Alvin And The Chipmunks 1983 Lost Pilot

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You ever heard to the Series titled: "Alvin And The Chipmunks" from 1983? If you haven't, allow me to give you the rundown. Alvin And The Chipmunks was an animated family comedy series that ran on NBC from 1983 to 1990. It aired on Saturday mornings. It was renamed: "The Chipmunks" in 1988 due to the addition of new female counterparts of the original cast of rodents. It was LATER renamed to "The Chipmunks Go To The Movies" for the final season, that parodied popular movies at the time for a family friendly audience and pop record sales.

What many people DON'T know is that the series had an original pilot pitched to ABC, and it was COMPLETELY different to what the 1980s show was when it aired.

I worked as an executive producer for Bagdasarian Productions alongside Janice and Ross. Jr. In 1975. I know what you're thinking. "How did you get hired as an executive producer for a family ran company?" They were hiring in the middle of summer secretive under newspaper ads describing as "Looking for young inspiring artists to demonstrate their skills with a unified environment" posing as a small studio for animated advertisements to give to local companies in Montecito, California. It would promise decent pay, and having alright skills in the animation business and not being too far away from them, I agreed said why not? We ended up getting the run down by Ross. Jr and Janice on what the description really was for, and what the blueprint was. Ross. Jr had the idea of making more records to pay tribute to the brand from the early 60s and his family's important strives and pioneering in the record business, and having us do animated music videos behind the records. But people within the company hired including myself had actually wanted to do a NEW cartoon, rather than more records and albums, with a changed cast.

Here's what the original notes for our series looked like: It would be a direct sequel to The Alvin Show from 1961 and was set in 1975. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore would now be adults. The original idea of The Chipetts was actually incorporated into the early draft of the show. Alvin would have a Chipmunk wife that worked for the government. She was an agent that operated domestically in the United States to scout out suspected terrorists and send intelligence to the president to tie into whacky plots. They would have one kid together, but the persona of the child still had to be figured out so that it could be tied into some of the episode plots. Simon would be flirting and dating a girl Chipmunk with a similar persona as Theodore. Chubby, would love eating, and mainly shifted conversations towards food and eating over the idea of love and starting a family, being serious with the relationship for comedic relief at times. Theodore has no girlfriend/wife, vowing to only pledge his love to food and the rest of his life into becoming a "food scientists" so to speak.

Janice and Ross. Jr supported the idea, and we had approached many television networks looking for new Saturday Morning Cartoons with the draft. Majority of the stations we have approached executives disapproved the idea, sighting the brand as "long gone" and would be "unappealing to mass audiences", even NBC thought the same at one point. But out of all the stations we tried to pitch the show to, ABC actually loved it. They described the possibilities, of it possibly bringing in original fans of the series from the previous decade, and all sorts of newer fans. They told us to start on a pilot episode to give the executives more of an idea of what could be in the show. Due: July 18th. The whole crew was ecstatic! I was deployed to overlook the crew so they could work swiftly and diligently, and I would furthermore pass on the intel to Ross. Jr and Janice so they could contact ABC on the progress of our show on the phone. The crew had immediately began working on scripts and sketching scenes. Everything so far was going great until one of the animators; David, started acting a bit odd in the middle of production...

When I would walk to his desk to see what progress David was currently at, he would always cover up the drawings with his hands and would say in an oddly loud tone "I'm working very SWIFTLY on this and this is certainly better than what you could EVER IMAGINE!" I believed him for the time being since, his other work I could get a peek at looked very promising for the ABC executives and was on script. On the last day of production; the 17th, most of the crew had finished their duties and went home early for the night, apart from David... It was 10:30 PM and I was ready to close down the studio for the night. He INSISTED, almost like he was pleading for mercy as a POW to stay in the studio and finish his sketches because he wanted "absolute perfection". He even had a big pile of notes of ideas on individual body expressions throughout just one scene, and a science book on research of human behavior under distress. I thought: "man, this guy is really passionate in his work! He must have something very special waiting for them!"... Oh boy, was I wrong on that front...

