Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers was one of several Animated Series in the syndicated "Disney Afternoon" block of the 1990s. It updated classic Walt Disney characters, much as DuckTales (the Donald Duck/Uncle Scrooge comic book universe), Tale Spin (Baloo, Louie and Shere Khan from The Jungle Book) and Goof Troop (Goofy and Pete) also did. This one focused on updated versions of the mischievous chipmunks Chip 'n Dale. Originally, the series was actually going to be about The Rescuers, which would likely have departed from the books in favor of original content. However, when The Rescuers Down Under was greenlit for production, the series was redesigned into the one we all know and love. Other sources indicate that when Tad Stones first came up with the idea of the Rescue Rangers series, Chip 'n Dale were not part of the show. In the original idea, the show would center around a team of animals, which included a chameleon, an earlier draft of Gadget, and Monterey Jack (with a different name). The main character, though, was an Indiana Jones type mouse named Kit Colby who sported a fedora and a fluffy collared leather jacket. When he proposed the show in a meeting with Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the idea was well received except for the character of Kit Colby. At Eisner's suggestion, he was replaced with the chipmunk duo to give the show some established Disney characters to work with.Chip and Dale now led a team of crimefighters called the "Rescue Rangers". The other members are Monterey Jack, or "Monty", a tough but lovable Australian mouse with a weakness for cheese; Gadget Hackwrench, a blonde female mouse who was a skilled inventor and mechanic as well as both chipmunks' (and the Furry Fandom's) unrequited love interest; and Zipper, a small fly (and Monty's best friend) who could not speak understandably, but had unusual strength for his small size. The team lived in a tree in the park and saved the day from a variety of villains.There was a Nintendo video game adaptation, which was actually pretty good for a licensed game.Boom! Studios announced a continuation of the series in comic book form which began in December of 2010; this followed on the heels of the successful revival of Darkwing Duck as a comic series, which featured a cameo by Gadget in one issue that was likely a foreshadowing of things to come. The comic came to an end after two arcs (eight issues), and there is no word on a future continuation, either by Boom or by Disney-owned Marvel Comics.Completely unrelated to Chippendales Dancers, as well as the 70s Saturday Morning cartoon Lassie's Rescue Rangers.Tropes associated with the Boom Studios comic should go here.
Acme Products: "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" features the ACME Majestic Ultra-light All-Weather Fiberglass Volcano. Which is unusual, because Disney productions usually have "AJAX" as the stand-in every-brand.
Alien Abduction: Sort of happens to Dale accidentally in "Dale Beside Himself" when the Fleeblebroxians mistake him for DTZ.
Alien Invasion: Attempted for real by the Fleeblebroxians in "Dale Beside Himself", faked by Norton Nimnul in "Fake Me to Your Leader", and subject of some of the movies Dale loves to watch.
Alien Lunch: Urkburgles from Fleeblebrox. And yes, they're eaten alive.
The official press kit supplied the fans with information such as one possible official spelling of Lahwhinie's name (namely Lahwhinie). The official press kit was not even intended for the public.
The only explanation as to how Chip got his hat that's available anywhere today is an out-of-print comic book. There are rumors that the movie cut of "To the Rescue" has a similar scene in it, but it hasn't been aired anywhere since 1988.
Alliterative Name: Several one-off characters, including Monty's father, Cheddarhead Charlie, plus the regular villain, Professor Norton Nimnul.
Anachronic Order: The canonical episode order is an often discussed issue. It is clear, however, that the episodes have been neither produced nor ever aired in their canonical order. After all, the pilot is part of Season 2.
except in the episode "It's a Bird, It's Insane, It's Dale!", in which Dale and a human villain both get temporary Rubber Man powers from an alien meteor
]] none of the characters on the show have anything that could be called a super power.
Animal Talk: Almost all animal species seem to be able to talk with one another, including insects. Even Zipper seems to be understood by other animals with ease. Almost all because there is probably one exception: Homo sapiens is clearly not able to understand chipmunks (but has no problems understanding dogs and alligators. Since these are bigger, and for that reason, sound deeper, might it be a question of pitch?)
Dale being turned into a frog in "Good Times, Bat Times" might count, too.
Anthropomorphic Shift: Remember the classic Chip 'n Dale? (It could be argued the setting had an inverse shift, though. Instead of living alongside Donald Duck, they hide their Mouse World from the human civilization.)
Arboreal Abode: The Rescue Ranger's Headquarters is one.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Gadget's focus moves at a hundred miles an hour and turns on a dime. It rarely prevents her from finishing a project but it often makes things interesting for others around her.
At The Opera Tonight: "A Case of Stage Blight". Slightly subverted in that Gadget's idea of dressing up is to wear a flower in her hair.
Badass Family: Monty and his parents (Cheddarhead Charlie and Camembert Kate).
Badass Longcoat: Early drafts of Monterey Jack, then called Colt Chedderson, show him in an open trenchcoat. His final version wears something not that much shorter.
Badass Mustache: Monterey Jack is wearing one. It runs in the family, as he got it from his father Cheddarhead Charlie.
Bat out of Hell: Subverted to hell and back in "Good Times, Bat Times". A cleaning woman-turned-witch has three of the standard horror animals as familiars: Bud the snake, Lou the spider, and Foxglove the bat. While Bud and Lou are affectionate parodies of Abbott and Costello and thoroughly evil, Foxglove is cute, nice, kind, chipmunk-sized, in love with Dale, and probably more popular in the fandom than Monterey Jack.
Bears Are Bad News: Humphrey the Bear (yes, that Humphrey from the Donald Duck shorts). Averted due to the fact that despite the chaos he accidentally caused, in the end he saves the baby's life.
To a minor extent in "A Creep in the Deep", where Monty's tail keeps getting injured much to his dismay (and his increasing anger). The last time it gets injured in the episode, he goes absolutely berserk.
Also, don't call the cleaning witch from "Good Times, Bat Times" "Freddie". Of course, only the nice Foxglove calls her Winnifred.
Beware the Nice Ones: Gadget in "The Case of the Cola Cult" and "Dirty Rotten Diapers".
Be Yourself: Dale in "The S.S. Drainpipe" who eventually ditches Red Badger of Courage methods in favor of a plan of his own. Also Tammy who tries to impress Chip by being like him.
