History Series / ALF

''ALF:''' No problem!\\

* LameComeback: In "Something's Wrong With Me":

* LastOfHisKind: ALF due to the explosion of Melmac.
** [[spoiler: However, there are other survivors, including his girlfriend [[Music/TheBeachBoys "Rhonda"]].]]
** In fact, it's implied that there may have been a bunch of Melmacians who survived since they managed to find a new planet to start over with.

* LeftHanging: Its cancellation made the last episode aired an unresolved cliffhanger, with ALF surrounded by government agents facing certain vivisection.
** Luckily the TV Movie solved this by having him rescued and granted citizenship.

-->"Interesting concept!"

* ANuclearError: A nuclear war would not blow up a planet. Depending on scale, it could, however, turn said planet into a wasteland.
** ALF intimates that atomic weapons destroyed Melmac, but did not mention whether or not this was the result of nuclear war. Given the largely peaceful state of Melmac (assuming the cartoon is canon to the live action series), it's left ambiguous as to what Melmac was facing that required nuclear weapons at all.

-->'''Willie:''' "What I did was wrong!"
* TakeThat: In "Pennsylvania 6-5000", to UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, who is portrayed as a bit of a buffoon.

* UglyGuyHotWife: Willie and Kate Tanner. Apparently, the kids more closely resemble the mother.
** By the standards of a middle-aged man, Willie isn't really "ugly"; he is, however, [[HollywoodHomely bespectacled and nerdy]] in comparison to his more conventionally-attractive (again, by middle-age standards) wife.

-> ''"Haaa! I kill me."''

!!The series provides examples of:

'''ALF:''' And that's dogma! <{{beat}}> Actually, that's worse than dogma. That's dog ''manure''.

* CastingGag[=/=]CelebrityParadox: "Going Out of My Head Over You" features Bill Daily of ''Series/TheBobNewhartShow'' playing a therapist friend of Willie's. Jack Riley makes a cameo as a patient not unlike Elliot Carlin. [[note]]Some sources say he's actually playing Carlin, but there is no onscreen credit and the episode later references ''The Bob Newhart Show'' as being a TV show.[[/note]]

--> '''ALF:''' "Haaa! I kill me." and "No problem!"
--> '''Willie:''' (generally to ALF) "What you did was wrong!"

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first few episodes of season one. ALF had a much deeper, gruff-sounding voice and was a bit more competent and less of JerkAss. Lynn was slightly more ditzy and had braces. It was somewhat rare to see ALF and Brian separated; with a few exceptions, Kate was more antagonistic towards ALF — sometimes for no good reason — rather than just simply being strict, Willie was less bumbling and seemed to not be as big of a ButtMonkey, and the humor and jokes seemed more somber and slow-paced, rather than the DenserAndWackier show into which it evolved. ALF was also occasionally depicted as a beer drinker before this was dropped for being unsuitable behavior for a children's hero. [[note]]ALF's ceasing his beer drinking was at least acknowledged in-universe, in one episode where Kate actually orders ALF to quit drinking it because it's setting a bad example for Brian.[[/note]]

* ClearMyName: In "Looking for Lucky".

* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Cosmetic magnate Terry Faith ''herself'' is on display in a museum dedicated to her (located at a hotel resort dedicated to her, which [[spoiler:the Tanners end up going on vacation to as a reward for selling a ton of Terry Faith cosmetics in the first season episode, ''Keepin' The Faith'']]).

* AlienLunch: One episode shows that Melmacians ate a dish called "slime balls", which came in such flavours as "slug" and "black cherry". ALF had a bag of these in his ship, which contained a Melmacian cockroach which soon mutates into a [[BigCreepyCrawlies Big Creepy-Crawlie]] thanks to bug spray.

* DoNotCallMePaul: For some reason, ALF didn't seem to like the Tanners or other Earthlings call him by his real name of Gordon Shumway and in fact preferred that they call him "ALF".

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first few episodes of season one. ALF had a much deeper, gruff-sounding voice and was a bit more competent and less of JerkAss. Lynn was slightly more ditzy and had braces. It was somewhat rare to see ALF and Brian separated; with a few exceptions, Kate was more antagonistic towards ALF — sometimes for no good reason — rather than just simply being strict, Willie was less bumbling and seemed to not be as big of a ButtMonkey, and the humor and jokes seemed more somber and slow-paced, rather than the DenserAndWackier show into which it evolved. ALF was also occasionally depicted as a beer drinker before this was dropped for being unsuitable behavior for a children's hero. [[note]]ALF's ceasing his beer drinking was at least acknowledged in-universe, in one episode where Kate actually orders ALF to quit drinking it because it's setting a bad example for Brian.[[/note]]

* [[TheyWouldCutYouUp They'd Cut You Up]]: As much of a jerk as ALF regularly is, the first episode establishes, in disturbing detail, exactly how bad ALF's fate would be if the relevant government agents actually found him.

