DVD Release date: August 23, 2005 (Lions Gate Home Entertainment)
Color/1987-88
MSRP: $39.98
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 25
Running Time: 550 minutes
Total Running Time for Special Features: approximately 47 minutes
Languages and subtitles: English, Closed Captioned.
Special Features: “Interactive Menus Hosted by ALF,”
“ALF’s Animated Adventures: Phantom Pilot,” and “ALF
Tales: Robin Hood.”
Introduction:
ALF is back on DVD with Season 2 – The Syndicated
Version. We were all outraged when we found out that
Lions Gate used syndicated copies for season one, but
this time they label it on the back of the box (in
semi-small print) that this is indeed a syndicated
version of season two. Anyhow, the Tanner family is
back on DVD with Willie (Max Wright), Kate (Anne
Schedeen), Lynn (Andrea Elson), and Brian (Benji
Gregory). The nosy neighbors the Ochmoneks (Trevor and
Raquel) are also back, who always seem to find
something fishy going around in the Tanner household.
Will they ever figure out who ALF is? Find out on the
season two DVD of ALF!
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Some famous ALF season two episodes include the
Gilligan’s Island themed episode “Somewhere Over the
Rerun – The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island,” ALF and the
Tanners become a Nielsen TV rating family in
“Primetime,” ALF and Willie in a wild adventure in
“Night Train,” the one-hour “ALF’s Special Christmas,”
and the 2-part episode “Someone to Watch Over Me.”
Famous guest stars include Gilligan’s Island’s Bob
Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Russell Johnson, & Dawn Wells;
Empty Nest’s David Leisure; TV’s funniest old lady
Nedra Volz; and Anne Meara is also back in her
recurring role as Dorothy.
Packaging:
The packaging is pretty much the same as season one.
The box cover is in yellow this time with little star
like shapes and ALF with a rose in his mouth in the
center. The ALF logo is in red. The back of the box
lists the special features, a brief synopsis of the
show, four ALF Facts, and ALF season two credits.
There is also a photo of ALF in his full body pointing
to the synopsis while holding the DVD set! The case
also has the same cover as the box and the same back
as the box, like last time. They should have made it
different, but no biggie. Inside the case of course
are the 4 discs and also an episode index sheet. The
discs this time are not overlapping, so that is a good
fix from Lions Gate. The episode index sheet lists
what episodes are on each disc with episode titles,
and who wrote and directed the episode. It also
features two quotes from ALF!
All the discs are in the yellow color scheme and have
the ALF logo in red with the words season two in light
green. Disc one has ALF’s face with a shot of a planet
on the far left. It also mentions that disc one
contains episodes 1-7. Disc two has ALF’s body with a
rose in his mouth and has episodes 8-14. Disc three
has ALF in a red Hawaiian shirt pointing to the sky.
Disc three features episodes 15-21 and has an episode
of ALF’s Animated Adventures. Disc four has a tough
looking ALF with a gold chain and a silver chain
representing a dollar sign, something out of the
closet of Mr. T. Disc four has episodes 22-25 (really
26, since the 2-part Christmas episode is counted as
one) and it has an episode of ALF Tales. Basically
all of the photos on the discs are the same as season
one. Each disc has its own holder this time (no
overlapping discs), so the packaging is slightly
better this time around.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menu screens are probably the best thing about
this DVD! ALF himself hosts the menu screens again!
They are very interactive. This is fun to watch. Each
disc has a different menu screen, with ALF saying
different things. This time ALF is the host of ALF’s
Shopping Network. He sells all sort of ALF
memorabilia, even the season one DVD. A fake 1-888
number is used. Just like it was on season one, when
you select the episodes option, you go to a screen
with all the episodes listed. There is a play icon, a
photo from the episode, and a question mark icon. When
you click on the question mark, ALF gives you a brief
video synopsis of the episode—in his own words! ALF
was again really involved in this DVD, it seems! The
3rd and 4th discs have a special Bonus Episode option,
more on that in the special features section. The 4th
disc also has a credits option, which are the credits
for the DVD, on who was involved basically on the
menus and more. There is no scene selection screen for
each episode, but there are chapters on each episode,
which you can use with your remote. I think there are
about 6 chapters or so.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video and audio look decent and expect the same as
you did for season one. The set is newly remastered,
so you can tell how crisp the video looks and how good
the audio sounds. The audio is in 2.0 Dolby Digital
Surround. I didn’t find any faults in the audio or
video. Each episode runs about 20:30 to 21:30 or so.
There is one episode on disc 2, “Night Train” which
runs less than that at about 19:45. So, again, these
episodes are of the syndicated versions. It clearly
says that on the back of the box this time. Though, I
do think one episode is unedited. The one-hour
Christmas episode clocks in at a little over 47
minutes. It is also in its original one hour format
and has the original credits, which are rolling at the
start of the episode instead of having an opening
theme. Are you wondering if the two bonus animated
episodes are unedited? They might be! ALF’s Animated
Adventures is 22:30 and ALF Tales episode is over
24:40. For more information on those, read the
special features section below!
Special Features:
The special features for this set are two animated
episodes. I suggested in my season one review that
Lions Gate include a few episodes of the two animated
series on the next DVD and they listened! Well, maybe
they didn’t listen because of me, but they are
actually on this set. One episode from each series is
on this set, the first episode of each. Disc 3 has
“ALF’s Animated Adventures” with the episode “Phantom
Pilot.” It runs 22:30 as I stated earlier. I believe
it is unedited, but I’m not an expert nor do I have any
originals to compare to. I also have good news to
report, at the end of the episode there is a little
screen saying “ALF’s Animated Adventures” coming soon
to DVD from Lions Gate!
Disc 4 has the first episode of “ALF Tales.” An
animated –ALF look at Robin Hood. The episode runs
24:40 and has to be unedited. Though, there is one
thing I did notice that could be missing. There are
no closing credits! ALF’s Animated Adventures had
them, even with all the closing logos intact, but ALF
Tales has none. So maybe we are missing that. More
good news though, at the end of the episode there is a
little screen saying “ALF Tales” coming soon to DVD
from Lions Gate!
Final Comments:
The set is decently done not counting of course the
syndicated prints. Lions Gate did explain to us why
they used those prints instead of the originals (if
you do not know, read here:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2067).
And they do mention on the box that these are indeed
syndicated versions. Some pluses for this set
include: fixing of the overlapping discs, maybe an
unedited episode with that Christmas episode, the
menus are again fun to watch, and the clean video.
Basically, if that is what you are looking for, then
this set is for you. If you want to watch ALL the
episodes in their entirety, then I guess this is not
for you. Lions Gate is coming out with the two
animated series on DVD soon, and it seems those will
be unedited, so buy those instead, I guess.