Big Applesauce: Chrysler Building in "The Carpetsnaggers", Twin Towers in "Robocat", Rat Capone's Brooklyn accent, and so forth, and still there's no rock solid proof the show takes place in New York City. (There's also quite a bit of evidence that it doesn't — see Geographic Flexibility.)
Big Bad: Fat Cat, Professor Nimmul, and (in the pilot only) Aldrin Klordane.
Big Ball of Violence: In "Love Is a Many Splintered Thing", Monty ends up in a Big Ball of Violence, crawls out of it, picks it up and tosses it away as a whole.
Big Creepy Crawlies: In "Fake Me to Your Leader", Nimnul enlarged a bunch of pill bugs to six feet and made everyone believe they're Insectoid Aliens.
Big Eater: Bink in "Adventures in Squirrelsitting", and of course Monterey Jack, especially when it comes to cheese.
Big Fancy House: The Clutchcoin house in "The Carpetsnaggers", for example.
Bird Caged: Chip, Dale and Gadget are trapped in a bird cage placed in rising water by a tribe of beetles in "Zipper Come Home".
Booby Trap: Gadget used to live behind what seemed like a Hall of Fame of booby traps. One might wonder how she got all that stuff installed, including a safe.
Bottomless Magazines: Percy's revolver during the shoot-out in "To the Rescue", up to the point of acting like a submachine gun, but always far from being limited to five or six rounds.
Bound and Gagged: The primary method of handling prisoners among the animal population seems to be tying them up.
"Dirty Rotten Diapers" does not work as a lesson against resorting on violence.
The "Case Of The Cola Cult" was trying to promote finding a place where you belong in an episode about a cult. That's definitely not the best message to send to people.
Bull Seeing Red: Was impossible to avoid in "When Mice Were Men".
Buried Alive: Gadget suggests the Pi-Rats bury them in the sand and wait for the tide to come. When Chip expresses his shock, she apologizes and says she couldn't resist the challenge.
Busman's Holiday: Whenever the Rangers go on one of their many vacations, they will inevitably have to solve at least one case. A few examples: "Gadget Goes Hawaiian", "Shell Shocked", "Kiwi's Big Adventure", "When Mice Were Men", "Chocolate Chips".
California Doubling: It's not quite clear where the Rangers are based, but that place looks a lot like Burbank and Hollywood. Although it is animated.
The Cameo: The crocodile from Peter Pan chases Chip 'n Dale in "Kiwi's Big Adventure".
Cannot Spit It Out: Chip in "Good Times, Bat Times", mostly because he is being constantly interrupted. Also in many fanfics he is portrayed this way.
Halfway averted with the slices of cheese Monty steals out of burgers and sandwiches and the melted cheese from pizzas.
Monty's favorite cheese is the Brie '86 (though it was established in "To The Rescue, Part 3" that he likes cheese regardless of what kind it is). Of course, no cheese in the show ever looks remotely like a brie.
The Cassandra: Played with in "Seer No Evil". When the predictions of the fortune teller (who's actually named Cassandra) start to come true, the whole team (except Chip) gets very worried, since her last prediction was apparently of Chip's demise.
Celebrity Voice Actor: Kathleen Freeman as Ma in "Short Order Crooks"; Deborah Walley as Buffy Ratskiwatski ("Out of Scale"), Lahwhinie ("Gadget Goes Hawaiian"), and Foxglove ("Good Times, Bat Times"), Carol Channing as Canina LaFur ("A Chorus Crime" and "They Shoot Dogs, Don't They").
Centrifugal Farce: Poor Chip and Dale get subjected to the centrifuge with Gadget and Jack at the controls. They are Squashed Flat when the centrifuge finally stops.
Chained to a Railway: Twice. ("Out of Scale" has Dale in garb Chained to a Railway by Buffy and in "Last Train to Cashville" the whole gang, bar Dale, gets this treatment from Fat Cat). In "To the Rescue" Plato is chained to a train, although not the railway itself.
Chain of People: "To the Rescue, Part 5". What's remarkable about this scene is that Gadget on top of the chain is able to yank up Chip to shout into his face and the other three Rangers with him with only one hand (This could be the Square/Cube Law becoming an advantage for such small creatures... or it could simply be Rule of Funny.)
Chaste Toons: Subverted by Gadget (who had a father), Monty (who still has both parents), Tammy (who has a mother), and Ignatz Ratskiwatski (who has a daughter), just to name a few. Played straight by Nimnul, though, who only has a nephew.
Chick Magnet: Most of the male characters are lucky with women. Chip has received affection by Gadget and Tammy, Dale has received affection from Gadget and Foxglove, Monterey Jack has received affection from Gadget and Desiree D'Allure, and Zipper has received affection from Queenie and Cassandra.
Colour Coded For Your Convenience: Most of the villains wear purple: Fat Cat, Rat Capone, Errol, Mr. Gribbish. (Gadget wears purple too, but it's a different shade, more like lavender.)
An official series of 19 comic books, the first two of which retell "To the Rescue", and several stand-alone comics in various Disney publications, including quite a few in Disney Adventures and a compilation collection called "The Secret Casebook". Sadly, Disney has never reprinted any of these, so good luck finding 'em.
Compressed Hair: Just exactly how did Gadget stuff all that hair under that wig in "Dirty Rotten Diapers"?
Conservation of Ninjutsu: Gadget vs. Bubbles' NinjaMooks in "Case of the Cola Cult". Granted, she is heavily armed and doesn't know Ninjitsu, but the principle is the same.
Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Myron disguises in one in "The Case of the Cola Cult" when he comes to alert the Rangers.
Convection Schmonvection: It's apparently not the slightest bit hot a pair of tongs' length above a barbecue grill ("Gadget Goes Hawaiian").
Conveyor Belt-O-Doom: Used in "Adventures in Squirrelsitting" and "Pie in the Sky".
Cool Garage: Gadget's old home in a World War II bomber plane wreck, complete with dozens of death traps against intruders and a dynamite-driven catapult for her father's plane.
This has to be taken literally with Nimnul's flying iceberg in "To the Rescue". It's so cool that it doesn't even melt on its several-thousand-mile flight.
