Line #31 Series/ALF


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6
7	->''"Haaa! I kill me."''
8
9	The brainchild of puppeteer/producer Paul Fusco and veteran television writer Tom Patchett, ALF is the story of Gordon Shumway, a hapless '''A'''lien '''L'''ife '''F'''orm [[note]]Sometimes he was billed as an Alien ''Laugh'' Form[[/note]] who crash lands in the backyard of the Tanner family (no, not [[Series/FullHouse them]]) after his home planet, Melmac, [[EarthShatteringKaboom explodes]]. The original series lasted from September, 1986 to March, 1990 on Creator/{{NBC}}, with a total of 102 episodes in four seasons, plus [[Film/ProjectALF a movie]] released on February 17, 1996, to wrap up the series. The show was produced by Alien Productions, the production company of Patchett and Fusco. In syndication, the show was distributed by Creator/{{Lorimar}}-Telepictures, then Creator/WarnerBros after they acquired L-T in 1989.
10
11	As is typical of the AlienAmongUs plot, ALF has to deal with the particular customs 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, or the time he hopped on a freight train[[/note]], perfectly content to freeload off the family patriarch, Willie, and tease the NosyNeighbor Raquel Ochmonek.
12
13	The show unexpectedly ended on a season cliff hanger, with ALF being taken off to an undisclosed location by government agents. A later MadeForTVMovie would reveal the result and provide closure for the series. Despite being relatively formulaic, the show was original in many regards, and had a loyal following.
14
15	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 [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain left the studio immediately after the final shot of the series finale, without even saying goodbye to fellow cast members]].
16
17	An AnimatedAdaptation co-produced by Creator/DiCEntertainment and Creator/SabanEntertainment alongside Alien Productions was broadcast from September, 1987 to January, 1989, also on NBC. 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[[note]]the latter of whom was first mentioned in the sitcom[[/note]] (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 SpinOff, ''WesternAnimation/ALFTales'', which had the characters as AnimatedActors performing [[FracturedFairyTale modernized versions of classic stories]]. The animated version of ALF also appeared in the 1991 animated Main/{{Crossover}} TV special ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue''.
18
19	There was also a comic book adaptation from Creator/MarvelComics (for most of the comic's run, it went under their "Star Comics" banner) which tended to play down the sitcom aspects in favor of a lot of parody and a bigger sci-fi slant, giving ALF strange technological toys which would occasionally be useful but most often wreak havoc in unforeseen ways. In many ways, it seemed more inspired by the AnimatedAdaptation than the original sitcom, and would in fact often include stories set on Melmac, featuring many of the same characters as in the cartoon (most prominently the Shumway family). These stories usually included a framing story of ALF telling the Tanners of life on his home planet -- Willie and Kate, for some unexplained reason, found these {{flashback}}s incredibly tedious, while Lynn was fairly indifferent to them. Brian initially loved them, but towards the end of the series started to get tired of them.
20
21	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". [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/sony-pictures-animation-alf-jordan-kerner-paul-fusco-360011 There's also a feature film in the works.]]
22
23	On August 1st, 2018 Warner Bros Television announced they were developing a reboot of the series. The reboot was aborted in November 2018 as Warner Bros. stated they could not find any network who would buy the program. In February 2022, Creator/ShoutFactory announced the acquisition of the rights, with plans to release the series (along with the animated spin-offs and ''Project ALF'') on DVD with many of the original scenes cut from Syndication restored (save for "Try to Remember").
24
25	----
26	!!''ALF'' provides examples of:
27
28	* FiveFiveFive: The Tanners' phone number is revealed to be one of these, in "For Your Eyes Only".
29	* TheEighties
30	* EightiesHair:
31	** Lynn
32	** ALF himself counts, especially on the occasions when he styles it.
33	* AnAesop: In "Pennsylvania 6-5000," about nuclear disarmament.
34	** In "Hooked on a Feeling," ALF becomes addicted to [[GRatedDrug cotton]].
35	** In "Stayin' Alive," ALF launches a one man letter writing campaign against a company called SENDRAX, protesting its production of [=CFCs=].
36	* AnAlienNamedBob: ALF's real name is Gordon Shumway.
37	* AliensSpeakingEnglish: They even have English names.
38	* AllJustADream: In "Suspicious Minds", ALF becomes obsessed with the idea of a new neighbor secretly being Music/ElvisPresley. It gets to the point that he breaks into the man's house, gets caught, and refuses to take "I'm not Elvis" for an answer, which all turns out to be the result of ALF zonking out after eating an entire plate of fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
39	* AmnesiaEpisode: The very first season had an interesting variant of it, in form of a [[MultiPartEpisode two-parter]] ClipShow.
