It’s time to say goodbye to that lovable furry alien from Melmac. After 4 years the network unceremoniously pulled the plug. Unfortunately it was in the middle of a cliffhanger. While a TV movie tried to wrap things up, I was never completely satisfied. The final season of ALF offers up pretty much more of the same. ALF’s go as a day trader is one of the better episodes. In case you haven’t noticed, all of the episode titles are song tittles. This season offers such hits and near misses as: Live and Let Die, Happy …ogether, and the finale, Consider Me Gone.
Video
Each episode of ALF is presented in its original full frame format. Again, let’s understand what we’re dealing with here. For a sitcom, these episodes are pretty well preserved. There is an occasional smudge, and colors are not at all consistent from episode to episode. Still, the presentation is as good as it ever was on broadcast TV. Colors are typical of 1980’s videotape, a bit saturated and unreal, but the print is mostly quite clean
Audio
Each episode sports an adequate Dolby Digital 2.0 track. Let’s face it. This is at heart a TV sitcom. Dialogue is all that’s important, and dialogue is all you’re going to get. It’s lean, but it’s very clean.
Special Features
A disappointing end of the series finds no bonus materials. Again these are the cut syndicated versions of the show.
Final Thoughts
“Consider Me Gone” and ALF goes out to meet the Alien Task Force on his way to settle a new planet with his old pals. We’ll miss you, good buddy. But wait! ALF has since made quite the comeback. A talk show host and television commercial hawker, the fuzzball seems to always be with us. Maybe the joke’s on us. “Ha!”