Cowboy Bebop At His Computer: Whoever wrote the official German descriptions for the show and the episodes in particular had no idea what they were about. At all. Zipper is sometimes described as female although we could probably name two episodes which could show them otherwise even without any audio), Monty is sometimes named by his English name, sometimes by his German name, Gadget is sometimes named by her German name, sometimes by Gosalyn's German name (which she was definitely not given in any language), and so forth.
Crash Course Landing: The Rangers manage to pull off not a "simple" landing, but a frieking planetfall and touchdown with a NASA experimental space plane. After about five minutes in a simulator (and crashing twice there).
Crash into Hello: Tammy and Bink's mother gets to know Chip and Dale when they crash into her place.
Crazy-Prepared: Gadget has on her person, among other things, a parachute, an inflatable raft, a glass cutter and a lighter. Being a Rescue Ranger kinda justifies it though.
Chip and Dale do this for "The Fat Cat Stomp". In fact, it can be seen in the full opening for the show.
Dale as "Tootsie" in "S.S. Drainpipe".
Cross-Dressing Voices: Chip and Gadget were both voiced by Tress Mac Neille (though, for Chip, you wouldn't know it from hearing at first since Tress's voice was placed at a higher pitch to match the original voice actor for Chip from the old Donald Duck cartoons).
Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Professor Nimnul is clearly a brilliant scientist, so why doesn't he just patent his inventions, sit back and watch the money roll in instead of constantly picking fights with a group of rodents?
Subverted when he tried to go straight in "Rest Home Rangers" by showcasing his invention at an expo, only to have it backfire, after which he swears revenge on everyone who laughed at him.
Additionally, in "The Pied Piper Power Play" he tried to sell his potato generator to the power company, but they just laughed at him.
In "Catteries Not Included" he mentioned that he attempted to sell his cat-powered generator to the power company, but they laughed at him.
It seems the only person to have ever believed in Nimnul's crazy inventions was crime boss Aldrin Klordane, although that may have been because Klordane himself was a bit crazy.
Cute Kitten: Spunky in "Catteries Not Included", Boots in "Gorilla My Dreams".
The Danza: Dev Ross as the TV aerobics trainer Dev in "Battle of the Bulge". See also Ink Suit Actor.
Dark Fic: Many of the most famous Fan Fiction creations in the Rescue Rangers fandom fall into this category. Rhyme and Reason, Gadget In Chains, The Nowakverse stories including Under The Bridge, the Chip Noir Dale series, in fact, also Of Mice And Mayhem.
Geegaw Hackwrench, who is only mentioned in the pilot episode(s) as having been absent for more than a year before Gadget met the other Rangers and, according to Gadget, not going to return.
Tammy and Bink seem to lack a father, too.
Disguised in Drag: Chip in "Adventures in Squirrelsitting", Dale ditto plus several more episodes, and even Zipper in "When You Fish Upon a Star". And quite successfully.
Disney Death: Monty in "To the Rescue, Part 2", Chip in "Seer No Evil"...
Dodge By Braking: This is how Gadget avoids the hawks in "Three Men and a Booby".
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Monterey Jack trying to quit cheese in "Mind Your Cheese and Q's" is probably the closest thing Disney (or any American TV show, animated or otherwise) has ever done to doing an addiction show that wasn't Anvilicious.
A Dog Named Dog: No points for guessing Fat Cat's species (though it's also got a double meaning as he is a wealthy animal businessman/criminal too). Also, his henchman Mole is a mole.
Dog Stereotype: The Doberman and Frenchie in "To the Rescue, Part 4", for instance.
For no apparent reason, the shot of Chip acquiring his hat in Part 2 of the pilot is missing from reruns and even the DVD.
"The Pied Piper Power Play" was largely re-cut to remove a deaf-mute character named Mouseo that Disney execs felt was a negative stereotype. At least half the story is changed by his removal.
Several episodes were edited for Toon Disney, including edits that take out fade-outs to commercials and replace them with horribly-put-together cuts between scenes. What makes this worse? The Toon Disney cuts are the ones used for the DVDs.
The episode "A Lean on the Property" was never shown after the September 11th attacks because the story involved Fat Cat levelling skyscrapers by using moles.
The episode "Dirty Rotten Diapers" redubbed Gadget's lines about hurting the midget criminal posing as a baby (i.e. "Trash the brat!" was changed to "Trash the bum!" and "Let's shake that baby 'til he rattles!" was changed to "Let's shake that bum 'til he rattles!") because the censors thought it would bring about complaints of child abuse. The Toon Disney run had the original lines.
In the original version of "Puffed Rangers", the villains were crooked Japanese auto executives who spoke in stereotypically Asian English and there were a lot of jokes about China and Chinese culture. In the reruns, the auto executives spoke clear, grammatically correct English and all of the China/Chinese jokes were altered or excised.
Usually Monty, especially when he attempts to steal cheese or anything cheese-flavored from the police officers. In this case, it's less "Eek! A Mouse!" and more "Get that mouse!" or "Hey, it's that mouse!"
Eek, a Mouse!! is played particularly straight in "The Carpetsnaggers", used by Monty to his advantage.
'80s Hair: Gadget. Sort of lampshaded in Of Mice And Mayhem when Gadget gets a more modern hairstyle since the story takes place in the 90s. And of course Lahwhinie.
Einstein Hair: Dr. Hibbleman from "It's a Bird, It's Insane, It's Dale!", Dr. Whitebread from "Double 'O Dale".
Ejection Seat: Gadget built one into the Screaming Eagle.
Everything's Better with Monkeys: Heebie and Jeebie in "An Elephant Never Suspects", Kookoo in "Gorilla My Dreams". Abbadabba in "Seer No Evil" is actually an exception; unlike Heebie and Jeebie, he is a henchmonkey of the Big Bad and not even sentient.
Everything's Better with Plushies: The long out of production, extremely sought after, and thus outrageously expensive "Gadget Plushie", a figurine manufactured by Applause that isn't even made of plush. If you're lucky enough to acquire the whole set of four, you'll pay at least 90% of the price for Gadget alone and the other 10% for the guys.
Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: In particular, the sharks in "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" that could fit into a pint. And the shark guarding the pearl in "One-Upsman-Chip".
