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ALF (TV series): Difference between revisions
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[[File:alfphone.jpg|frame|"Hello, is this the Lucky Lantern? I would like to order some sweet and sour cat."]]
{{quote|''"Haaa! I kill me."''|ALF's [[Catch Phrase]]}}
The brainchild of puppeteer/producer Paul Fusco, Alf is the story of Gordon Shumway, a hapless '''A'''lien '''L'''ife '''F'''orm <ref>Sometimes he was billed as an Alien ''Laugh'' Form</ref> who crash lands in the backyard of the Tanner family after his home planet, Melmac, [[Earthshattering Kaboom|explodes]]. The original series lasted from September, 1986 to March, 1990 for a total of 102 episodes in four seasons.
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While viewers saw a delightful, lighthearted sitcom, the show is noted for having been very grueling for the cast, and a hotbed of tension and discomfort when the cameras were off. The technical demands of the ALF puppet required a myriad of trapdoors on set, which had to be reset many times during even a single scene. This led to the show being shot in a very halting, piecemeal fashion, with a single 30-minute episode sometimes taking 20-25 hours of studio time to complete. The effects on the cast were devastating; for example, Andrea Elson (Lynn) suffered from depression and bulimia during the series, while Max Wright (Willie), both physically exhausted and resentful of playing straight man to a puppet, reportedly [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|left the studio immediately after the final shot of the series finale, without even saying goodbye to fellow cast members]].
An [[Animated Adaptation]], ''[[ALF: The Animated Series]]'', was broadcast from September, 1987 to January, 1989. It depicted Gordon's life on Melmac before he came to earth. It introduced Gordon's family members and friends , such as little sister Augie and girlfriend Rhonda (both voiced by Paulina Gillis). A villain threatening Melmac was also introduced to add some tension. He was called Larson Petty (a pun on petty larceny). The show had its own [[Spin-Off]], ''ALF Tales'', which had the characters as [[Animated Actors]] performing [[Fractured Fairy Tale|modernized versions of classic stories]].
There was also a comic book adaptation which tended to play down the sitcom aspects in favor of giving him strange technological toys; it seemed more inspired by the [[Animated Adaptation]] than the original sitcom and would in fact often include stories set on Melmac, usually with the framing story of Alf telling the Tanners of life on his home planet. (Willie and Kate, for some unexplained reason, found these [[Flash Back|flashbacks]] incredibly tedious. Lynn was fairly indifferent to them, and Brian loved them.)
A licensed [[ALF (video game)|''ALF'' video game]] was released by Sega in 1989.
Alf was voiced and performed by Fusco. Recently, the character has been resurrected in various capacities; in 2004, a late-night talk show format (called ''[[ALF's Hit Talk Show]]''; it only lasted seven episodes) and in commercials during the late-1990s, most notably one for the long-distance service "10-10-220".
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{{reflist}}
{{Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time}}
[[Category:DiC Entertainment]]
[[Category:Fantastic Comedy]]
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[[Category:The Eighties]]
[[Category:American Series]]
▲[[Category:ALF]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
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