40	* AmusingAlien: ALF himself. Full stop. He was usually the comedy bit in most jokes, as the show itself was pretty much designed around him.
41	* BecauseISaidSo: ALF wants to be the leader of the newly formed neighbourhood watch and Willie keeps refusing. Leads to this exchange:
42	-->'''ALF:''' Why not? Give me a reason.\
43	'''Willie:''' Because you don't put responsibility in irresponsible hands.\
44	'''ALF:''' That's not a reason! That's a platitude!\
45	'''Willie:''' Then because I said so!\
46	'''ALF:''' And that's dogma! ''[{{beat}}]'' Actually, that's worse than dogma. That's dog ''manure''.
47	* BigEater: All Melmacians, with a side order of ExtremeOmnivore. They have 8 stomachs, twice as much as cows. However, "Hungry Like the Wolf" reveals that it actually is possible for Melmacians to suffer and die from overeating.
48	* ABirthdayNotABreak: Melmac blew up on ALF's 228th birthday.
49	* BizarreAlienBiology: Melmacians have ten major organs, [[BigEater eight of which are stomachs]]. (They get denser instead of fatter.) They have green blood. And their hearts are inside their heads (as evidenced by ALF saying "I cross my heart" then making the gesture over his ear). God only knows [[BodyHorror where his brain might be.]]
50	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: ALF's list of what to bring for an extended camp-out in the back yard included chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate pudding and... [[RiseOfZitBoy acne pads]].
51	* CastingGag: "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]]
52	* CatchPhrase: A few, including
53	-->'''ALF:''' Haaa! I kill me.\
54	'''ALF:''' No problem!\
55	'''Willie:''' ''[generally to ALF]'' What you did was wrong!
56	* ChristmasEpisode: Two, one zany and light-hearted one in the first season, a considerably darker and somber one later on.
57	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Jake Ockmonek, who had been ALF's best friend outside the Tanner house for the better part of seasons 2 & 3, vanishes without explanation after "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Ironically, his last scene is ALF, who was obsessed with the fragility of life after experiencing his first earthquake, driving Jake nuts worrying about all the terrible things that could happen to him.
58	* ClearMyName: ALF tries to do this in both Season One's "Looking for Lucky" and Season Two's "Can I get a Witness?"
59	* ClipShow: Season One's "Try to Remember" and Season Three's "Tonight, Tonight" (both of which were two-part episodes).
60	* ComicBookAdaptation: A long-running one, in fact.
61	* TheCouch
62	* {{Crossover}}: ALF (and Fusco, of course) appeared on ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'' several times, even ''hosting'' a game, as well as ''Series/GilligansIsland''.
63	** ALF also appeared in a cameo in an episode of ''Series/{{Matlock}}'', in an episode about the murder of a TV network programmer.
64	** And let's not overlook the biggest, [[AnimatedAdaptation cartooniest]], [[DrugsAreBad most Drugs-Are-Bad-iest]] [[WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsTotheRescue elephant in the room either]].
65	** The comic book featured a WeirdCrossover with ''[[CrisisCrossover The Evolutionary War]]'', an event running through all of Marvel's 1988 summer annuals; the High Evolutionary, an ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' and ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain, ends up encountering ALF.
66	* 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'']]).
67	* DeadpanSnarker: Guess who?
68	** Also Willie, Kate, and Jake.
69	*** Brian gets a shot or two of this now and then, often trading comedian and straight man roles with ALF himself, and the two traded friendly barbs now and then.
70	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Between (Western) humans and Melmacians, especially regarding the edibility of cats. Lampshaded in "Looking for Lucky". Mostly PlayedForLaughs.
71	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Subverted in "Keepin' the Faith". ALF gets a job selling cosmetics, and buys $4,000 worth, thinking of how much money he will make selling them. In most works, this would result in AnAesop about counting your chicks before they hatch; however, with some help from Kate and Willie, ALF's idea goes through exactly as planned.
72	* 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".
73	* TheDogIsAnAlien: ALF does this from time to time, with varying degrees of success. For instance, on one occasion, he's seen by a hobo who thinks he's a kangaroo... and promptly leaps off the train they were riding.
74	* DoomedHometown: Melmac.
75	* DownerEnding: The aforementioned cliff-hanger was the end of the regular series. Those not aware of the TV Movie were basically left with the notion he had been captured, interrogated, dissected, and killed, probably in that order. It's even on a list of the worst Downer Endings compiled by a CRACKED website contributor.
