Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. created the musical group David Seville and the Chipmunks, in the late 1950s, but I can't believe that he imagined the idea would spawn an animated television series about three chipmunks and their human father, or that its fiftieth anniversary would be anticipated by fans around the world. But here, I'll take a look at two collections of Chipmunk adventures, as we follow Alvin, the mischievous leader, Theodore, the intellectual, and Simon, the chubby, happy one. And, lest I forget, I must include poor Dave Seville, their human father!

In the first disc, The Very First Alvin Show, fans receive the actual first show from The Alvin Show circa 1961, plus "A Chipmunk Reunion" and "The Chipmunks Present Rockin' Through The Decades." Not only does the first show provide the mischievous chipmunks the opportunity to aid and abet an eagle named Stanley who has forgotten how to fly, but it also sees a character that I don't remember as well, Clyde Crashup, trying to invent baseball. In "Reunion," the three amigos go in search of their long-lost mother, while in the second special feature, Will Smith (circa Fresh Prince of Bel Air!) hosts a look back at the Chipmunks' covers of various songs from the 1950s through the 1990s.

The second disc, Alvin and the Chipmunks Go To The Movies, includes the spoofs of Star Trek, Dick Tracy, and Sherlock Holmes from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Here, they're renamed "Star Wreck," "Chip Tracy," and "Elementary, My Dear Simon." In the first, the USS Booby Prize encounters aliens ala Star Trek; in the second, the chipmunks do a spoof of detective Dick Tracy saving the city and saving the girl; and in the third, they do up Sherlock Holmes in a case where robbery has occurred at the museum.

There's not much I know to say about these cartoon wunderkinds. They've stood the test of time, and provide a fun (if not annoying) take on singing, humor, spoofs, and making decisions. I know that they entertained my six-year-old mind twenty-five years ago, but it's hard to know if they will appeal more to people who grew up with Star Wars, Dick Tracy, and the songs that the Chipmunks cover, or if they will in fact make even today's children laugh and clap with their less-than-par animation today.

Part Dennis the Menace ("ALVIIIINNNNNNN!") and part Three Amigos, Alvin and the Chipmunks will probably get rebooted again, without the help of Jason Lee. And we'll be better for that.