Exploring the film jungle, the next Fangarian entry of riffing in the CCFF is another quirky series called 'Chimp Mates' aka Alice the Chimp.

The Seventies proved in being a really odd time for people having exotic pets. And for some reason, long before 'When Chimps Attack,' warned us about how apes REALLY are, apparently people though it was cute for kids to own chimps as pets.

Yes, you could see the antics of chimps doing 'cute things,' but as with Kevin, you'd never see them doing REAL cute things.. like flinging poo at people, or ripping someone's face off. No, you had to have them doing nice, simple things...

And with Alice this usually meant either being trapped in a plane, or go mental at a kids' music concert.. but I'm getting ahead of myself.

'Chimp Mates' originally started as a series of shorts about Alice being adopted by her young owner, Lucy, and how they get into all sorts of trouble.

Now normally when the UK did series about people owning animals, they usually worked at a zoo, or are vets, y'know, animal related professionals, so you'd see them with these exotic pets. But no, Alice the Chimp gets carted in a pram (baby carriage), gets dressed up and gets to run about the place. But sorry, Kevin, no poo flinging or biting people's faces off.. this is 70s kids fare after all... even by British standards.

Anyway, the episodes usually consist of Lucy taking Alice about the place with people accepting this as if she was carrying one of those toy dogs. And they end up in bizarre situations, making you wonder how come Lucy and her family hasn't been ran out of town for all the trouble Alice causes them.

Anyway, here's why RiffTrax should have a field day with this one.

(1) One of the rare shows (well, next to Lancelot Link) that uses an actual chimp, rather than just getting a midget to dress up in a chimp suit. The staff once claimed they used several chimps for Alice, since they have a nasty habit of growing, and why female? Producers believed a female chimp would be easier to control, yeah, right... but it is unbelievable how well they were behaved considering what 'Alice' usually had to endure.. leading us into our next reason.

(2) The unbelievable situations Alice would wind up in. In the clip I provide, 'Airborne,' Alice, Lucy and her brother go to a nearby airstrip where they are flying gliders. During which, a wannabe pilot gets grounded because he has been violating the rules of the gliders' club, and he decides to 'sabotage' the glider he was using for revenge. Now as with sitcom logic, guess who gets into the plane? So Alice ends up being as the episode title claims, 'Airborne.'

One priceless moment is where Lucy stares at the plane in disbelief and goes 'Alice?' As if there are other chimps going about flying in planes, flinging poo on unsuspecting people below.

Nevertheless, the problem is because the nasty kid sabotaged the glider, Alice can't land automatically and has to land the glider manually with the help of the glider club's head member. Of course, she makes it, and outs the culprit rather easy, since the genius left his tool box inside the plane with his name on it, and Alice calmly gives it to the head guy.

While all this is going on, you wonder something, which brings us to point number three...

(3) Apparently people in Britain are either okay with Lucy bringing Alice about the place, or they just don't care. No, seriously, it's true, in most episodes when Lucy is bringing Alice about her town, nobody bats an eye about it. Yes, when Daleks are about, the populace freaks, but a chimp, nah, that's perfectly acceptable.. until the chimp starts acting up... which they never show.. because, you know, kids show.. 70s.. censors... things like that...

Anyway, I'd love to see Chimp Mates riffed for the fact of the sheer unbelievably nonsense of it all. I mean, Planet of the Apes made more sense than these episodes, and it's hilarious how everyone takes this in stride as if it's normal behaviour.

Here are some clips from Alice the Chimp/Chimp Mates.. including the airborne one I mentioned.

Airborne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhAFEkyzCiU

Alice Goes Pop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyz_8LB0qMU

The Go-Karters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbbnY5ZjDY0