76	** Subverted in the TV Movie, ''Film/ProjectALF'', 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]].
77	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
78	** The first few episodes of season one. ALF had a much deeper, gruff-sounding voice, and was a bit more competent and less of a {{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, ALF was 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 second-season episode, ALF swears off alcohol after waking up with a hangover from a night of binge-drinking with Kate's alcoholic sorority sister [[/note]]and the humor and jokes seemed more somber and slow-paced, rather than the DenserAndWackier show into which it evolved.
79	** At the end of the first episode, ALF's message to any other potential survivors of Melmac describes a family as though it's a foreign concept to Melmacians, stating humans live this way instead of in herds. However, later episodes and the animated series show that Melmacians had a familial structure basically identical to humans.
80	* EarnYourHappyEnding: The actual ending if you include the TV Movie, ''Film/ProjectALF''.
81	* ElderlyFutureFantasy: In "Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades", ALF begins to worry about what's going to become of him as the Tanners get older and imagines a bunch of worst case scenario futures, with one being the ultimate [[SwappedRoles role reversal]] where a harried ALF tries to keep the household afloat while stopping a now old and senile Willie and Kate from destroying everything.
82	* EpisodeCodeNumber: Season 4 had two Season 3 leftover episodes.
83	** #10XX = Season 1
84	** #20XX = Season 2
85	** #30XX = Season 3
86	** #40XX = Season 4
87	* EveryEpisodeEnding: ALF laughing at the end of the closing credits.
88	* EveryoneHatesMimes: ALF can't stand Lynn's last boyfriend, Robert, simply because he's putting himself through college by performing as a mime. He even states hating mimes is the one thing that could bring the world together.
89	* ExecutiveMeddling: InUniverse in an episode of the AnimatedAdaptation; Gordon has written a movie script for a drama called ''Yo, Ma'' and it's bought... but the powers that be use it as the basis for the latest ''Gutsquisher'' action extravaganza.
90	* ExposedExtraterrestrials: ALF is smart enough to crack wise with the Tanners, but can't be bothered to put on a pair of pants. Though, he at least starts wearing shirts regularly in the last two seasons.
91	* FakeHairDrama: Willie's mother wore a wig but never told him so he would not think less of her.
92	* FinaleMovie: After the series ended on a cliffhanger, ''Film/ProjectALF'' was made six years later to finally wrap things up.
93	* ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself: ALF turned a party the Tanners were throwing into a costume party without their knowledge, and invited himself. He even put a zipper down his front to make his appearance look more like a costume.
94	* FormulaBreakingEpisode: The season three episode "Tonight, Tonight" is totally different from all the others. Basically, it's ALF, the actor, guest-hosting ([[ShamelessSelfPromoter and ultimately hijacking]]) ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJohnnyCarson'', taking place outside the show's usual canon of ALF hiding with the Tanner family and from the military, with [[ClipShow the clips shown throughout the episode]] referred to as being from "ALF's show". Also, ALF is guest-hosting the ''Tonight Show'' as if nothing is out of the ordinary instead of the show's normal canon of him being an alien from another planet.
95	* FunWithAcronyms: ALF ('''A'''lien '''L'''ife (or '''L'''augh) '''F'''orm)
96	** This leads to a bit of FridgeLogic in RealLife: Fusco's puppet is named ALF. He insisted on it being addressed like any other actor. That means the puppet ALF portrayed the biological alien character Gordon Shumway, who was nicknamed ALF by another character. This makes ALF TheDanza.
97	*** Incidentally: Tommi Piper, the German voice actor of ALF, also dubbed Creator/TonyDanza most of the time.
98	* GRatedDrug: In "Hooked On A Feeling", ALF winds up hooked on cotton, which has an addictive euphoric effect on him. It gets bad enough that the Tanners have to invite a support group over on the pretense that Willie's trying to quit smoking to get him help.
99	* HoldingBothSidesOfTheConversation: In "Someone To Watch Over Me, Part 2", 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, Willie, 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.
100	* HumanoidAliens: The aliens from Melmac look like a cross between dogs and aardvarks, and they also have a bit of Bizarre Alien Biology. But they still had a mostly human culture. And they could build spaceships, which could take them all the way to Earth.
101	* IAteWhat: Possibly subverted with a Melmacian butcher who ALF says was arrested for serving cow instead of collie in his shop. Willie is utterly nauseated.
102	* IChooseToStay: One episode had ALF's friends show up in their ship to pick him up. ALF decides to stay with the Tanners.
103	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode is named after a song title which is somehow related to the plot.
