ALF: The Animated Series
ALF: The Animated Series (also known as ALF on Melmac) is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series that aired on NBC for 26 episodes from September 26, 1987, to January 7, 1989.[1]
| ALF: The Animated Series | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | |
| Starring |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Production companies |
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| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 26, 1987 – January 7, 1989 |
ALF: The Animated Series was a prequel and animated spinoff of the prime time series ALF, which had also aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990. Paul Fusco, the creator and puppeteer of ALF in the live-action series, was the only cast member to reprise his role in voice form; none of the human characters from the prime time ALF appeared in the animated series, due to the show's premise revolving around ALF (Gordon Shumway) traveling to various places on his home-world of Melmac.[2] ALF Tales was a spin-off from the series that also ran on NBC on Saturdays from September, 1988 to December, 1989. The two ALF animated series ran concurrently during the 1988–89 season as the ALF & ALF Tales Hour.[3]
Synopsis
Setting
This show is a prequel to the live action sitcom ALF, depicting ALF's life back on his home planet of Melmac before it exploded. Since the original character's name of "ALF" was an acronym for "Alien Life Form", it is never used in the animated series except for its title. The main character is Gordon Shumway who is normally referred to as "Gordon". In each episode, the puppet ALF from the sitcom appears at the introduction and conclusion of the episode, talking to the television viewers in the Tanner family's garage; either setting up the episode as if writing his memoirs "Melmac Memories" and commenting on it afterwards, reading fan mail or describing what his life was like on Melmac. The visual look of the series was created by the lead character designer Fil Barlow.[4]
The format of the series has the standard setup of a situational comedy, or sitcom, as its premise, in the style of The Flintstones or The Jetsons. Much of the humor arises from the characters taking part in ordinary everyday activities set in an alien and surrealistic environment.
The Gordon/ALF from this series is one of the cartoon characters featured in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.
Plot
Gordon Shumway is a fairly normal teenager living in suburban East Velcro with his parents Bob and Flo, brother Curtis, young sister Augie and their dog Neep on the planet Melmac. He spends time hanging out with his friends Rick and Skip who call him "Gordo", and he has a girlfriend named Rhonda. Sometimes, the quartet would report for mandatory duty with the Melmacian Orbit Guard. The show includes an array of quirky supporting characters, which include the fortune-smeller Madame Pokipsi and the villain Larson Petty with his offsider Eggbert.
Characters
The Shumway Family
- Gordon (Gordo) Shumway / ALF (voiced by Paul Fusco) – The star of the show.
- Bob Shumway (voiced by Thick Wilson) – Gordon's father. He works at a mayonnaise factory and is an amateur inventor.
- Flo Shumway (voiced by Peggy Mahon) – Gordon's mother.
- Curtis Shumway (voiced by Michael Fantini) – Gordon's younger brother.
- Augie Shumway (voiced by Paulina Gillis[5]) – Gordon's little sister.
- Neep – The Shumway family's pet who looks like a dog but is officially a "vespa".
- Harry – The Shumway family's pet bird, a Westfellman Smulk.
Melmacians
- Rhonda (voiced by Paulina Gillis) – Gordon's girlfriend and secretly an accomplished pilot.
- Skipper "Skip" (voiced by Rob Cowan) – One of Gordon's close friends
- Rick Fusterman (voiced by Paul Fusco) – One of Gordon's close friends who has a persistent stutter.
- Spudder – Curtis' friend.
- Stella (voiced by Ellen-Ray Hennessy) – Waitress at the Cats Up Diner.
- Eddie – Owner of the Cats Up Diner.
- Madame Pokipsi (voiced by Deborah Theaker) – The fortune smeller.
- Colonel Cantfayl (voiced by Len Carlson) – A colonel in the Orbit Guard and Sargent Staff's immediate superior.
- Sargent Staff (voiced by Len Carlson) – An often overbearing sergeant in the Orbit Guard who Gordon is usually at odds with. He is Gordon, Skip and Rick's superior officer in the Orbit Guard.
