ALF (character)
Gordon Shumway, also known as "ALF", 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. The name "ALF" is short for "Alien Life Form". 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
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.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. 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 the trap doors 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 his 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 his creator, Jim Henson. Rowlf's gruff voice, though, ended up straining Fusco's vocal cords, which led him to invent a new voice that was much lighter, until it evolved into ALF's voice as it is known today. However, 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-bodied 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.
In the season one episode Wild Thing, Alf warned the Tanners of 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.