104	* IllNeverTellYouWhatImTellingYou: In "Promises", when ALF accidentally tells Kate and Willie about Lynn's continued relationship with Eddie.
105	* ImagineSpot: Happens in one episode when ALF realizes that he won't be able to stay with the Tanners once everyone gets older, and considers what his options might be. He does this five times: Staying with Brian (who unwittingly marries into a mafia family, ending with them calling a hit on ALF), Lynn (who marries a mime who doesn't provide much money and gives her imaginary presents), Eric (who grows up to be a kiddie show host with ALF as his ButtMonkey sidekick) or Willie and Kate (who become increasingly senile and decrepit, forcing ALF to spend all his time caring for them and putting out kitchen fires), or live on his own (naturally, he ends up in a lab and treated as an animal).
106	* IndyPloy: When ALF faces [[ItMakesSenseInContext a giant cockroach]], he's cornered in the bathroom and tries spraying it with the perfume Willie got Kate on her last birthday. This kills it, much to Willie's surprise. ALF tries to claim that it was a deliberate bit of complex planning before admitting, "I lucked out."
107	* InterspeciesRomance: One-sided and extremely mild; a few later episodes imply that ALF has something of a crush on Lynn, though nothing ever comes of it and she seems to be oblivious to it.
108	* ItsAWonderfulPlot: Subverted in "Stairway to Heaven". ALF finds that he and the Tanners would be relatively better off had he never crashed, but he can't bring himself to go through with forgetting about them.
109	* ItsAllMyFault: In the uncut version of "We're So Sorry, Uncle Albert", Willie blames himself for leaving Albert alone at the house, when [[spoiler:the latter dies of shock from seeing ALF]].
110	* ItsTheSameSoItSucks: ALF experiences an InUniverse example of this trope in the season 4 episode "Make 'em Laugh". ALF has a dream where he becomes a famous comedian overnight; but he tells the same jokes over and over again that everyone gets sick of them.
111	-->'''Man in the Audience:''' Hey Gordon, let's hear some new stuff!\
112	'''ALF:''' "New stuff"?\
113	'''Man in the Audience:''' Yeah, like stuff you haven't done before.\
114	'''ALF:''' Oh, sure! Did you heard about the Melmacian National Library burning down?\
115	'''Entire Audeince (in unison):''' [[ForegoneConclusion Yeah, they lost both books]]. (Audience starts booing)\
116	'''ALF:''' Okay, okay, stop me if you've heard this one...\
117	'''Entire Audeince (in unison):''' [[BigShutUp STOP! STOP!]] (Audience boos louder and starts [[ProducePelting throwing random garbage]] at ALF)
118	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: ALF. Particularly evident with the lengths he'll go through to help and/or protect the Tanners — Willie and Brian in particular — when he feels the need. This ''itself'' often backfires, but the Tanners are unable to deny that, for all that he often annoys the hell out of them due to the CultureClash which never truly fades for ALF, his heart is (usually) in the right place.
119	* LameComeback: ALF often resorts to them when he's been mentally outmatched, or just isn't in a state to think of something better, like when he's stricken with Melmacian hiccups in "Something's Wrong with Me":
120	-->'''Dorothy:''' Thanks a lot, you hiccuping hairball from Hell!\
121	'''ALF:''' Yeah? Well... you're a weiner!
122	* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: In "For Your Eyes Only", ALF tells Kate and Willie about his plans for their anniversary, but states that they're on their own when it comes to the bedroom, wink wink, nudge nudge.
123	* LargeHam: Willie frequently became one whenever ALF got him angry enough. "An ACCIDENT? YOU ALMOST KILLED ME, AND YOU SAY IT WAS AN ACCIDENT?!?"
124	* 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.]]
125	** It's probably not canon, but the German book ''Alles über ALF'' featured an interview with ALF where he claimed that in fact ''most'' of the Melmacians survived the destruction on Melmac, thanks to the "ejection seat system" -- a system in which any Melmacian who owned a spaceship could press a button and immediately be catapulted onto that spaceship. The result was that the Melmacian race still lived, but were scattered across a huge galaxy with no real way to get in touch with each other -- though ALF did say he'd heard his brother had been reunited with his bouillabaseball team somewhere around Alpha Centauri.
126	* LaughTrack: Considering how tedious production was, a live studio audience was out of the question.
127	* 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.
128	* MisplacedRetribution: A common scenario on the show was ALF doing something bad and then Willie had to either cover it up or take the blame for him (because the Tanners were hiding ALF from the authorities). This would end up with Willie getting in trouble or suffering embarrassment that he didn't deserve. The season one episode "Pennsylvania 6-5000" is the most notable example [[spoiler:where Willie actually gets arrested because ALF used his shortwave radio to contact the President with a message that was taken out of context.]]
