Changes: Pride of the Shumways

Latest revision as of 21:33, 6 September 2023

Season 1, Episode 8 of ALF: The Animated Series.

Summary

Teaser

In a live action framing sequence, ALF, in the present, reads an excerpt from his book.

Story

Gordon is the pitcher for the Orbit Guard Bouillabaseball team, and his parents ask him to have Curtis be the "fish boy" at their upcoming game, as Curtis got an award on the kids team and his parents want him to get more involved in sports. At the Orbit Guard game, Gordon stumbles, but by luck he wins for his unit. His playing attracts the attention of Max Dursky, a scout for the East Velcro Codsters, the big league team of the Shumway's locality. Gordon is perplexed by this and declines, but when he learns he can get out of mandatory Orbit Guard duty by doing this, he signs. Curtis is excited by this, as is Gordon, who buys all his friends "cat fudge sundaes".

At practice, Gordon' skills stink in comparison to the pro players, but he is encouraged by the coach. At home, the Shumway family gushes over having a big leaguer in the family and throws a barbeque in honor of this, but privately Gordon admits to his father he may sink the team. Bob tells Gordon to listen to Coach Felty and Max Dursky as they do bouilabaseball for a career. Although sage advice, it is later revealed that there is more than meets the eye, as Coach Felty praised Max Dursky for finding such a player. Jack Weenie, the corrupt owner of the Codsters, who says "Shumway is young, and will get over it, in a couple hundred years!"

The first game where Gordon plays is a championship game where he pitches against the Smeltsliders. Gordon's lousy fish pitching enable the Smeltsliders to score many runs. Audience members boo Gordon, but Curtis remains a loyal fan, saying it is not over until it is over. After the fish attract a bunch of cats, time out is called in order for Eddie to capture all the cats. During the time out, Gordon is ostracized by the fellow Codsters, and he shows Curtis a quick trip of the playing facilities. By chance, Curtis is near the office of Jack Weenie, who is taking bribes from Snarfel, the owner of the Smeltsliders. The Smeltsliders are often the bottom of the league, so Snarfel conspired with Weenie to sign the worst player they could find for the Codsters, thus allowing the Smeltsliders to win. After the championship the Codsters will be dissolved. In order for this to go through, Dursky recruited the worst player he could find so the Codsters would lose. The Codsters' coach and Max Dursky are also in on the scam, where Weenie will split the payoffs with them 60%/20%/20%, and they will leave town, with Gordon Shumway being left as the fall guy because everyone will think he lost the championship for the Codsters. Curtis tells this to Gordon, Rick and Skip, who have their own plans to beat Weenie. Gordon puts his pet fish Bismarck, who is quite elusive, into the game. When Gordon is up at splat (Melmacian term for "at bat"), Bismarck flies rings around the Smeltsliders, enabling Shumway to score many runs which cause the Codsters to advance, but not overtake the Smeltsliders. One dirty player throws a bag full of rocks at Gordon's head, knocking him out. Snarfel rigs the board so Gordon is up to splat again. Gordon, still groggy from being hit, is in no shape to play. He gives his uniform to Curtis, who is the only hope. Skip is glad Bismarck is a help, only for fresh fish to be brought in for pitching. Curtis misses twice, then hits the third time. Curtis makes enough runs to win the championship, then he is carried by fans in jubilation. While Max Dursky, Coach Felty and Boss Weenie try to make a quick getaway, they are thwarted by Snarfel and the entire team of the Smeltsliders.

Epilogue

In the closing live-action segment, ALF admits that he was not such a great player.

Background information

Production history

Premiere airdate: November 21, 1987

Continuity

Gordon reads an excerpt from his book.
Gordon says “The suns were in his eyes,” implying that Melmac had more than one sun.
Durfsky tells Gordon that if he goes pro, he can waive Orbit Guard duty. This might mean that Gordon performed mandatory service, and did not willingly serve with the Orbit Guard. On the other hand, he may have willingly signed up, but changed his mind about serving after having committed to lengthy service.
Boss Weenie described Gordon as “young”.
Bob recalls an incident where his father (Gordon’s grandfather) impressed upon him the value of deferring to the judgement of experts.
Gordon makes 47 errors by the time the game reached it’s “2th” inning.
Bouillabaseball has 28 innings.
Oxygen masks were sold at the bouillabaseball, so oxygen is a vital gas to Melmacian respiration.
The oxygen masks sold at the game were 8 wernicks each.
This episode marks the first time live cats are shown on Melmac.
Gordon, Rick, and Skip were all in nursery school together, with Mrs. Quanigan as their teacher.
After Curtis disguises himself as Gordon to win the game, Gordon runs out onto the field to congratulate him, but no one catches on to the ruse.
In the closing credits, “Melmacian” is pronounced correctly.

