from the one from the 80's where Alvin had a crush on his teacher.

 

[mr3urious]

I didn't grow up with the '80s Chipmunks series, but I must say, this was a really good, funny revival. I liked the plot with Alvin and Simon trying to get Theodore to get rid of his Talking Teddy doll long after he grew out of it, only for Alvin to use it to take advantage of him and later have that bite him back.

I really like how the Chipmunks look just as human as the Chipettes with their lack of body hair and human hair on their heads. Always felt kinda bizarre that the girls looked more human.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm just loving the character designs here. Great compromise between 90's style and movie style, leaning more towards the 90's than movie. I really like what they did with Simon's hair. Also like that they aren't wearing the exact same thing, and they're actually wearing pants this time.

I've noticed that while Alvin and his brothers are more or less the same, the Chipettes seem like they have different personalities. Jeanette's newfound interest in fantasy, Elenore being a little less "girl Theodore" and more proactive, and Britney being...well...more or less the same but more 10's ish.

 

[D'Snowth]

This show seems to be more or less mostly Janice Karman's creation, and since she was the one who initial developed the Chipettes back in the 80s, I guess she has more creative freedom to do what she wants with them as opposed to being mirrors of the Chipmunks. Eleanor especially seemed to go back and forth a lot in the 80s between being "girl Theodore" and more her own character, but I have noticed with this series so far, Jeanette's come out of her shell a bit and isn't as shy and withdrawn as she once was (I'm surprised how much bite her voice has whenever she gets worked up). This show also seems to bealmost exclusively a family affair: all the writing and voices are done by the Bagdasarian clan, and even for episodes that weren't written by them, Janice gets a separate story editor credit.

 

[D'Snowth]

I bet I know what joke Drtooth got a kick out of from the "Clowning Around" episode.