The long history of everyone's favourite squeaky-voiced singing trio (not the Bee Gees, I mean the Chipmunks) quite possibly reaches its greatest ever heights of perfection with season five (the final season) of "ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks" in 2021/22.
The previous four seasons were all extremely good too, in fact probably getting better each year, but by this last season there are so many absolute gems among the episodes, and a consistent feel of the series having really got to grips with the characters and the kind of stories that work best. You could do a lot worse than watching through the whole season (26 double-episodes, making 52 in total, each with a unique song!), and I'm going to summarise the whole lot of them here, highlighting the best bits, and attempting to give them all marks out of ten. Although I'm not really good at that and usually can't bring myself to give any episode fewer than seven. And I freely admit I'm biased in favour of episodes starring Simon (I love him and want to cherish and protect him forever, as I've mentioned disturbingly many times before) and against those involving the girls, particularly Brittany. But I try to be fair and even-handed to the best of my abilities!
There is a very small group of writers contributing to the series by this point - earlier seasons had more one-off writers, but almost all of the fifth season is written by Janice Karman, the team of Peter Saisselin and Amy Serafin, Michael Bagdasarian and Vanessa Bagdasarian. And they really understand how the Chipmunks' minds work, and give us no end of brilliant character moments and fascinating psychological studies among all the fun, music and chaos! I really can't praise this show highly enough, but let's go episode by episode!
1a Deserted
Overhearing part of a conversation and letting his imagination run away with him as usual, Alvin becomes convinced that Dave is going to drive him out into the desert and leave him there.
It's a great one for showcasing Alvin's deep-seated insecurity as well as his flights of fancy - he really doesn't like constantly getting into trouble at school, but it inevitably happens anyway, and at heart he really is scared Dave will one day want to get rid of him!
Great moments include Miss Smith, the permanently frustrated teacher, voluntarily giving up her weekend to help Alvin with maths, which he really does struggle with - it's a good example of characterisation in this show gradually shifting from broad character depictions into more realistic and rounded behaviour. And there are nice imagination sequences and a madcap chase, but it's only an average episode to start the season. 8/10.
1b The
Great Snack Off
Alvin has found a great way to get more snacks and show off to his friends - catching food people throw to him in his mouth. But when Theodore (attracted solely by the snacks, of course - he's entirely innocent of caring what people think about him!) gets involved too, it all turns very competitive. And then Theodore gets a sweet stuck up his nose, and they have to avoid letting Dave know what they've been doing...
Another nice story that shows how by this point we know all these characters and don't need to be told why they're acting like they do; it just all makes sense automatically, and it's always good to watch what our heroes are up to now! 7/10.
2a Unboxing
Day
Theodore is getting millions of views and free food from his web videos of himself eating his favourite things. So when Alvin finds out about it, he has to try to create his own thing! He goes with toy unboxing videos, and his disregard for truth and accuracy (including making Theodore pretend to be a new hi-tech baby doll) and obsession with trying to achieve viral status leads to breaking into the toy store at night. And still making things work out okay in the end entirely by luck rather than judgement!
Alvin's way of taking a simple situation and escalating it into chaos (with the blowback all ending up hitting Simon as usual) is at the core of his character, and always good for a fun episode! 7/10.
2b Dave's
Pavilion
Dave is delighted with his new pavilion, and bores the boys to tears with his constant talks about the exciting grouting work on the footpath. When Dave's finally out of the way and the chipmunks can play outside without getting another interminable guided tour, they accidentally upset a tin of paint all over it, and unintentionally end up leaving Dave with the impression that their neighbour Miss Miller is to blame, causing a rift between the grown-ups that the boys eventually have to own up to.
It's a great story in the down-to-earth style that really works well in this series, and a lot of great laughs along the way! 9/10.
3a U-Fly
Alvin wants to go on a new skydiving ride, but is too small. This is quite interesting, actually - the series is set in a world where talking chipmunks are uncommon but an accepted part of society, but things like this ride are exclusively designed for and available to humans. You can see why it's upsetting for Alvin! Indeed, this is one of the few episodes where the unfairness of the world genuinely makes our hero shed tears - the series is wonderfully consistent about things like that!
So he finds a way to sneak into it after the park closes, gets stuck in the giant fan machine and needs to be rescued. A great Alvin story all round, with nice moments for Theodore and Simon too, this is great fun to watch. 9/10.