Links and references

Cast

Len Carlson as Sergeant Staff
Rob Cowan as Skip and Snarfel
Michael Fantini as Curtis Shumway
Paul Fusco as Gordon Shumway (ALF) and Rick Fusterman
Paulina Gillis as Augie Shumway and Rhonda
Ellen-Ray Hennessy as Stella
Peggy Mahon as Flo Shumway
Thick Wilson as Bob Shumway

Additional voices

Don Francks
Greg Morton
Stephen McMulkin

Unidentified voice actors

Coach Blorff
Blubberbag
Durfsky, Max
Eddie
Feldspar
Haddahey, Lou
Neep
Tankersly
Coach Turnfaucet
Weenie, Jack

References

abalone; anchovy; bait; ball; belch; bird; Bismark; bone; bouillabaseball; bouillabaseball card; car; carp; cat; cat fudge sundae; clam; coach; cod; corn; DiMaggio; diner; dough; dugout; earwax; East Velcro Codsters; Eddie's Cats-Up Diner; Eustachian Tubes; finger foods; fish; flounder line; fork boy; foul; god; Grandpa Shumway; Harry; How-Are-Ya Islands; Jackson; lint; MBBL; mackerel; Mayes; mine; money; nursery school; Orbit Guard; oxygen; phlegm zone; picnic; Quanigan, Mrs.; rock cod; Ruth; satellite; slopswapper; smelt average; smelt retriever; Smeltsliders; sparrow; splat; splatting practice; sports; statue; sun; tabby chop; tartar sauce; Toledo; trout; tuna; umpire; wernick; whiff

Framing sequence references

baseball; bouillabaseball; fish; Melmac Nine; parking meter; scallop; seafood; swordfish