Everythings Squishier With Cephalopods: When the Rangers are anywhere near the sea, they encounter squids more often than not. Billy the Squid in "Piratsy Under the Seas", the nameless squid at the beginning of "Gadget Goes Hawaiian", All Hands and Captain Fin's other tentacled cronies in "A Creep in the Deep"...
The title chipmunks were originally not going to be a part of the show, as it was going to be a The Rescuers' spin-off with original characters; execs insisted on established Disney characters to headline the show instead, and as soon as the creators saw Chip and Dale's names on a list, they agreed to use them.
Express Lane Limit: In "Rest Home Rangers", Professor Nimnul tries to get a colossal stockpile of prunes out through an express lane, with predictable results (apart from Nimnul's retort: "I've only got one item - prunes!").
Eye Pop: Of all characters, Bubbles has one before falling onto the soda pool.
Fake Nationality: Lots of characters from all around the world meet a pretty much 100% American voice cast.
Fake-Out Make-Out: Lahwhinie with Dale (once) and Chip (twice) in "Gadget Goes Hawaiian", Gadget in disguise with Dale in "Double 'O Chipmunk".
Fake Rabies: In the pilot arc, Fat Cat gets Plato out of the way at one point by spraying his mouth with whipped cream and stuffing a visitor's lapdog into the middle of the mess.
Fan Disservice: Monty totally naked in the mini-bath. Chip and Dale in drag varies between this and Fanservice.
Fan Verse: Most Fan Fic writers create their own universe with whole series of stories, to which sometimes stories are added by other writers, for example The Nowakverse by John Nowak or the Chip Noir Dale's Rescue Rangers universe by Matt Plotecher.
Fan Web Comics: There are several creations that may count as Fan Web Comics. None of them are comic strips published regularly, though.
Chris Fischer's Of Mice And Mayhem was published all at once when the author gave the link to the story; besides, it's a graphic novel rather than a comic strip.
There are several more graphic novels which are works in progress and updated very irregularly; the latter also applies to the Sprite ComicRanger Days.
Flame War: Some extremely ugly wars about which chipmunk Gadget will end up with have nearly torn the fandom apart on at least two occasions. Since then discussing the topic seriously is still somewhat of a taboo.
Follow the Leader: The comic book parodied this by having several knock-offs of the Rescue Rangers actually appear within the stories. The first group they encountered was revealed to be working for Fat Cat, though.
Follow Your Nose: Played straight by Monty during his cheese attacks. Exaggerated on "Out of Scale", when Dale throws a chunk of Limburger cheese into a toy truck, commenting that Monty will love it. Of course, Monty smells it and goes into "cheese attack" mode — until he finds the shrink ray gun and attempts to drag it back with him, only to have the smell of Limburger literally drag him away. Monty fights it — until the smell taps him on the shoulder and goes up his nose.
Fortune Teller: Cassandra. She's a Gypsy all right, and a light bulb serves as her crystal ball.
Four-Fingered Hands: Most characters, but a few have five-fingered hands. This is used to comedic effect in "The Pied Piper Power Play" when Chip has to use both hands to indicate the number five.
Funetik Aksent: Monterey Jack to a lesser extent in the official comics and to the extreme in Fan Fic.
Furry Female Mane: Most of the anthropomorphic female cast actually, including Gadget, Lahwhinie (naturally), Tammy, Bink, their mother, Cassandra (an insect), Queenie (another insect), Camembert Kate, Désirée D'Allure, and so forth. Foxglove and Ming-Ting are comparatively rare exceptions.
Geographic Flexibility: What the heck do a barrage ("A Creep in the Deep"), the Chrysler Building ("The Carpetsnaggers"), the World Trade Center ("Robocat"), the Bob Hope Airport ("To the Rescue"), the Los Angeles Town Hall ("To the Rescue"), and LAPD police uniforms do in one and the same city?
This is probably what Tad Stones meant with a "West Coast city with an East Coast flair". Only that the city can impossibly be located on the East Coast when the moon rises above the sea.
In "Double O'Chipmunk" Dale, after his devices wreck the Ranger HQ, in shown wearing only a bowtie, like a Chippendales dancer. This also qualifies as a Visual Pun.
In "Adventures in Squirrelsitting" Bink steals Dale's shirt. Yes, it's his only clothing and we see him chase her naked.
In "Mind Your Cheese and Q's", Monty locks himself in the vault of cheese and sings a variation of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall", replacing "beer" with "cheese". Might not seem like much, but it does seem like something that modern cartoons (unless they're adult-oriented) wouldn't dare put in.
Ditto the end to "Battle of the Bulge". Yes, Chip, Dale, and Gadget were wearing clothes when they jumped into the mini-bath, but the only thing Monty had on was that helmet with the goggles.
How did a character named Maltese de Sade make it past the media watchdogs?
The episode A Fly in the Ointment has a scene where Dale (Who, I would like to remind everyone, is male, and a Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal) and Gadget (Who is female and generally goes around fully dressed), get hit by a ray that swaps their heads. Gadget's reaction upon realizing what happened is to panic and turn a nearby paper cup into an improvised skirt.
Not to mention her reaction to seeing Dale's head on her body. (Keep the hands off the body!)
In "Shell Shocked", after the Rangers fall to the floor.
Go-Go Enslavement: In "A Case of Stage Blight", after the team is captured by Sewernose, he dresses them up like Wild West people, puts strings on them like marionettes and puts on a dinner theater with them before choosing to eat them.
Go Mad From The Revelation: Happens to the spy at the end of "Double O'Chipmunk" when he realizes he's been defeated by a group of rodents.
Most of the time, Gadget wears her goggles upon her head as a decoration. She even wears them with her nightgown in "Double 'O Chipmunk". A very few times, however, she does use them.
Monterey Jack has his own goggles. He is even seen once wearing his usual Goggles Doing Nothing in their usual place and a second pair of goggles covering his eyes.
Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: They actually even managed to do that with Lahwhinie, who otherwise looks like Gadget.
Gosh Hornet: "Risky Beesness" uses standard elements of this.
GPS Evidence: Subverted in "It's a Bird, It's Insane, It's Dale!" in how Gadget finds where Seymour's hiding the monuments he's stealing. She takes a flyer from his travel agency, analyzes it chemically, and then tells the Rangers the exact address...which she read on the flyer.