3b Yeti or
Not
On a skiing holiday, Alvin tricks Theodore out of the best bedroom by telling him horror stories about yeti. And then when he has to try to backtrack out of it he makes things worse by telling Theo he can keep the monster at bay with mustard...
There are some more great visuals and funny moments in this episode, and it's a very nice one for Theodore. Everyone looks really great in their colour-coordinated ski outfits, too! 9/10.
4a Taken
The only fifth-season episode by Bart Coughlin, who wrote many of the very best episodes from previous seasons - which makes me wonder how it is that season five is my favourite, actually! But this is another all-time classic - Dave is mysteriously missing, and Alvin's imagination starts to run wild. When the boys find him, Dave seems to have turned into a zombie, and they have to get rid of him!
A brilliant madcap adventure, with lovely character moments for all three chipmunks - Simon's whispered "Told you!" at the end, as if he hadn't been completely caught up in Alvin's fantasies as always, never fails to make me laugh out loud. The whole episode is a definite 10/10!
4b The
Flying Beast
Alvin is haunted by a giant pterodactyl with a terrifying screech, and nobody else believes him - Dave assumes he's just trying to get out of doing his chores!
The beast is actually Simon's science project ("the gears are a little noisy, but otherwise it's working great!"), but Alvin, Dave and Officer Dangus never do find that out, as they're dragged into the terrifying experience in turn!
This is another one that's very funny from start to finish, and full of the kind of character moments that make this series so special! 9/10.
5a The
Curse of Macbeth
The wide range of supporting characters is one of the best things about this series, and this episode has the greatest moment for the school's drama teacher Mr Dotson, a very dramatic man. When the kids understandably don't want to perform his self-composed terrible musical play, he gives them Macbeth instead, and tells them it's cursed!
He's also the kind of person who can burst into a classroom and scream "I hate you!" to the pupils, and impersonates a ghost to try to terrify them. Luckily, Simon remains rational and intelligent and solves the case, Scooby-Doo style! This one is a lot of fun! 9/10.
5b Zeela
the Great
I have to admit that, big Simon fan though I am, I'm not really into the Geizmo episodes - there are two in season four and two in season five, involving Simon's emotionally-equipped robot child. Honestly, Simon comes across as a not very good parent figure, and it just makes you wonder where Geizmo is in all the other episodes of the series! Did Simon turn him off and leave him in a cupboard?
But in this one, Jeanette has created her own robot, Zeela, and Geizmo is jealous. Jeanette actually does a better job with the emotional robot creation, although Simon is usually consistently a bit better than her at inventions, which perhaps says something about their personalities! That kind of psychological consideration gives this one an edge over the other Geizmo stories, perhaps, but I still have to say it's a 7/10.
6a Dr.
Sleep
Not just another "Simon's invention goes wrong" episode, but the climax to the series-long theme of Simon's complicated relationship with sleep. He always stays up all night working if he can, he falls asleep at his desk all the time, he talks in his sleep and even sleepwalks on occasion. But now he's working on a device to eliminate the need for sleep altogether, and it all gets very out of control.
Simon is just adorable here, and his hallucinations are just wonderful, as is his concern for the safety of Dave and his brothers even when he's drifted firmly into sleep-deprived insanity. And the hug from Dave, who'll always be there to support him, that brings him to his senses at the end as well! This is an absolute all-time favourite, full of great moments, and a big 10/10!
6b Davey
Boy
Simon's rejuvenation-ray ends up turning Dave into a kid of around the chipmunks' age, not only proving to Alvin that Dave most definitely did have an 'attitude' when he was young, but leading to a farcical series of exploits including Alvin trying to help matters by explaining to Officer Dangus that the young Dave is Dave senior's son from his secret other family.
It's something of a stock cartoon plot, but as is usually the case with this series, it's done in unique ways that make it stand out from all the other iterations! 8/10.
7a The
Road Warrior
Theodore is behaving suspiciously (as in, he won't tell Alvin exactly what he's doing, and Alvin is insanely curious), and when Alvin investigates, it seems that Theodore has joined a scary biker gang, and also possibly become a vampire!
This is a really brilliant episode, showcasing Alvin's out-of-control imagination and also his genuine concern for his family. There's a beautiful bonding moment between him and Theo at the end of the episode, and his "Just remember I love you," in a phone message to Dave before he braves the vampire lair is very sweet. And the nightmare sequence and song are really awesome, too!
