History WesternAnimation / AlvinAndTheChipmunks

* WeWantOurJerkBack: Alvin ended up going through an identity crisis after having one ''really'' bad day, and began trying out different personas, from a Music/MichaelJackson expy to a Rockefeller business man type. Dave, Simon and Theodore are only able to snap him out of it by acting the way he normally acts.

* PettingZooPeople: The Chipmunks are the size of 9-year-old human children but have the heads of rodents. In the case of the Chipettes, there should be an emphasis on the "people" part: they have animal-like faces, but they have human hair and apparently no fur apart from it.

Also, in 1990, Alvin, Simon and Theodore estarred in a [[DrugsAreBad drug abuse prevention]] special with other [[{{Crossover}} popular Saturday morning shows]][[note]]Papa Smurf, Hefty Smurf & Brainy Smurf as well as a handful of other Smurfs (Harmony Smurf makes a brief [[TheCameo cameo]] in the comic book laying on the floor) from ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs''; Alf from ''[[Series/{{Alf}} ALF: The Animated Series]]''; Garfield from ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''; Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy & Baby Gonzo from ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies''; Slimer from ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters''; Pooh Bear & Tigger from ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh''; WesternAnimation/BugsBunny & WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck ([[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner Wile E. Coyote]]'s mentioned and his time machine's used) from ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''; [[Characters/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Huey, Dewey and Louie]] from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' and Michelangelo from ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}''[[/note]] called ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue''.

''Alvin and the Chipmunks'', later renamed ''The Chipmunks'', is an American animated television featuring The Chipmunks produced by Bagdasarian Productions (formally known as Bagdasarian Film Corporation) in association with [[Creator/RubySpears Ruby Spears Enterprises]] (and later, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson) from 1983-1987 and Creator/DICEntertainment from 1988-1990.

** "Cookie Chomper III", an episode where the Chipmunk adopt a little cat as pet that after is killed by car.

* UniversalAdaptorCast: The final season was renamed ''Chipminks go to the Movies'' and had the cast act out adaptations of popular movies and television series like ''[[Film/Batman1989 Batman]]'', ''Film/{{Big}}'', [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' and ''Franchise/IndianaJones''.

* NeverSayDie: Subverted rather often. One episode even has a frustrated Eleanor shout in anger, "I swear, if we don't get to UsefulNotes/NewOrleans soon, I'm going to KILL her!" as she was sick of Brittany's constant whining. ''Eleanor'' of all people!

* MisplacedWildlife: The Chipettes came from Australia. Assuming they came from wild stock and were not simply exotic pets, they would fit this trope, at least in the real universe. No non-marsupial mammals are native to Australia (not even dingoes, which are descendants of dogs brought there long ago by humans).

* WholePlotReference: ''The Chipmunks Go to the Movies'', the last season, consisted only of these, the targets being relatively recent movies such as ''Film/{{Batman}}'', ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', and whatnot.

* MisplacedWildlife: The Chippettes came from Australia. Assuming they came from wild stock and were not simply exotic pets, they would fit this trope, at least in the real universe. No non-marsupial mammals are native to Australia (not even dingoes, which are descendants of dogs brought there long ago by humans).

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: When it was revealed that the Chippettes came from Australia, none of the girls spoke with an accent.

Also, in 1990, Alvin, Simon and Theodore starred in a [[DrugsAreBad drug abuse prevention]] special with other [[{{Crossover}} popular Saturday morning shows]][[note]]Papa Smurf, Hefty Smurf & Brainy Smurf as well as a handful of other Smurfs (Harmony Smurf makes a brief [[TheCameo cameo]] in the comic book laying on the floor) from ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs''; Alf from ''[[Series/{{Alf}} ALF: The Animated Series]]''; Garfield from ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''; Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy & Baby Gonzo from ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies''; Slimer from ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters''; Pooh Bear & Tigger from ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh''; WesternAnimation/BugsBunny & WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck ([[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner Wile E. Coyote]]'s mentioned and his time machine's used) from ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''; [[Characters/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Huey, Dewey and Louie]] from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' and Michelangelo from ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}''[[/note]] called ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue''.