I left him alone for the night. When I was driving home I realized something: when he startled me and I exchanged with him, I COMPLETELY forgot to lock some of the doors in the production offices. I was tired and and just swiftly brushed it off. That however, was the single worst mistake of my animation career... The next morning at 7:30, Janice told the entire crew that they had to dress nice and arrive at ABC with the project at 10:00 AM Sharp. I drove to the studio to master and finalize some parts that were seen as unfinished, to punch in David's animation, and to pick up the episode. I arrived at 7:40 as I wanted Dave to get his final drafts done. When I arrived to the front door, to my absolute surprised David was already at the door. He was in the designated suit the rest of the crew was wearing with the film in his hand. "Here sir, finished the episode!" He had a rough smile in his face with pretty big eyebags under his eyes. I asked him: "How did you finish the episode when most of the production rooms were locked?" David: "Well you left most of them unlocked, so I took it into my own responsibility to master and finish animation myself!" I was extremely impressed. David did say that he had some experiences in animation when he was a child when his parents worked for cartoons. I shook his hand when I grabbed the film and assured him I would pay him out of my own pocket overtime for the extra work he has done. We then got a call from Janice. "We're outside of ABC with the rest of the crew, come now!" We then got in our cars drove to ABC at 9:57. Ross. Jr right before we got in, pledged that wether they accepted the pilot or not, he admired the crews responsibilities and unification to get this project out. We all had a group hug and then walked inside the ABC headquarters. We walked to the front desk and explained who we were to the female worker. "B. Productions are here for the pitch!" The young female said. Then 2 gentlemen walked up to us, greeted us, and led us down the halls downstairs to a small studio with a big TV, speakers, and big couch facing in front of the TV. There were 5 other people, being the executives i've mentioned at the start. They greeted us again and allowed us to sit on the couch. I put the film on display and pressed play. They turned off the lights and turned up the speakers, I sat down and the episode began...

The intro played. Old black and white clips of The Alvin Show played with slow percussion, then coming to color with hard hitting energetic brass. Overall sounded similar to the 80s intro but less pop sounding. Then the new chipmunks burst through the old animation, singing to the new theme and having much more fluid animation. "We're the chipmunks! Growin' up for 17 years, back and were ready to make you all hear us!" The song went on for the next minute before fading to black and into the first scene. It then panned into a relatively small neighborhood and into a big one story house. The year "1973" appeared on screen. David Seville can be seen on the front lawn, looking significantly older than the previous 60s version. He had little to no hair, and was walking with a cane. "Now Chipmunks, it's been 15 years since our first breakout hit, and 12 years of the many adventures on raising you guys. Now i'm old, stressed, and worn out. But it was an honor finding you boys and woking with you all as family. I've decided to give my bank account and all my earnings and stocks to you boys. I have no fire left in me anymore, but you guys certainly do. It's now YOUR job to support the brand and YOUR guys to make your own records. No help from me anymore, not like I helped you guys make our first hit in the first place (chuckle). You all take care and I love you all." Dave then leaned in for a hug with the Chipmunks. I could see the executives start smiling. We knew this would pull on heart strings a bit for the older fans. "Bye, Dave!" The chipmunks yelled to Dave.

The Chipmunks then went inside the house. The camera then panned in the living room. As usual, we wanted to depict The Chipmunks living the life when it came to superstars. The room was large in size with a giant projector and multiple TVs surrounding it. Big speakers were on the sides, with a nice studio being seen on the left side. On the right side there was the Kitchen, with multiple empty pizza boxes and soda bottles on the table. It then switched to the room. There were 3 beds, 2 king sized to accompany Alvin and Simon's lovers and one medium sized bed for theodore alone. Then the bathroom, which was just about what tou would expected. Then it cut to the living room again. "Man, it's certainly weird around with Dave being gone." Simon said. As he said that, something that can only be described as weird happened. When the camera switched to Alvin as he was about to give his dialogue, he sounded extremely faint. The background music was still playing at normal volume, it was just Alvin that sounded like he was almost whispering. It was barely audible, even with the speakers at full volume. I had quadruple checked this pilot and wrote extensive notes for each scene, no such error existed in my mixing and mastering in the studio and triple checks after I did that. The executives looked confused. "Must be some sort of unforseen error." I said. Then after Alvin's nonexistent dialogue, the camera switched to Theodore for his dialogue, and now the background music was completely gone. Once again, this was no such error i've seen in my testing. It created a slightly eerie vibe to the scene. "Yeah. But he'll be in our hearts forever." Theodore said. As he said this, the camera froze. It was just stuck on Theodore's face... Theodore then started making micro movements, shaking and twitching.. At this point I wondered if the film itself was just defective. Maybe I dropped it or scratched it?

