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YMMV / The Chipmunks

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  • Broken Base: This has increased among much of the Chipmunk fandom in recent years. A large majority of the fan base grew up with this particular series and love it, especially for nostalgia. On the other hand, some fans hate for one of either two reasons, because it focused less on the music (unlike The Alvin Show), or they're sick of Bagdasarian Productions releasing the same handful of episodes on DVD over and over again.
  • Ending Fatigue: If this were done by either Ruby-Spears or DIC Entertainment, "Grounded Chipmunk" would have easily ended with the rest of the family returning home as soon as Alvin finished cleaning it up. However, this was one of the episodes done by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, which abides by the Three-Act Structure, with Alvin completing this task by the end of the second act. As a result, the episode gets the unnecessary third act involving a space alien hiding from government officials.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Both Vinny and Uncle Harry seem to get quite a bit of attention from the fandom; the latter seems to stem from the similarities between Harry and "Uncle" Ian from the live-action/CGI films.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: This show was popular in the United Kingdom (where it aired on the BBC) and in Canada, where it aired on YTV. Both networks played the show up until 2002.
  • Growing the Beard: Many credit the 80s series as the height of the franchise, largely for introducing the Chipettes, developing the contemporary designs of the Chipmunks as well as Simon and Theodore's individual personalities. Their stilted speech was also gradually fazed out during the run of the 80s series, making them much better at delivering gags.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: In "Thinking Cap Trap", the Chipmunks and Dave appear on a game show. When asked to identify the Bronx Bombers, one of their opponents said they were a New York terrorist group instead of the New York Yankees. This lost its hilarity for obvious reasons after 9/11.
  • Heartwarming in Hindsight: In the episode "I Love L.A." Alvin and co. try and fail miserably to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the star ending up going to Dan the Dog at the end. In 2019, the Chipmunks eventually got their own star on the real life Hollywood Walk of Fame. Goes to show how years of focusing on what you do best and not forcing it has paid off.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: "Theodore's Life as a Dog" has Theodore pretending that he's becoming a were-dog. In Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman, Theodore becomes a werewolf for real.
  • Seasonal Rot: During the DiC era of the series, the stories, as well as the overall production, slowly, yet steadily, grew weaker and weaker, compared to the quality of the earlier, Ruby-Spears era.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The babysitter in "Babysitter Fright Night". While Alvin shouldn't have accused her of being a criminal, she does herself no favours by acting like a Drill Sergeant Nasty towards the Chipmunks.
  • Values Dissonance: In the Cinderella dream sequence episode, the Chipettes are shown bathing, seen from the waist up, with nipple dots drawn on. In the 80s no one may have thought much of it but in the modern days with concerns over adults sexualizing & molesting children, more so with the Chipettes looking like little girls, it comes off as a bit disturbing to some viewers. Dorkly Bits was visibly freaked out that the scene even existed when they reviewed inappropriate moments in cartoons. There were also the occasional panty shots of the Chipettes that have the same feel now.

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