- Freda Fusterman (voiced by Marla Lukofsky)
- Tillie (voiced by Marla Lukofsky)
- Jane Appalling (voiced by Marla Lukofsky)
- TV Announcer (voiced by Marla Lukofsky)
Villains
- Larson Petty (voiced by Thick Wilson) – The primary villain of the series. He is an unspecified alien who makes attempts to invade Melmac.
- Eggbert (voiced by Dan Hennessey) – Larson Petty's offsider.
- Sloop (voiced by Dan Hennessey) – Larson Petty's other offsider.
- Louie the Pruner - A villain and owner of a salad dressing empire. He tends to tickle the feet of his victims to extract information.
- Sonny - The son of Louie the Pruner. He wanted to lick salad dressing off Gordon's feet after Gordon and Albert were captured by Louie.
Episodes
Each episode is bookended by ALF talking about his upcoming book, "Melmac Memories", about his life on Melmac during his first year in the Orbit Guard.
Season 1 (1987–88)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Phantom Pilot" | September 26, 1987 | |
| While Gordon and his friends undergo training in their first year in the Orbit Guard, Melmac comes under attack from Larson Petty. Colonel Cantfayl mistakenly takes Gordon onboard his fighter as co-pilot but Gordon's incompetence puts them in danger. Rhonda flies to their rescue as the Phantom Pilot. Later, Larson Petty invades again, dropping bags of sticky liquid. The Phantom Pilot picks Gordon as co-pilot but he accidentally ejects her; however, he manages to trap Petty's fighter in a giant rooftop donut sign. | ||||
| 2 | 2 | "Hair Today, Bald Tomorrow" | October 3, 1987 | |
| While Gordon is asleep, Harry plucks out his hair to line its nest. Gordon awakes and thinks he's gone bald so he visits Madame Pokipsi for a baldness cure. However, after he insults her abilities, she curses him with a "Baldness Touch" and to lift the curse Gordon has to travel far to collect a rare golden egg. Instead, he steals her crystal ball, but finds he cannot control it. Later, Harry lays a golden egg which Gordon gives to Pokipsi who then agrees to lift the curse. | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "Two for the Brig" | October 10, 1987 | |
| Gordon accidentally installs a top secret engine in Sergeant Staff's wreck of a car. The sergeant sells it to the used car salesman, Milo Fleece, who on-sells it to Larson Petty's offsider Eggbert. When the engine is found missing, Sergeant Staff is thrown in the brig along with Gordon. They escape while handcuffed together and manage to retrieve and return the engine which Larson Petty had installed in his new tank. | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "Gordon Ships Out" | October 24, 1987 | |
| Close friends Gordon, Rick and Skip decide to move in together after they each have arguments with their parents. They rent a garbage scow from the Lamborghini Succotash-driving real estate agent, Solly, and organize a rent party to raise money. However, the party is a flop and the boys end up blaming each other, jeopardising their friendship. Meanwhile, Skip's pit termite, Woody, sets the boat adrift with them on board. They narrowly escape death after they float into an Orbit Guard firing range where the boat is almost sunk and when Rick's "electric narf" music attracts a giant sea monster. They are eventually rescued and each happily move back into their family homes. | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "Birdman of Melmac" | October 31, 1987 | |
| At a lecture by the bird authority, Thor Thundersocks, the Shumways realize their pet bird Harry is Westfellman Smulk, the last of a supposedly extinct species. To protect Harry, Thundersocks creates the perfect bird environment in the Shumway home causing severe disruption of the family residence. The fame and power goes to Harry's head, but Gordon finds Harry's family photo album with photographs of his extended family and hundreds of the supposedly extinct birds. Thundersocks is disgraced and the Shumways regain control of their home. | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "Pismo and the Orbit Gyro" | November 7, 1987 | |
