Gordon Shumway, also known as ALF (acronym for "Alien Life Form"), is the protagonist and title character of the American television series ALF and its animated spin-offs, ALF: The Animated Series, and ALF Tales. ALF also starred in the poorly received television film Project ALF, and hosted the short lived talk show ALF's Hit Talk Show. Paul Fusco created and plays ALF, and he also provides the voice for the character. On ALF, Lisa Buckley and Bob Fappiano assisted Fusco with performing the furry brown alien. During the first season of ALF, Michu Meszaros occasionally wore a full costume when full body shots were needed of the character.
Since ALF, the character has appeared in various other media, including television series, comic books, and video games.
Concept and creation Paul Fusco created the character in 1984 using an alien-looking puppet, that he used to annoy his family and friends. Bernie Brillstein was approached to see Fusco's audition with a puppet character but was initially uninterested, having managed Jim Henson for years by that point, and regarding Henson as the best puppeteer in the business. However, Fusco's brief performance as ALF won over Brillstein, who thought the character was hilarious and strong enough to be the focus of a series.Brillstein, Bernie and David Rensin(2004). The Little Stuff Matters Most,
Fusco was notoriously secretive about his character up until the series' premiere. During the show's production, Fusco refused to acknowledge that the puppet ALF was anything other than an alien. All involved with the production were cautioned not to reveal any of ALF's production secrets.
To avoid wear and tear on the principal ALF puppet, the performers rehearsed with a crude early version of ALF, nicknamed "RALF" for (Rehearsal Alien Life Form or Repulsive Alien Life Form). Fusco did not like to rehearse and would often substitute his hand or RALF for the real ALF puppet during rehearsals.
Performance To perform the titular alien on the ALF sitcom, Paul Fusco inserted his left hand into the head of the ALF puppet to perform the character's mouth, leaving his right hand to serve as ALF's right arm. Underneath trapdoors and holes on the set floor, Fusco would be assisted by a second puppeteer, Lisa Buckley, who was responsible for controlling the character's left hand. From off-screen, a third puppeteer, Bob Fappiano, would operate the character's eyes and other facial features via remote control. In recent years, Paul Fusco's wife, Linda Fusco, has regularly operated ALF's left hand.
When creating ALF's voice, Fusco initially took inspiration from that of Rowlf the Dog, a Muppet character performed by Jim Henson. Rowlf's gruff voice ended up straining Fusco's vocal cords, which led him to invent a new voice that was much lighter, evolving into ALF's voice as it is known today. In early episodes of the series, ALF speaks with a voice reminiscent of the earlier, Rowlf-esque voice.
During the first season of ALF, whenever the character had to be seen in full-body shots, Hungarian actor Michu Meszaros would don a life-sized ALF costume. However, Meszaros's services became too costly, and the regular ALF puppet would be used for all of his scenes on the show.
Physiology and abilities
Alf was largely depicted as living a forced sedentary lifestyle in the series due to being required to remain in the Tanner home and backyard in order to avoid detection and capture by the Alien Task Force. However, the character indicated he had been involved in some version of Melmac's military, as he references an organization known as the Orbit Guard, and claims he had been given orders to mobilize not long before the destruction of the planet.
Despite his size, he was indicated in the pilot to be surprisingly heavy, and his heart was inferred to be located in the upper right side of his head. In the season two episode Something's Wrong With Me, he claimed to have eight stomachs, which he stated to be roughly 80% of a Melmacian's primary organs. Throughout the series, Alf's body was depicted to be considerably denser and hardier than that of humans, as he survived several close range explosions with little physiological damage, though he did contract amnesia during season one in the two-part episode Try to Remember as the result of electric shock (later broadcasts of the episode would edit this to being a head injury of unknown cause).
In the season one episode Wild Thing, Alf warned the Tanners of (and later underwent) what he called a "complex physiological and psychological transformation", which he stated all Melmacians go through every 75 years. This caused the individual to compulsively seek out cats, and required them to be locked away for a roughly twelve hour period from sunset to sunrise. The change also gave Alf previously unknown abilities, such as the capacity for seemingly flawless imitation, as he would duplicate the voices of Lynn, Brian, and Willie Tanner in rapid succession. The character saw an increase in speed, stealth, and strength during the episode. Evading the Tanners when he escaped confinement and stealing the Ochmonech's riding lawn mower, he travelled to a zoo, where he kidnapped a tiger off-screen, hinting at the enhancement to his physical strength during his transformation. Alf eventually returned to the Tanner home, seemingly drawn there by Brian Tanner's attempts to lure him back to the house via Alf's claimed capacity for telepathy with thoughts of a fork, concluding a running joke begun earlier in the episode.
In the comics produced by Marvel, Alf displayed the ability to turn invisible for limited periods of time by eating sponges. He also displayed the ability to attain superhuman strength due to the Melmacian body being able to develop musculature rapidly. In the issue, Alf claimed to have strength approaching that of the Grey Hulk, and was shown lifting the Tanner home completely off its foundations.
