ALF: The Animated Series
Series, 1987, The late '80s, Set in Melmac
ALF: The Animated Series is #10 of 16 in release order and #10 of 16 in chronological order in the NBC Saturday Morning Cartoons.
The story
ALF: The Animated Series is an animated cartoon spin-off based on the live-action Sitcom series ALF. It premiered on September 26, 1987 and ran for 26 episodes. ALF Tales was a spinoff from the series that ran on the NBC television network on Saturdays from August 1988 to December 1989. The show had characters from that series play various characters from fairy tales. The fairy tale was usually altered for comedic effect in a manner relational to Fractured Fairy Tales.
ALF: The Animated Series recap
ALF: The Animated Series (1987) is a prequel to the NBC sitcom ALF, showing Gordon Shumway's teenage life on his home planet, Melmac, before it explodes. Paul Fusco, who created ALF, voices Gordon, and DIC Animation City, Saban Productions and Alien Productions made the series. Each episode is framed by the puppet ALF talking to viewers from the Tanner family's garage on Earth. In the suburb of East Velcro, Gordon serves in the Melmacian Orbit Guard and lives with his father Bob, who works at a mayonnaise factory, his mother Flo and his younger sister Augie (Paulina Gillis). His friends are Skip (Rob Cowan) and Rick Fusterman (also Fusco). The villain is Larson Petty (Thick Wilson), an alien general who keeps trying to invade Melmac, assisted by his aide Sloop (Dan Hennessey). The show ran two seasons and 26 episodes on NBC from September 26, 1987, to January 7, 1989. A spinoff, ALF Tales, in which the characters act out fairy tales, began in September 1988, and the two aired together that season as the ALF & ALF Tales Hour.
ALF: The Animated Series ending explained
ALF: The Animated Series ends with "Skipper's Got a Brand New Dad", aired January 7, 1989. Gordon and Rick learn that Skip is an orphan and set out to find his father, while Larson Petty claims Skip is the heir to a dead uncle's fortune meant for Petty's estranged son, Eggbert. Skip cares more about having a father than the money, Gordon discovers that Sloop is Petty's real son, and the fortune vanishes into medical bills after a hang-gliding accident. The sitcom ended in 1990, and the TV film Project: ALF followed in 1996.
Where to watch ALF: The Animated Series
ALF: The Animated Series is streaming on Prime Video, Shout! Factory TV, Tubi, and Amazon MX Player in the US.
Ratings
IMDb 6.1/10
Where it fits
- Release order: after Kissyfur, before Captain N: The Game Master.
- Chronological order: after Kissyfur, before Captain N: The Game Master.
Cast
- Paul Fusco as (voice)
- Dan Hennessey as (voice)
- Noam Zylberman as (voice)
- Tabitha St. Germain as (voice)
Created by Paul Fusco, Tom Patchett.