Simon's barely in this one (although he does have a wonderful I-told-you-so when he finally appears), but I still count it as one of the greatest episodes ever, and a clear 10/10!
7b My Fair
Chipette
Alvin's meddling ends up pitting Brittany against Jeanette in a talent show and sparks outright war between the sisters! Along the way, there are a lot of fun moments with Alvin training Jeanette in dance, a brilliant scene of Eleanor and Jeanette bumping into each other on the zipline between their treehouse and the boys' bedroom, and a whole lot of great interactions among the three girls.
Even someone as prejudiced against the Chipettes as I seem to be can't help but give this one an 8/10.
8a Gone
Gal
Miss Croner and Miss Miller have a fight, which leads to Miss Croner faking her own disappearance and hiding out in the boys' treehouse. Which, apart from getting to see the chipmunks' wonderful pirate costumes again, gives us a fun runaround with the adult supporting characters, including Officer Dangus, which make this whole series so much fun.
The Chipettes get their moment in the spotlight too, and the whole thing is a very entertaining adventure, as usual! 8/10.
8b Time
Traveler's Party
Simon and Alvin are forever arguing - this time it's about the existence of time travel. Simon says it's impossible, Alvin insists it's real. So they put on a time travellers' party, not sending the invitations out until the following day, and of course Alvin hires an actor to play a time traveller and win the bet.
But it turns out the party guest is a real visitor from the future, pursued by time cops! He's after Simon's latest invention, which makes him world-famous in the future, and it's a real sci-fi adventure for our chipmunk brothers! This is a unique episode, going beyond the usual Simon's-invention-of-the-week stories, and it's really quite brilliant! Simon gets a real action-hero scene to himself! It's a really great one - 9/10!
9a The
House on Cedar Lane
This double-bill of episodes are each in their way a great example of how the show developed over the five seasons. This is a Halloween story, and while the first season's "Switch Witch" told a tale of the grown-ups giving the kids a fun Halloween, this one is about Alvin arranging to scare all their friends, who have been lamenting that as they grow up, it's harder to really be frightened by things!
I'm fascinated by the way everyone is just that significant little bit more mature now, such that you can easily believe a year has passed between the two stories. And it's also a great adventure all round, another must-see of the fifth season! 9/10.
9b Bathroom
Bully
This one, meanwhile, tells the same basic story as the first-season episode "Bully For You", but does it infinitely better! Back in the first season, a lot of episodes were the archetypal cartoon plot - in that one, Simon has to wear his unattractive spare glasses, and as a natural consequence of this gets bullied in a very cartoonish way by Derek, who has no personality beyond 'school bully'. Derek gets much better as the series goes on, and in this one he has a more logical motivation (Miss Smith has made him look a fool in front of the class and praised Simon to the skies), and his bullying is spur-of-the-moment and realistic.
And this leads to an adventure arising from the by now firmly established personality nuances of Simon, Alvin and Theodore and gives us funny scenes, great character interaction and an all-round fantastic episode! This one is most definitely a 10/10.
10a The
Return of Thornbergaupht
A sequel to the previous season's "The Chosen Chipmunk", this time it's Jeanette's turn to get into Simon's total immersion game - and she ends up entirely ruining it by counselling the evil Thornbergaupht and turning him into a big softy!
Which causes a problem when Simon's trying to sell this game - but somehow the whole episode doesn't work quite as well as the original story, nice as it always is to see Jeanette's unique perspective on life. Just 7/10.
10b Squashed
Alvin tries to impress his friend Bruce's dad, who's very sporty, by claiming that Dave is a great squash player. He assumes he's on safe ground, since there aren't any squash courts around, but then it turns out there's one at the local exclusive club that Alvin would really like to hang out at...
Stories about Alvin spinning an ever-increasing web of lies around Dave are another fun recurring theme, and this one takes it in interesting directions - Dave finds that he really likes playing squash, and Alvin's out-of-control imagination just takes him off into a world of his own while the grown-ups get along perfectly sensibly. All good fun to watch! 7/10.