129	* MultipleChoicePast: How exactly did Melmac blow up? Was it caused by a boating accident? Or was it because all the Melmacians plugged their hairdryers in at the same time? Or [[BreadEggsMilkSquick was it a nuclear war?]]
130	* MundaneObjectAmazement: First episode, ALF watches a toilet flush.
131	-->'''ALF:''' Interesting concept!
132	* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: At a party for ALF, ALF is grateful to all of his friends -- and Dorothy.
133	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In one episode, ALF finds a small alien larva alive in his stuff, and Kate sprays it with bug spray. This causes it to grow large enough to wear a sweater rather than kill it. What does Willie do? He uses up the rest of the entire can on the bug, with predictable results. [[spoiler: Luckily, perfume has the desired effect on it. ALF even tries to pretend he did that on purpose.]]
134	* NosyNeighbor: Raquel Ochmonek, who also serves as a DropInCharacter.
135	* 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.
136	** A lot of auxillary material expanded on the idea, establishing that Melmac didn't really have nuclear ''weapons,'' they just used nuclear power to power ''everything''. In one issue of the Marvel comic, ALF scoffs at the idea of power outages and energy crisises, claiming that they never had such problems on Melmac... whereupon Willie points out that it was because they relied completely on nuclear power, which ended up spelling disaster. In the German spin-off book ''Alles über ALF,'' ALF claimed in an interview that the explosion happened because everyone on Melmac turned on their thermonuclear-powered hairdryers at the exact same time.
137	* APlanetNamedZok: Downplayed with Melmac, which is actually the name of an old brand of plastic dishware.
138	* {{Ponzi}}: ALF became a salesperson for Terry Faith 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.
139	* PhraseCatcher: Every time the doorbell rings:
140	-->''[=ALF=], hide in the kitchen.''
141	* PoorCommunicationKills: In the Season 1 episode "Pennsylvania 6-5000" [[spoiler: ALF uses Willie's short-wave radio to contact the American President about [[NuclearWeapons 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.]]
142	* PreviouslyOn: {{Parodied}} at the start of "Someone To Watch Over Me, Part 2", where a bunch of random lines from the previous episode are edited together to make it seem like ALF had a rather odd conversation with the Ockmoneks, before ALF in voiceover points out it doesn't make any sense and rolling the actual setup.
143	* ProperlyParanoid: In "Hide Away", upon learning that a house guest was in the witness protection program, ALF was worried that gangsters would attack the house. Turns out, he was right as he caught a member from the mob posing as an FBI agent.
144	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Anne Schedeen's RealLife pregnancy was written into the show, leading to Eric.
145	* RearWindowWitness: In one episode, ALF (house-bound because he's an alien) thinks he witnesses Trevor kill his wife with a ice pick and buried her in his backyard. In reality, he saw Trevor pick at ice during an argument with his Raquel over some smelly side of beef he bought, who left to stay at her sister until he got rid of it, which he did by burying it.
146	* RiskyBusinessDance: In "Looking for Lucky".
147	* SatelliteCharacter: The Tanner family all mostly lack any wacky or eccentric personality traits of their own. Most of the humor involving them comes from their reactions to the antics of ALF, as well as the more over-the-top human characters like the Ockmoneks.
148	* SoapWithinAShow: An episode has ALF writing for a soap opera, with a lot of the storylines taken from the Tanners' day-to-day life, but soapified. Then the family asks him to stop using them for material, and his scripts get blander ... so the executives soapify them further. Cue the family suspecting that the outrageous stuff now in the soap really happened.
149	* StPatricksDayEpisode: "Superstition" happens during St. Patrick's Day and is about the titular character blaming a recent streak of bad luck on a Melmac superstition of burning a history book.
150	* SubvertedCatchPhrase: In one episode, where Willie tries to talk to a bully's father, showing his family the value of nonviolence, he ends up decking the guy instead. Talking to his family afterward, Willie changes up his typical CatchPhrase:
151	-->'''Willie:''' What I did was wrong!
152	* TakeThat:
153	** In "Pennsylvania 6-5000", to UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, who is portrayed as a bit of a buffoon.
154	** In "Prime Time", one is delivered to ''Series/TheCosbyShow'', which is portrayed as dull and unengaging. ("Great episode last week, when Theo lost his comb. I never, ever thought he'd find it.")
