The Chipmunks

[Yorick]

that would be about as successful as them suing the creators of The Raccoons over Bert's similar attire to Alvin, or suing the creators of TMNT for the fact that Irma doesn't look like Jeanette by accident, or the similarity in characters from Fly Me to the Moon.

I'm hoping those lawsuits didn't actually happen, and they were just mentioned to make a point. Because after all, I really appreciate the contributions of Ross and Janice thus far, and have such fond memories of the 80's Chipmunks! (And of course I really love the originals, too! Ross Sr can't be underestimated!)

I love TMNT, I really love Fly Me To The Moon with the flys and wish that movie got more attention, and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEEEEE The Raccoons!

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm hoping those lawsuits didn't actually happen, and they were just mentioned to make a point.

Exactly, they've been just about THAT sue-happy in the past few years or so. A lawsuit was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the trailer for Hop yesterday when I went to see Rango: even the production designing of the movie looked similar to the 2007 Chipmunks movie. It looks like a "cute" movie and all, but it doesn't seem very original at all; not just to the Chipmunks, but plotwise, the same old "I wanna break away from tradition and pursue my own goals and dreams, despite discouragement from family and loved ones".

 

[Yorick]

I went to see Rango: even the production designing of the movie looked similar to the 2007 Chipmunks movie. It looks like a "cute" movie and all, but it doesn't seem very original at all; not just to the Chipmunks, but plotwise, the same old "I wanna break away from tradition and pursue my own goals and dreams, despite discouragement from family and loved ones".

Repetitive storylines are getting out of control, but if that's the story here, maybe it's told in a special way. And yes, it's cute for sure!

(How was Rango? It looks good, and as a fan of Harry Dean Stanton (voice of Balthazar in the movie) HDS being in it is a bonus! I know that sounds like it goes against my whole "only voice actors should do voices for animated films" but of course there are films I love where the voice acting was done by film actors, and I wouldn't change a thing about them. But there are many more where the film would be much better for me if they had voice actors do it, and the great thing would be that they'd get more work. But back to Rango Thanks!)

 

[Drtooth]

Exactly, they've been just about THAT sue-happy in the past few years or so. A lawsuit was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the trailer for Hop yesterday when I went to see Rango: even the production designing of the movie looked similar to the 2007 Chipmunks movie. It looks like a "cute" movie and all, but it doesn't seem very original at all; not just to the Chipmunks, but plotwise, the same old "I wanna break away from tradition and pursue my own goals and dreams, despite discouragement from family and loved ones".

It has the same director... they manage to make that abundantly clear in the trailer. If it had stayed the completely animated, it may have been cute. But it looks like they're using the same lame and overused "furry creature juxtaposition to a live action generic loser who want to fall in love" that was used in both Garfields, both Chipmunks, and Yogi Bear (which is why the movie sucked). The fact that he poops out jelly beans made me want to throw something at the screen and boo LOUDLY! I said this in the Smurf thread, but Tim Hill sure has a thing for characters eating fecal matter. "Relax Dave, it's just a raisin." I liked the first movie, but it REALLY didn't need that.

Rango is genius. Other than some... well... unfortunate jokes that can be shrugged off, it turns into a serious Western homage in time. I'm not completely sure, but I heard that they filmed Johnny Depp and some others before hand and THEN animated the film based on their movements and facial expressions. Much better than the lame (and thankfully dead) Zermekis motion capture bit.

 

[D'Snowth]

One thing that's interesting though, that's sort of a dramatic reversal of all this...

Back in the mid 70s (I think), Ross Jr. actually collaborated with the creators of The Nutty Squirrels on new albums for that group... and it's crystal clear that The Nutty Squirrels were a knockoff of The Chipmunks, dating all the way back to when Ross Sr. first created them.

It makes you think if that was today, the only involvement Jr. would have with The Nutty Squirrels would be, of all things, a lawsuit for knocking off The Chipmunks.