11a Writer's
Block
Dave is trying to write a stage musical, but is hopelessly stuck on it. The chipmunks try to help him out but just make things a lot worse, as usual. The plan is to inspire Dave by performing a full musical that Alvin has stolen from the internet and claims to have composed himself, but it just makes Dave want to give up writing altogether.
And thanks to some classic mix-ups and idiocy from batty neighbour Miss Miller and inept local policeman Officer Dangus, the chipmunks end up fearing that Dave has run away from home forever and they're never going to see him again!
This episode has it all - hilarious comedy, wonderful music, emotional depth, and... that beautiful little moment at the end when Dave pats Simon's head. An all-time favourite and a definite 10/10 all the way!
11b Jinxed!
In order to stop Theodore telling Dave that Alvin broke his computer, Alvin jinxes Theo and tells him he's not allowed to talk.
And, honestly, this is a rare episode I don't like to watch. Alvin taking advantage of Theodore's gullible nature is a regular theme of the series, and it's usually funny, but this time I feel like Alvin's going too far and just being mean to his younger brother. I lose the sense of fun and just feel sorry for the poor mistreated little chipmunk.
So I'm going to be unforgivably harsh with the rating for this one and give it just... 6/10.
12a Fire
Safety
A gorgeous fireman comes to the school to teach everyone about fire safety, and all the girls (as well as Miss Smith) are swooning over him. Alvin's clearly not going to stand for this, and tries to make everyone think he's a fire safety hero in his usual misguided way.
There's an unusually educational tone to this one, actually - it would work as an episode of Arthur with minimal changes. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just a surprise to see Alvin and the Chipmunks playing it so straight! But there are still plenty of fun moments to enjoy! 7/10.
12b Castle
Catastrophe
On a school trip to a fake castle, Alvin gets in trouble (although it really wasn't totally his fault for once) and has to help out with repairs and playing the part of a servant. It doesn't exactly teach him humility, but he still seems to learn something from the whole experience.
Much like the previous one, there's more of a learning and improving tone to this episode than most, and it's funny that they're paired together in a double-bill. A somewhat bland 7/10.
13a The Party
Animals
Alvin feels that Dave should be booking the band for more private parties, and begs to be allowed to organise a gig himself to show how easy it is. He does, but it turns out he's booked them not as a band at an extremely wealthy and exclusive party but as the animals in the petting zoo. And when a rich party guest wants to keep the six chipmunks for herself, and Miss Miller misunderstands dramatically and says it's all right by her, things just look worse...
This is another one suggesting fascinating things about the talking chipmunk's status in society in this cartoon. They're clearly seen (at least by a very rich and entitled woman) as a thing that can be bought and sold, rather than being of the status of humans - it raises intriguing questions. Also, there's a great role for Alvin's perpetual rival Bocarter, and a lot of fun adventure all round! 8/10.
13b Warren
Seville
Alvin tries once more to get rid of Theodore's annoyingly ever-present Talking Teddy, and Theo retaliates by creating an even more annoying imaginary friend.
One of many episodes of the series showing a war between Alvin and Theodore, in which Theo fights back in elaborate ways avoiding direct confrontation. It's a great example of how the show really thinks about the personalities of the characters and the way they interact! This one perhaps doesn't work as well as some of the others, but it's always great to see! 7/10.
14a Excavation
Vacation
When Simon is going to go on a special outing with Dave, Alvin is of course insanely jealous. Alvin's constant desperation to spend quality time with Dave is one of his most endearing qualities, and it's mirrored in a more quiet way in Simon and Theo too - this is a family that love each other, and it's really quite beautiful.
And then when Simon's ill and can't go, Alvin gets to take his place, only to find it's a monumentally boring archaeological dig. It would be a more fun episode if I didn't feel sorry for poor Simon - this trip, as he points out, is something he said could be his birthday and Christmas present and he didn't want anything else! After that, I can't really sympathise with Alvin, I'm afraid, and this episode only gets a 6/10.
14b Trophy
Dad
Dave has been eagerly awaiting the music award nominations, and when Alvin finds he hasn't been nominated, the chipmunks resolve to try to make Dave feel better about it. But when Dave announces that he has been nominated, the boys think he's making it up - it's a hilarious misunderstanding, in the classic style, with the chipmunks trying to help Dave but making everything much worse. That's something that never gets old!
This one really is a laugh a minute, more than most episodes of the series. And has a nod to history too - Dave is actually excited to be nominated for Best Engineered Recording, a Grammy that the Chipmunks really did win three times in the sixties! But for sheer entertainment value, this is a 10/10.
