The Chipettes

The Chipettes are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers first appearing on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes. The title of the show was changed from Alvin and the Chipmunks to simply The Chipmunks in 1988 to reflect this reality. In the cartoon series and the accompanying feature films, all of the Chipettes were voiced by their creator, Janice Karman, wife of Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., son of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., originator of The Chipmunks. Karman also wrote and voiced the Chipettes' dialogue on their studio albums, while studio singers such as Susan Boyd, Shelby Daniel, and Katherine Coon provided their singing voices.

The first character designs for the Chipettes were drafted by Corny Cole for their 1983 debut. These were later revamped by Sandra Berez for The Chipmunk Adventure and the later seasons of the show.

Character profiles

Brittany Miller

Brittany is the lead singer and eldest sister of the Chipettes, and is the female counterpart of Alvin. She has a pleasing facial and physical appearance, but at times can be vain and self-serving with the extreme desire to have whatever she wants. Often Brittany is happy to outdo others she dislikes, mainly this is shown when her arguments with Alvin grow into bets. This often establishes the plot of the episode. She has auburn hair which is seen in a stylized ponytail, blue eyes, and her signature color is pink. In the 2009 film, Brittany is voiced by Christina Applegate.

Jeanette Miller

Jeanette is the tallest of the Chipettes. She is the female counterpart of Simon. She is the middle sister of the Chipettes. Jeanette has a high amount of intellect which she is often not afraid to use, and is considered the lovable klutz of the Chipettes. Her klutzy personality is shown in her outfits, and is often seen with her shoelaces untied, a strap on her dress shoulder crooked, etc.. She wears glasses due to extremely poor eyesight. Jeanette has brown hair in a bun, green eyes, and her signature colors are royal blue and purple. In the 2009 film, Jeanette is voiced by Anna Faris.

Eleanor Miller

Eleanor is the youngest Chipette. She is considered the female counterpart of Theodore, but is shown to be much more athletic. Out of the three Chipettes, she is the one who is most likely to willingly take part in a sports activity. Still, she is the chubbiest of the sisters due to her love for creamy food and cooking. Eleanor is much less timid than Jeanette, and is always happy to stand up to Brittany when she thinks something is not right. Eleanor has blonde hair, brown eyes, her hairstyle is a pair of blonde pigtails, and her signature color is spring green. In the 2009 film, she is voiced by actress Amy Poehler.

Origins

The origins of the Chipettes can be traced to the 1982 Alvin and the Chipmunks album The Chipmunks Go Hollywood (RCA, 1982). On this album, Alvin sings a duet with a female character billed as Charlene the Chipette. Charlene is featured on the song "You're the One That I Want" from the soundtrack of the motion picture Grease. Charlene was depicted on the album cover as having a long, blonde ponytail, and seems to have been the basis for the later character of Brittany. She later made a visual appearance in 1990, in Rockin' with the Chipmunks, where she danced and lip-synced in the music video for "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John.

Like the Chipmunks, the Chipettes were originally created for the musical medium, and later crossed over into cartoons. According to their creator, Janice Karman, she and Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., "...had been doing the albums at that point... We couldn't do the girl songs. I wanted to do female chipmunks that have counter personalities to the Chipmunks so we could do some girl tunes."

Bagdasarian also added in reference to the Chipettes characters, "It enables you to deal with issues that girls are going through that boys wouldn't necessarily be dealing with... We had a baby girl at the time. We wanted to let her know she can be president, or a soccer champion, or whatever... With the Chipettes we can handle those sorts of things."

It is worth noting, however, that the Chipettes of the cartoon series (Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor) appeared on the small screen before appearing on any albums. Their first appearance on the Chipmunks album was on 1984's Songs From Our TV Shows which was released on March 4, 1984, nearly seven months after the Chipettes debuted on the first episode of the Alvin and the Chipmunks television series on September 17, 1983.

Although the Chipettes featured prominently on many Alvin and the Chipmunks albums, they received equal billing with the Chipmunks only on 1988's Born to Rock.

The Chipettes appear in the 2009 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. In the movie, Christina Applegate, Anna Faris, and Amy Poehler voice the Chipettes.^[1] “There has been a lot of talk about it,” noted Janice Karman, one of the film’s producers. “A lot of people have been asking about the little girls."^[2]

Fictional character history

Like their counterparts the Chipmunks, the Chipettes seem to have been born in a single litter, or in human terms, as "triplets".

Alvin and the Chipmunks TV Series

The Chipettes were born in Australia and orphaned as babies, but were adopted by a young orphan named Olivia who lived in an orphanage owned by a cruel woman named Miss Grudge. The girls matured, seeing as they were able to walk as infants, and they were also gifted with lovely singing voices.

When Miss Grudge, who was searching for orphans under her care with good singing voices whom she could exploit, heard that Olivia was secretly raising anthropomorphic baby chipmunks with fantastic singing voices, she hid the little girls from Olivia on the day she was adopted so Miss Grudge could keep the Chipettes and make money off of them. However, the infants escape Miss Grudge's clutches to a ship sailing to the United States, which they have heard about through Olivia.

