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ALF Tales

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ALF Tales
Created by
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes21
Production
Running time30 minutes per episode
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 10, 1988 (1988-09-10) –
December 9, 1989 (1989-12-09)

ALF Tales is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series that aired on NBC from September 10, 1988, to December 9, 1989.[1] The show is a spin-off of ALF: The Animated Series that featured characters from that series playing various characters from fairy tales.[2] The fairy tale parody was usually altered for comedic effect in a manner akin to Jay Ward's "Fractured Fairy Tales".[3]

The episodes were performed in the style of a resident theater company or ensemble cast where Gordon and Rhonda would take the leading male and female roles, and the other characters were cast according to their characteristics.

Many stories spoof a film genre, such as the "Cinderella" episode which is presented like an Elvis Presley film. Some episodes featured a "fourth wall" effect where Gordon is backstage preparing for the episode, and Rob Cowan would appear drawn as a TV executive (who introduced himself as "Roger Cowan, network executive") who tries to brief Gordon on how to improve the episode. For instance Cowan once told Gordon who was readying for a medieval themed episode that "less than 2% of our audience lives in the Dark Ages".

Voice cast

Episodes

Season 1 (1988–89)

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleWritten byOriginal air date
11"Robin Hood"David Steven Cohen & Roger S.H. SchulmanSeptember 10, 1988 (1988-09-10)
Gordon portrays Robin Hood, leading a jazz band called "Ye Merry Men." They oppose the Sheriff of Nottingham's unjust taxes and raids on peasants. Robin Hood's group sneaks into Nottingham Castle to rescue Maid Marian, using their jazz music to disarm the guards, who are unexpectedly sympathetic. When King Richard returns, he punishes Prince John and the Sheriff by making them watch the Home Shopping Network for ten years.
22"Sleeping Beauty"David Steven Cohen & Roger S.H. SchulmanSeptember 17, 1988 (1988-09-17)
Gordon takes on the role of Sleeping Beauty. A witch, angered by Flo and Bob, curses their newborn with a fatal papercut. Three wizards, Rick, Skip, and Curtis, arrive to bless the baby. One wizard counters the curse with a sleeping spell. King Bob responds by outlawing paper in his kingdom and promotes television over reading. Sixteen years later, a bored teenage prince reads a smuggled newspaper and gets a paper cut. Rhonda portrays a princess who must defeat the witch with the help of the three wizards.
33"Cinderella"David Steven Cohen & Roger S.H. SchulmanSeptember 24, 1988 (1988-09-24)
Based in 1962, "Gordo Shumway" portrays a rock star akin to Elvis Presley in search of love. Cinderella's stepfamily obtains tickets to his concert, where he plans to choose a bride. Feeling disheartened, Cinderella receives a wish from her fairy godmother "which he can't refuse." At the concert, Gordo performs his hit song, and Cinderella impresses him with a spontaneous duet, culminating in a high note that breaks all the glass in the auditorium. Determined to find the woman who can shatter a glass slipper, Gordo searches until he discovers Cinderella.
44"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"David Steven Cohen & Roger S.H. SchulmanOctober 1, 1988 (1988-10-01)
Gordon plays Ichabod Crane, a photographer applicant at the Daily Hemisphere in Sleepy Hollow. He meets Katrina, the publisher's daughter, and is assigned to photograph the Headless Horseman. During a date with Katrina, he is chased by the horseman, who warns him away. Ichabod, spurred by the full moon, pursues multiple headless horsemen, discovering they are impostors. Eventually, he flees with Katrina, only to be pursued by a genuinely frightening headless horseman.
55"Jack and the Beanstalk"David Steven Cohen & Roger S.H. SchulmanOctober 8, 1988 (1988-10-08)
Gordon plays Jack Bates (Norman Bates's son) who, in an effort to save their struggling motel, trades the family cow for three magic beans. Overnight, the beans grow into a massive beanstalk. Climbing it, Jack finds a giant named J. Mason with a hen that lays golden eggs. Jack steals the hen to renovate the motel. When a beautiful guest named Pippi Lee Sing arrives, Jack is captured by two men and taken to the giant. Fortunately, Pippi, actually a secret agent, rescues him. They escape with the hen, cutting down the beanstalk and defeating the giant. Jack and Pippi marry and leave with the hen by train. The story parodies Alfred Hitchcock's works, with nods to Psycho, Vertigo and Rear Window.
66"The Aladdin Brothers and Their Lamp"David Steven Cohen & Roger S.H. SchulmanOctober 15, 1988 (1988-10-15)
