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Chip 'n' Dale are two fictional, animated chipmunks created by The Walt Disney Company.
Their names are a pun based on the name "Chippendale" (see Thomas Chippendale). This was suggested by Bill "Tex" Henson, a story artist at the studio.
According to Disney, Chip is the logical schemer, and Dale is the dumb schemer. An easy way to visually tell them apart is that Chip has a small black nose and one centered protruding tooth, whereas Dale has a big red nose and his two prominent canines exposed.
In 1989, Chip and Dale were chosen to be the title characters in a new animated series, Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers, in which they form a detective agency with some new characters created for the show: female mouse inventory Gadget Hackwrench, strong Australian mouse Monterey Jack, and Zipper the fly. While in the original shorts the duo are frequent troublemakers who are concerned only with themselves, in Rescue Rangers they are crime fighters who help the less fortunate.
In this series the personality differences between the two are much more pronounced, with Chip as the responsible, no-nonsense leader and Dale as the goofy, laid back free spirit. This series would also mark the first time the chipmunks would have different voices and appear clothed.
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