Customer Reviews

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Very First Alvin Show

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Dave Seville: "I'm proud of you boys, Alvin. It took a while, but you finally got around to releasing The Alvin Show on DVD. Fans have been waiting a long time.
A: That was our first show on TV, Dave.
D: I still remember your first single. It was "The Chipmunk Song", also known as "Christmas Don't Be Late" in 1958 on Liberty Records. You were named after three of the executives there. But TV fame came when you got your first TV show in 1961, and on evening prime time on CBS. The folks at Format Films gave you a great, modernistic, stylized look. They were renegades from UPA Studios, as were so many of the artists and animators working in late '50s and early '60s TV.
A: The next season we moved to Saturday morning and kids kept us there for five years.
D: That was amazing since there were only 26 episodes, but they kept rerunning them as they were so popular.
A: Then in 1979, the show was rerun on the Saturday line-up on NBC, we had so many fans.
D: Do you remember why you were so popular? A radio DJ played a speeded-up punk song, and the next year, we recorded an album of Chipmunk Punk. That, and Urban Chipmunk, the next album, both went platinum.
A: And we made a Christmas special in 1981, and returned with a new show, "Alvin and the Chipmunks" in 1983 on NBC. Notice I have starring billing.
D: Or you did until 1988, when it was retitled, "The Chipmunks".
A: Now we're releasing it all on DVD to keep up with the demand from the fans.
D: Yes, the only show not on DVD was the original "Alvin and the Chipmunks". Fans got to see it when it was shown on Nick in 1994, and on the wonderful show, Weinerville on Nick. Did I spell that right? Anyway, your fans beseiged Viacom to release it on DVD. And here it is, all 26 episodes.
A: Uh Dave.
D: What is it Alvin?
A: It might not be quite 26.
D: Good point, Alvin. You probably couldn't get all 26 episodes on one DVD, and the studio might want to test viewer response before releasing a complete set. How many on this volume? Ten? Twelve?
A: Uh, we thought we'd put one of the later shows on to show how we've changed.
D: Grown up, I hope. There are already lots of the later shows on DVD. What episode did you choose?
A: A Chipmunk Reunion.
D: Good choice. That was shown as a half hour special on NBC in 1985. But it would fit better with the '80s cartoons.
A: We also included a video of our different styles through the ages, and the different kinds of music we've done. I'm the star.
D: Fans do like bonus features. How many episodes of The Alvin Show did you actually include?
A: Uh, one.
D: One? You only included one episode? The title on the cover is "The Very First Alvin Show". Fans will think it's the whole series, or at least a few episodes from your first TV series.
A: It is the first show, the one with Stanley the Eagle.
D: Fans have been waiting for this show and you only gave them one episode? Get over to Viacom and tell them fans want all 26 episodes on DVD. Allllviiiiiiin!!!!!

I love The Alvin Show! I want this DVD very much, but I will wait until a box set of ALL 26 shows are available. Yes, I would spend almost any amount to get it.( A box set). I can't justify $14.99 for this disc! I do not think it is fair, in my opinion, to put one classic cartoon on the disc and then fill it up with other animation from the 70's, 80's or 90's. We are the baby boomer who really like this show from the 60's. Please give us what we want at a fair price without the Chippetts, Achy Breaky Heart (or whatever). The (ORIGIONAL)Alvin Show featuring 2 shorts, Clyde Crashcup and a sing-a-long would be just fine. I don't want to sound like a snob, but please just give us the good stuff, the stuff that we over 40 years old would like.

After this long you would think they could at least release this show in its entirety and not play with us. I was very dissappointed. They could have at least put the Chipmunk Song on here. Oh well, back to YouTube.

I was very disappointed - got all settled in to watch classic episodes that I remember from the early 60s only to find that I got one great episode and the rest that 80s stuff !

When I saw the artwork, I thought, "Finally!" And then I read the details. Only 1 show? I don't think so. But when the complete series is released, I'm there.

Not the entire first season, just the first episode of the first season (one of twenty-six ever produced, in 1961). Very good film to DVD transfer, but at slightly under thirty minutes this is not very economical.

Ross Bagdasarian's novelty record brainchild wasn't expected to be as popular with children as it turned out to be, what with his stage name Dave Seville and his voice speeded up to what his children thought chipmunks sounded like. In the cartoon show that would follow in 1961, Alvin was a consummate anarchist but he'd still wind up doing the right thing--once in awhile. Purists scoff at the cartoons' meager TV budgets of 1961, but there was a mechanism to it that worked in a way that the Ruby-Spears cartoons of the 1980s didn't. Kids born from 1977 on will sing the praises of the 1980s cartoons, but they were limp. The Chipettes were more irritating than welcome.

The Alvin show featured kids songs that we kids of the 1960s loved to sing with. This plus Clyde Crashcup, and it's 1961 all over again for us baby boomers. It's all good.

We played the game. We bought the one-show only disc. We watched and re-watched that great first show. We fast-forwarded endlessly through the post-1980's badly-done fake Alvin junk that overflows on this disc.
This was a great series, created to be seen. What a joke! Now, it simply languishes in film-vault-limbo, seen by NOBODY. A sad and stupid ending to a fantastic memory. And all the while, a new version of Alvin (doesn't resemble him one iota) is everywhere (urk).

