Melmac Attack

It’s not really being reported as a “major” entertainment story, but Seth MacFarlane’s “Ted” is probably going to end up being one of the biggest hits of the year – it’s actually doing bigger business than “The Dark Knight Rises” in a lot of Europe right now – even moreso given it cost so relatively little to actually make.

That kind of impact makes waves, and this is probably the first visible one: “ALF” is heading to the big screen.

If you’re under the age of… I dunno, 20 maybe?, this is quite possibly (pardon the pun) totally alien to you: “ALF” (“Alien Life Form”) was a sitcom in the 80s that was HUGE for about two years then pretty-much fell off the planet. Basic pitch: “What if E.T. was an obnoxious troublemaking goof and a whole family was hiding him instead of just a kid?” Pupeteer Paul Fusco voiced and performed the title character (he’s supposedly being sought for the movie, though the charcter will probably be CGI), a child-sized furry alien who was the last-survivor of the recently-exploded planet Melmac and wound up living with a sitcom-standard suburban family: Exasperated/dweeby dad, nagging mom, teenaged daughter, precocious son, nosy neighbors, etc.

For the brief period that the show was the biggest thing in pop-culture, there was “Alf” merchandise everywhere and even an animated prequel-series set on Melmac. Today, the series is probably best remembered for it’s notoriously dark, unresolved final episode: A running subplot in the series involved Alf being sought by nefarious government agents, and the fourth season ended on a cliffhanger wherein he was finally exposed and captured moments before he was to make contact with another crew of survivors. The creators believed they were getting one more season, but the show was canceled soon after that and they never got to; meaning that this heavily-kid targeted comedy series essentially ends with the main character and his surrogate family being dragged away by the Men In Black. (The story was “resolved” in the god-awful TV movie “Project A.L.F.” a decade later.)

12 thoughts on “Melmac Attack

  1. Lido says:
    Unknown's avatar

    I still can't believe DC actually tried to bill Dark Knight Rises as their “Avengers Killer” I mean did they just not watch their own film? Don't get me wrong it was good but nowhere near Avengers good, anywho good for Alf hope his movie is more Muppets and less Chipmunks

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  2. Taylor says:
    Unknown's avatar

    Did anyone see the porno the creator of Alf made when he was strung out on Heroin? It's all stream of consciousness set in a mental hospital, pretty insane stuff.

    Totally not kidding.

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  3. Redd the Sock says:
    Unknown's avatar

    I can't beleive I still have the complete run of the Marvel comic series. Not stellar even by kids comics standards, but kind of fun to hold a running count as to the number of times he punched a hole in the garage room.

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  4. Anonymous says:
    Unknown's avatar

    I assume he breaks out of the government base and has fun. Or whatever, I dunno how “Project A.L.F.” went, as I am 20. But it could either be an attempt to rewrite it so the movie starts where the series left off, or from PALF.

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  5. Ryan B says:
    Unknown's avatar

    Alf hitting the big screen could be great! There's so much potential there. And I think the Muppets definitely proved that puppet characters are in no way out of style yet, so hopefully he wouldn't be CGI.

    Though on the subject, I always thought that a series that could be great for revival on the big screen in the “CGI character in the real world” style is Pinky and The Brain. If you got the original voice actors and some of the original writers even, that could be brilliant. I mean, the whole idea of the CGI character craze is pretty much their entire schtick. Two genetically altered lab mice try to take over an otherwise normal world.

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  6. Sanunes says:
    Unknown's avatar

    I am not sure if I will have an interest in this or not just because of the horrible treatment a lot of the older TV Shows have gotten with remakes, for most of them are barely recognizable besides character names and maybe locations.

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  7. The Offender says:
    Unknown's avatar

    I recently started watching ALF, hadn't seen it in since its original run, it has aged much better than I expected. I don't know that we need a new movie version of this, but could be alright.

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  8. cdstephens says:
    Unknown's avatar

    I'd say your age estimate is around the appropriate ball park since I have no idea who Alf was other than he was a guy that looked like he belonged to the Muppets. That being said, I'd be interested in seeing the movie and see if that would inspire me to see more of the character.

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