ALF: THE ANIMATED SERIES
(NBC, September 26, 1987-January 7, 1989)
DiC Entertainment, Alien Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures,
Saban Entertainment
MAIN CAST:
Paul Fusco – Gordon
Shumway/ALF, Rick Fusterman
Thick Wilson – Bob
Shumway, Larson Petty
Peggy Mahon – Flo
Shumway
Tabitha St. Germain (as
Paulina Gillis) – Augie Shumway, Rhonda
Michael Fantini –
Curtis Shumway
Len Carlson –
Cantfayl, Sargent Staff
Rob Cowan – Skip
Move over, Muppets—a new puppet was taking over the
80s.
Airing on NBC, ALF was
a sitcom following the adventures of Gordon Shumway (Paul Fusco, who created,
voiced and operated the puppet) from the planet Melmac who crash-landed on
Earth after his planet suffered a nuclear explosion. He was taken in by the
Tanner family (not the ones
from San Francisco), who protected him from the Alien Task Force while he
repaired his ship. Nicknamed Alien Life Form by the family patriarch, Willie (Max Wright), ALF would spend the
next four seasons enthralling America and becoming a media darling.
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Promotional ad for NBC's Saturday line-up. |
As ALF became more popular with children, the content of the show was
gradually altered to reflect their new viewing audience (for instance, ALF was
only seen drinking alcohol during the first season and certain imitable antics
were either altered for future broadcasts or toned down in future episodes). Recognizing
an opportunity, NBC ordered an animated spin-off of the show for inclusion in
their Saturday morning line-up.
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The planet Melmac. |
Developed by Fusco and Tom Patchett, ALF: The Animated Series served as a
prequel to the regular ALF series.
The show followed the adventures of Gordon (ALF was never used in the show
beyond the title) on the planet Melmac, having freshly graduated high school at
the ripe young age of 193. The biggest differences between the animated ALF and
the puppet was that the animated version’s full body was always seen and he
wore a Hawaiian shirt. The series made full use of its alien setting to
generate humor from surrealistic activities being treated as ordinary, such as
getting mayonnaise from mines, the names of locations, such as Gordon’s
hometown being East Velcro, or from pop culture satire, like an entire episode
dedicated to parodying the James Bond franchise.
Even the episode names themselves were parodies of movie and song titles, as
well as popular sayings. The cartoon also poked fun at itself by featuring a
show within a show where an Earthling crashes on planet Melmac and stays with a
family of Melmacians.
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The Shumways: Bob, Gordon, Flo, Neep, Augie, Curtis and Harry. |
Among Melmac’s other residents were Gordon’s family: father Bob (Thick
Wilson), mother Flo (Peggy Mahon), sister Augie (Tabitha St. Germain) and
brother Curtis (Michael Fantini). The Shumways also had two pets: a bird named
Harry and a dog, called a “vespa”, named Neep. Gordon’s closest friends
included neighbor Rick Fusterman (Fusco), Skip (Rob Cowan) and Sloop (Dan
Hennessey). Gordon also had a girlfriend, Rhonda (Germain). Rhonda, Rick and
Skip all made appearances on the live show, establishing that ALF wasn’t the
last of his kind. The series’ primary villain was Larson Petty (Wilson), who
constantly sought to conquer the planet Melmac but was thwarted by Gordon and
his allies. A recurring Melmacian was Madame Pokipsi (Deborah Theaker), a fortune
smeller. The characters were designed by Fil Barlow, Lou Police and Dave Smith.
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Rhonda and a dinosaur bone. |
ALF: The Animated Series debuted
on NBC on September 26, 1987 and ran for a total of two seasons. The series was
written by Duane Capizzi, Martin Donoff, Richard Raynis, Alicia Marie Schudt, Dan DiStefano, Steve Roberts, Howard Bendetson (who also
wrote for the original), Terrie
Collins, Steve Hayes, Mark Jones, Michael Maurer, Bradley Kesden, Mark C. Miller and Skip Shepard, with Maurer
serving as story editor. It was produced by DiC Entertainment, Alien Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures
and Saban
Entertainment. Haim Saban
and Shuki Levy provided the
music. Animation duties were handled by KK C&D
Asia, Mook DLE
and SHAFT. The ALF puppet made
appearances at the beginning and end of the episodes to introduce the story,
read fan mail, or provide commentary. For
the second season, ALF was paired
with an additional animated series called ALF
Tales to form The ALF/ALF Tales Hour. The Hour used the same intro as ALF
but featured the new title at the end. When ALF ended its Saturday run, the two shows were split to allow ALF Tales to run its brief second season
unaccompanied. All versions of ALF left
the NBC schedule by the fall of 1990.
