Alvin and the Chipmunks was the second American animated television series to feature the singing characters The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions, Ruby-Spears Productions, and Lorimar-Telepictures (which became Lorimar Television in 1988). It aired from 1983 to 1991 on NBC and closely paralleled 1961–62's The Alvin Show. The show introduced The Chipettes, three female versions of the Chipmunks with their own human counterpart, Miss Beatrice Miller (who joined the cast in 1986). In 1988 the show switched production companies to DiC Entertainment and was renamed just The Chipmunks.
In 1987, during the show's fifth season, the Chipmunks' only animated feature film, The Chipmunk Adventure, was released to theaters by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. The film was directed by Janice Karman and featured the Chipmunks and Chipettes in a contest traveling around the world.
In its eighth and final season, the show again switched titles to The Chipmunks Go to the Movies. Each episode was a spoof of a Hollywood film like Back to the Future or King Kong. Several television specials featuring the characters were also released.
In 1990, the documentary Alvin and the Chipmunks: Five Decades with the Chipmunks was produced. That year, the Chipmunks also teamed up with other contemporary cartoon characters (such as Bugs Bunny and Garfield) for the drug abuse-prevention special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.
Characters introduced on this show
* The Chipmunks: The usual main characters in the show.
- Alvin Seville
- Simon Seville
- Theodore Seville
- Brittany Miller
- Jeanette Miller
- Eleanor Miller
Minor Characters
David "Dave" Seville
David "Dave" Seville: The Chipmunks' adoptive father and manager.
Miss Beatrice Miller
Miss Beatrice Miller: The kindly, absent-minded adoptive mother of the Chipettes. She occasionally babysits the Chipmunks and has a crush on Dave, even though she's old enough to be his mother. In her youth, she was part of an all-girl singing group.
Lilly
Lilly: The Chipmunks' puppy who appears in season's 6 & 7.
Vinny
Vinny: The Chipmunks' birth mother. The Chipmunks find their long-lost mother after days of searching. Alvin gets upset because he doesn't understand why she abandoned them. Their mother explains that the year she abandoned them there was a horrible winter and all of the animals in the forest were forced to leave their homes. She realized that they wouldn't survive the journey if she brought them with her, so she decided to leave them with a nice man who was always kind to the forest animals (Dave). She told them that when spring came and she could finally return to get them, she saw how happy they were with Dave, and thought they would be better off with him. Eventually, Alvin forgives his mother, and they all part ways on a good note: promising to keep in touch. The song "Vinny's Lullaby" is performed by June Foray and Machiko Soga in the Japanese version.
Voice actors and their characters
- Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. - Alvin, Brittany, David "Dave" Seville, Uncle Harry
- Janice Karman - Theodore, Simon, Eleanor, Jeanette
- Dody Goodman - Miss Beatrice Miller
- Nancy Cartwright - Additional voices
- Thomas H. Watkins - Uncle "Adventure" Willy, Lilly the dog, numerous incidentals
- Alan Young - Grandpa Seville
- Rainy Hayes - Chipette Song vocal artist
- Sherwood Ball - Chipmunk Song vocal artist
- Tress MacNeille - Additional voices
- Frank Welker - Additional voices
- Vanessa Bagdasarian - Additional voices
- Michael Bagdasarian - Additional voices