Grappling-Hook Pistol: Gadget's suction-cup crossbow. She even uses a suction-cup pistol in "To the Rescue".
G-Rated Drug and I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin: The episode "Mind Your Cheese and Q's" where Monterey Jack tries to give up his cheese addiction is a perfect example of both of these. Actually, Monty's cheese addiction in general counts.
Gravity Is A Harsh Mistress: Lots of instances. The most famous example would be Dale and Foxglove's first scene together in "Good Times, Bat Times".
Heroes Are Wanted By Redheads: Tammy is attracted to Chip, and Foxglove is attracted to Dale.
Heterosexual Life Partners: Chip and Dale must have been spending an eternity together even before they became Rescue Rangers. (Though it has been hinted in comics before this series at that they're related, this is probably not canon to the show.)
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Monterey Jack and Gadget are the friendly variety of this.
Hula and Luaus: "Gadget Goes Hawaiian", only little hula, but a big luau scene and tourists and surfing and volcanoes. Justified that the episode takes place behind a hotel, and the volcano is fake, a deliberate tourist attraction.
Humanity Ensues: When Harry the wolf is turned into a human and Nimnul almost pulls a Wolf Man in "A Wolf in Cheap Clothing".
Human Ladder: Although not done with humans but animals instead, this is the subject of merchandise such as the Electric Tiki statue. Of course, it also appears in the show on several occasions, for example, in "Fake Me to Your Leader" when the Rangers sans Zipper have to press an elevator button.
Everyone exposed to the hypnosis device in "Parental Discretion Retired" believes they're chicken.
Queenie's swarm in "Risky Beesness".
The sturgeons in "Parental Discretion Retired".
Hypocritical Humor: On the episode "Chocolate Chips", Dale smells chocolate and goes into the same sort of cheese-attack trance that Monterey Jack does whenever he smells cheese. Monty pulls Dale back and has the nerve to comment that it's "...disgusting the way some people can't control themselves."
It happens again when an alien transformed into a duplicate of Dale sees his favorite food... ...Earthburgles.
Imperial China: Lives on in a valley in the Himalaya which has even got its own emperor ("Song of the Night 'n Dale").
Implausible Fencing Powers: Dale, a chipmunk, manages to defeat Sewernose de Bergerac, an alligator several times his size with a weapon several times as large as his.
Deborah Walley more or less replays part of her role as Gidget as Lahwhinie's voice actress.
Dev Ross stars as herself in a mini cameo as an aerobics trainer in "Battle of the Bulge".
Insectoid Aliens: Nimnul sells gigantic pill bugs as just that in "Fake Me to Your Leader". Little does he know that the very same city is visited twice by actual aliens, none of whom are insectoid, by the way.
Instant A.I., Just Add Water: "Robocat". The titular robot even has different personalities according to what game cartridge is inserted. Yes, its AI runs on arcade game code.
Kitchen Chase: An episode has a chase scene in a TV studio - they bump into a TV show chef, just as he is in the middle of explaing how much care today's dish requires.
Lady in Red: Gadget in "Double 'O Dale" and "Mind Your Cheese & Q's".
Lampshade Hanging: Happens in "A Creep in the Deep". After Gadget pulls out a larger-than-herself glass cutter seemingly out of nowhere:
Monty: Do you always carry a glass cutter around with 'ya? Gadget: No. Just when I want to cut glass.
Chip and Dale fall for Gadget pretty much at first sight.
In "Good Times, Bat Times", Foxglove falls for Dale the moment she sees him fall.
In "Adventures In Squirrelsitting", Tammy falls for Chip the moment she sees him.
Love Makes You Dumb: Monterey Jack couldn't even see what the other Rangers were trying to tell him about Desiree being linked with the recent crime they were investigating because he was too smitten with her to see otherwise to the point where he temporarily quits the team.
Chip/Gadget/Dale. Then again, there is also the Love Triangle Tammy/Chip/Gadget, and to a lesser extent Foxglove/Dale/Gadget. Add Sparky, whom Gadget admires a bit too much, making both Chip and Dale jealous, and you've got a borderline Love Dodecahedron.
Cassandra/Zipper/Queenie.
Monty/Désirée/Errol.
Lucky Rabbit's Foot: Monterey Jack of has one among his many good luck charms. Bear in mind that he's a mouse, and the rabbit's foot is quite large in comparison to him. Chip comments that it couldn't have been very lucky for its previous owner...
Midair Repair: Overdone by Gadget in "Bearing Up Baby" when she rebuilds the plumbing of an RV into a sort of rigid lanyard to rescue it after it falls from a cliff. Within seconds.
Missing Episode: "A Lean on the Property" was banned in the USA post-9/11. It's not on the two released DVD sets, either.
Missing Mom: While Gadget's father Geegaw is mentioned and shown in a picture during the pilot, not a word is said about her mother, and she never appears during the series.
Ms. Fanservice: Gadget in her red dress definitely qualifies for this.
Mummy: Subverted in "Throw Mummy from the Train", Hiram is on the Rangers' side.
Mundane Fantastic: Apart from the rodent societies we have Gnomes, malevolent spirits and aliens on vacation. Yet, nobody (beside Dale) seems to make much fuss about them. Of course the humans are always oblivious to everything.
My Little Panzer: In "Puffed Rangers", firearms are shrunk and smuggled as action toy accessories while remaining in full working condition. Gadget manages to blast a large part out of the rear door of a van with a toy-sized bazooka.
My Name Is Not Durwood: Chip continually tells Tammy not to call him Chipper in "Adventures in Squirrelsitting".
My Nayme Is: Whatever you expect the name of Gadget's Evil Twin in "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" to be spelled like, chances are good it's spelled differently. The officially established canonical spelling is Lahwhinie, by the way, but even this isn't accepted by everyone.
Mysterious Past: Gadget's past, only a few hints are given in "To the Rescue, Part 3".
In "To the Rescue", the detective and his dog are named Donald Drake and Plato, obviously a nod to Chip 'n Dale's old costars Donald Duck and Pluto; also in that episode, the villain's thug mistakes Dale for his gun, reusing a gag from the 1950s short "The Lone Chipmunks".
In another episode, the Rangers are going to a movie, and Dale hopes to see some cartoons before the main feature:
Dale: "I hope they show the one with the big dumb duck!"
