VHS Verve: Alvin & The Chipmunks - Cookie Chomper

"The Chipmunks learn about the loss of a loved one and find a compassionate way to make amends."

(No, Mark's not me.  This was a second-hand purchase.)

If you wondered what (if anything) would be replacing "Farthing Wood Deaths Revisited" as my long-running retrospective on the cartoon carnage that left me with psychological skid marks as a nipper, then this is probably the closest that you're going to get for now.  I had given thought to doing a similar retrospective on a different series, but immediately ran into a brick wall in that I couldn't think of another cartoon, at least from my own childhood,that killed off its characters with such merciless frequency.  The Animals of Farthing Wood was truly one of a kind in that regard.  I got to thinking that perhaps I might have more luck if I didn't limit myself to just one series, and then recalled how fascinated I've always been with children's media that deals very explicitly with the subject of death.  I don't mean in the Farthing Wood sense, mind, where characters die left, right and centre but it's treated as a simple fact of life that nobody has the time nor energy to dwell on beyond a basic, "oh, well, that was undesirable."  I'm thinking more about cartoons which are blatantly looking to teach their young audience a lesson about the nature of loss and bereavement.  A lot of people have this assumption that death in children's entertainment is a taboo, at least in the traditional Saturday morning kids' cartoon (I'm told that those technically don't exist any more, but I'm not sure what the modern terminology would be), where people still raise eyebrows if characters so much as utter the words "kill" or "die".  Traditionally, kids' cartoons are supposed to be mindless, frenetic junk designed to fill in a few gaps in between ads for fast food and sugary cereal - the notion that they'd even consider tackling something as weighty as death and the grieving process seems entirely incongruous.  And yet, the issue of loss is one which most children are going to have to deal with at some point in their lifetime, be it for a pet, friend or family member, and I have to admire the audacious few which are willing to set aside an episode in order to help their young audience understand what they're going through and to see that hope, acceptance and renewal can eventually come out of grief.

We'll start by focusing on the "death episode" which affected me the most deeply in my own childhood - namely, the Alvin & The Chipmunks episode "Cookie Chomper".  It's handy, because I've also been meaning to start a new series centering on some of the VHS tapes from my personal collection, and this means I get to kill two birds with one stone.  "Cookie Chomper" shows up on a UK VHS release from Castle Vision in 1990.  There have been a few Alvin & The Chipmunks incarnations over time, so I do want to make it clear that I am, of course, referring to the animated series which began in 1983, ran until 1990 and moved through quite a few production companies before finally ending up with our good friends at DiC Entertainment.  This VHS contains three episodes of said series - in addition to "Cookie Chomper", we also get "The Wall" and "Theodore's Life as a Dog".  "The Wall" is another slightly curious one since it involves the Chipmunks traveling to the Berlin Wall and literally bringing it down with an impromptu rock concert, but we'll get to that in due course.  "Theodore's Life as a Dog" is curious only in the sense that it's a silly, slice-of-life episode paired up with two extremely weighty ones.  I guess they felt the need to round off on something a bit frivolous in order to lighten the overall load.

"Cookie Chomper" first aired in the US on 23rd September 1989.  In this episode, Alvin, Simon and Theodore find a stray kitten and decide to take him in but, sensing that their manager/adopted father Dave Seville might not approve, try to keep him a secret, which is easier said than done with Dave having a cat allergy.  Wacky hi-jinks ensue.  Eventually, Dave learns about the cat, whom the boys have dubbed Cookie Chomper III, and allows them to keep him, despite the adverse effect the tiny creature is having on his nostrils.  More wacky hi-jinks ensue.  Then one night Cookie Chomper III gets out of the house and goes for a wander, only to be struck down and killed by a car (off-screen) in the early hours of the morning.  If you watched the episode without knowing that was coming, you might feel like you've been hit by something too.

Apparently this episode was inspired by the true-life experiences of Ross Bagdasarian Jr and Janice Karman (owners of the Chipmunks' production company, Bagdasarian Productions) whose dog Tiger Lilly was killed in a similar manner to Cookie Chomper III and receives a dedication at the start of the 1987 feature film The Chipmunk Adventure.  Clearly, they were left with a deep sensitivity to how difficult an experience it can be to lose a beloved pet, and were motivated to create an episode which might help children in a similar situation.  Personally, I think they succeeded very well - as much as this episode shocked and upset me when I first saw it as a kid, I later found myself referring back to it when my pet rabbit died and was able to draw strength from its messages.  The episode handles the subject of pet loss in a very sensitive and non-condescending way, and by golly will you shed a few tears in the process over the fate of the chipmunks' own cherished friend.