155	** In "We're in the Money", after Alf loses money from the stock he bought and keeps trying to get more money to buy stock, Willie explains to him this is because people sometimes do things they shouldn't for money. Alf says that it explains ''Film/GhostbustersII''.
156	* TakenDuringTheEnding: The series finale ends with [[spoiler:ALF being separated from the Tanners and taken away by the government to be experimented on. This was supposed to be set up for a fifth and final season, [[LeftHanging but the show wasn't renewed]]. A made-for-TV movie produced years later saw ALF escape thanks to the help of a pair of government agents, then flee across the country before finding a space ship filled with his friends from his home planet, which turned out not to have been destroyed after all]].
157	* TheTelevisionTalksBack: A regular occurrence on the AnimatedAdaptation. People even reach through the screen to grab the Shumways from time to time.
158	* TheyWouldCutYouUp: 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.
159	* TimeSkip: In "Somewhere Over the Rerun" and "Promises".
160	* ToBeContinued: {{Parodied}} at the end of "Someone To Watch Over Me, Part 1" where ALF gives a "Next Time On" announcement, followed by a StockFootage montage of old movie car crashes. He then quips that they're actually clips from next week's ''Series/MacGyver1985'' and runs a real clip of the next episode.
161	* UglyGuyHotWife: Willie is balding, bespectacled and noticeably nerdy in comparison to his conventionally attractive wife and daughter.
162	* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: Lynn Tanner. See previous entry.
163	* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: In the finale, [[spoiler:the title alien [[TheBadGuyWins is captured and taken away by the Alien Task Force]]. Before this, the series was a lighthearted comedy. There was a TV movie to finish the story (which was still much darker than the main series), but viewers who didn't see it were left with the impression that ALF was going to be tortured and killed.]]
164	* WeirdWorldWeirdFood: 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.
165	* 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).
166	* VocalEvolution: Paul Fusco's voice for ALF, as stated above. Most of ALF's lines would later be re-done for Syndication.
167
168	!!The comic book provides examples of:
169	* ActionGirl: Rhonda, at least occasionally.
170	* AdaptationDyeJob: Brian's a redhead in the comic, taking after his mother.
171	* AllJustADream: These types of stories grew increasingly common as the comic went on, sometimes paired with OrWasItADream?
172	* AlternateContinuity: The comic seemed to follow the TV show purely in a BroadStrokes way; it never referenced events from the TV show -- other than changes to the status quo such as Kate's pregnancy, Eric's birth and Lucky's death -- and focused more on making its own continuity. The {{cliffhanger}} finale from the TV show was completely ignored, in favor of its own, rather grander and more planned-out, finale.
173	* AnimalTalk: Occasionally used, since ALF is presented as [[SpeaksFluentAnimal Speaking Fluent Animal]], though it's made clear that every species of animal has its own language, and ALF doesn't know them all (he can't talk to dogs, or cats, for instance). At one point, he fails to communicate with an angry bear, because while he speaks the bear language, that particular bear speaks a dialect he doesn't understand.
174	* AmplifiedAnimalAptitude: To the point where most of the animals that appear in the comic (including Lucky) show human-like intelligence and can classify as {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s.
175	* BizarreAlienBiology: Unrestrained by a TV budget, the comic took this [[ExaggeratedTrope further]], revealing that Melmacians also become temporarily invisible if eating a sponge, exhale helium ([[{{Balloonacy}} making bubble-gum blowing a risky thing to get carried away with]]), their noses begin glowing with extremely bright lights if they get ''very'' excited, and every 75 years they go through a "shed cycle" wherein all their fur falls off and they're completely bald for eight hours before re-growing their fur through performing the "primal sneeze ceremony."
176	* BreakingTheFourthWall: ALF would occasionally directly address the reader or otherwise acknowledge he was in a comic, such as commenting how many pages there was left of a story, urging the reader to turn the page or mention back issues. Other Melmacians would do the same (primarily in the flashback sequences), but the humans were generally ignorant of the fourth wall. There were a couple of exceptions, though -- the most consistent example was Brian, who especially in the later issues would join in on the {{Fourth Wall Observ\|er}}ing.
177	* CatsAreMean: Though in the case of Melmacians they have a definite reason to be hostile. Lucky, as opposed to the TV show, was a NearlyNormalAnimal who could often be downright antagonistic -- though he and ALF did have an EnemyMine episode or two.
178	* CharacterDevelopment: Brian, in stark contrast with his TV series counterpart, went through some noticeable development over the course of the series. He went from CheerfulChild and ALF's biggest fan, to a slightly more cynical DeadpanSnarker who traded good-natured insults with ALF. He even started acknowledging that he was in a comic book, and was the only non-Melmacian character to consistently do so.