Appearances ALF In ALF, ALF is an alien from the planet Melmac who has arrived on planet Earth, and lands in the Tanner family's garage. On Melmac, ALF was a member of the planet's Orbit Guard. He was given the nickname "ALF", by Willie Tanner in the pilot episode. ALF was born on October 28, 1756. He is troublesome, sarcastic, and cynical. ALF is generally regarded as one of the only Melmacians to survive his home planet's cataclysm. ALF stayed at the Tanner's house, in order to stay hidden from the government, and very rarely interacted with anyone outside of the family. In an episode from the first season, "Help Me, Rhonda", Willie is able to contact ALF's friend from Melmac, Skip, and Skip offers to fly by Earth to pick up ALF. ALF initially decides to go with Skip, but later changes his mind and decides he would rather stay with the Tanners instead.
Due to the series becoming popular with children, ALF didn't drink any alcohol after the first season, because NBC thought it made him a bad role model for children. ALF is also known to try to eat cats, including the Tanner family cat, Lucky; this later stopped after an episode in which ALF tried to microwave Lucky caused a child to try and microwave their own cat. Also, the episode "Try to Remember" depicted ALF using an electric mixer in a bathtub and getting amnesia, which caused a child to attempt this and nearly electrocute himself. The episode was then edited for all future airings, with ALF slipping in the shower instead, causing the amnesia. The episode also began with a PSA featuring ALF explaining the dangers of such actions.
ALF: The Animated Series
ALF: The Animated Series, a spin-off of ALF, depicts ALF's life on Melmac before it exploded. As the animated series takes place before ALF's life on Earth, he goes by his real name of "Gordon". Each episode depicts ALF and his family in some kind of wacky situation. His family members are his father Bob, his mother Flo, his younger brother Curtis, his little sister Augie, his dog Neep, and his bird Harry. Gordon has two friends named Skip, another named Rick Fusterman, and a girl he adores named Rhonda.
ALF Tales In ALF Tales, a spin-off of ALF: The Animated Series, ALF and the other characters from ALF: The Animated Series portray various characters from fairy tales, in a more comedic manner than the original fairy tales. Occasionally in the series, ALF broke the fourth wall, and was seen preparing for the episode.
Project ALF Project ALF was a 1996 television movie that was intended to wrap up the cliffhanger from the series finale of ALF. In the movie, ALF was on a military base after being captured by the Alien Task Force. The film was intended to also be a backdoor pilot for a new series, but was poorly received by the audience, partly due to the absence of the Tanners.
ALF's Hit Talk Show In 2004, ALF hosted the short lived talk show ALF's Hit Talk Show. It was originally intended to be a one time special, but gained enough viewers for more episodes.Susman, Gary From Carnac to Melmac Entertainment Weekly (June 30, 2004). Retrieved November 14, 2010 The series is considered to be a flop and has been considered one of the worst talk shows in history.Harrington, Amy & Harrington, Nancy Worst Talk Shows in TV History FoxNews.com (November 6, 2009). Retrieved November 14, 2010
Future appearances Film In 2012, it was announced that Fusco was pitching an ALF film. The film later reported to be a CGI-Live action hybrid film, to be developed by Sony Pictures Animation, with Jordan Kerner set to produce the film with Fusco and ALF co-creator, Tom Patchett. , no more information has been given about the film, including whether or not it is still in development.
ALF reboot In 2018, it was reported that Warner Bros. was working on an ALF reboot, likely about ALF returning to earth and living with a new family. Later that year the reboot was reported as canceled. However, an article about the Head of the Class reboot in development at HBO Max, published by Deadline in May 2020, stated that the reboot is on the HBO Max development slate.
Other media Marvel comics An ALF comic book was published by Marvel Comics, under the banner of Star Comics. The ALF comic began in 1988 and ran for almost four years, totaling 50 issues and 3 annuals. For virtually the entire series' run, the creative team was: Michael Gallagher (script) and Dave Manak and Marie Severin (art). The comic loosely followed the continuity of the television show, and had a three stories per issue: two in the TV series universe and another inspired in the Cartoon with stories about Melmac.
Guest appearances Due to the character's popularity, ALF has made many guest appearances:
ALF starred in the 1987 television special ALF Loves a Mystery, in which ALF revealed NBC's Saturday morning lineup to the viewers. ALF was a semi-regular on the 1980s version of Hollywood Squares, where he also hosted part of one episode in March 1987. Later, in February 2003, ALF appeared as a celebrity guest on the Tom Bergeron version of the series, during their annual College Tournament. ALF appeared in a Season 2 episode of NBC's Matlock in 1987. He appeared on "Hollywood Today" where he talked about the late Greg Titleman. ALF hosted the 1989 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 1989, ALF gave a Public service announcement for the United States Department of the Interior. The animated version of ALF also made an appearance in the "all-star" animated drug-prevention television special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue in 1990.