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Appearing in "Travels With Willie"

Featured Characters:

  • ALF
  • Willie Tanner

Supporting Characters:

  • Alf's Family
  • Bob Shumway (First appearance) (Imagination)
  • Flo Shumway (First appearance) (Imagination)
  • Curtis Shumway (First appearance) (Imagination)
  • Augie Shumway (First appearance) (Imagination)
  • Pete Zaparlor (Imagination)

Antagonists:

  • Doctor Strangeglove (Imagination)
  • Ybor

Other Characters:

  • Lucky

Locations:

  • San Fernando Valley, California
  • Melmac (Imagination)

Items:

  • WOTIF Simulator

Vehicles:

  • ALF's Spaceship

Synopsis for "Travels With Willie"

When Willie catches ALF once again tormenting Lucky, the Tanner's cat, ALF explains to him that he's trying to adjust to their customs but it's hard to when he's stuck on such a primitive planet. Willie refuses to accept ALF's excuse so ALF says he'll show him - with the help of the WOTIF (as in "what if") simulator on board his spaceship. He tells Willie that the simulator will project an image of what it would be like it their roles were reversed and Willie had crashlanded on Melmac.

The image begins with Willie in his spaceship hovering over a strange unknown planet. There is an high concentration of bicarbonate in the atmosphere, and Willie blacks out. His spaceship barrels down towards the planet, crashing into the roof of one of the houses in their largest city. Gordon Shumway, aka ALF, and his family - his father Bob, mother Flo, and brother and sister Curtis and Augie, pull the unconscious Willie from his spaceship and help him to the bed. Just then their nosy neighbor Pete Zaparlor knocks, having saw the spaceship crash into their house. Bob manages to talk his way out of it.

Willie finally regains consciousness, and accidentally mistakes their pet Neep as the intelligent life on the planet. Gordon corrects him, and invites him to dinner with the rest of the family. The Shumway's decide to keep Willie's arrival a secret, but his different customs are strange to his family. It even takes him two weeks to learn how to belch properly during a meal! Meanwhile, Willie tries to repair his spaceship. Their secret isn't kept for long, and Mr. Zaparlor spies on Gordon and Willie through his telescope. Zaparlor puts a call into the U.S.C. (Unscrupulous Scientists Conglomerate) and reports the alien.

At the U.S.C., Dr. Strangeglove takes the call along with the name and address of the Shumway's house. He and his assistant Ybor plan to kidnap Willie so that they can perform cruel experiments on him. When Dr. Strangeglove arrives in disguise as the "metre man" at the Shumway residence, Gordon tells Willie to go hide in the garage. Dr. Strangeglove is able to trick Bob into telling him where the alien is by using a rhyme, and before they realize it's a trick the villains snatch Willie.

At the laboratory of Dr. Strangeglove, Willie is strapped to a table and hooked up to a powerful electric battery. He'll get a real "charge" out of that one! Just before the Doctor can flip the switch, Gordon bursts through the roof flying Willie's spaceship. Gordon explains that the only thing wrong with it was an air filter clogged with cat hair, and that he's there to rescue him. Willie asks how he can repay Gordon for everything he's done, and Gordon hands him an itemized bill.

Back in reality, Willie claps as the image fades from the screen. He explains to ALF that he has a better understanding of his situation now. ALF is pleased that Willie has sympathy for his odd customs, especially since he's just finished coating the walls of the laundry room with shortening!

Appearing in "One Tiny Mistake"

Featured Characters:

  • ALF
  • Willie Tanner
  • Kate Tanner
  • Lynn Tanner
  • Brian Tanner
  • Lucky

Supporting Characters:

  • Trevor Ochmonek

Locations:

  • San Fernando Valley, California

Items:

  • Reduce-A-Roni

Synopsis for "One Tiny Mistake"

The Tanners find a note taped to the bathroom mirror that reminds them that ALF arrived on Earth one year ago today, and decide to surprise him with a celebration party. Kate bakes ALF a special cake from a recipe that he had given her, Aunt Minerva's famous Melmac macaroon mushroom care. She tells him that they even found the baloney stuffed with abalone, but there was one ingredient she's never heard of - Reduce-a-roni. ALF explains that it's the most important ingredient to the recipe. Reduce-a-roni is a dietary powder developed on Melmac, one that shrinks the food to microscopic size once they eat it and allows them to eat their usual sixteen meals a day. As it says on the package - "You enjoy the taste, but it doesn't add to the waist"! ALF fetchs some from his spaceship, but Willie is concerned and advises the rest of the family not to eat it.

As ALF enjoys eating his cake, and the candles they put on top, the party is interrupted by Mr. Ochmonek. Lynn and Brian drag ALF to the kitchen, and Willie lets Trevor in. The neighbor says he heard the party and assumed he was invited, then makes straight for the cake before anyone can stop him. He takes a finger scoop of icing from the top, eating it. The effects of Reduce-a-roni on humans is unknown, and before their eyes Trevor begins to shrink down in size! Now only a about a foot tall, Trevor is frightened and runs out of the room when ALF appears. The others chase after their small neighbor, and Willie grabs ALF to see if there's anything that can be done to reverse it. Trevor doesn't get far, and Lucky catches him. Willie jumps for the cat, who releases Trevor. Now free again, he runs for the basement. As Kate and Lynn run downstairs, they hear the snaps of the mousetraps ALF had placed in the basement. ALF states that a little water will counteract the Reduce-a-roni, and he and Brain run outside to get the garden hose. As Trevor runs out of the basement, they spray him with the hose and he instantly grows back to normal size, bumping his head on the dinner table along the way. With a nasty bump on his head, the Tanners are able to convince him that it was a all a hallucination and get him to leave. With Mr. Ochmonek gone, ALF and the others can return to their party. But not before ALF can give them some "teeny tiny" suggestions!

Trivia

  • This is the first issue of ALF to not include a Melmac Flashback story, although the simulation in the first story does take place on Melmac.

See Also

Links and References

References

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