Alvin and the Chipmunks is one of the most enduring and endearing franchises of all time. It started with the novelty records of Ross Bagdasarian Sr. in 1958 (which led to his follow up series The Alvin Show in 1961) and has continued to the present day with a series of feature film releases and an animated series on Nickelodeon.
One of the highlights of the franchise's existence was its second incarnation, created by Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and his wife Janice Karman, featuring a cartoon series which ran for 8 seasons on NBC from 1983-1990. Accompanying this series was the feature film The Chipmunk Adventure (released in 1987), a series of related albums, and a number of straight to DVD movies (like Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein) which continued well beyond the series' original run and into the early millennium. The series was clever and well written with quality animation and memorable character designs from Sandra Berez and Louise Zingarelli.
For decades on end, fans of the the 80s series Alvin & the Chipmunks have been waiting for a box set or a series of season-by-season releases like the Transformers, G.I. Joe., Thundercats, and every other cartoon series of note from the period has done, but unfortunately, all we get are little piecemeal "theme" releases like the one above...a collection of Valentine's episodes, a collection of fairy tale episodes, a collection of sci-fi episodes, etc....all consisting of about 3-5 clips each, from various incarnations of the show's run, differing animation styles, in no particular order, with sloppy DVD organization and transitions, and no special features.
This seems to be because the series featured Chipmunk and Chipette renditions of popular songs of the day, and there would be royalties to be paid and copyright issues to be worked out should the series ever be released in its entirety on DVD, Blu-Ray, or streaming services. Theme releases like the above and bootlegs sold online by people who ripped the series from broadcasts on Cartoon Network or Teletoon Canada seem to be the only way that the loyal fanbase of Alvin and the Chipmunks can satisfy their urge to see one of the best cartoon series ever produced. Meanwhile, lesser and more obscure series are readily available on DVD and Blu-Ray to the delight of their fans and collectors while the 80s Chipmunks drift further into obscurity, and that is a tragedy. One can only hope that Bagdasarian Productions will be able to work things out soon and release the series in its entirety.
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