As I was about to get up and collect the film to check for damage, Theodore suddenly burst into tears VERY loudly. And this wasn't the average cartoon sort of crying, it sounded like Janice in the sound booth doing the voice was legitimately heartbroken. Theo sounded like he seen someone close to him get slaughtered. Then again this sounded completely out of character for Janice to even be crying this loudly in the rare times he did. "What's going on with this show, guys?" Janice said very confused. "I don't kno-" I was cut short by the pilot again. It suddenly cut to static and then showed The Chipmunks standing completely still at night. The environment was hardly visible with bright stars in the background. Grass was slightly moving and loud crickets could be heard. The Chipmunks then out of nowhere started to chant something, but in reverse. It sounded almost hebrew. After 15 seconds of this, black holes replaced their faces... Their faces were now jet black. This lasted for the next 15 seconds before it cut to an intermission... There was no intermissions inside of our pilot. It showed Alvin in what appeared to be Soviet Russia. I knew this because I could hardly make out a hammer and sickle in the background - Keep in mind this is the 70s. He then started talking in reverse again just like the chant earlier, but this time in Russian. I could only make out a couple words he said. "I know what sacrifices has to be made so our great country can survive through-" The rest I couldn't understand. The next scene showed Simon and Theodore burning in HELL. There was fire everywhere and smoke covering most of the screen. 8 demons grabbed then and proceeded to tare them apart like nothing. They were feasting on the Chipmunk flesh as Simon and Theodore were screaming in an extremely loud high pitch, i'm surprised I could even hear it.

It then cut back to the episode. The pilot then COMPLETELY skipped the plot to the very end. Here's what the original pilot was: *Dave would greet The Chipmunks for the last time - The camera would showcase their house - The Chipmunks would then have a minute dialogue discussing Dave and what he's done for them and the misfortunes they went through - it would then cut to 1974 when Simon and Alvin meet their first lovers and would give a run down of their personas - and to finally end off the episode it would cut to the present date; 1975, having the lovers convince The Chipmunks to start performing again on stages with them this time, and a nice song to end the episode with the new cast being backup singers.* The episode faded into a big stage with The Chipmunks performing a song. I believe it was legacy to the brand... Witch Doctor I think. It was actually normal to the original pilot we've made, the entire scene. Welp... Until the end. Once the performance ended, it was supposed to pan out and fade to black into the outro with sounds of the audience cheering and clapping. Here the audience still cheered and clapped but cut to The Chipmunks on the stage. They had extra dialogue. "Now audience, wasn't that a impressive performance!" Alvin yelled to the crowd. "I surely thought it was, don't you guys think that as well?" Theodore yelled. The audience then started to cheer louder and louder each time The Chipmunks edged them on. They even passed out Vinyls of a sneak peek of their new album to select audience members. The cover art was just burning fire with the words: "Alvin, Simon, Theodore's Retribution" in black font with a barely visible U.S flag. It showed the back which was completely black revealing the tracklist in white font: #1. Turn Back Now #2. God Is Dead #3. We're Dead, But You Are Too #4. Hell Is Bound #5. The End Of Civilization #6. Armed And Dangerous #666. (yes, the next track listing was written like that) I'm Born Again. The scene was honestly dragged out to the point where I though it would end the episode off like that abruptly. "Well, we have one more surprise performance planned for you loving fans!" Simon yelled. They then went behind the curtain for a couple seconds. "Oh, god..." I thought. What was going to happen now? Were they going to spew some sort of communist propaganda? Faces turn jet black again? Cut back to the beginning? Some random crazy shit that pertains to nothing? But what happened next is something my mind couldn't have ever imagined in 1,000 years. They came out the curtains with firearms, looking ready for war. The crowd then from the cartoonish style of applause and sound effects, cut to real audio from an actual crowd. "We've been suffering for the longest of times without mercy. God has given us hell on earth for no other reason than this. Now we know what our greater purpose is." The Chipmunks all said in unison. After their edgy little speech, Alvin then loaded a magazine inside his Assault Rifle and in his pistol, it revealed Simon to have a surplus of lethals around his waist and were setting them up to be thrown, and Theodore having a big Light Machine Gun strapped over his soldier with a 500 round mag. They then... Let loose without mercy... The cries... The blood... The screams... Everytime I close my eyes I still remember the scene... And sleep I remember the audio... It still haunts me to this day. Some of the crew and one of the executives then starting crying uncontrollably, Ross. Jr and Janice just looked in horror to what someone has done to their own brand. After the deed was done, they started running like professionals inside a marathon. The camera then panned down to the dead bodies.. At least 3000 died to the rampage they let loose.