Humphrey the Bear in "Bearing Up Baby".
The friendly rivalry over between Chip and Dale over Gadget is also a nod to the old cartoon "Two Chips and a Miss", with Gadget replacing Clarice.
Whenever Chip and Dale fight over something, their voices slip into the high-pitched squeaky voices they had in their old shorts.
One episode ("Out of Scale") shares a title with a classic cartoon, and borrows a few plot elements from it as well, such as a toy train set and the 'munks living in a toy house.
The Napoleon: The baby from the episode "Dirty Rotten Diapers".
Nested Mouths: A scene from an obvious Alien parody which takes Nested MouthsUp to Three. The alien in question has three mouths nested in one another, the last one is just big enough to pinch the Ripley look-alike's nose.
Never Found the Body: How Aldrin Klordane could return, despite being officially pronounced dead by the police. Also allows Geegaw Hackwrench to return in quite a few FanFics.
Never Say "Die": Played so straight that some fans believe Geegaw Hackwrench is still alive because he couldn't be undoubtedly pronounced dead.
New Old Flame: Désirée D'Allure in "Love Is a Many Splintered Thing", sort of.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Chip literally does this to Tammy's heart when he yells at her in "Adventures In Squirrelsitting" causing her and her sister Bink to try to retrieve the Maltese Mouse from Fat Cat by themselves.
No Export for You: The Season 2 DVDs and most of the merch available in the USA can hardly be acquired anywhere in Europe (or anywhere else in the world) other than on eBay.
No Matter How Much I Beg: Lahwhinie knew Gadget would try to escape when the dangerous challenges started, so she tells Shaka Baka that she's scared and might chicken out, but wants him to make sure she goes through with it.
Monterey Jack and Gadget's father were once friends that broke up over something that happened in Zanzibar that involved cheesebread.
It's never explained how Monterey Jack got those "cheese attacks" since it hasn't been implied that it's genetic (otherwise, the writers would have shown it on the two occasions where Monterey Jack's parents were shown).
Now You Tell Me: Monty mentions to Gadget that her father used to mount skis on the Screaming Eagle when he had to land on ice after she landed on Glacier Bay's icy ground.
Obfuscating Disability: "Kiwi's Big Adventure" had Dale fake a broken toe to get out of doing work, and get spoiled by Gadget. Later in the episode Dale saved the day, breaking his toe for real, and got his comeuppance when he had to miss a party because of it.
Oblivious to Love: Gadget Hackwrench; not exactly oblivious, more like not ready for the advances she receives yet.
Off Model: The episodes "Risky Beesness" and "Bearing Up Baby" definitely had moments of this. Not to mention "An Elephant Never Suspects" in it's entirety.
After TMS left the series, the animation became largely sub-par; it really went down the toilet when Sunwoo came aboard.
Oktoberfest: Heinrich von Sugarbottom's choice of clothes.
Ominous Pipe Organ: Not only does Captain Nemo's pipe organ (complete with ribbon and "N" seal) appear in "A Creep in the Deep", it is even played in that episode. Twice even: once by All Hands, once while misused by the Rangers as a pump. The same music is used as BGM in other episodes.
Only Six Faces: Rat Capone ("S.S. Drainpipe", "Mind Your Cheese and Q's") and Francis ("Double 'O Dale") look exactly the same except for the clothes. Some fans believe they're brothers.
Monterey Jack was voiced by Peter Cullen in Season 1, but was replaced by Jim Cummings for the second season (and the five-part pilot episode). According to series creator Tad Stones, Cullen wasn't as funny as Cummings was during table reads.
In the first episode of the German dub, "Kiwi's Big Adventure", Gadget has a different voice that hardly even fits her.
Our Banshees Are Louder: The villain of "The Last Leprechaun" is a banshee who has enslaved all the leprechauns.
Overlord Jr.: Norton Nimnul's nephew Normie. He even looks like a much younger version of his uncle.
Packed Hero: One episode has Fat Cat using a canning machine as a Death Trap for the Rescue Rangers, with every implication that the process would result in a bunch of finely-minced Rangers in a cat food can. Not only do the Rangers escape, but they also trick Fat Cat and his goons into throwing themselves into the machine: the end result is Fat Cat and his goons improbably stuffed into tiny cans, humiliated but apparently no worse for the wear.
Panty Shot: Technically speaking, Winifred from "Good Times, Bat Times" has plenty of these. But she isn't attractive to start with, nor are her undergarments.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Gadget and Lahwhinie only exchange the goggles and the flower. Being Doppelgangers, such a minor change is really all that's needed to make them look like each other; the "paper thin" part is that they have very different voices and personalities.
Perpetual Motion Machine: Gadget claims she once found a perpetual motion machine in the garbage can after a school science fair; of course, by then, it had stopped moving.
Phrase Catcher: Canina LaFur's fans always tell her that they've admired her for years and years. And years...
Pimped Out Dress: The princess at the opera in "A Case of Stage Blight". Chip somehow finds one that fits him later on, and distracts the villain by singing a duet with him.
Plot Technology: Anything Norton Nimnul ever invents. Just about the only device to ever return is the Gigantico Gun.
Police Are Useless: The reason why the Rangers have so much to do. The police usually show up when the Rangers have solved the case.
Their best man, Detective Donald Drake, would not have been useless, hadn't his colleagues put him in jail for obviously false accusations.
Sometimes subverted in fan fiction. Of Mice And Mayhem is a good example: While the Rangers are only so much as investigating in Nimnul's lab, the FBI shows up and arrests him right away.
Rapunzel Hair: Gadget's hair goes down to her tush. Together with its poofyness, it might be hazardous in an environment such as a workshop.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Played straight with Tom when Fat Cat switches his game cartridge about making friends to a violent war game, and changes his eye color from yellow to red.
Round Robin: Has become a tradition of sorts at the Acorn Cafe, just without a pre-defined posting order.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: In the episode "Risky Beesness", Queenie is able to overpower Irweena's hypnosis over her swarm and help Zipper save the other Rangers in the process.
Rubber Man: "It's a Bird, It's Insane, It's Dale!"
Rule of Three: The three tests in "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" are only one example.