15a Skater
Girl
Brittany gets into an argument with a boy at the skate park, and ends up challenging him to a skateboarding contest, even though she can't skate at all.
I do love the way this episode undermines the traditional approach - as Eleanor points out, being good at skateboarding indeed doesn't make the mean boy better than Brittany. But it does make him better at a skateboarding contest, which is what Brittany has agreed to! So it falls to Alvin and Eleanor to help Brit find a way to show her own unique skills, and it's a nice girl-focused story. 7/10.
15b All
Washed Up
The final Geizmo episode, and this time he's become obsessed with washing machines. When he escapes and starts breaking into people's houses to disassemble their washers, it looks like Simon's going to be forced to shut the little robot down. It's all very sad, but turns out to have a happy ending, of course!
Again, having the robot be a central and constant part of the family's life in just these four episodes sort of disturbs the sense of reality in the other ones, and maybe that's the key reason I don't rate these as highly as the other Simon stories. It shows how this series builds a totally believable world, I suppose! 7/10.
16a Summer
School
Alvin thinks he has to go to summer school, and can't let Dave know, because it would cancel their summer holiday. So they have to find a way to impersonate Dave in a conference call with the principal, and Simon creates a perfect 3D avatar - which, unfortunately, Theodore ends up having to control when the real Dave calls Alvin and Simon away.
This is the great thing about the modern Chipmunks series - it takes all the traditional cartoon storylines and seamlessly updates them into the 21st-century world, while still retaining the great character interrelationships we all love! 8/10.
16b Puzzled
Dave and the chipmunks have an annual tradition of doing a really big jigsaw puzzle together - which is really adorably sweet! But Theodore breaks the 'no eating at the table' rule, spills his milk and washes a puzzle piece down the drain, forcing him to try to retrieve it while keeping it secret from Dave.
It's a simple story, but done in a very funny way, with a lot of adventure and lovely family moments too. A great episode for showing how well all the characters work together. 8/10.
17a Car Wars
What should have been a twenty-minute drive to a concert turns into a frustrating traffic jam experience for the chipmunks and chipettes, trying to find ways to pass the time and avoid fighting with each other or the other annoyed drivers!
There are a lot of great character moments here, and as Jeanette puts it, in many ways it's still a lot of fun for them all (although the others might not entirely agree). But it's an above-average episode with a great musical number to boot! 9/10.
17b Mr.
Fix-It
Simon fixes everything for everyone, and never even gets a thank-you! So he finally decides to feign ignorance and refuse to help with things, and when Theodore, Alvin and Dave find out why, they all have to work together to make Simon feel appreciated again!
Another classic Simon story that I really love, with a really great song and a whole lot of great character moments! Simon thanking Dave at the end for everything he does ("It's gotta be a lot of work, raising three chipmunks") is the kind of line that sums up the whole series. Definitely 10/10!
18a Little
Drummer Boy
Alvin spontaneously decides he's going to play the drums at the Chipmunks' latest recording session, and brushes aside Theodore's meek attempts to protest.
Theo has to get revenge in his own way, and it develops into a wonderful battle of Theodore and Alvin impersonating each other - the greatest moment has to be Theo perceptively characterising Alvin's reckless behaviour as being "the only way I can get attention from my Daddy!"
And Simon sorts everything out in the end, and there's a great song too - this one's a big 10/10.
18b Special
Ingredient
When Theodore overloads his family with pancakes, trying to perfect a healthy recipe, Alvin takes drastic measures to try to stop him, with the help of burping powder acquired from the toy shop. Which becomes a problem when Theo takes his adulterated pancakes to share with the whole school.
Things of note in an otherwise unexceptional episode - as seen in the picture, one of the few occasions when English text is visible in this series; most episodes use illegible characters, presumably for ease of international sales. And also, the toy shop owner (a recurring character in multiple episodes) really really looks like Rolf Harris, although I'm sure that couldn't have been the intention.
But it's a rather bland one, this. 7/10.
19a Alvin
Gets Schooled
Alvin's latest excuse for doing badly at school is that Dave is too uncaring to help him with his homework. So when Dave finds out about this, he cracks down on Alvin, forcing him to work harder! Simon helps with a brilliant invention to keep Alvin on his toes - since Dave yells "ALVINNN!!!" every 23 minutes on average ("Oh. That's troubling..." Dave responds), Simon just sets up speakers and a recording to do the job for him!
