Alvin and the Chipmunks
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The Chipmunks are a fictional musical group of anthropomorphic chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian in 1958. The group consists of three singing chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group, Simon, the tall bespectacled intellectual, and Theodore, the chubby, impressionable sweetheart. The trio is "managed" by their human "father" and confidant, David Seville. In reality, David Seville was Ross Bagdasarian's stage name, and the Chipmunks themselves are named after the executives of their original record label, Liberty Records: Alvin Bennett (the president), Simon Waronker (the founder and owner), and Theodore Keep (the chief engineer).
Audiences often assume the characters started as cartoons and branched out into music, but that is the opposite of how they began. After first being brought to life in Bagdasarian's 1950s novelty recordings under the name David Seville and the Chipmunks, the characters were an unprecedented success, and the singing Chipmunks and their manager were given life in several animated cartoon series and motion pictures, including one that was released during Christmas 2007.
The voices of the group were all performed by Bagdasarian, who sped up the playback to create the higher pitched, squeaky voices. This process was not entirely new; Bagdasarian had also used it for a previous novelty song project, "The Witch Doctor", but it was so unusual and well executed it earned the "trio" two Grammy Awards for engineering. Although the characters were fictional, they did release a long line of "real" albums and singles, with "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" becoming a number-one hit single in the United States. After his death in 1972, the voices of the Chipmunks were subsequently recorded by his son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., and his wife, Janice Karman, in all subsequent incarnations to date.
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[edit] Characters
[edit] Alvin Seville
Alvin: The middle chipmunk who's responsible for all of the trouble, as the term “Look before you leap” does not apply to him. Alvin is an emotional roller coaster and leader of the group. His enthusiasm is boundless. He is somewhat greedy and selfish, but loves his brothers. He is a fearless chipmunk. He'll even stick up for his little brother Theodore (best shown in the teaser trailer for the 2007 film, where Dave suspects Theodore leaving behind a dropping, and Alvin passes it off as a raisin, even going as far as to eat it). Alvin's favorite things are his harmonica and his cap, which he always wears (except in the 2007 live-action/animated film based on the cartoon). He doesn't like anybody touching his cap, and he has no trouble in saying so, “Don't...touch...the cap!”. His signature color is red. He doesn't follow anybody's rules, not even his own. From 1958 to 1972, he was voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, and all recordings from 1972 to the present, he is voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
[edit] Simon Seville
Simon: Being the tallest and oldest and having an IQ just north of Albert Einstein, Simon possesses a very dry sense of humor as well as a keen wit. His chess master mind allows him to anticipate what he calls Alvin's "harebrained schemes" and devise a solution that is inevitably required. Although Simon loves Alvin, Simon secretly worries about the fact that they share the same gene pool. However, Simon will drop whatever he's doing to help his brothers whenever they need him. Simon's signature color is blue. In all recordings from 1958 to 1972, he was voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, and in all recordings from 1972 onward, he is voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
[edit] Theodore Seville
Theodore: Being the youngest, Theodore is the child of innocence. He is shy, loving, sensitive, gullible, trusting and naive. Theodore often holds the swing vote between his two brothers' choices of action. Simon appeals to Theodore's better nature, while Alvin goes straight to bribery, often with sweets or other foods, as Theodore is also known for his sizable appetite. His sweet nature usually makes him an easy target for bullies, but then they'll have to answer to his big brothers Alvin and Simon. Little known facts are that Theodore is afraid of heights, hates roller coasters, and sometimes carries his teddy bear with him. Theodore's signature color is green and he was voiced by Ross Bagdasarian from 1958 to 1972, and by Janice Karman from 1972 to the present.
[edit] David "Dave" Seville
David "Dave" Seville: Like any other single parent trying to raise three kids, Dave has his patience tested on a daily basis, mostly by Alvin's antics. Not only does he juggle his professional life as the songwriter for the musical trio, but he is also the Chipmunks' father and confidant. While Dave struggles to remain calm and objective, Alvin often pushes him over the edge, reducing Dave to his trademark yell of "ALVIN!!!" One instance of this is in the song "Alvin's Harmonica", from The Alvin Show. Another instance of this is in the teaser trailer for the 2007 film based on the cartoon when Alvin won't stop singing when his brothers already have. He was voiced by Ross Bagdasarian from 1958 to 1972, and by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. from 1980 to the present.
[edit] TV series
From 1983 to 1990, 101 episodes of a TV series titled Alvin and the Chipmunks starring the above characters were produced, initially (1983-1987) by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Productions, and from 1988-1990 (renamed to simply The Chipmunks) by DIC Entertainment. The show originally ran on NBC, and re-runs were aired during the late 1990s and the early 2000s on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. In 1990, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore also appeared in the animated anti-drug campaign TV movie Cartoon All-Stars to the rescue.
The series spawned the animated feature film The Chipmunk adventure, produced by The Samuel Goldwyn Company and released to theaters in 1987. It was followed by three direct-to-video sequels, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (1999), Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman (2000), Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks (2005), and one life-action movie Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007).
| Some of this page is derived from Wikipedia. The original article was at Alvin and the Chipmunks. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WikiFur, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
