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When alien Gordon Shumway’s home planet of Melmac exploded, he escaped and crash-landed in the garage of the Tanner family. They called him an Alien Life Form – ALF for short. The hit sitcom was a prime-time success for NBC in the mid-80’s, and after one season, the network created an animated version of the show for Saturday mornings.

 

The cartoon actually took place years before the live action sitcom. It featured, Gordon (voiced by creator Paul Fusco), his friends and his family on the planet Melmac. His family consisted of his dad Bob, mother Flo, brother Curtis, and little sister Augie. His friends Sloop and Skip and his girlfriend Rhonda often stopped by as well.

 

The animated show made fun of shopping, school, driving, and other normal activities while on Melmac. As it was another planet – and a cartoon – the writers could create outrageous situations and have the characters act perfectly normal. Many episodes were parodies of several pop culture icons of the day.

 

The show was expanded to a full hour in 1988 with the addition of the segment Alf Tales. This features Alf and his friends in familiar fairy tale or classic movie scenarios. They did their versions of everything from Sleeping Beauty to Batman – all one with the ALF brand of humor. In 1989, the show was shortened to 30 minutes, and only Alf Tales was kept on air.