The "Cookie Chomper" VHS release contains no opening trailers, but the Castle Vision logo is as delectably nightmarish as you would hope for a video distribution company from this era:

The episode opens with the three chipmunk brothers home alone in their living room.  I doubt that I need to specify who each of the chipmunks are individually, but if you came to this episode blind then you'd very quickly pick up that Alvin is the reckless rebel, Simon the precocious intellectual and Theodore the emotionally sensitive softie of the group.  Theodore is distressed because Alvin is pounding the snot out of his favourite stuffed dinosaur, Muffin, which Alvin has re-imagined as "Terrible Tex", a professional wrestler with "poisonous eyes and retractable brain cells."  Meanwhile, Simon grumbles about having to contemplate the fact that he's related to the two of them.  Dave then rings from the Chipmunks' mixing studio and announces that he's going to have work overtime and won't be home until late, so he puts Simon in charge of the household.  Simon specifies his role as being a "surrogate parent" or "substitute authority figure" and that night, as he tries to get everyone to bed, Alvin proceeds to pester him by asking if there are such things as ghosts with suction cups on their eyes and toes which can jump out and bite them in the dark.  The very image is enough to have Theodore quaking in his sheets, but Simon reassures him that he's made a point of ensuring that all doors and windows are secured and that nothing can get in.  The chipmunks hear a strange wailing noise, however, and quickly establish that something very sinister is making its way up the stairs.  The three of them huddle together in fear, as Alvin points out that, as the surrogate parent, it's Simon's duty to head the response.

Reluctantly, Simon leads them outside into the corridor, where they spot an unidentified lump in pillow case crawling across the floor in their direction.  Alvin and Simon immediately dart back inside the bedroom and secure the door, but Theodore, who isn't fast enough, is left to his fate.  "Don't kill me" he begs the phantom pillow case, "I'm just a kid."  Fortunately for him, the intruder turns out to be nothing more than a harmless stray kitten, which he immediately takes a shine to.  Inside the bedroom, Alvin and Simon realise that Theodore didn't make it and wonder if the monster ate him, but soon cotton onto the truth.  Simon realises that, contrary to his earlier reassurances, he did leave a window open, which is how the cat likely gained entry.  I'm left thinking that, actually, Simon made a pretty shoddy surrogate parent.  Not only did he overlook that open window, but he left his brother shut outside and at the mercy of a potential aggressor.  Anyhow, Theodore has his heart set upon keeping the kitten, but Simon points out that Dave will likely not approve, so the brothers resolve to keep their new friend a secret.  Naturally, Alvin can't afford to appear too sentimental, so he slips in some scatological remark about cute little kittens leaving cute little surprises all over rugs and how he doesn't plan on being the one to clean them up.  Just then, Dave arrives back home, so the chipmunks jump back in bed and Theodore tries to conceal the kitten under the covers.  Dave comes in to check on them, and Theodore frankly does a rather terrible job of not acting in any way suspicious, but I guess that Dave's too tired to pick up on this.  He does start sneezing as he exits the room, but puts this down to hay fever season starting earlier each year.

The following morning, Simon catches Alvin "cleaning" the dishes by having the kitten lick them and and has him do them again, highlighting the vile implications of having to eat off plates laced with kitten saliva.  The chipmunks then start clashing over what they're going to name their new pet.  Mirroring the dinosaur debate from earlier, Theodore favours something cute-sounding derived from a sugary snack (Cookie), while Alvin wants something to make the cat sound vicious and fearsome (Chomper).  In the end, Simon works out a compromise by proposing that the cat's name be Cookie Chomper and then adds his own touch by sticking "III" on the end.  I know that the idea is for all three of them to have a hand in naming the cat, and naturally Simon would be the one to throw in an element of sophistication, but what makes Cookie Chomper the third in a line, specifically?  Is there a joke in there I'm not getting?  Dave walks in, still sneezing, and gets suspicious when he notices that Theodore appears to be concealing something up his sleeve, only the chipmunks are able to convince him that they're simply practicing the new Jane Fonda work-out routine.  Very 1980s, eh?

That evening, Dave has a date lined up with a woman named Roxanne, and the chipmunks are happy about this, as it means they'll get the house to themselves and can play freely with Cookie Chomper.  Unfortunately, Dave announces that he doesn't feel up to eating at a restaurant due to his allergies playing up, so he's decided to have the date at the house and implores the chipmunks to be on their best behaviour.  Obviously, it's not going to work out.  Cookie Chomper sneaks downstairs during the dinner and quickly has all three chipmunks ducking and diving under the table in an effort to grab him.  At this point, the cat's pretty much out of the bag (literally and figuratively) as far as Dave's concerned, but Roxanne, happily, turns out to be a big cat person and Cookie Chomper proves a hit with her.  Dave is apparently so relieved that he ends up giving Cookie Chomper his blessing, allergy or no allergy.

As Cookie Chomper settles into the Seville household (and Alvin has to grapple with the task of cleaning out the cat's litter box), Simon becomes convinced that Dave's allergies are psychosomatic and attempts to reprogram them by presenting him with flashcards of a cat and a dog and mixing up their corresponding words so that Dave subconsciously accepts Cookie Chomper as a dog.  Well, it does the trick, because Dave stops sneezing over Cookie Chomper and happily embraces the cat.  I'll warn you here that, if either yourself your children should require a happy ending, then this is definitely the point to switch off your VHS machine or fast forward to the next episode.  Maybe you'd be better off with that one about the Berlin Wall.