* WorthlessYellowRocks: In ''Baby, You Can Drive My Car'', Alf claims that gold is cheap and inexpensive on Melmac, and instead claims that valuable substances include foam, gravel wax and lint. In a later episode, he salvages the platinum plumbing in order to help with financial issues that the Tanner family have (as platinum is more common than iron on Melmac).

!!The comic book provides examples of:

* ShaggyDogStory: Some of the Melmac-flashbacks ended up as this. Most notably was the story of ALF's cousin, [[Literature/NancyDrew Nancy Drool]], which ended with Nancy having been caught by the villains and put in a DeathTrap... and then the story ends, because, as ALF explains, [[DownerEnding that was the night Melmac exploded and everyone died anyway]].

As is typical of the AlienAmongUs plot, ALF has to deal with the particular protocols of living on Earth. In a subversion, however, he is not depicted as particularly advanced or powerful. He's a little freaky teddy-bear monster, who is lazy, gluttonous, and tries to eat the family cat (cats were his home world's equivalent to chickens). He hides out in the attic, and makes no attempts to ever leave the house[[note]]Except for one time when he was driving a car[[/note]], perfectly content to freeload off the family patriarch, Willie, and tease the NosyNeighbor Raquel Ochmonek.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In the Season 2 episode "Something's Wrong with Me", [[spoiler: Kate's mother Dorothy is getting remarried.]] When ALF sees her in her wedding dress, he quips "A ''white'' dress? Who do you think ''you're'' kidding?" [[note]]In many western cultures, a white wedding dress usually symbolizes virginity.[[/note]]

--> '''ALF:''' "Haaa! I kill me."

** Subverted in the TV Movie, ''TVMovie/Project: ALF'', which was a direct sequel to the final episode. He lives and even [[spoiler: Becomes a Melmacian ambassador to Earth and aliens become public knowledge and accepted. Earth is implied to become part of this universes' equivalent of TheFederation]].
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The actual ending if you include the TV Movie, ''TVMovie/Project: ALF''.

** Subverted in the TV Movie, ''Project: ALF'', which was a direct sequel to the final episode. He lives and even [[spoiler: Becomes a Melmacian ambassador to Earth and aliens become public knowledge and accepted. Earth is implied to become part of this universes' equivalent of TheFederation]].
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The actual ending if you include the TV Movie, ''Project: ALF''.

* AlienLunch: One episode shows that Melmacians ate a dish called "slime balls", which came in such flavours as "green" and "black cherry". ALF had a bag of these in his ship, which contained a Melmacian cockroach which soon mutates into a [[BigCreepyCrawlies Big Creepy-Crawlie]] thanks to bug spray.

* {{Ponzi}}: ALF became a salesperson for Terry Fields cosmetics. The sales method is similar to MultiLevelMarketing methods, where ALF needs to make a large upfront purchase and make sales either by building a downline, hosting a "facial party", or hopefully selling to customers. In this case, ALF was lucky to make back Willie's "investment", with a small profit and a few travel rewards.

* HoldingBothSidesOfTheConversation: In one episode, ALF manages to get himself into a situation wherein he has to (vocally) play the role of a hostage-taker as well as a whole bunch of hostages. This ends up being [[JustifiedTrope completely justified]] as we learn in one episode that he can do absolutely ''flawless'' imitations of the voices of others (he does so with Brian and Kate), which would make ALF an absolutely ''terrifying force'' to be reckoned with if he ever put his mind and vocal talents to it.

* GrandFinale: Unlike the TV show creators, the comic creators knew that the comic was going to be cancelled with issue #50, so the last eight issues feature storylines or hints/clues that lead up to the GrandFinale -- one that had a lot in common with the last episode of the TV show -- ALF is in danger of being discovered and exposed, and needs to leave the Earth -- but featured its own twist on things, most notably a [[WeddingDay last episode wedding when ALF is revealed to be planning on marrying Rhonda]]. [[spoiler: Ultimately, the finale is subverted. The wedding is in fact between ''Skip'' and Rhonda, and when ALF said he was going to "marry" Rhonda [[ExactWords he meant that he was going to be the one to perform the ceremony.]] ALF does intend to leave the Tanners together with the newlyweds, but pulls off a last minute BatmanGambit that ends up discrediting the government agents that are after him, and continues to stay with the Tanners after all.]]

* FollowTheLeader: This is basically a comic version of ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', including ALF's Earth name being derived from what he is.

* LargeHam: Willie frequently become one whenever ALF got him angry enough. "An ACCIDENT? YOU ALMOST KILLED ME, AND YOU SAY IT WAS AN ACCIDENT?!?"

** In "Hooked on a Feeling," ALF becomes addicted to cotton.

* PoorCommunicationKills: In the Season 1 episode "Pennsylvania 6-5000" [[spoiler: ALF uses Willie's short-wave radio to contact the American President about [[NuclearWar the dangers of nuclear bombs]] after what happened to his own planet. Unfortunately, the message is taken out of context and it is misinterpreted as a threat. This leads to Willie ''actually getting arrested'' by the FBI for ''terrorism''. Willie isn't killed (because it's a family sitcom) but he does express fear of this happening to himself at one point.]]