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ALF on DVD. |
The animated ALF made one additional appearance in the drug-prevention
special Cartoon
All-Stars to the Rescue, which was broadcast across all the major
networks on April 21, 1990 and starred a collection of Saturday morning
characters. Coleco produced
a set of six
figures based on the show. In 1988, three VHS
tapes were released in Australia by Roadshow-Lorimar
Home Video and in the United Kingdom by The Video Collection featuring two
episodes each. In 2006, Lions Gate Home
Entertainment released the first nine episodes of the series to DVD in ALF Animated Adventures: 20,000 Years in
Driving School and Other Stories. In 2023, Shout! Factory
released Alf:
The Complete Series Deluxe Edition, which contained the complete original
series, spin-off film, and both animated series.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Phantom Pilot” (9/26/87) – Gordon gets some unlikely help in
defending Melmac from Larson Petty
“Hair Today, Bald Tomorrow” (10/3/87) – After Harry uses Gordon’s hair
for his nest, Gordon goes for a baldness cure only to accidentally insult
Madame Pokipsi and receive a baldness curse.
“Two for the Brig” (10/10/87) – Gordon and Sargent Staff accidentally
mistake their ship for a cruise liner and end up in jail.
“Gordon Ships Out” (10/24/87) – Gordon, Rick and Skip chip in for a
sailing yacht and end up stranded on an island thanks to a termite.
“Birdman of Melmac” (10/31/87) – When Harry is declared an extinct
species, it becomes a royal pain for the Shumway family.
“Pismo and the Orbit Gyro” (11/7/87) – The Orbit Gyro’s regular
maintenance leads the robot in charge of it to having a few screws loose.
“20,000 Years in Driving School” (11/14/87) – Gordon must re-attend
driving school in order to get his license back after losing it in an accident.
“Pride of the Shumways” (11/21/87) – Gordon is offered a chance for
the major leagues in Bouilliabaseball, but Curtis suspects something is amiss.
“Captain Bobaroo” (12/5/87) – When Bob gets hit on the head he
believes he’s a children’s TV show host.
“Neep at the Races” (12/12/87) – Gordon enters Neep in a race, but
bikers want a cut of his winnings.
“Salad Wars” (12/19/87) – Gordon’s family vacation is interrupted by
someone’s desire to have a salad seed monopoly.
“Tough Shrimp Don’t Dance” (1/2/88) – Gordon helps rescue an alien
race of shrimp from Larson Petty.
“Home Away from Home” (1/16/88) – When his parents are away, Gordon
loses their house to a sleazy real estate agent.
Season 2:
“Flodust Memories” (9/10/88) – Flo is entered into and wins a Mom of
the Millennium contest, but her celebrity status goes to her head.
“Family Feud” (9/17/88) – The Fustermans declare war on the Shumways
after losing to them on a game show.
“Clams Never Sang for my Father” (9/24/88) – Bob and Frank Fusterman
face each other in the traditional Mayonnaise Lodge rite of passage
clam-wrestling contest.
“A Mid-Goomer Night’s Dream” (10/1/88) – Larson Petty accidentally
abducts Bob wearing a Goomer suit, leaving Gordon and Augie to find the real
one and save their dad.
“The Bone Losers” (10/8/88) – Gordon finds dinosaur bones in his yard
which makes a celebrity paleontologist jealous enough to want to steal them
away.
“Thank Gordon for Little Girls” (10/15/88) – Gordon invents a new
device that Augie and her scout troupe end up taking credit for.
“Hooray for Mellywood” (10/29/88) – Gordon’s life is about to be
turned into a movie--maybe.
“The Spy from East Velcro” (11/12/88) – When an evil spy mistakes
Gordon for agent James Bonzo, Gordon ends up captured by the villain.
“He Ain’t Seafood, He’s My Brother” (11/19/88) – Renegade Muklukians
kidnap Cutis in a plot to claim their planet’s throne, and Fescue comes to
Gordon for help in stopping them.
“Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places” (12/3/88) – Gordon tries to
help a friend get a girl, but she ends up falling for him instead.
“The Slugs of Wrath” (12/10/88) – During a mayonnaise shortage, the
Shumways move to a farm to try their hands at raising slugs.
“Housesitting for Pokipsi” (12/17/88) – Gordon and his friends
housesit for Madame Pokipsi and Gordon gets into trouble using her crystal
ball.
“Skipper’s Got a Brand New Dad” (1/7/89) – Larson Petty needs to find
a son in order to claim an inheritance while Gordon and Rick try to find Skip’s
birth parents.
Originally posted in 2016. Updated in 2023.
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