Inspired by the One Thousand and One Nights, Gordon and Skip play Ziggy and Roy Aladdin, a struggling duo who discover a magic lamp. The genie inside transports them to Sheboygan, where they face trouble for catching sight of the princess. After overcoming challenges and exposing a plot against the king, they win favor and marry the princess and Skip's girlfriend.
77"Rapunzel"David Steven Cohen & Roger S.H. SchulmanOctober 29, 1988 (1988-10-29)
The Wicked Witch controls all media in the country, offering limited content on Witch TV and censoring rap music. Rhonda portrays Rapunzel, whose family loses on the Witch's rigged television quiz show, leading to her imprisonment. Prince Gordon and his rap friends rescue Rapunzel from the forest and return to advocate for media reform. They persuade the king to limit media ownership and establish a commission to prevent monopolies.
88"Rumplestilskin"Eddie GorodetskyNovember 12, 1988 (1988-11-12)
Presented like a Dashiell Hammett novel, Gordon plays Sam Shovel Private Eye. A poor girl makes a deal with a dwarf magician to spin straw into gold to impress the king. However, unless she discovers the dwarf's name in 24 hours he will claim her first born child. She hires Sam Shovel to find his name, Rumplestilskin, and he does so in the nick of time. Caricature of Humphrey Bogart as Sam Shovel. NOTE: Last episode with a mailbag segment.
99"The Princess and the Pea"Michael RoweNovember 19, 1988 (1988-11-19)
Prince Gordy would rather be a stand-up comic on the David Letterock Show than a prince but the Queen chooses a short, overweight, precocious princess for him to marry. Meanwhile, Gordy misses his chance to perform before Letterock, but he impresses Avery Fisher-Hall, the waitress in the comedy café who is really a princess. Gordy tells the Queen that he wants to marry Avery so she demands that Avery must pass the mattress test to prove she is a princess before she can marry the prince - and she does. Caricature of David Letterman.
1010"John Henry"Ellis WeinerDecember 3, 1988 (1988-12-03)
Gordon play John Henry, a master chef with his TV show, Eatie Gourmet who focusses on hand preparation of his meals. His competitor, the evil Art Cuisine, invents the K-Art mechanical food processor as part of his plot to take over the world. A competition to see who can serve the most six-course meals is held, with John Henry's old-fashioned methods being extremely slow and losing to K-Art's rapid ways. Henry fades into obscurity and Cuisine becomes prominent with everyone in America now owning the K-Art Chopper. However, during a dinner at the White House, the President is disgusted with the processed food of the K-Art Chopper and demands tomato roses, which only John Henry knew how to make. Art Cuisine activates all K-Art Choppers to transform into killer robots to cow all of America and depose the President. When all seems lost, Henry returns and destroys the robots using hand tools. As a reward for saving his life, the President appoints John Henry the White House Chef. Parody of the H. G. Wells book, The War of the Worlds and features a Caricature of Bob Dylan as a folk singer.
1111"The Three Little Pigs"Mitchell KriegmanDecember 10, 1988 (1988-12-10)
Rick, Skip, and Alf play the respective trio (Ernie, Chip, and Robbie) in a twist on the classic story. The beginning and ending scenes parody The Twilight Zone. Also, the straw is switched to soup cans.
1212"Alice in Wonderland"Alicia Marie SchudtDecember 17, 1988 (1988-12-17)
Gordon doesn't want to do the story, but everyone else does. As he begins to ready, he falls asleep and a humanoid rabbit named Blanche du Lapine steals his birthday present for Rhonda. Gordon follows her down an elevator shaft and through a cat door to a Wonderland featuring obnoxious flowers, a Pee-wee Herman version of Humpty Dumpty, a Wooster-Chester cat, a saxophone-playing caterpillar (possibly played by Skip), the Tweedle Sisters (Dee is changed to Blonde), Rick and Larson as The Mad Catter and The March Hare, and a very awful Queen. In the end, Blanche reveals herself to be Rhonda and the whole thing was an un-birthday surprise for Gordon, and the whole thing was a dream.
1313"Peter Pan"Bradley Kesden & Skip ShepardJanuary 7, 1989 (1989-01-07)
Peter Pan (Gordon) and Tinkerbell (Neep) take Wendy (Rhonda) and her siblings off to Never-Never land. Meanwhile, Captain Hook is a stand-up pirate comedian who see Peter Pan as a rival. Wendy fancies Peter, but becomes frustrated when she is treated like a maid by Peter and the Lost Boys, and tells them all to "grow up". To find Peter's secret location, Hook captures Tinkerbell who resents Wendy's arrival. Hook then kidnaps, Wendy and the others, but Tinkerbell escapes and warns Peter who comes to their rescue. Peter decides to "grow up" and after returning to England with Wendy and the others, he opens a burger joint with Hook. Features a caricature of Michael "Crocodile" Dundee as the crocodile.

