'Yo Willie!' Alf's creator hopes for comeback

Alf is making a comeback. Photo / Supplied

The creator of Alf is launching a comeback for the TV alien puppet - and he hopes to have a movie greenlit in the coming months.

Alf, an alien from the planet of Melmac also known by the name Gordon Shumway, crash landed onto TV screens in 1986 and ran for four seasons and 102 episodes until 1990.

The sitcom was family-friendly viewing, with plots revolving around the antics of Alf living with a suburban family. He had few social skills and repeatedly tried to eat the family's pet cat.

The show's creator and puppeteer Paul Fusco says "the timing is right" for an Alf comeback and he will be pitching a movie to studio heads over the coming months.

"There have been movies out there of characters that I didn't think were on the same parallel as Alf that got movies made, so I think it's time," Fusco told The Hollywood Reporter.

"I think it could be a home run on a lot of levels."

Fusco said Alf - who has made appearances with Alf on news and talk shows infrequently over the past two decades as well as featuring in TV re-runs - would need to be updated to fit the current entertainment industry.

"Alf could be more outspoken now than ever, because the world is a whole different place than the '80s. And I think the character still stands up and certainly has more to say now than ever," he said.

"I think we would approach it in a fresh way. I don't think we would duplicate the TV show, but I think we would maybe put it in a storyline where we would explain how Alf got here and put him with a new family and let the character speak for himself."

An Alf TV-movie has already been made, with Project Alf screening in 1996.

Watch the opening credits for Alf here.

- Herald online