“ALF” or (Alien Life Form) our lovable brown fuzzy alien from Melmac had a tv show that aired from 1986 to 1990. In my research about this show, ALF’s actual name was Gordon Shumway! I would have known this if I had re-watched the first few episodes before writing this up. At any rate, he crashlands his ship into the garage of the Tanner family.
Such a nice middle-class family they decide to take ALF in and hide him from authorities or in this case the Alien Task Force (a branch of the military) as well as trying to keep their cat away from him (he wants to eat that cat so bad!).
The show was a typical 80’s sitcom relating to middle-class life with undertones of the fear of the use of nuclear weapons (as that’s what destroyed ALF’s homeworld). Among other things, this show had some good subtle social commentary. The show lasted only 4 seasons however it spawned an animated TV Series called “ALF Tales (2 seasons)” as well as a movie called “Project ALF” (1996)
The saga of ALF spilled over into pop culture in the form of many posters, buttons, clothing, and catchphrases “Hey, No Problem!” as well as plushies by the company Coleco and of course like any pop culture item back then trading cards. I’m sure the list is much much long however those are the things I remember from being a kid growing up with ALF as a part of my life.
Here is a full showing of episode 1 from ALF on youtube.
I’ve done some research on youtube and found a playlist of the episodes of ALF Tales:
Found a full copy of the movie Project ALF on youtube as well for your viewing:
Much to my surprise, I read this in my research on Wikipedia: “In August 2018, Warner Bros. Television announced the development of an ALF reboot, which was later canceled in November of that year. In February 2022, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired distribution rights to the ALF titles, and would “develop new ALF-related content”, with the company Maximum Effort subsequently joining in July 2023 to develop new material as well.”
Could this actually mean more ALF for future generations? I sure hope so however WB likes to trash titles they acquire and bury the evidence. But that’s a story for another day.
Below are some pics of the trading cards and the stuffed plushie by Coleco. Be sure to look out for my review and unboxing of the ALF action figure by NECA that I just picked up the week of 8/14/23. That will appear in Loot Crate on the site as soon as I get around to it.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALF_(TV_series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365971/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117397/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_Project%2520ALF
https://www.youtube.com
Grammar and Spelling checked by Grammerly