| Gordon and Rick take Rhonda with them on their regular maintenance trip to the centre of the planet. They have to oil the Orbit Gyro, but Gordon breaks Pismo, the robot controlling the Gyro. Gordon repairs Pismo, but misses a screw and the robot malfunctions. They leave Rick in charge and travel back to the surface with Pismo, but its erratic behaviour creates traffic chaos. Finally, Gordon's inventor father, Bob Shumway, replaces the missing screw and Pismo returns to effectively running the Gyro. | ||||
| 7 | 7 | "20,000 Years in Driving School" | November 14, 1987 | |
| After being "Gooped" on the highway for speeding, Gordon has his driver's license revoked and is sent to Allen Wood Reformatory. While there, Gordon must survive a driving test, but he accidentally insults Mr Bloatman, the "Fat Man",[lower-alpha 1] who threatens to prevent him from passing the test. Gordon wins, but Bloatman is disqualified because he cheated, so he takes the warden hostage. Gordon saves the day by ending the hostage crisis, but not before the insurance company repossesses the Shumway home. | ||||
| 8 | 8 | "Pride of the Shumways" | November 21, 1987 | |
| Gordon plays "Bouillabaseball" [lower-alpha 2] for the Orbit Guard. Even though Gordon seems to be a poor player, talent scout for the Codsters, Max Dirtsky, offers him a professional contract to play in the big league. The Codsters begin losing badly because of Gordon's poor playing. Meanwhile Curtis, a good little league player, overhears the shady owner betting that his team will lose. Trying win in the last innings, Gordon replaces the standard fish with his pet fish Bismark which the other team are unable to catch, enabling him to score multiple home runs. However, before he can level the score, Gordon is knocked out by a fish filled with lead weights. Curtis plays in his stead and hits a home run, winning the game for the Codsters. | ||||
| 9 | 9 | "Captain Bobaroo" | December 5, 1987 | |
| After being knocked out by one of his inventions, Bob Shumway thinks he is "Captain Bobaroo", host of a Captain Kangaroo-esque children's TV show. A doctor suggests that the family play along with his symptoms, but Bob decides to take his show to the mayonnaise factory where he causes chaos and is subsequently fired. To distract his father, Gordon takes him to the fights, but Bob interferes and is booed out of the ring. Desperate for a solution, Gordon, along with Skip and Rick pretend to be TV executives. They tell Bob that the "Captain Bobaroo" show is cancelled and offer him the lead role in a new family sitcom called "Meet the Shumways". | ||||
| 10 | 10 | "Neep at the Races" | December 12, 1987 | |
| Gordon discovers his dog Neep can run incredibly fast when motivated by chasing vehicle hood ornaments. He decides to enter Neep in the South Toaster Sweepstakes in the nearby town of Appliance. To raise money for Neep's training and the entry fee, Gordon sells shares in potential winnings to Snake, head of a biker gang. Meanwhile, Neep over-eats on hotel room service but he still wins the race with Gordon's help. However, the bikers' motorcycles are trashed the process so Gordon and his friends are chased out of town by Snake and his gang who want the prize money to pay for the repairs. | ||||
| 11 | 11 | "Salad Wars" | December 19, 1987 | |
| Gordon's family go on a wagon train holiday in their mobile motorhome but leave the group to visit the theme park of Salad Dressing Town. Meanwhile, the park's boss, Louie the Pruner,[lower-alpha 3] is trying to get the rare plastic pussy willow seeds from old farmer Albert. Albert escapes and jumps aboard the Shumway's vehicle but the boss pursues them in a huge flower picking machine. He captures Gordon and Albert while sending the motorhome with the rest of the family over a cliff. The Shumways are saved by the wagon master Mr. Chisum .[lower-alpha 4] Gordon and Albert getting a foot-tickle-torture and the villains even want lick salad dressing off Gordon's feet to get the informations they need. But Gordon and Albert escape, and together they manage to have Albert's seeds widely distributed by Mount Snout[lower-alpha 5] which blows once a year. | ||||
| 12 | 12 | "Tough Shrimp Don't Dance" | January 2, 1988 | |