Season 2 (1989)

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleWritten byOriginal air date
141"Hansel & Gretel"Story by Steve Roberts, teleplay by Bradley Kesden & Skip ShepardSeptember 16, 1989 (1989-09-16)
Gordon plays a plump Bavarian boy with a large appetite, Hansel and Rhonda plays his sister Gretel. They get lost in the forest and end up at Camp Eat-a-Kid. The resident witch Fattens up Hansel while Gretel is thrown in a cell with Simon and Theodore – Alvin has disappeared. They get free but are recaptured so they put Hansel through a rigorous fitness program to lose weight. This time they escape and the witch is arrested. Parody of Alvin and the Chipmunks and caricatures of Mr. T as Mr. Tree and The Monkees as The New Donkees.
152"The Wizard of Oz"Story by Steve Roberts, teleplay by Bradley Kesden & Skip ShepardSeptember 23, 1989 (1989-09-23)
Set in East Velcro back in the era of Black and White TV, Gordon is selling encyclopedias door-to-door when a tornado lifts up the family farmhouse and he lands in the colourful 60s along the Mellow Brick Road. He lands on a witch and her magical ruby high-top sneakers attaches themselves to his feet. He heads along the road to find the Wizard of Oz to remove them, meanwhile the Wicked Witch casts faulty spells in an effort to retrieve them. He encounters a trio, Tin, Straw and Fur who join him and the travel to the Cubic Zirconia City where they are caught by the Witch. Gordon challenges her to a game of basketball and when she gets covered in milk during the game she melts away and he returns home, to live with the Good Witch and star in his own sitcom. Parody of counterculture of the 1960s, caricature of Bill Cosby as the Wizard of Oz.
163"The Elves and the Shoemaker"Richard J. SchellbachSeptember 30, 1989 (1989-09-30)
In the village of Birkenstock, Melmac's lower east side, two elves from "Elves-R-Us" are sent to help the struggling shoe store of Donald Tramp played by Larson and his wife Imelda played by Sloop. The elves make shoes which Tramp sells for a high price, and each night they do the same until the store becomes very successful. He expands his business to become the richest man in the land, however the elves feel exploited and go on strike. Special agent of the Impartial Mediators Federation (IMF), Gordon, is assigned to resolve the situation and he approaches Tramp but has no success. Meanwhile the new automated production line malfunctions and faulty shoes threaten to overwhelm the factory. Gordo/Gordon finds a solution where Tramp is arrested and Imelda takes over the production and she leaves Tramp for Shumway. Parody of Mission Impossible and caricature of Donald and Melania Trump.
174"The Emperor's New Clothes"Story by Phil Harnage, teleply by Ellis WeinerOctober 14, 1989 (1989-10-14)
The emperor demands some new clothes for an upcoming the Label Day parade. The prime minister, Lord Bloomingdale, played by Snout, grouses that he must spent most of his time presenting clothes and hardly any energy left over for governmental issues. Gordon plays a wannabe clothes designer, Beneton Espirit who, joins Coco Klein's fashion house where he meets the beautiful model Christy Dinkly played by Rhonda. However his casual sportswear look is soundly rejected by the emperor. He tries again as a masked fashion designer named Guess Who but when he appears to have no pants, Guess says his pants are made of invisible Schmatex. The Emperor demands that his new outfit be made of Schmatex and when he walks through the streets the ruse is revealed along with his nakedness. However, Beneton has a change of heart and presents the emperor with one of his actual line, a simple shirt and pair of chinos. Having learned his lesson on vanity, the emperor donates his excessive wardrobe to the poor. Parody of the fashion industry and haute couture.
185"Goldilocks & the Three Bears"Phil Harnage & Judy RothmanOctober 28, 1989 (1989-10-28)
Mayor Bear and his family have to go away on business, so they contract Rhonda's house-sitting service to look after their Malizoo beach house while they're away, including their special possessions, their canine Studs and very special vibrating beds. However, Rhonda gets a better offer and asks Goldilocks, played by Gordon, to do the job. Gordon and his friends decide to turn the place into an amusement park to earn some extra money, but they are busted by the corrupt police who confiscate the house's contents. Desperate, Goldilocks uses his profits to buy the furniture back from the police, but when the Bears return, they detect that someone has been using their furniture and beds. Eventually everything is resolved, although the Bears contemplate starting a folk band called the Moma and the Poppa. Parody of Southern California youth culture and their social dialect.