Rule 34: Poor Gadget is usually the subject of such material, but there are plenty of fans who strongly oppose it. (Tammy and Foxglove, as well as the other Rangers, have their own fair share - but nowhere near the amount as Gadget has.)
Runaway Bride: Gender Flipped. Monterey Jack missed out on his wedding to Desiree D'Allure in "Love is a Many Splintered Thing" because he was "seduced by his first love" (a truck conveniently stuck in traffic carrying cheese), though considering that Desiree only used Monty to help out her gang of criminals, this may have been a good thing.
Running Gag: Monty's cheese attacks (it would be Once an Episode, but there are a lot of episodes that don't have Monty's cheese attacks), some of Gadget's quirks, Chip and Dale fighting over Gadget.
In fact, sometimes they refuse to spell out Lah... Law... Lou... the name of Gadget's Evil Twin from "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" due to the unclear spelling.
Screw Destiny: Chip's attitude towards Cassandra's prophecy in "Seer No Evil", no matter how much of it comes true.
Screwed by the Network: 51 of the show's 65 episodes have been released on DVD in two sets. Disney has made no announcement about when the remaining 14 episodes (including Missing Episode "A Lean on the Property") will be released...if ever. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Five-Episode Pilot "To The Rescue" was only released in its five-part syndicated version (not the "movie" form), and the episodes' Toon Disney cuts were the versions put on DVD.
Shapeshifter Baggage: The Fleeblebroxians in "Dale Beside Himself" can shapeshift into anything, no matter how big or small. DTZ, for instance, transforms into both a dragon a dozen times as tall as Dale as well as into Dale.
She Is All Grown Up: Referenced/used in the meeting scene in "To the Rescue, Part 3":
Monty: Gadget? Geegaw's little girl? Why the last time I saw you you were nigh high to a knee. Gadget: Well, I've grown up some. Chip/Dale: I'll say!/And how!
Ship Tease: Done on many occasions, both for Chip+Gadget and for Dale+Gadget, but also for potential 'ships involving one-shot characters. "Good Times, Bat Times" takes the cake, however, with its quite intense Chip+Gadget and Dale+Foxglove Ship Tease.
The comics heavily hint at Dale+Foxglove being an Official Couple
Sixth Ranger: The original show didn't have a character joining for more than a single episode. In fanfic the two most common examples are Foxglove and Tammy. In any case, this is meant literally.
And apparantly even dinosaurs had aliens among them. Aliens identical to them that were originally small and intelligent but grew big and stupid thanks to earthling food.
Speaks Fluent Animal: There are a few humans in the show having conversations with animals, that is, both speaking to them and understanding their talk. Winifred from "Good Times, Bat Times" is the most famous example. There are discussions occurring from time to time, though, whether these are special cases of humans who can understand Animal Talk or whether all humans would understand it if animals actually talked to them because other situations in the show indicate the latter.
Species Surname: Mole, Rat Capone, Sugar Ray Lizard, Arnold Mousenegger, Conrad Cockatoo, Mr. Starfish, Canina LaFur.
Now if Zsa Zsa Labrador were a Labrador Retriever...
Speech Impaired Animal: Kookoo from "Gorilla My Dreams". Strangely, she is it even to other animals instead of being fluent in Animal Talk.
Spell My Name with an S: There are at least three variations on "Lahwhinie" which have been referred to as "official" the fandom, plus several dozen more spellings created (and still used) by fans. In fact, it took years for the legit spelling of her name to be determined, because it was only mentioned in the show's promotional materials.
And for the record, the subtitles for the episode on the DVD spell her name "Lawhinie".
Spell My Name with a "The": "When Mice Were Men" has El Emenopio, El Monty Grande, and at the end also El Dale Grande.
Spoiled Brat: Buffy Ratskiwatski. Her being the daughter of a Big Bad doesn't really make things any better.
Cruiser and Bruiser from "Three Men and a Booby". They're too cool to flap, in fact, they're so cool that it's the Rule Of Cool that moves them forward.
Subverted by the Ranger Plane, as the source of lift for the craft is mainly the balloon and the wings only flap because it looks cool.
Subverted by Foxglove at the end of "Good Times, Bat Times". She takes a moment to stop flapping in order to fawn over Dale, only to fall.
Stealth Pun: Zipper is a fly. This is never referenced in the series.
Steam Never Dies: Klordane's train is pulled by a steam locomotive. In The Eighties. Through subway tunnels, no less.
Superpowers For A Day: Dale becomes the superhero "Rubber Bando" in "It's a Bird, It's Insane, It's Dale!" Sadly, his source of super powers is smashed before the episode ends.
Super Speed: The Ranger Plane in "Dale Beside Himself", thanks to DTZ.
Super Strength: Gadget (as seen in "To the Rescue, Part 5"), Monty, and Zipper. Also, a side effect of wearing one of the red meteorite crystals from "It's a Bird, It's Insane, It's Dale!"
Supervillain Lair: Aldrin Klordane's refit of the cave in "To the Rescue, Part 5", which is also an Elaborate Underground Base, and to a lesser extent Norton Nimnul's lair in "Catteries Not Included", "The Pied Piper Power Play" and "Normie's Science Project".
Fat Cat's henchmen are often Too Dumb to Live, which he complains loudly about on several occasions.
He shares this fate with Francis.
Sword Fight: "A Case of Stage Blight" has several unusual variations of this.
Synchronized Swarming: "Risky Beesness" has a swarm of bees who not only form flying hearts on behalf of the queen, but also steal musical instruments while hypnotized by a thief playing a mind-controlling tune.
Take A Third Option: Lawhinie's solution to the three deadly challenges is to not do them, and tricked Gadget to take her place; when the village chief finds out, he considers Lahwhinie's solution and her attempt at Loophole Abuse as cheating.
Happens all the time as Chip and Gadget both got their voice from Tress Mac Neille. It doesn't sound awkward only because Chip's voice is pitched up—thus making Tress Mac Neille the very rare voice actress who actually hits on herself.
Also happens with Dale and Zipper, since they're both voiced by Corey Burton, although Zipper rarely has "speech" per se.
Talk Like a Pirate: The Pi-Rats, especially Jolly Roger who even refers to the Rangers as "me hearties" in "Chipwrecked Shipmunks".