| While destroying litter on Melmac with an ionizer ray from an orbiting spaceship, Gordon and Rick are attacked by a tiny alien shrimp-like race called the Muklukians. One secretly travels back to Melmac with Gordon where it impersonates him using an inflatable replica; however, Gordon manages to capture it. Meanwhile, Larson Petty approaches Melmac planning to conquer the planet by burying it beneath a pile of garbage. He captures Rick and the Muklukians; however, Gordon and the Muklukian return to space where they defeat Larson Petty and free his prisoners. | ||||
| 13 | 13 | "Home Away from Home" | January 16, 1988 | |
| Gordon's parents win a trip to the Polyester Islands and they leave Gordon in charge of the house and his siblings. While they are away, the household descends into chaos and falls over. When Gordon cannot pay the bill to have it uprighted, the engineers take the house as payment. It is then sold to the sleazy real estate agent Harold Williams who ships it to the Polyester Islands. Gordon and Rick travel to the islands with Curtis and Augie where Gordon hijacks a blimp. He uses its skyhook to retrieve and return his house before his parents arrive back. | ||||
Season 2 (1988–89)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "Flodust Memories" | September 10, 1988 | |
| The Shumaways feel guilty about taking Flo for granted, so Gordon and his siblings enter her in the Mom of the Millennium contest. Flo wins, but then a sleazy agent, Sidley Slick signs her to a personal appearance contract, which takes her on a year-long tour of Melmac. Months later, the family they realize miss her and convince her to quit the tour and return home. | ||||
| 15 | 2 | "Family Feud" | September 17, 1988 | |
| After losing to the Shumways on the Wheel of Cheese game show, the Fustermans declare war on their former friends. Gordon and Rick get caught in the crossfire and come up with a scheme to reconcile the differences between the two families. | ||||
| 16 | 3 | "Clams Never Sang for My Father" | September 24, 1988 | |
| The traditional Mayonnaise Lodge rite of passage has Bob Shumway and Frank Fusterman hoping their sons will achieve success in the clam-wrestling contest. The boys are not interested but take part for the sakes of their fathers. Rick succeeds in making the clam sing because it wants to, but he alaccidentally reveals that his father never made the clam sing and faked his winning photo. | ||||
| 17 | 4 | "A Mid-Goomer Night's Dream" | October 1, 1988 | |
| The holiday of Goomer is upon Melmac, and Larson Petty is intent on getting his gift of foam, but while trying to kidnap the real Goomer, he captues Bob Shumway in a Goomer suit instead. Gordon and his sister Augie seek out the real Goomer and convince him to come out of retirement and help rescue their dad. | ||||
| 18 | 5 | "The Bone Losers" | October 8, 1988 | |
| All of Melmac, including Rhonda, is smitten with paleontologist Prof. Egovurger and his Thesaurus skeleton discovery. Gordon discovers dinosaur bones in his yard, and constructs a fictitious "Tunadacyl", dinosaur, not realizing Neep stole the bones from the museum. Egovurger plans to steal the bones at the same time that Gordon tries return them, but it is Egovurger who is arrested as a fraud. | ||||
| 19 | 6 | "Thank Gordon for Little Girls" | October 15, 1988 | |
| Gordon invents an all-purpose object named the "Shumwidget", a painted piece of wood his father threw away, but struggles to find a use for it. While supervising Augie and her troupe of "Dust Bunnies", Augie suggests uses for the invention, and a department store orders 5,000 of them. Gordon sets up a production line to produce them but it becomes a sweatshop. Augie takes the girls out on strike and then takes over the company; however, when customers complain about faulty widgets, Gordon and Augie have to come up with a solution together. | ||||
| 20 | 7 | "Hooray for Mellywood" | October 29, 1988 | |
| Gordon's movie script is but by a Mellywood producer Herschel Orsen Mucus, but he turns it into the latest "Gutsquisher" movie, starring Ron Fishbait. Gordon is horrified at the change of script, and dupes Mucus into causing the total destruction of the movie itself. Parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger in action films in the 1980s and action movie media franchises. | ||||