196"Little Red Riding Hood"Bradley Kesden & Skip ShepardNovember 11, 1989 (1989-11-11)
Gordon plays a Courier called Red who has to deliver a package to scientist Grandma to complete her shrinking and enlarging device, however the Wolf gets there first and shrinks then swallows grandma. Red arrives, and the Wolf shrinks and swallows him too. However, Grandma and Red end up in the McStomach start a food fight which gives the Wolf a stomach ache and he burps them up. They get free and complete the assembly of Grandma's device, shrinking the Wolf and returning themselves to normal size. Parody of Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
207"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"Judy RothmanDecember 2, 1989 (1989-12-02)
The story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is presented as an episode of Unsolved Mysteries by Gordon as Robert Stuck. Snow White, a keen skier, disappears after winning a ski competition and beating the Wicked Queen. The Queen used to ask ski instructor Mario de la Wall "who is the fairest skier", and after he answered "Snow White" she disappeared. She was last seen in the company of a thug for hire, played by Bob, tasked by the Queen to cut off her fingers and toes. However, the thug takes pity on her and tells her to head to the forest. Stuck says the thug was seen at a joke shop where he acquired funny fingers, giving those to the Queen as a ploy. Snow White heads to "The middle of Nowhere" where she finds a condo rented by seven dwarf ski bums. Besides skiing, her passion is cleaning and is soon appreciated by the dwarves for making their quartes pleasant. The Queen resumes her vendetta when she realizes she was tricked. While the dwarves are away at work, Snow White bites a poisonous apple left by the Queen and goes into a deep sleep. The dwarfs enter her in the "Date Connection Show". All the male skiers try to kiss her awake, but their lips are chapped. Robert Stuck is ineligible as he is not a skier, so he masters the green circle slope and kisses her, thus being the one to awaken her and marry her. Parody of dating game shows and caricature of Robert Stack in Unsolved Mysteries.
218"King Midas"Phil Harnage and Bradley Kesden & Skip ShepardDecember 9, 1989 (1989-12-09)
Oklahoma Jones (Gordon) goes in search of King Midas but he is captured by the evil Professor Bouquet who steals his map. It appears that Midas made a fortune franchising camel mufflers and a grateful client granted him the power to turn everything he touched into gold. Jones travels to Midas Land and finds King Midas and decides to help remove the spell by finding a magic coffee mug. Parody of Indiana Jones and Midas automotive service centers.

Home media

The first seven episodes were released on DVD on May 30, 2006, in Region 1 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment in a single-disc release entitled ALF and The Beanstalk and Other Classic Fairy Tales.

The complete series was remastered and subsequently released on October 17, 2023, by Shout! Factory in the DVD box set ALF: The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition). The box set release also included the original 1986–90 sitcom, ALF: The Animated Series and Project: ALF.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 4. ISBN 978-0823083152.
  2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 72. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  4. ^ Damian Inwood. "Pi Theatre, Independent Vancouver Theatre >> The Baroness and the Pig". Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 30, 2011. That's what Vancouver actresses Diane Brown and Tabitha St. Germain do with the delightful black comedy, The Baroness and the Pig. (...) St. Germain – better known to Vancouver audiences as Paulina Gillis – plays the Baroness as a naïve gentlewoman, full of prissy mannerisms and twittering, bird-like movements.
  5. ^ "ALF and Co-Creator Reunite to Provide New Commentary on Classic Episodes". MovieWeb. 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  6. ^ "Pilot Ep. PLUS New Commentary by ALF! | FULL Episode: S1 Ep1". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
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