It then cut to black. The Chipmunks appeared to be laying down now, maybe sleeping, and looked incredibly disheveled. It looked like they were mauled to death by a tiger. Their clothes were torn and they had numerous scars with dried up blood covering some parts of their clothes. It looked oddly realistic, too realistic for a cartoon... The camera zoomed in on their face, and what i've seen next shook me beyond belief... They looked HORRIFIC. It looked like an actual crime scene but anthropomorphic. Their tongues were hanging out of their mouths and jaws torn out with some loose skin hanging out from the original place, with blood dripping out. Their eyes were completely out of their sockets and their skulls could be seen and even broken in some places, with brain matter in its spots. Simon's arms were cut vertically in half, Theodore's legs were completely torn off, Alvin had little to no hair on his entire body... The executives went to grab a trash can to vomit but the rest of the team looked in horror. I started to feel a little nauseous myself... And I realized they weren't laying down, they were on the floor dead inside of a FBI basement. Plain white text scrolled down the screen, most of it being gibberish... The only names that could be made out in them were high ranking politicians inside the United States, primarily in California. The only audio that could be heard were flies surrounding their flesh. One of the executives had enough of this and ejected the tape, stomping it on the ground completely destroying the last proof of the tape. He sent us out of ABC and we were completely blacklisted from the company. Once we were sent out, I TRIED my best to convince Ross. Jr and Janice that I DIDN'T approve of that. They didn't buy a second of it unfortunately. They said to get the hell out and I were to be completely blacklisted from the industry. I met up with the rest of the team later. NONE of them said they worked on any of that fucked up episode. I noted however someone was gone when we met up. David... I tried calling his phone but it led to this haunting voice message. "If you're calling me about the episode or my disappearance, just know it was too late. I have little to nothing to live for, I thought I might as well go out with a bang. Nobody, not even my parents loved me growing up. Everyone though I was a creep and with my ideas that went outside the box. This is the only place I was accepted and I soon figured out the animation business is shitty as well. This is the last straw. I don't want to work for the majority of my life in piss poor conditions just to have the basic necessities to live. Goodbye." We all knew since that chilling voicemail it had to be him that did it. A week later after fully absorbing the situation, I cut to the local news and breaking news appeared. "A man named David Thraw walked inside of a Federal Building with a gun, shooting and killing 13, injuring 17. The FBI has yet to catch him, so if you have seen him, please dial this number:" It cut off the TV at that point. Me continuously thinking of the fact that one man single handedly ruined my animation career kept making me rationally upset, but I accepted it at the end. Now at this point, you're wondering: "How 8 years later did Bagdasarian Productions get a television show, and 5 years later make a popular album?" Simple. They went tooth and nail against ABC for the existence of that tape privately, and hired the best lawyers in the world and corrupt defendants that would take any bit of extra money for a case. Somehow in a blue moon, they won the case in 1979... They went on to make Chipmunk Punk a year later to revive the brand and have it sell BIG. Then every other network I mentioned earlier that originally turned down the idea, would take an Alvin And The Chipmunks cartoon on a dime. They settled for NBC and ever since then the series has been relatively in safe waters, having 3 shows in total and 5 movies in total. Well, until recently. See, the reason Bagdasarian is currently trying to sell the Alvin And The Chipmunks brand is because of that pilot surfacing again after ABC being able to repair the tape that was smashed, at least in their best ability. Why they were stuck on that one pilot over 46 years later is beyond me. It has gone to bite Bagdasarian Productions in the ass, and the only way to solve the problem legally is to sell the brand entirely. Bagdasarian will likely deny the pilot's existence, but I know what i've seen on that tape, and the damage it has caused...



Written by Waterdlyed
Content is available under CC BY-SA

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