| 21 | 8 | "The Spy from East Velcro" | November 12, 1988 | |
| Gordon is mistaken for agent James Bonzo when he finds a rare winning trading card in a cereal box and Bonzo's shoe phone. He is captured by the looney, evil Ernst Stavro Blofish who talks to his squeaky toy, Mickey. Blofish wants the winning cereal card to win a trip to Spy Land competition, but Gordon, Curtis and his spy-obsessed friends foil his plan. Parody of Sean Connery and the James Bond movies. | ||||
| 22 | 9 | "He Ain't Seafood, He's My Brother" | November 19, 1988 | |
| Renegade Muklukians kidnap Curtis Shumway and take him to their planet as part of a scheme to claim the throne of Mukluk. Fescue the Muklukian then asks Gordon for help in ousting the renegades and restoring the true king of Mukluk. | ||||
| 23 | 10 | "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places" | December 3, 1988 | |
| Gordon tries to match Rick up with Eddie's bookworm cousin Elaine for the Orbit Guard Ball, but a misunderstanding leads her to fall in love with Gordon. Gordon come up with a complex plan to rectify the situation, meanwhile Elaine and Rick discover they have something in common. Includes a caricature of Elvis Presley as the country singer, Mervis Nervis. | ||||
| 24 | 11 | "The Slugs of Wrath" | December 10, 1988 | |
| The mayonnaise factory folds because of declining sales and Bob Shumway loses his job. The Shumway Family move to an abandoned farm to try their hands at raising giant slugs and a side crop of hay-wire. However, the locals are suspicious and superstitious, so they plan to sacrifice Bob and Flo to save their sick slugs who they have been feeding cheap artificial mayonnaise. Gordon saves the day when he strikes a river of real mayonnaise running under the farm. Loose parody of the movie The Grapes of Wrath. | ||||
| 25 | 12 | "Housesitting for Pokipsi" | December 17, 1988 | |
| Gordon, Rick and Skip, are forced into housesitting for fortune-smeller Madame Pokipsi after she turns Rick into a sandwich so she can attend an out of town conference. To make Rick human again, Gordon uses her faulty crystal ball against her advice, creating a chaotic series of events. | ||||
| 26 | 13 | "Skipper's Got a Brand New Dad" | January 7, 1989 | |
| Gordon and Rick learn that Skip was orphaned as a youth and they try to find his birth parents. Meanwhile, Larson Petty discovers that his uncle passed away and left him a fortune, but it can only be turned over to his long lost son, Eggbert. Petty claims Skip is his son; however, Skip wants a father, not the money. Gordon then discovers that Sloop is Petty's son, but then Petty has to pay out all the money in medical bills following a hanger-gliding accident. | ||||
Home media
On May 30, 2006, Lionsgate Home Entertainment released both the first nine episodes of ALF: The Animated Series as ALF Animated Adventures – 20,000 Years in Driving School and Other Stories; and the first seven episodes of ALF Tales entitled ALF and The Beanstalk and Other Classic Fairy Tales on DVD in Region 1.
Some episodes can also be found in the special features section of the collectors edition release of the original live action series.
Notes
- Caricature of Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman, "The Fat Man", in the movie The Maltese Falcon
- "Bouillabaseball" is similar to baseball but fish instead of balls are thrown at the "blatter" who wields a huge mallet.
- Caricature of James Cagney.
- Caricature of John Wayne in the movie Chisum.
- Caricature of Mount Rushmore
References
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 72. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 4. ISBN 978-0823083152.
- "Fil Barlow". IMDb.
- Damian Inwood. "Pi Theatre, Independent Vancouver Theatre >> The Baroness and the Pig". Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
That's what Vancouver actresses Diane Brown and Tabitha St. Germain do with the delightful black comedy, The Baroness and the Pig. (...) St. Germain – better known to Vancouver audiences as Paulina Gillis – plays the Baroness as a naïve gentlewoman, full of prissy mannerisms and twittering, bird-like movements.
External links
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