And to think I originally only requested this DVD in order to make my daughter happy. Little did I know that it would result in a trip to Wikipedia that would completely blow my mind…but before we dive into that ridiculousness, how about a little background material first?

In case you’re not familiar with the trio known as the Chipettes, they are, as you might well have deduced, the female equivalent of the Chipmunks. Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor – for those are the girls’ names – came into existence for two very simple reasons: the Chipmunks’ creators, Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karman, wanted a chance to do some girl-sung tunes, and because it came them the chance to deal with issues that girls were going through that boys wouldn’t necessarily be dealing with. (Don’t be disgusting: Bagdasarian clarified, “We had a baby girl at the time. We wanted to let her know she can be president, or a soccer champion, or whatever.”)

As Ally (my daughter) watched these six Chipette-centric episodes of “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” she seemed very annoyed by the fact that the opening credits in no way spotlighted the girls. “I thought you said this was the Chipettes,” she grumbled. I assured her that, although these were technically the adventures of the Chipmunks, the Chipettes would feature heavily in all of them; she seemed placated once they finally turned up, thankfully, and sat happily through the entire DVD.

Oh, if you’re wondering, the episodes that have been included are “May the Best Chipmunk Win” (Alvin and Brittany compete for the position of School President), “Operation Theodore” (the Chipettes work as candy-stripers and lose a patient), “Sisters” (Brittany wants to join a sorority but ends up changing her mind after a poignant performance of “Material Girl”), “The Greatest Show-Off on Earth” (the Chipettes join forces with the Chipmunks to save a circus), “My Fair Chipette” (Jeanette competes against Brittany in a beauty pageant), and “Tell It to the Judge” (Brittany and Alvin battle each other in a “People’s Court” parody). In short, if your kid likes the Chipmunks cartoons, then they’ll like this DVD…and if you’ve got a daughter, then she might be even more entertained than usual.

Now, about this Wikipedia entry…

I’m sure you’re going to be heading over to Wikipedia to check it out for yourself (if you haven’t already abandoned me to do so), but let me at least offer up my five favorite moments from the Chipettes’ way-too-serious entry…

1. “Although she is prone to vanity, selfishness, and materialism, and has a notoriously short fuse, Brittany cares deeply for her siblings and often acts as their defender. Brittany is dynamic, ambitious, fearless, competitive, and possessed of a desire to always have her way (although she stops short of true ruthlessness).”

2. “Gifted with extraordinary intelligence, (Jeanette) often is so caught up in contemplating the universe that she forgets the simple matters of life.”

3. “Fortunately for (the Chipettes), their species seems to mature faster than human beings, and the Chipettes were able to walk, talk, and to some extent fend for themselves while they were still in their infancy, and no larger than the size of a human’s hand.”

4. “It is notable that the Chipmunks and the Chipettes inhabit a relatively ‘realistic’ world, in which theirs is the only sapient species aside from human beings, as opposed to a world full of anthropomorphized animals.”

5. “The Chipettes apparently lack the body fur of the Chipmunks, and also have more human-like hair on their heads, in what may be a case of sexual dimorphism in the species.”

It’s a cartoon, people. A cartoon.