179	* ContinuityPorn: The comic series approached this. If any of ALF's strange abilities, habits or ailments, or any of the various things he brought from Melmac in his spaceship, were given any more than the merest passing of mentions, you could bet that they would be brought up again in a later issue. Could double as ChekhovsGun, as the majority of them would either be or set off important plot points in the later stories.
180	* {{Crossover}}: The comic managed to take (an admittedly very small and easily ignored) part in 1988's Creator/MarvelComics CrisisCrossover, the ''Evolutionary War''. [[spoiler:The High Evolutionary warned ALF to stay out of his plans and not mess with human development.]] In the last issue, the very last [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth-wall-breaking]] story, ALF got into an argument with Tom [=DeFalco=] about whether this crossover meant he was officially part of the Marvel Universe or not.
181	* DenserAndWackier: The comic was on the whole a lot more cartoony, with a higher joke density, than the show. The stories set on Melmac took this and ran with it; the already pretty wacky alien world from the animated series and its characters were ramped up and exaggerated almost to the point of parody. Not only is Melmac presented as a WorldOfPun where every single character is ''some'' degree of MotorMouth {{Cuckoosnarker}} with exaggerated character quirks, it had bizarre (and usually pun-based) natural phenomena and stories that used to take themselves seriously for even a moment.
182	* {{Expy}}: The comics were ''full'' of them, with Melmac flashback stories often featuring Melmac versions of popular movie- TV- or comic book characters. Perhaps most notable were [[ComicBook/XMen The Uncanned X-Melmen]], Melmac's most popular superhero team, who appeared three times during the run of the comic and were even revealed having survived the destruction of Melmac.
183	* FieryRedhead: Kate had a much more explosive temper in the comic than in the TV show, to the point where she was the one Tanner family member who could intimidate ALF. It was often referred to as her "Irish temper."
184	** She seemed to have inherited her temper from Dorothy, who was even worse.
185	* {{Flight}}: By far the most commonly-seen of ALF's technological gadgets from Melmac was his anti-gravity belt, which enabled him to fly -- though he used it sparingly, because it ran on Melmacian batteries, which were hard to come by.
186	* FoodBasedSuperpowers: Appeared in a parody of ''ComicBook/XMen''. Magneto became Magmeato, who could attract and levitate meat, while Hagen-Dazzler (based on Dazzler) could create massive blocks of ice cream. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, when Hagen-Dazzler encases Magmeato in a giant block of Neapolitan, he uses his powers to instantly free himself.]]
187	* GracefulLoser: A trait found in most Melmacians, as pointed out and shown several times. As a rule, even the bitterest of rivals will gracefully accept an honest defeat and congratulate the winner -- perhaps not ''happily'', but without complaint or harsh words. [[spoiler: Even when ALF's long-time girlfriend Rhonda ends up marrying Skip, there is no hard feelings from ALF's side -- he remains on the best of terms with them both and even performs the marriage ceremony.]]
188	* 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 [[WeddingFinale 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.]]
189	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: There were two Melmacian inventions that would cause this: The most commonly-used was the Milk of Amnesia, a drink that permanently erased memories. The less-seen one was the Time Capsules, small pills that would not erase memories but suppress them temporarily.
190	* MrFixit: ALF, as opposed to the TV show, is extremely tech-savvy and can fix or recreate a lot of hyper-complicated gadgets. He even managed to fix his spaceship (though without the proper power source he couldn't reach orbit with it). Occasionally overlaps with BunglingInventor, as his machines tend to do more harm than good.
191	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Played with, occasionally, since ALF usually wears only his own fur (though on Melmac he, along with everyone else, is more often a HalfDressedCartoonAnimal. Surprisingly, Lynn gets this trope a couple of times too -- once with a SlipperySwimsuit-like incident (see the WardrobeMalfunction trope below) and once in the final episode when she's surprised by ALF while taking a bath.
192	* OcularGushers: Brian, several times. Usually at the prospect of losing ALF.
193	* OmniGlot: ALF, shown to be able to speak a lot of languages, including those of animals (excluding cats). His most used language, apart from English, was in fact [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingonese]], which was implied to be a sort of universal language -- at least Melmacians all seemed to speak it, as did several other alien species.
194	* ParentalBonus: The comic was ''steeped'' in references and parodies that seemed more aimed at the older audience. Various Melmac-flashbacks featured Melmac-versions of such diverse things as ComicBook/XMen, Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian, the Creator/MarxBrothers Series/TheHoneymooners, Creator/HumphreyBogart, Film/JamesBond, Film/{{Psycho}}, Film/CitizenKane, and even Hippie leader/drug use advocate Timothy Leary.