* BittersweetEnding: In "Help Wanted: Mommy" (or an EsotericHappyEnding if you prefer): [[spoiler: The Chipettes have avoided being sent to separate foster homes, have gained a kindly adoptive mother in Miss Miller, and they have all come to love each other. However, they have lost their independence, which they were previously handling quite capably, and they and Miss Miller are probably still in the phase of working things out.]]

* Tropes exclusive to the [[LiveActionAdaptation live action/CGI]] movies go in ''Film.{{Alvin and the Chipmunks}}'';

* Tropes exclusive to the [[SeriesFranchise whole franchise]] go in ''Franchise.{{Alvin and the Chipmunks}}'';

The third and (thus far) final direct-to-video film, ''Film/LittleAlvinAndTheMiniMunks'' was released under [[Creator/{{Paramount}} Paramount Home Entertainment]]. This film has Ross Bagdasarian Jr. as the [[LiveActionAdaptation live action]] Dave Seville and wife, Janice Karman as his friend, Lalu. It also features puppetry used for ''The Chipmunks'' and ''The Chipettes''.

A new series, done in CGI and called ''ALVINNN!!! And The Chipmunks'', premiered in 2015 in France (the series is a [[InternationalCoProduction Franco-American production]]) and other countries including the UK.

'''NOTE:''' ''Tropes under here are '''specifically''' for the [[TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation '80s cartoon]] series''.

* UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation

* PajamaCladHero: In most of the DiC-produced episodes, Dave's signature outfit is a pajamas... or a sweatshirt and sweatpants that he not only wears in public but sleeps in as well.

* ArtEvolution: For this specific show, as noted on the franchise page, it went through three different animation studios: Ruby-Spears Enterprises animated Seasons One through Five, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson (now Fred Wolf Films) animated the first eleven episodes of Season Six (which were produced specifically for the syndication package), and DiC Entertainment animated the rest of Season Six, as well as Seven and Eight. While the Ruby-Spears seasons have more detailed and consistent animation, the character designs started out rather simplistic with an almost Hanna-Barbera look (which makes sense, considering Ruby-Spears was both a spinoff of and a sister studio to Hanna-Barbera), though in their last two seasons, the characters designs improved greatly, as well as the color palette of the show was richer and more saturated. Both MWS and DiC kept with the slightly overhauled versions of the character designs (the original designs were by Corny Cole, while Sandra Berez later tweaked them for ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure''), their animation was a lot more simplistic and off model; DiC was the worst offender of this, though the MWS episodes are pretty decent for the most part.

* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: Since the DiC episodes (including The Chipmunks Go to the Movies) were not seen in reruns for a long period of time, and have had limited episodes released on DVD, it can be a rather disorienting experience for those who are most accustomed to the Ruby-Spears, and the Murakumi-Wolf-Swenson episodes. Also considering the storylines by the DiC era were becoming far more over-the-top cartoony and less believable ("Dear Diary" is a good example). The Chipmunks Go to the Movies especially are just Plain Weird Installment Weirdness.

** Big Dreams: [[spoiler: After seeing through Simon's Time Machine what might happen if he chooses $500 or if he chooses the Mystery Lunch, Alvin calls to go for the cash, only to find out he's too young and that he has to be 18 to win.]]

* DownerEnding: I Love L.A. [[spoiler: The Chipmunks fail to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Alvin is horrified when he finds out that he and his brothers will be marching in a parade for Dan the Dog.]]

* EvolvingCredits / EvolvingMusic: The show introduced a [[AutobotsRockOut harder rocking]] version of the theme in season 6. On NBC, the episodes produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson (MWS) used this version with a montage of clips from TheMovie, while syndication prints of these episodes dubbed it over the original opening. The [[DiCEntertainment DiC]]-produced episodes played this theme over a newly animated sequence (with the Chipmunks coming out of a limo and getting their makeup done), though at least one of these episodes used the movie montage.