{"id":69895,"date":"2022-02-18T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T08:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=69895"},"modified":"2022-02-16T19:39:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T03:39:53","slug":"the-original-chip-and-dale-rescue-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/the-original-chip-and-dale-rescue-rangers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Original “Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suspended Animation #359<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

There was a quick buzz of mixed-reaction this week to the release of the trailer (embed below, at the bottom of this post<\/em>) for the upcoming Disney+ live-action CG\/hand-drawn hybrid Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers<\/em>. So I figured today we should take a look back at where this whole idea all began…<\/p>\n

After the success of Duck Tales<\/em> (1987), Disney was seriously considering producing a syndicated television series based on the animated feature The Rescuers<\/em> (1977). <\/p>\n

However, when Jeffrey Katzenberg also re-discovered the simple delights of The Rescuers<\/em> and that Disney still retained the rights to the stories, he green-lit the production of the first Disney animated film sequel The Rescuers Down Under<\/em> (1990) and then some adjustments had to be made to the development of the property for television.<\/p>\n

Supervising Story Editor Tad Stones and his team, including co-creator Alan Zaslove, took the core premise of small animals as heroes in the world of humans and came up with a program titled Metro Mice<\/em>, a take-off on the title of the detective television series, Miami Vice<\/em>.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

The main characters would have been Kit Colby (a mouse wearing an Indiana Jones jacket and hat who was the adventurous leader of the team), Colt Chedderson (a burly Australian kangaroo rat and explosives expert), Gadget (a blonde female mouse who was an inventor), Chirp Sing (an Oriental cricket who loved baseball and martial arts), Camilla (a chameleon and the team secretary) and Eagle Eye (a near-sighted eagle who was the team\u2019s lookout).<\/p>\n

Stones recalled a pitch meeting with Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, \u201cThey went: ‘We love the idea of the show, but your main character doesn’t have it.\u2019 The meeting went on a little longer and we’re saying Duck Tales<\/em> is a big success, what other Disney characters can we work with? You don’t want to do Mickey or Goofy, but there’s Pluto and all that. Finally, I said, \u2018There’s Chip and Dale.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cEisner said, \u2018Great \u2014 put those guys in that show,\u2019 and Jeffrey says \u2018home run.\u2019 That’s why Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers<\/em> got done. It changed our development, because now instead of one hero you have this dynamic, which was well established and gave us lots of stories about how they interacted with other characters. \u201c<\/p>\n

Chip inherited Kit Colby\u2019s Indiana Jones attire and love of adventure and Dale, who was to be more lighthearted when it came to danger, was given a Hawaiian shirt\u2014perhaps influenced by the then-popular television detective show Magnum, P.I<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Colt Chedderson transformed into the cheese addicted Monterey Jack. Gadget was retained while the other animal characters were abandoned. Zipper the housefly inspired by Evinrude the dragonfly in the original animated film The Rescuers<\/em> was added to perform similar functions such as flight and a power source.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Issue #1 of the comic book came out in 1990<\/p><\/div>On August 2, 1988, a movie-length version, Chip\u2019n\u2019Dale\u2019s Rescue Rangers to the Rescue<\/em>, was aired on the Disney Channel. It was structured so the film could be broken up into five episodes on the regular series, although when that did happen there were changes made so there were scenes both added and cut in the five episodes.<\/p>\n

\n

To the Rescue<\/em> is an \u201corigin\u201d story of how the Rescue Rangers were first formed and got their name and some back story information on the characters, including the fact that Gadget was the daughter of one of Monty\u2019s old friends who had died a year earlier.<\/p>\n

On March 5, 1989, Season One of the show premiered on the Disney Channel with \u201cPiratsy Under the Seas\u201d as the first episode. Beginning September 1989, the series was added to The Disney Afternoon syndicated line-up.<\/p>\n

On November 19, 1990, \u201cThey Shoot Dogs, Don’t They?\u201d was the last original episode to have its premiere with the show going into reruns of its 65 produced episodes for the next few years. In 1993, the show was taken off The Disney Afternoon block and replaced by Bonkers, an attempt by the Disney Company to create a Roger Rabbit-like character that was fully owned by Disney.<\/p>\n