 

[Yorick]

One thing that's interesting though, that's sort of a dramatic reversal of all this...

Back in the mid 70s (I think), Ross Jr. actually collaborated with the creators of The Nutty Squirrels on new albums for that group... and it's crystal clear that The Nutty Squirrels were a knockoff of The Chipmunks, dating all the way back to when Ross Sr. first created them.

It makes you think if that was today, the only involvement Jr. would have with The Nutty Squirrels would be, of all things, a lawsuit for knocking off The Chipmunks.

How true! And when I say that, I don't just mean Ross Jr. specifically, but anyone at all these days! That is interesting info!

I wonder what Ross Jr. thought of these albums by the Happy Chipmunks and the Happy Hamsters:
http://wayoutjunk.blogspot.com/2006/12/merry-christmas-from-happy-chipmunks.html

http://wayoutjunk.blogspot.com/2007/01/happy-hamsters-go-ghostbustin.html

Without any more research, I'd assume the Christmas one came first, and then they decided (or were advised) to change "Chipmunks" to "Hamsters" for the next album. But maybe they're not related, I don't know.

 

[D'Snowth]

The funny thing is when it actually comes to the name "The Chipmunks", I actually don't usually think of Alvin anyway... I think Chip n Dale.

Mainly because when I was a kid, I grew up with both, but by then, the cartoon series went into syndication and reruns, and went back to the original "Alvin and The Chipmunks" name, meanwhile, Chip n Dale were usually refered to either that, or casually as "The Chipmunks" (but I don't believe Disney ever officially marketed them as "The Chipmunks", but rather, "Chip n Dale").

So again, usually, if I don't hear "Alvin and" beforehand, then I think Chip n Dale.

But there's plenty of Chipmunk knock-offs out there... way back when the whole thing began, in addition to The Nutty Squirrels, there was also another knock-off band called The Grasshoppers (I guess because Buddy Holly's original backup band already used "The Crickets"); I haven't heard anything from The Grasshoppers, but I actually did see an album of theirs at Goodwill one time (because Goodwill actually sells VHSs, 8-tracks, audio cassettes, and LPs).

 

[Drtooth]

I actually HAVE those Grasshoppers. And guess what? it has 2 covers of actual Chipmunks songs on them... The Christmas song and Alvin's Harmonica.

Considering these are LEGAL records that use these songs, they clearly had to pay The actual creators for the usage of these songs...

sort of like those bad "Songs FROM Sesame Street:" albums, also from Peter Pan.

(Gaed, I hated their Yogi bear story album... none of the real voice actors were on it, and they used someone who NEVER EVER saw Yogi Bear make up bad squeaky voices).

 

[Yorick]

Interesting how the Grasshoppers and the Happy Chipmunks cover the music of Chipmunks

Was one a Christmas album? Any other neat cover songs?

I also like Chip and Dale...both original cartoons from the early days (wish they were on Disney Channel regularly) and Rescue Rangers (wsh they were too).

 

[D'Snowth]

You know, I never really put much stock in Wikipedia anyway, but I think something might be a little true after all, because here's what I found...

I was at the mall today, and stopped by Hallmark Store (mainly because I love all the Hoops & Yoyo stuff), where I saw some Chipmunks greeting cards... never really saw those before. Naturally, they were sound cards, one of which had their 2007 version of "Witch Doctor", and here's what I found interesting: on the back of the card, there were three different copyright disclaimers - one was said the movie was copyright by Twentieth Century Fox, the characters copyright by Bagdasarian Productions, and the "Witch Doctor" song copyright by Ross Bagdasarian, Carol Bagdasarian, and Adam Bagdasarian.

That last one was interesting, because according to Wikipedia, during the 80s, Ross Jr. and Janice Karman actually DIDN'T own the rights to the Chipmunks franchise, but rather, Ross Jr's brother Adam, and that by the 90s, Ross Jr. bought the rights from his brother.