It's always nice, and consistently depicted, to see Alvin's difficulties with schoolwork - he really has to work at it, unlike "Simon, who's a robot," and it's just not in his nature. We can sympathise with him as he gets into trouble and makes things up, and that's where this series really succeeds with its characterisation! 7/10.
19b My Life
as A Dog
Miss Miller is looking after a puppy, and lets the chipmunks take care of it while she's at the eye doctor. And when they end up pouring paint over the puppy and having to shave off all its hair, it's just a simple matter of having Theodore pretend to be a dog while Miss Miller is temporarily blind and they're waiting for the fur to grow back!
Another great thing about this series is the running jokes - the puppy, just like Miss Croner's cats in many other episodes, instinctively loves to chase and attack poor Theodore. And there's no shortage of ways to get new laughs out of the basic storylines that have kept cartoons going all these years! 7/10.
20a Mr. Lou
Theodore makes a clay model of a funny little man who spreads love and happiness and teaches us all to be nice to each other and eat healthy food. Theo makes Mr. Lou a series of internet videos, which turn out to be hugely popular, but when they're hacked and someone starts posting horrible images of Mr. Lou being nasty, poor Theodore is heartbroken and decides Mr. Lou is just too good for this world.
It takes Alvin and Simon rallying around to convince him not to do anything drastic, and urge the perpetrator (it's Derek) to stop being horrid. Which he does, of course! This is a wonderful episode for Theodore, showing how sweet he is, and comes with probably the catchiest song in the whole series to boot. A definite 10/10.
20b Love Song
And this is the episode that really made me fall in love with Simon. He SO needs a hug, all the way through it! Poor Simon is always the one who really gets put through the wringer in this series...
In a sequel to the fourth-season episode "The Crush", Simon has written a love poem to try to get over his crush on Mandi (the apparently very intelligent but actually not very nice teaching assistant), and thrown it in the bin. Where Dave finds it, likes it so much that he wants to make it into a song, and does so because Simon can't admit that he wrote it.
And of course it quickly becomes universally known that Simon wrote the song, and he has to try to avoid Mandi, only to finally have to talk to her, and admit that he doesn't like her any more now that he's seen how mean she can be. When she furiously tells Simon that she happens to be of below average meanness, and his song sucks anyway, and storms out, the beautiful little smile on Simon's face now everything's finally over is such a delight to see!
The whole episode is wonderful, hilarious and brilliant, with a nice moment for Brittany in there too and Alvin, as always, there to help Simon when he needs it. Unquestionably a 10/10!
21a Bubble
Wrap
Alvin is obsessed with popping bubble-wrap, Brittany is obsessed with popping acorn tops under her feet, and both of them are obsessed with fighting the other in ever-escalating warfare when a misunderstanding sets them off.
Although it's one of the rare episodes where the limitations of the CGI artwork are really noticeable (they just have single models for 'acorn' and 'squashed acorn', which don't look quite right), it's always fun to see the Alvin versus Brittany stories, and this one has a lot of laughs to it! 8/10.
21b Chess
Mate
Simon is very enthusiastic about forming a new chess club, which surprises Jeanette a little, since he always loses to her and has a screaming tantrum (in private, after politely congratulating the winner and walking quickly away). But the real annoyance comes from Alvin, who wants to join the club because he fancies a girl who likes chess, and begs Simon to let him in!
Both Simon and Jeanette can't help being manipulated by Alvin, and there are a lot of laughs along the way. 8/10.
22a A
Knight's Tail
At a mediaeval faire, Eleanor is incensed to be told by a sexist knight in armour that girls can't be knights, and resolves to show him a thing or two, with the aid of Simon-designed armour and eventually proving the point with her own skills and talents.
Eleanor doesn't get the spotlight very often, which is a shame, as she's a fantastic character in this series, and this is one of her best showcases. "Why is this news?" she asks Simon, after telling him she's a national champion at fencing and archery. It's true, Eleanor is sadly overlooked a lot of the time! 8/10.
22b Dreambomber
When Theodore wakes Alvin up from a really great dream, from that point on Alvin can't stop dreaming about Theodore ruining everything he's doing. So Simon has to go into Alvin's dreams to try to get rid of the dream-Theodore...
