Tell It to the Judge (Alvin and the Chipmunks, 1983)

"Tell It to the Judge"
Proof that even the 1983 series isn't immune to falling victim of having bad episodes such as this one.
Series: Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983) Part of Season: 5 Episode Number: 1b Air Date: September 12, 1987 Writer: Jack Enyart Previous episode: Back to Dave's Future Next episode: Sincerely Theodore

Tell It to the Judge is an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Summary

Alvin "borrows" Dave's new bike, (without permission) and while he is out riding he almost hits Brittany who is out roller skating, causing him to crash. The bike is ruined, and her skates are scratched. They each blame each other, and Alvin demands Brittany pay for Dave's bike, while she insists he pay for her roller skates. All of this brings us to court, where Brittany and Alvin, ignoring the "TRUTH" part in "truth, justice and the American way" face off in a "who can tell a better lie about what happened" televised court battle.

Why This Episode Should be Sued

1. Alvin in this episode is completely out-of-character, to the point where he looks like his 2015 counterpart, as he rides on Dave's bike even though he told him not to do it. Even Simon and Theodore tell him not to.
   • Not only that but when Brittany crashed into the bike, Instead of staying calm like he normally does, he instead lashes out on her saying that he will be careful when he "Count the money you give me to pay for Dave’s very expensive bike".
2. Brittany here is also unlikable. In fact, she is at her absolute worst here as she sues Alvin claiming that Alvin "ruined" her new pair of roller skates (The animation makes it hard to tell if that is true). However, she makes an even greater sin in this episode that we will get to later.
3. Plot Hole: How much time did it take for Alvin and Brittany to go to court? If we take a court show like Judy Justice for example, While it is not known how long it takes, it is known it could take a few days if not weeks to get on the show, even then there is a chance it may not be accepted (Though Alvin and Brittany’s Fame might have something to do with it).
   • Not only that it Is also implied at the end of the episode that public court is filmed Live when that isn’t the case with Court Shows. It is often pre-recorded and the filming process usually takes one day. After which it goes to the network where it takes about a few more weeks to get on the air.
4. Some mean-spirited dialogue between Alvin and Brittany. Examples include "Give me my money" And "Over my dead body".
5. When Alvin and Brittany enter the court room. Alvin is shown with crutches and Brittany in a wheelchair. The problem here is that in the last shot, we saw Alvin hobbling and Brittany on Crutches. So how they decided to make their injury’s worse remains unsolved.
   • Even the judge doesn’t buy into this as she states that Alvin’s injury had "worsen very quickly" (To which Alvin says is a delayed stress reaction).
6. Alvin’s lie, while close to the original, has several flaws like having himself as a nerd obeying all bicycle laws to a "T" (which is something also in Brittany’s story) And ignoring Brittany’s scratched skate. Brittany in his story is also a mean-spirited punk.
7. But that is nothing compared to the idiotic story Brittany presents in court. Her story presents herself as a kindly girl delivering chicken soup to a sick friend when "Speedmonster Seville", a filthy and misogynistic version of Alvin on a motorcycle, chases after her when she declines a date from him. This story is completely wrong for a Whole bunch of Reasons.
   • First off is the way she said she was skating. She said that she was skating carefully through the park which is not true as seen in the “Fun Fun Fun” Bit where she accidentally destroyed a pile of leaves a man had raked.
   • The second is the bike she claims chased her. She claimed it was a motorbike when it was really a bike that was brand new.
     • Her story also has a plot-hole on How Alvin managed to turn Dave’s bike into a motorbike on the day he got it. It would have taken weeks to turn it into a motorbike. And even so there was a good chance Dave would catch him which would lead to him getting grounded by Dave.
   • But the biggest sin of this Story is the Fact that it showed Brittany throwing the chicken soup on to Alvin which would mean she acted in self-defense. The problem here is the fact that she is in a wheelchair in the courtroom. Unless it is a metaphor of her supposed "emotional collapse", The only way she would have gotten on a wheelchair (Though she was on crutches at first) was if Alvin managed to Run her over, which is something not shown in Her Story. So even if the judge buys her injuries as real, it does not explain why she is in it as she tells the judge she put up a fight against Alvin.
8. Idiotic Move: Alvin manages to expose Brittany’s injuries by making her swoon over Don Johnson. But instead of having her get noticed which would have led him to win the case, he instead chases after her. Which meant he blew the opportunity to win the case despite his lie.
9. Another thing this episode gets wrong is that we are never shown how Brittany counter sued Alvin. It only focuses on Alvin’s point of view.
10. Bad Ending: As it turns out, Dave was watching public court in New York (because he promised Theodore he would watch it if they show it). This leads to Alvin being (deservedly) punished by having to buy Dave’s new bike piece by piece.
    • What makes it worse is that we are never shown the punishment Brittany got, which could lead a viewer to Believe that she got away scot-free or worse, won the case against Alvin. Though one could argue she got it when Alvin made her cry by saying her story was a lie.
      • But it should also be noted that the two also lied under oath, Which is a criminal offensive which would mean that the two could be imprisoned for 7 to 14 years, be fined, or to both for perjury.
11. Overall, this episode feels like an anti-Alvin and Brittany episode as the two spend the entire episode arguing with each other without a single moment that could be considered Romantic.

Redeeming Qualities

1. All the other characters are likable in this episode, especially Simon and Theodore.
2. The animation, while having a few errors here and there, is still ok for the time.
3. The cover of "Fun, Fun, Fun" by The Beach Boys is pretty good despite some of the Lyric Changes.
4. While the ending might be bad, Alvin at least got his punishment in the end by having to buy Dave a new bike piece by piece.
   • You can also say Brittany got what she deserved as well because she cried because Alvin said her story was a lie (despite not being a particularly good punishment).
5. Good Moral: Lying will get you nowhere but even more trouble.
6. Despite Alvin’s lie having flaws, It is still close to the original story by having him being presented as riding his father bike in the park (though a lot less faster then he really was).
7. There are still a few funny moments in this episode.

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