There, the three young chipmunks take on a series of occupations, all of which do not last for long. However, the Chipettes soon see a poster advertising the fact that a hotel in California is calling for singers to perform at it. So the girls hitch a ride to the hotel, where they soon manage to convince a record dealer that they can handle the job and are made into singers, calling their group "the Chipmunks." However, when they run into the original chipmunks, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, conflicts begin over the name until Alvin and Brittany come up with the name "The Chipettes."

After the conflicts subsided, the Chipmunks and the newly-named Chipettes become fast friends, and the Chipettes go to live in a well-furnished tree house and are sent to school with the Chipmunks. However, the school officials soon find out that the girls live alone and are ready to have them reported to an orphanage unless they may be adopted soon. Brittany tries to pose as the mother of the group, only to have the attempt fail.

When Dave decides to take them in, things rather go smoothly as the two groups constantly bicker. However, Miss Beatrice Miller, Dave's neighbor and the Chipmunks' babysitter, decides to adopt the Chipettes and lets them into her home. At first, the Chipettes and their new guardian have a rough relationship due to Miss Miller's old-fashioned tastes and rules (for example, she at first would not let them go to school unless their skirts went down to their ankles), but they later got along better when the Chipettes learned that she shared their love for music and showing off.

Physical appearance

Unlike their male counterparts the Chipmunks, the Chipettes have no fur covering their entire bodies but instead possess humanlike hair on their heads, which can be styled into different hairstyles for each girl; a stylized ponytail for Brittany, a bun for Jeanette, and two pigtails for Eleanor. However, in the Squeakquel, the Chipettes had to be redesigned yet again so they would better resemble real chipmunks, so they were given full fur coats, but their animators and designers still left a small amount of humanlike hair on the girls' heads, though the Chipettes' hairstyles differed slightly from their usual hairstyles in the animated series. Now Jeanette had a ponytail that was slightly shorter than Brittany's and on top of her head more, but each Chipette's new fur coat was made the same color as their hair in the series, though not exactly the same shade.

Discography

With the exception of 1988's "Born to Rock", the discography of The Chipettes consists of featured appearances on Alvin and the Chipmunks recordings.

Albums

• 1982: The Chipmunks Go Hollywood
• 1984: Songs from Our TV Shows
• 1987: The Chipmunk Adventure
• 1988: The Chipmunks and The Chipettes: Born to Rock
• 1990: Rockin' Through the Decades
• 1992: Chipmunks in Low Places
• 1994: Here's Looking at Me!
• 1995: When You Wish Upon a Chipmunk
• 1995: A Very Merry Chipmunk
• 1995: The Very Best of The Chipmunks
• 1996: Club Chipmunk: The Dance Mixes
• 1998: The A-Files: Alien Songs
• 2004: Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks
• 2009: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Singles

• 1993: "Achy Breaky Heart" (Billy Ray Cyrus cover; 45, 1993, Epic 74776) (#72 Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks)
• 1994: "I Don't Want To Be Alone For Christmas (Unless I'm Alone With You)" (actually performed by James Ingram)^{[citation needed]}
• 1996: "Macarena"
• 2009: "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
• 2009: "Hot n Cold"
• 2009: "Put Your Records On"
• 2009: "So What"

Filmography

• The Chipmunks Go Hollywood (1982)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983–1990) - TV series
• Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Amazing Computer (1985) - Stage Show
• The Chipmunk Adventure (1987)
• Rockin' Through the Decades (1990)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman (2000)
• Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks (2004)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011)

References

1. ^ "'Alvin And The Chipmunks' Producers Reveal 'Squeakuel' Details -- And The Chipettes Are In!". 2008-07-28. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1599215/story.jhtml. Retrieved 2008-11-12. 
2. ^ "'Justin Long Confirms 'Chipmunks' Sequel, But Will The Chipettes Be In It?'". 2008-07-28. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/07/28/justin-long-confirms-chipmunks-sequel-but-will-the-chipettes-be-in-it/. Retrieved 2008-07-28. 

• Regarding the first and subsequent appearances of the Chipettes on television — http://www.tv.com/alvin-and-the-chipmunks/show/2827/episode.html
• Regarding Janice Karman as the primary voice actress for the Chipettes — http://www.tv.com/alvin-and-the-chipmunks/show/2827/cast.html?tag=tabs;cast
• Regarding the history of the Chipettes on The Chipmunks TV series and in the Chipmunk Adventure — http://www.chipmunks.com/history.php
• Regarding the Chipettes creation for the musical medium and their discography — http://www.roctober.com/roctober/chipmunks.html
• Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. on their inspiration for creating the Chipettes — http://www.mediavillage.com/jmentr/2006/09/11/Jacki-09-11-06/

• Janice Karman on the possibility of the Chipettes appearing in a sequel to the recent Alvin and the Chipmunks film — http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/01/09/alvin-the-chipmunks-to-meet-chipettes-in-sequel/
• Regarding the fictional character history of the Chipettes as outlined in various episodes of the television series — http://www.tv.com/alvin-and-the-chipmunks/show/2827/episode_guide.html

External links

• The Official Site
• "Alvin & the Chipmunks" TV series 1983-90 at the Internet Movie Database