It's a very surreal and imaginative episode, with a particularly great ending that reinforces how much the three brothers really care for each other, despite the occasional fights and differences of opinion! 9/10.
23a The
Lifeguard
Alvin and Eleanor are training to be junior lifeguards, and Theodore wants to be involved too. Thinking that he wouldn't be able to be an actual lifeguard, he appoints himself unofficial lifeguard helper, distributing snacks and sun-cream, and generally being adorable. And of course, he ends up saving the day in the end!
It's a really great one for Theo, in fact, with nice moments for the others too, and a traditional but subtly-stated moral about doing your best. Exactly why this show is so good! 8/10.
23b Scare-Crowner
Miss Croner, the cantankerous old lady who lives across the road from our heroes, is another of the great supporting characters, and this episode is one of her greatest moments as well as a wonderful one for Theodore. He can't stop stealing the cherries from Miss Croner's tree, which leads to her getting a scarecrow that Theodore finds terrifying and has nightmares about!
It's a great story for Theo and Alvin, with another brilliant song and some great visuals! 10/10!
24a Run,
Aimee, Run
Celebrity athlete and actress Aimee Mullins appears as herself - the only celebrity cameo in the series - in a story in which the chipmunks try to find her lost-in-transit prosthetic running legs. Alvin, of course, is in love with Aimee (swooning over celebrity women has been his defining character trait ever since the Chipmunks were created) and takes the lead in the adventure.
It's good fun, in a more traditional cartoon-episode way than most of the fifth season. It makes you think they could have done a few more more guest stars without it getting in the way of the other stories. 8/10.
24b Theo vs.
Simon
Theodore finds out that Simon won a trophy for baking brownies, long ago, and becomes obsessed with trying to find something he can do better than his genius brother. And he insists that being loved and trusted by everybody doesn't count, because that's easy!
It's a truly wonderful character study of the two of them - you feel sorry for Theo and also for Simon as he awkwardly tries to negotiate his way around Theodore's feelings. And the ending is absolutely brilliant, too! A real personal favourite, 10/10!
25a The
Underground
The chipmunks' friend Cheesy (who rather dominates the last clutch of episodes, actually - he's clearly Michael Bagdasarian's favourite character and the tail-end of the season is rather heavily loaded with his stories) ropes Theodore and then Alvin into a plot to raid snacks from the school canteen.
It's a fun romp, but there's nothing particularly special or memorable about this one, as we get towards the very end of the season's brilliant run. 7/10.
25b Game
House
Simon's final invention of the series, a holographic game covering the entire Seville house, goes wildly out of control (of course) when all six chipmunks want to program it with their own favourite environments on a rainy day.
The usual chaos and confusion ensue, and the show keeps on delivering those character moments and funny scenes all the way to the end! And you've got to admit, even in a familiar plotline like this one, it always manages to do it in a way that's uniquely the chipmunks' own! 7/10.
26a The
Dinner
Dave meets an old friend who's become a big success, and Alvin goes to extreme lengths to make it look like Dave is fabulously rich and successful too when he comes round for dinner. This includes painting everything in the house gold, hiding the sleeping Miss Miller in a trunk, and all the usual farcical things that happen in a situation like this, mostly involving Cheesy pretending to be the butler.
Not a very good one, this - in fact, just right at the very very end of the season, you'd be justified in saying the show has rather run out of steam. But considering how many great episodes have gone before, I think we can forgive them. 6/10.
26b The Tour
The final episode of the series really does give us an ending! Alvin's keen for the band to go on tour again, and it turns out the record company agree, so it's all arranged. But Theodore doesn't want to go, and when he realises he's leaving all his friends, neither does Alvin!
They come around eventually, and drive off into the sunset in their tour bus, but I can't help thinking this might be the Chipmunks' final tour, and they'll come back home again to settle down and grow up - there's a real sense of closure, even if it isn't a particularly gripping episode, and it's a nice way to finish the series in style! 8/10.
So there you have it! A choice selection that I really recommend you sample, if you haven't already! If you're not quite as Simon-fixated as me, you might differ with some of the scoring, but I stand by my selection of the greatest episodes of the season, and I don't think you'll be disappointed if you check them out! Doo doo doo-doo-doo-doo!