When Ross Bagdasarian Sr. created the Alvin and the Chipmunks, I often wonder if he knew at the time of how popular those characters, their music and the animated series would be for American pop culture.

Popular for the music, it was in 1961 when the three went from being puppets to an animated show. Bagdasarian using his stage name Dave Seville, the music composer and father/caretaker of three talented chipmunks who tend to get into a little mischief.

With 26 episodes shown on television, the 1961-1962 show titled "The Alvin Show" has only been featured on VHS back in 1994. No DVD releases were made until this release titled "The Very First Alvin Show".

Each episode contained two episodes and two musical segments. In the first episode, the first segment is titled "Stanley the Eagle". With the Alvin, Simon and Theodore bored, the three discover an eagle in their back yard who somehow has forgotten to fly. With Dave not so happy that a wild eagle is in his home, he calls the authorities to get the wild bird but Alvin and the Chipmunks come up with an idea to help the Stanley the eagle to escape. The second segment features the scientist Clyde Crashup who tries to invent the sport "Baseball". The two musical segments are Alvin and the Chipmunks singing "Oh, Gondaliero! and "I Wish I Could Speak French".

Although "The Very First Alvin Show" contains only the first episode, the DVD also contains two specials.

The first special is titled "A Chipmunk Reunion", a 24-minute special shown on television back in 1985 and is about how Alvin and the Chipmunks lived with Dave Seville but the three going on a search of their real mother.

The second special is titled "The Chipmunks Present Rockin' Through the Decades" which is a 23-minute special hosted by Will Smith (during the same year when Will Smith was on the NBC show "Fresh Prince of Bel Air") and was shown on NBC back in 1990 and has been released once on VHS back in 1992. The special shows Alvin and the Chipmunks singing a variety of songs from their first Christmas song back in the late 50's to various covers of songs by Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and many more. The special featured the Alvin and the Chipmunks singing the songs or taking part in the actual music videos such as Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and "Smooth Criminal".

Also, the special featured talent such as Ben Vereen, Richard Moll, Kenny Loggins, Raven-Symone, Shelley Duvall, Markie Post, Little Richard and more.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"The Very First Alvin Show" DVD is quite interesting. For the very first broadcast in 1961, it looks quite clean and vibrant. I often wondered if the first episode was remastered or if the original 1961 film stock was in great condition because it looks much better than a lot of the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" cartoons shown in the 80's and 90's. Granted, the first episode was not as detailed or had the artistic backgrounds of the later animated series but on this DVD, it looks very good.

As for the specials, this is where see the aging from the 80's and 90's film stock. We see scratches and dust throughout the first special "A Chipmunk Reunion" and it's not clear and vibrant but the animation does show much more detail, especially in the artistic backgrounds. But it was great to see a special that has never been released on DVD to appear on this DVD release.

As for "The Chipmunks Present Rockin' Through the Decades", this special fares much better and is a TV broadcast featuring a lot of mixed footage from the Chipmunks past up to the 1990's. So, certain scenes have different picture quality but for the most part, I didn't notice any major scratches and very little dust.

As for audio, audio is presented in Dolby Digital and dialogue and music is clear and understandable.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There are no special features included. But there is a preview for upcoming "Alvin and the Chipmunk" DVD releases.

JUDGMENT CALL:

As a person who grew up on "Alvin and the Chipmunks", the release of "The Very First Alvin Show" is a very awesome release. Not only do you get the first episode featuring Alvin and the Chipmunks but you also get the special of how they were raised by Dave Seville and then you get the Alvin and the Chipmunks music special from 1990 hosted by Will Smith all on one DVD.

The incentive for many fans of the animated series is that the classic television show and the specials have not been made available on DVD only on VHS and that was back in the early 90's. But now you can own it on DVD as we near the 50th Year anniversary of "Alvin and the Chipmunks".

As mentioned on my the video and audio portion, the first episode from 1961 looks very good on DVD and I'm not sure if its remastered or restored (it doesn't mention on the packaging) but for a 48-year-old episode, it looks fantastic!

The episodes are definitely family friendly and episodes that children can definitely get into and enjoy. And to think that many generations have grown up with this animated series and now, you can share it with the next generation and your own children. For my six-year-old son, he's only familiar of hearing the "Chipmunks" Christmas song and "Alvin and the Chipmunks Goes to the Movies" is parodies of films that he is too young to be familiar with, but with the release of "The Very First Alvin Show", it's definitely a release that is a great starting point for parents to introduce to their children.

For "Alvin and the Chipmunks" fans, this DVD is highly recommended!

The title says it... The very first Alivin show-and that's all you get-just the first episode of the original series. I should have looked a little closer at the contents. I was expecting to get the whole series, which only lasted one season, then was re-run for years. The quality is very good- the picture and sound are well done, but I was left wondering why they didn't sell all of the series instead of the first show. I always liked this version better than the later versions, probably because this is the one I grew up with. By the time the other one came out, I was in my twenties and there was no attraction. Still, it was good to experience some childhood memories again, and to see Clyde Crashcup again.