Simon, who doesn't approve of Cookie Chomper continuing to sleep in Theodore's bed, has prepared a special nest for the kitten in the chipmunks' bedroom, and Theodore gives Cookie Chomper his teddy so that he'll have something to snuggle up to in the night if he gets scared.  Alvin, who's still intent on the cat growing up to be a fearsome monster, confiscates the teddy while his brothers are sleeping and places it on the bedroom window sill.  Unfortunately, the chipmunks have once again overlooked the importance of ensuring that all windows are fastened before they sleep, and Cookie Chomper crawls up onto the window during the night to chase a fly and promptly topples out.  Ostensibly, this all looks perfectly cute and harmless, only the music suddenly swells up dramatically at this point, giving us fair warning that whatever comes of Cookie's little escapade won't be anything good.

The following morning, a stranger shows up at the Seville's door, bearing Cookie Chomper's collar and terrible news.  "I tried to stop my car in time," he tells Dave, "but the kitten was in the street."  Given that the collar is all he returns, I do have wonder what became of Cookie Chomper's bodily remains - surely he wasn't just left in the gutter to decompose?  Dave worries about how he'll break the news to the boys, only to turn around and find them standing right behind him.  As I've indicated, this represents rather an abrupt change of pace for the episode, and it may be a bit much for some viewers to handle, but it's very effective in underscoring just how shocking and unexpected some such losses can be, along with the sheer bluntness of the emotional impact that loss entails.

The remainder of the episode is structured around the five stages of grief, and we rejoin the chipmunks to find them all at different stages of the grieving process.  Theodore, who still goes out into the street and calls for Cookie in the hopes that this has all just been a case of mistaken identity, is in Denial.  Alvin, who throws out all of the family's houseplants on the realisation that they too will die on him one day, is in Anger.  Simon, who no longer has any interest in doing the things he would have positively leapt at in happier days, is in Depression.  Dave attempts to console each of them, but ultimately has to allow them time to work through their respective feelings.  All three chipmunks move into the Searching/Bargaining stage together when they begin to discuss the circumstances leading up to Cookie Chomper's death and what they could have done to have prevented it.  Each chipmunk believes that he is intrinsically to blame - Theodore neglected to close the window through which Cookie Chomper escaped, Simon regrets not letting Cookie Chomper sleep where he was most contented in Theodore's bed, while Alvin, for once not bothering to conceal his his emotions, feels that Cookie Chomper only went to the window in the first place because he put the teddy there (I can only assume that the Bagdasarians went through a similar bit of soul-searching following the death of Tiger Lilly).  Dave overhears their conversation and assures them that sometimes these things happen and that none of them are truly to blame.  Finally, he helps them to move into the ultimate stage of the grieving process - Acceptance - by urging them to remember Cookie Chomper for the joy he brought them in the short time they had together.  It's here that we get a song, "Beautiful Memories", which plays over a montage of clips showing the Chipmunks interacting with Cookie Chomper.  It's not the most amazingly written song in the world, although I defy you not to start sobbing during this sequence all the same.  It closes with Dave hanging up Cookie Chomper's collar upon a plaque dedicated to his memory, a symbol of his enduring place within the family's lives.

In the final scene, we see Dave surprising the chipmunks by taking them to an animal shelter to adopt a new pet.  Theodore is reluctant at first, pointing out that no other pet could be the same as Cookie Chomper.  I appreciate that the episode addresses this point, with Dave agreeing and admitting that Cookie Chomper can never be replaced; obviously, life must go on and the chipmunks getting a new pet would be one such symbol of renewal, but I like that the episode doesn't shy away from the fact that it will not, in itself, prevent them from from missing Cookie Chomper.  Instead, Dave tells them that a new pet would be "just as special, in a different way."  The chipmunks find a Cavalier King Charles spaniel-type dog and decide to adopt her, and although Simon finds the notion a bit overwhelming at first, it isn't long before the playful pup has won him over with her feisty antics.  Although Alvin has a couple of characteristic recommendations for names, ("Buzzsaw", "Crusher") they end up naming the dog Lilly, in an obvious nod to the Bagdasarian's own aforementioned Tiger Lilly (thus, giving her a sort of immortality in cartoon form).  Unfortunately, as the family lead their new pet home, they shortly discover that, as a side-effect of Simon's earlier re-programming, Dave is now allergic to dogs.  Simon attempts to re-program Dave into having a hippopotamus allergy instead, only Dave isn't quite so willing to go along with it this time around.

We'll close with a final word of tribute to Cookie Chomper III, the cartoon cat from the Saturday morning kids' show about singing chipmunks who, just shy of three decades on, still has the power to make grown adults cry.  Thanks for all the heartbreak, Cookie - it proved very helpful down the road of life.

NEXT UP: The Wall