Melmacians

Melmacians are a fictional alien race featured in the ALF multimedia franchise, which includes the TV series, the ALF comic book series and the ALF: Animated Adventures cartoon series.

Melmacians are sentient bipedal creatures who hail from the planet Melmac. They are short in stature, extremely hairy and have big noses. They all have the ability to communicate via American English, suggesting that this may in fact be a universal language. Melmacians are carnivores with an obsessive appetite for eating felines. As Melmac was destroyed many years ago, the Melmacians are by and large an extinct race. However, some of the lucky few managed to be off planet when their world exploded, and have been able to find new homes elsewhere.

One such Melmacian, whose name was Gordon Shumway, crash-landed on Earth in California in the mid-1980s. He was taken in by the Tanner family and became their house guest for several years before being captured by the U.S. government.

Two other Melmacians of note are Ship and Rhonda, both of whom were close friends with Shumway, and likewise survived the destruction of Melmac. In 1990, Ship and Rhonda made radio contact with Shumway, and journeyed to Earth to pick him up. When Gordon arrived at the predetermined pick-up site however, the U.S. Army appeared, forcing Skip and Rhonda to leave Earth without him.