John Henry
- Studio
- DiC Enterprises, Saban Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures
Characters
Gordon Shumway/Alf, Sloop, Curtis, Flo, Augie, Rhoda, Larson, Bob, Skip, Stella
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Kevin Altieri
Producing
- Producer
- Vic Kephart (Associate Producer)
- Supervising Associate Producer
- Ken Duer
- Executive Producer
- Richard Raynis
Writing
- Writer
- Brad Kesden, Skip Shepherd
- Based on a Story by
- Steve Roberts
Animation
- Animator
- Masakazu Higuchi (Animation Director)
Voices
- Voice
- Paul Fusco (Gordon Shumway), Dan Henessey (Sloop), Noam Zylberman (Curtis), Paulina Gillis (Augie, Rhonda), Thick Wilson (Larson Petty, Bob), Rob Cowan (Skip), Ellen-Ray Hennessey (Stella), Peggy Mahon (Flo), Michael Fantini, Debra Theraker, Don Francks, Marvin Goldhar, Greg Swanson, Michael Lamport, Maria Lukofsky, Stephen Ouimette, Harvey Atkin, Jayne Eastwood, John Stocker, Greg Morton, Nick Nichols, Len Carlson, Ray Kahnert, Eva Almos, Linda Sorenson
Music
- Music
- Shuki Levy, Haim Saban
Crew
- Created By
- Paul Fusco, Tom Patchett
- Executive in Charge of Music
- Ron Kenan
- Music Production Supervisor
- Andrew Dimitroff
- Engineer and Mixer
- Barron Abromovitch, Kevin Newson, Xavier Garcia
- Orchestration and Arrangement
- Hiram Titus, Barry Trop
- Executive in Charge of Production
- Winnie Chaffee
- Assistants
- Dawn Jackson, Stacey Gallishaw
- Production Coordinator
- Krista Haimovitch
- Production Assistant
- Brad Rosen
- Assistant Story Editor
- Phil Harnage
- Script Coordinator
- Lori Crawford
- Assistant Script Coordinators
- George G. Robinson, William A. Ruiz, Penny Wylie
- Storyboard Artists
- Rich Chidlaw, Scott Jorgenson, Lester Gooch, Ray Raymond Jafelice, Mike Swanigan, Dan Fausett, Chris Schouen, Tom Nesbitt, Greg Garcia, John Hutton
- Character Design
- Michael Kim, Mike Goguen, Marcelo Vighali, Lou Police, David Feiss, Joe Banaskiewies
- Background Design
- John Koch, Lou Police, Kelly Day, Jim Finnegan, Colette Van Mierto
- Voice Directors
- Madeline Barsoom, Greg Morton
- Dialogue Editors
- Richard Gannon, Gregory K. Bowron, Michelle Rochester, Robert T. Gillis, Elvida Abella
- Crew
- In Loving Memory of Vic Kephart
Production notes
Gordon Shumway was an alien from the planet Melmac. When his planet exploded, "Gordo" escaped and crash-landed in the garage of the Tanner family, who dubbed him Alf (Alien Life Form). This was the basis for the prime-time sitcom Alf, a surprise hit on NBC in the mid-80's. After one season, the network brought the furry orange star to Saturday morning in an all-new animated series.
The cartoon took place several years earlier?before Melmac's destruction?and featured Gordon, his friends, and his family in everyday situations (everyday for Melmac, that is). Gordo's family consisted of dad Bob, mother Flo, brother Curtis, and little sister Augie. Friends Sloop and Skip made frequent appearances, as did Gordo's girlfriend Rhonda. Paul Fusco, who voiced the alien for the sitcom, also lent his throaty tenor to the cartoon.
The animated Alf won legions of new fans by spoofing what most people considered normality? shopping, school, driving, etc. The writers were free to create outrageous scenarios and let the characters react as if everything were perfectly normal; it was another planet, after all. Within this framework, many episodes ended up being a parody of any number of pop-culture icons.
In 1988, Alf was expanded to a full hour, adding a segment entitled Alf Tales. These portions of the show featured Alf and his friends in familiar fairy tales or classic movies?everything from Sleeping Beauty to Batman?all peppered with the Shumway family wit.
The cartoon took place several years earlier?before Melmac's destruction?and featured Gordon, his friends, and his family in everyday situations (everyday for Melmac, that is). Gordo's family consisted of dad Bob, mother Flo, brother Curtis, and little sister Augie. Friends Sloop and Skip made frequent appearances, as did Gordo's girlfriend Rhonda. Paul Fusco, who voiced the alien for the sitcom, also lent his throaty tenor to the cartoon.
The animated Alf won legions of new fans by spoofing what most people considered normality? shopping, school, driving, etc. The writers were free to create outrageous scenarios and let the characters react as if everything were perfectly normal; it was another planet, after all. Within this framework, many episodes ended up being a parody of any number of pop-culture icons.
In 1988, Alf was expanded to a full hour, adding a segment entitled Alf Tales. These portions of the show featured Alf and his friends in familiar fairy tales or classic movies?everything from Sleeping Beauty to Batman?all peppered with the Shumway family wit.
Reviews
John Henry
Gordon plays John Henry, not John Henry, the railroad worker, but John Henry, the world's greatest chef who believes in cooking the "old fashion" way and not the "new fashion" way. His old foe(played by Larson Petty tries to cut him down to size with his evil plan and his evil food prossesor, K-Art Chopper. After the evil chef won every cook off and John's other job(The White House Chef), John seeks into a deeper depression. At the White House, the President notice something missing, John's famous tomato rose. One of the workers went into the kitchen and got ambushed by one of the K-Art Choppers. Meanwhile, John's wife(played by Rhonda) tries to talk some sense into John. John decided to come back with his famous tomato rose, that is when his arche enamy orders all of his K-Art Choppers to launch an attack, but John defeated the choppers and won; he also got his job and his life back.