Word is out around Hollywood that 80’s favorite ALF will be coming to the big screen finally. In case you need a refresher: “ALF stands for Alien Life Form, and the ’80s sitcom centered on a friendly furry alien creature (a puppet) who crash landed on Earth and took up with the Tanners, a suburban family. ALF, whose name was later revealed as Gordon Shumway, is sarcastic and has an appetite for cats. He courts trouble with government forces that are on his tail.” According to the article in Hollywood Reporter (and elsewhere), Jordan Kerner — who produced last year’s hit movie The Smurfs — was pegged by Sony Pictures to produce the new picture. Again, it will be a live-action feature film with ALF himself as a CGI character. Tom Patchett and Paul Fusco, creators of the original TV series, will be involved as co-producers. Paul Fusco was also ALF’s main puppeteer and voice actor, and he’s expected to be the character voice for the new film as well. So far there’s no word as to a main script writer, a director, or a planned release date… but watch your cats just in case.
Comedy
Play-Mate of the Apes?
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: We couldn’t make up some of this stuff if we tried. Somehow we missed the 2002 direct-to-video film Play-Mate of the Apes, a soft-core erotic spoof starring Misty Mundae. It’s described and discussed on the Internet Movie Database, though. Now Seduction Cinema Comics is presenting the Play-Mate of the Apes Deluxe Pack, coming (no pun) this July. The Deluxe Pack not only features the original film on DVD, but also a brand-new full-color comic book version of the film written by John Bacchus (the original film’s director) and illustrated by Noel Scotch Anderson. What’s it all about? “Sexy and fearless U.S. astronaut Gaylor and her shipmates crash land on a desolate planet dominated by a tyrannical race of intelligent talking apes, sparking a revolution of untamed and uninhibited female lust that threatens to bring down the repressive ape society…or set it free!” You heard it here. You can check it out on Things From Another World, too.
Teddy with a Dirty Mouth
… and attitude. Look out below world, but Seth MacFarlane — creator of Family Guy — is about to unleash his first feature film on you this July. Simply called Ted, it tells the story of a young man who once wished that his childhood teddy bear would live with him forever… and now, he does, well into our hero’s adulthood, though both of them are obviously having trouble growing up. Interesting thing is, it appears that Ted the talking stuffed bear, his human friend, AND their other friends get along better that you might expect in this sort of a set-up. The R-rated film stars Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, as well as Seth MacFarlane himself — yep, he wrote it, he directed it, and he stars as the voice of Ted, who’s animated in CGI. Cartoon Brew has a link to the film’s first trailer — but take warning, this is very raunchy and very very Not Safe For Work! Don’t say we didn’t tell you. Interestingly, Cartoon Brew also has an article about Imagine THIS, a cartoon strip that Lucas Turnbloom has been drawing since 2008… and which has some amazing similarities to Ted. They don’t accuse the Ted team of directly stealing, the the article is still interesting.
Marsupilami Maybe
Also over on Cartoon Brew is a link to the current trailer for the new Marsupilami movie coming out in April in France. Marsu-who, you ask? The marsupilami is a fantastic creature which came to us from the imagination of André Franquin, an influential Belgian comic book artist and creator, best known for his work in the magazine Spirou. The marsupilami is a mysterious jungle denizen known for its spotted fur, it’s exuberant cry of “Houba!”, it’s appetite for piranha fish, and it’s very VERY long tail… which usually went off the frame of whatever comic page it was drawn upon. Franquin used the character in the Spirou et Fantasio comics from 1952 to 1968, and the character has been revived several times since then — most notably in the Disney TV animation series Raw Toonage in the 1990’s. The estate of Franquin was not very thrilled with the interpretation of the character in that series — they went so far as to revoke Disney’s right to the marsupilami. Well now, the same French team that brought us the Asterix live-action movies have produced a live-action/CGI movie (HOUBA! On the Trail of the Marsupilami), directed by and starring Alain Chabat. Check out the trailer and see what you think. The marsupilami itself is seen very little here, but it gives you a feeling for what the movie is going to be like.
Is He Cool, or What?
This May it’s time for the return of everyone’s favorite lasagna-loving feline with attitude. Comic book writer and well-known critic Mark Evanier takes up a pen this time to bring as a new full-color Garfield comic book from Boom! Studios’ Kaboom! imprint. It helps, of course, that he was one of the writers of the Garfield & Friends animated TV series back in the day. This time around the art duties are handled by Garfield comic strip cartoonist Gary Barker. Check out the pre-order information at Kaboom’s web site, which also shows one of the variant covers of the premier issue.
Madagascar 3 — The Comic
Speaking of Ape Entertainment, this May they’ll also be anticipating the latest film in Dreamworks’ Madagascar franchise with a new digest-sized full-color graphic novel. Entitled Madagascar 3: Long Live the King, it’s a prequel to the film itself (Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted) which is coming out on June 8th. Here’s what Ape has to say: “Follow the adventures of ‘The King of Versailles’ in Monte Carlo, the misadventures of Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman, and plenty of spy-jinx from everyone’s favorite feathered foursome, The Penguins Of Madagascar! It’s all-ages fun from David Server and Jackson Lanzing (Penguins Of Madagascar) and artist Bob Renzas!” By the way, you can find out more about this and many other new and upcoming releases at Ape Entertainment’s official blog.
Prehistoric Duck vs. Marauding Monkeys
Late in May there’s something definitely new and different coming down the pipe from Ape Entertainment. It’s a full-color softcover graphic novel called Dino Duck: Prehysterical. How best to describe it? Hmm, we better let them do it: “The race up the evolutionary ladder is on! But the only duck in the Duck Tribe who knows it is Dino! With the monkeys watching and copying his every move (and his fellow tribesman ignoring him completely), it’s up to Dino to drag his people out of the stone age and into evolutionary superiority before the monkeys beat him to it!” The man behind it all is writer and artist Jay Fosgitt. Check it out over at Things from Another World.
Doggie of Death
Sometimes, all you need to know is the title: Battlepug. Want more? Okay. Some time ago comic book artist Mike Norton created a t-shirt design of a Conan-type barbarian riding the back of a giant-but-cute doggie, which he titled “Battlepug”. The t-shirt design was such a hit that about one year ago Mr. Norton decided to create a Battlepug web comic, which follows the adventures of a muscular warrior, his battle-pug mount, and an old lunatic as they travel the land, yes, battling with the likes of a giant evil baby seal and a colony of gophers who team up to form a giant mega-gopher. You see it’s all a story a naked lady is telling to her two pet dogs… Well, maybe it’ll make more sense if you read it. Or maybe not. Now word is out that the web comic has done so well that Dark Horse Press will be releasing a collected print version of the first year of Battlepug this coming July.
Wallace and Gromit come to DVD — Again
Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention won the 2010 Ursa Major Award (presented at Morphicon in 2011) for Best Anthropomorphic Short Subject or Series. Now Cartoon Brew has informed us that Lionsgate is releasing the entire 6-episode BBC series (created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations, of course) to DVD and BluRay on March 13th. “Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention sees world-renowned inventor Wallace and his faithful sidekick (turned camera dog) Gromit turn their hand to presenting for the very first time, hosting a six-part series from the basement of 62 West Wallaby Street. They take an enthusiastic look at some real life cracking contraptions, from gadgets that help around the home to the mind-boggling world of space travel and much more in between.”