195	* PungeonMaster: ALF, much more so than in the TV show. Just about everyone else in the comic were pretty pun-happy as well.
196	* RunningGag: In the comic, the Tanners' garage roof kept getting wrecked, usually thanks to ALF. A couple of times he got his spaceship to fly, but couldn't get enough power to go into space, and he'd invariably crash through the garage roof. Other times the roof would be wrecked thanks to some Melmacian device, or when Rhonda and Skip dropped by for a visit. One "what-if" story taking place thirty years in the future showed that Willie and Kate had installed an automatic door in the garage roof, which according to ALF "really paid off."
197	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Used in one story with Eric, of all people -- after he'd played with one of ALF's Melmacian devices, he temporarily became extremely fluent in both English and [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingonese]]. Of course, he was still a baby and had a baby's brain and comprehension level, so he basically used extremely complex words to express very simple ideas.
198	-->''(watching and laughing at Kate chasing ALF around the kitchen)'' "The irascible extra-terrestrial employs evasive maneuvers! However, mother's unflinching forbearance remunerates dividends... an irrevocable resolution seems imminent! Such jocular tomfoolery is exhilarating!"
199	* ShadyScalper: In #15 of the comics, ALF's flashback story is about his ancestor [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare William Shumspeare]]. At one point we see a Melmacian telling his wife he got tickets to Shumspeare's latest play from a scalper. [[LiteralMetaphor He's also been scalped]].
200	* 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]].
201	* SwappedRoles: One comic featured Willie as a human astronaut who crashed on Melmac, with ALF as one of the Melmacians he encounters.
202	* SymbolSwearing: Used occasionally, though for the most part the comic would go for a CurseCutShort thing, with any bad language being cut off -- usually by ALF, who would [[BreakingTheFourthWall inform them that this was a kids' comic]].
203	** [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingonese]] was represented in the comic by highly creative SymbolSwearing.
204	* ThemeNaming: Anyone and anything on Melmac that could have the syllables "mel" and/or "mac" in them, would have.
205	* ThreeShorts: A rare comic book example. Most of the issues would have three complete stories, and even followed the ABA format -- two stories would be set in present day with ALF and the Tanners, while the third (usually the middle) story would be a flashback story set on Melmac.
206	* ToyDisguise: In the Christmas Special, ALF accidentally gets delivered to a hospital in a van full of toys he unwittingly climbed into while looking for gifts for the Tanner family. To avoid people suspecting that he is an alien, ALF holds perfectly still so that people will think he is a toy. When ALF is given to Tiffany, a little girl he finds out [[LittlestCancerPatient isn't going to live to see another Christmas]], he keeps up the act when she calls him "Amanda" and [[TheDreadedPretendTeaParty plays tea party with him]], but draws the line when she tries to put earrings on him.
207	* UnwantedAssistance: Rhonda to the Tanners in the comic. She stayed with them a few times, and would always do her best to help them out, but as she was even less accustomed to Earth than ALF was, her attempts at helping always led to disaster.
208	* WardrobeMalfunction: Happens to Lynn in one story, in a variant of the SlipperySwimsuit trope. ALF, in order to stop Willie and Kate from going down the girl's throat about her new bikini being too revealing, sews a new, stylish and more modest swimsuit for her out of the seat-covers from his spaceship. Crisis averted — until Lynn and her classmates go to the seaside and it turns out that the Melmacian fabric can take fresh water without any problems, but dissolves completely in salt water.
209	* WholeEpisodeFlashback: About a third of the stories in the comic were these, set on Melmac and presented as ALF's stories told to the Tanners. These stories were either stories of ALF's own life, with the setting from the cartoon, or parodies of famous stories or historical events, starring an {{Expy}} of ALF (sometimes one of his ancestors).
210	* WorldOfPun: Melmac. While the comic never shied away from making puns, any story on Melmac would turn into a HurricaneOfPuns. Not only characters, but items and scenerey would be stock-full of puns, with nearly everything taking on ''some'' kind of double meaning.
211	* YourMom: When ALF's ship gets taken away by the garbagemen, Willie and ALF drive to the garbage dump late at night to try and get it back. The security guard refuses to let them in, until ALF says "your mother wears army boots, you two-bit rent-a-cop!" The enraged guard comes out to attack Willie, who quickly drives off. ALF jumps out of the car sneaks into the dump while the gate's open and the guard is distracted yelling at Willie, who's driving away.

Context Series / ALF