The Gyrotank in "The Case of the Cola Cult" and the easter-basket-turned-tank in "Three Men and a Booby", though they are more along the lines of an APC.
Buffy's toy tank driven by Dale in "Out of Scale" and the raygun tank prototype in "Double 'O Dale" are tanks all right. Also, tanks are used to try and fight Nimnul's giant bugs mistaken as aliens in "Fake Me to Your Leader".
Techno Babble: Gadget's ramblings do not always make sense.
Telephone Teleport: In the episode "A Fly in the Ointment" Dr. Nimnul invents a "modemizer" helmet that allows him to travel through telephone lines so he can escape after committing burglaries.
Temple of Doom: Where Heinrich von Sugarbottom has his secret base in "Chocolate Chips".
10-Minute Retirement: Monty in "To the Rescue, Part 4" and "Love Is A Many Splintered Thing", Gadget in "Case of the Cola Cult", Zipper in "Zipper Come Home".
Thememobile: The famous Ranger Plane, maybe also the Ranger Mobile and the Ranger Wing to a much lesser extent.
Theme Naming: Monterey Jack's parents are named Cheddarhead Charlie and Camembert Kate.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The many death traps Gadget set up in the old bomber where she lived before the Rescue Rangers. Subverted by the other Rangers-to-be in that they trigger them all and survive.
Too Dumb to Fool: In "One-Upsman-Chip" Dale tries to convince Fat Cat's henchmen to let him go because he has psychic powers by having them think of a number between 1 and 3 and guessing that they are thinking of the number 2. Most of the henchmen are amazed that he was right. However, he somehow wasn't even close to Mepps the cat's number, so he doesn't get released.
Took a Level in Badass: Gadget in the episode "The Case Of The Cola Cult", and Dale in the episode "Last Train To Cashville".
Trap Door: There's one in the secret passage of the Baskerville mansion in "Pound of the Baskervilles". Fat Cat also has one in his office.
Treasure Map: Used in both Pi-Rats episodes. In "Chipwrecked Shipmunks", they've got an actual treasure stashed away on an island. In "Piratsy Under the Seas", however, it is revealed that they've been hunting the same treasure on their stuck ship for hundreds of years, using the same map over and over again since the treasure has always been in the same place.
Easter basket with an integrated tank in "Three Men and a Booby".
The pineapple in "Battle of the Bulge".
Tropey Come Home: Played not so very straight in "Zipper Come Home". Zipper doesn't really want to return to the Rangers after he has been made king of a bug tribe.
Truck Driver's Gear Change: The theme song does this twice. The full-length version additionally changes gears once per chorus.
Tunnel King: Ming-Ting and Ting-a-Ling, the pandas from "An Elephant Never Suspects". The moles from A Lean on the Property also count.
Tuxedo and Martini: Double-O Dale - sans Martini, of course, but his role model Dirk Suave and the gimmicks built into his tux make up for this.
Ungrateful Bastard: Nimnul in "Fly in the Ointment". Once he get his body back, he decides to kill all the Rangers even though they helped him all the time.
Unhand Them, Villain!: Fat Cat does it to Tammy and Bink in "Adventures in Squirrelsitting".
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A lot of the cats, dogs, mice, chipmunks, birds, etc. wear clothes, but none of the humans seem to notice.
Unwilling Suspension: Happens to Dale and Foxglove in "Good Times, Bat Times" and again to Dale in "Gorilla My Dreams".
Vaporwear: Tammy's mom as revealed by hardly more than one frame in "Adventures in Squirrelsitting". And even Gadget while lying upside-down in a skimpy dress in "Double 'O Chipmunk". Yes, they're both covered in fur, and the next scene with Gadget in that dress in that episode has her suddenly wear her coveralls under the dress, but still.
Lahwhiney's Hawaiian skirt counts as well.
Verbal Tic: When Chip and Dale get angry and start fighting, their voices get higher and faster.
Fat Cat gets two out of the show's five songs, namely "The Best of Everything" in "To the Rescue" and "The Fat Cat Stomp" in "Adventures in Squirrelsitting"; ironically, the Rangers gave him the latter.
There is also Irweena Allen from "Risky Beesness" who had her own song, namely "You're the Best Bee for Me".
The early draft known as Metro Mice featured a different-looking Gadget, an Australian kangaroo rat and proto-Monty named Colt Chedderson, a far-sighted eagle named Eagle Eye, a Martial Arts-savvy, baseball-crazy cricket named Chirp Sing, an adventurous mouse named Kit Colby as the leader, and a chameleon named Camilla. Concept art was created with Kit, Colt, and Gadget. In the end, all that was taken over into the final version were Gadget with some modifications, Colt with a new name and a new species, much of Kit's attitude plus his aviator jacket for Chip, and the name Chirp Sing for an entirely different character.
It was also originally going to have Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers too.
CDRR was planned to be crossed over with Darkwing Duck, but the crossover never came to pass.
Write What You Know: Explains why certain locations in the show are clearly located in Hollywood or Burbank (Lankershim Blvd/Cahuenga Blvd are mentioned, Bob Hope Airport is shown).
You Dirty Rat: Rat Capone, Snout, Francis and his henchrats on the one side, pretty much all mice on the other side. The sole exception would be Sparky the lab rat.
The best—but certainly not sole—example would be Queenie from "Risky Beesness". She is meant to be about twice as tall as Zipper◊, but she is depicted so inconsistently that she seems to have temporarily grown taller than Gadget◊ in a scene near the end of the episode.
Also, Winifred's list in "Good Times, Bat Times" which varies from handy size for rodents to way larger than Foxglove. This is particularly obvious because Foxy gets to hold the same list in several different sizes.
The astronaut training equipment in "Out to Launch" is surprisingly tailored for rodents, even though it was meant for humans.
a continuation of the series in comic book form which began in December of 2010; this followed on the heels of the successful revival of Darkwing Duck as a comic series, which featured a cameo by Gadget in one issue that was likely a foreshadowing of things to come. The comic came to an end after two arcs (eight issues), and there is no word on a future continuation, either by Boom or by Disney-owned Marvel Comics.Completely unrelated to Chippendales Dancers, as well as the 70s Saturday Morning cartoon Lassie's Rescue Rangers.Tropes associated with the Boom Studios comic should go here.
0 reviews 
