If you were a child of the 80's then you know ALF from his TV sitcom and not the long-distance commercials that aired a while back. Created by Tom Patchett and Paul Fusco, ALF aired for four seasons beginning in 1986 and was met with success. The series shook up the sitcom genre and introduced an alien puppet into the family structure. There were many gags, running jokes, and themes but by the time the final year rolled around the show had simply run its course.

The final episode provided a climactic end for fans and frankly, left things on a sour note. With ALF leaving the Tanners to go settle down on another planet with Skip and Rhonda it was time for his new life. Unfortunately the Alien Task Force that dogged him early in the series comes along at the last moment to capture him. This was the way things were left for many years until the producers decided to give ALF the closure that fans deserved.

Project: ALF was released in 1996 and was a one-shot made-for-TV movie. In some ways it gave fans the send off that they were looking for but in others it felt like an uninspired attempt to revive the character.

The movie featured ALF being held at a military installation under the watchful eye of the U.S. Government. The Tanners were nowhere to be found though this was addressed by stating they were relocated to Iceland. Losing those main characters and including a bunch of second rate ones did nothing but make ALF stick out even more. He's a great character and the best moments of Project: ALF revolve around him though it's safe to say that the movie felt nothing like the TV show. The cast was different and the tone was different and because of that fans will feel disconnected.

The plot of the film is driven by over-the-top bad guy Colonel Milfoil (Martin Sheen) who stands before a panel and goes on about how ALF is a danger to mankind. In the alien's defense two love-struck officers try to convince the panel that ALF is harmless and a lot of fun to be around; despite the fact that he has started over 200 fires (mostly BBQ related).

The story takes the predictable turn of Milfoil going against the panel's wishes and taking matters into his own hands. His goal is to kill the Melmacian but the two officers that were defending him step in to save his life. ALF must choose between running and living or staying where the money is good and dying. Before he can make up his mind he's tossed into a burlap sack and trucked across state lines. It's fun seeing ALF out in the world again and the way he deals with random people was a nice throwback to his late night exploits at the Tanner residence. Granted he never went to a strip club with Willie.

From start to finish, Project: ALF plays it safe without offering any curve balls to its audience. The writing is on par with what we came to expect from the latter years of the ALF sitcom. That is to say ALF has some great one-liners and there are some fun moments but overall the story is kind of a letdown. Taking the Tanners out of the equation didn't help matters and though ALF carries the movie, the rest of the characters hold it back. Even Martin Sheen seems out of place as the villain and he plays the character as though he was entertaining a child.

Diehard fans of the show will most likely want to have Project: ALF in their collection but casual fans can easily get by with a rental. It's worth watching once for ALF and ALF alone. Beyond old Gordon Shumway, there's not much to appreciate here.

Considering that Project: ALF was produced for TV over ten years ago you can pretty much guess what kind of video quality it's going to offer before you even fire up the disc. The 1.33:1 image is full of grain and features a very soft image with some contrast issues. In some instances the movie looks decent but for the most part it doesn't contain the crispness that we have become accustomed to. Apart from some compression it's fair to say that this transfer resembles the one found on the ALF DVD seasons if not a little more underwhelming.

The English 2.0 stereo track sounds basically like you'd expect it to with no technical flaws associated with the disc to be found. The soundstage is limited to the front channels and in that regard there is virtually no separation or directionality. In some cases the movie sounds muted though it appears to have been a byproduct of the masters and nothing to do with this transfer.

From the main menu you can access some "cast and crew bios" which is about as worthwhile as you'd expect. As a fan of ALF the thing that sold me the most on this release was the interview/commentary with Paul Fusco. The co-creator talks at length about how Project: ALF came to be, how they did things revolving around the show and film, and provides a bunch of insight behind the character. This type of content was missing from the boxed sets of the show so hearing a commentary with Fusco felt like something special.

When ALF ended on the cliffhanging note fans all over were up in arms without a resolution. Project: ALF wasn't quite the ending we were looking for and it wasn't exactly the beginning Fusco wanted (in the commentary he talks about how they hoped it would spawn a new series). Instead it's somewhere in between.

ALF provides many laughs and is as loveable as ever but the lack of the Tanners coupled with his new environment was too drastic of a change. Things felt the same and yet they didn't. In the end Project: ALF offers a few entertaining moments but they are fleeting at best. Fans will want to give this release a rental even if it's just for the commentary track with Fusco.

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