External links

Pride of the Shumways at the IMDb

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:Pride_of_the_Shumways.png|thumb|300px|"Pride of the Shumways" in melmacmania]]
+[[File:Pride_of_the_Shumways.png|thumb|300px|"Pride of the Shumways"]]
 [[20,000 Years in Driving School|Previous Episode]] | [[Captain Bobaroo|Next Episode]]
 Season 1, Episode 8 of ''[[ALF: The Animated Series]]''.
+==Summary==
-Gordon is the pitcher for the [[Orbit Guard ]][[Bouillabaseball]] team, and his parents ask him to have [[Curtis Shumway|Curtis]] be the "fish boy" at their upcoming game, as Curtis got an award on the kids team and his parents want him to get more involved in sports. At the Orbit Guard game, Gordon stumbles, but by luck he wins for his unit. His playing attracts the attention of Max Dursky, a scout for the East Velcro Codsters, the big league team of the Shumway's locality. Gordon is perplexed by this and declines, but when he learns he can get out of mandatory Orbit Guard duty by doing this, he signs.
+===Teaser===
+In a live action framing sequence, ALF, in the present, reads an excerpt from his book.
+===Story===
+Gordon is the pitcher for the [[Orbit Guard ]][[Bouillabaseball]] team, and his parents ask him to have [[Curtis Shumway|Curtis]] be the "fish boy" at their upcoming game, as Curtis got an award on the kids team and his parents want him to get more involved in sports. At the Orbit Guard game, Gordon stumbles, but by luck he wins for his unit. His playing attracts the attention of Max Dursky, a scout for the East Velcro Codsters, the big league team of the Shumway's locality. Gordon is perplexed by this and declines, but when he learns he can get out of mandatory Orbit Guard duty by doing this, he signs. Curtis is excited by this, as is Gordon, who buys all his friends "cat fudge sundaes".
+At practice, Gordon' skills stink in comparison to the pro players, but he is encouraged by the coach. At home, the Shumway family gushes over having a big leaguer in the family and throws a barbeque in honor of this, but privately Gordon admits to his father he may sink the team. [[Bob Shumway|Bob]] tells Gordon to listen to Coach Felty and Max Dursky as they do bouilabaseball for a career. Although sage advice, it is later revealed that there is more than meets the eye, as Coach Felty praised Max Dursky for finding such a player. Jack Weenie, the corrupt owner of the Codsters, who says "Shumway is young, and will get over it, in a couple hundred years!"
+The first game where Gordon plays is a championship game where he pitches against the Smeltsliders. Gordon's lousy fish pitching enable the Smeltsliders to score many runs. Audience members boo Gordon, but Curtis remains a loyal fan, saying it is not over until it is over. After the fish attract a bunch of cats, time out is called in order for [[Eddie (Melmacian)|Eddie]] to capture all the cats. During the time out, Gordon is ostracized by the fellow Codsters, and he shows Curtis a quick trip of the playing facilities. By chance, Curtis is near the office of Jack Weenie, who is taking bribes from Snarfel, the owner of the Smeltsliders. The Smeltsliders are often the bottom of the league, so Snarfel conspired with Weenie to sign the worst player they could find for the Codsters, thus allowing the Smeltsliders to win. After the championship the Codsters will be dissolved. In order for this to go through, Dursky recruited the worst player he could find so the Codsters would lose. The Codsters' coach and Max Dursky are also in on the scam, where Weenie will split the payoffs with them 60%/20%/20%, and they will leave town, with Gordon Shumway being left as the fall guy because everyone will think he lost the championship for the Codsters. Curtis tells this to Gordon, Rick and Skip, who have their own plans to beat Weenie. Gordon puts his pet fish Bismarck, who is quite elusive, into the game. When Gordon is up at splat (Melmacian term for "at bat"), Bismarck flies rings around the Smeltsliders, enabling Shumway to score many runs which cause the Codsters to advance, but not overtake the Smeltsliders. One dirty player throws a bag full of rocks at Gordon's head, knocking him out. Snarfel rigs the board so Gordon is up to splat again. Gordon, still groggy from being hit, is in no shape to play. He gives his uniform to Curtis, who is the only hope. Skip is glad Bismarck is a help, only for fresh fish to be brought in for pitching. Curtis misses twice, then hits the third time. Curtis makes enough runs to win the championship, then he is carried by fans in jubilation. While Max Dursky, Coach Felty and Boss Weenie try to make a quick getaway, they are thwarted by Snarfel and the entire team of the Smeltsliders.
+===Epilogue===
+In the closing live-action segment, ALF admits that he was not such a great player.
+==Background information==
+===Production history===
+*Premiere airdate: November 21, 1987
+===Continuity===
+*Gordon reads an excerpt from his book.
+*Gordon says “The suns were in his eyes,” implying that Melmac had more than one sun.
+*Durfsky tells Gordon that if he goes pro, he can waive Orbit Guard duty. This might mean that Gordon performed mandatory service, and did not willingly serve with the Orbit Guard. On the other hand, he may have willingly signed up, but changed his mind about serving after having committed to lengthy service.
+*Boss Weenie described Gordon as “young”.
+*Bob recalls an incident where his father (Gordon’s grandfather) impressed upon him the value of deferring to the judgement of experts.
+*Gordon makes 47 errors by the time the game reached it’s “2th” inning.
+*Bouillabaseball has 28 innings.
+*Oxygen masks were sold at the bouillabaseball, so oxygen is a vital gas to Melmacian respiration.
+*The oxygen masks sold at the game were 8 wernicks each.
+*This episode marks the first time live cats are shown on Melmac.
+*Gordon, Rick, and Skip were all in nursery school together, with Mrs. Quanigan as their teacher.
+*After Curtis disguises himself as Gordon to win the game, Gordon runs out onto the field to congratulate him, but no one catches on to the ruse.
+*In the closing credits, “Melmacian” is pronounced correctly.
+==Links and references==
+===Cast===
+*[[Len Carlson]]  as [[Sergeant Staff]]
+*[[Rob Cowan]] as [[Skip]] and [[Snarfel]]
+*[[Michael Fantini]] as [[Curtis Shumway]]
+*[[Paul Fusco]] as [[Gordon Shumway]] ([[ALF]]) and [[Rick Fusterman]]
+*[[Paulina Gillis]] as [[Augie Shumway]] and [[Rhonda]]
+*[[Ellen-Ray Hennessy]] as [[Stella]]
+*[[Peggy Mahon]] as [[Flo Shumway]]
+*[[Thick Wilson]] as [[Bob Shumway]]
+===Additional voices===
+*[[Don Francks]]
+*[[Greg Morton]]
+*[[Stephen McMulkin]]
+===Unidentified voice actors===
+*[[Coach]] [[Blorff]]
+*[[Blubberbag]]
+*[[Max Durfsky|Durfsky, Max]]
+*[[Eddie (Melmacian)|Eddie]]
+*[[Feldspar]]
+*[[Lou Haddahey|Haddahey, Lou]]
+*[[Neep]]
+*[[Tankersly]]
+*[[Coach]] [[Turnfaucet]]
+*[[Jack Weenie|Weenie, Jack]]
+===References===
+[[abalone]]; [[anchovy]]; [[bait]]; [[ball]]; [[belch]]; [[bird]]; [[Bismark]]; [[bone]]; [[bouillabaseball]]; [[bouillabaseball card]]; [[car]]; [[carp]]; [[cat]]; [[cat fudge sundae]]; [[clam]]; [[coach]]; [[cod]]; [[corn]]; [[DiMaggio]]; [[diner]]; [[dough]]; [[dugout]]; [[earwax]]; [[East Velcro Codsters]]; [[Eddie's Cats-Up Diner]]; [[Eustachian Tubes]]; [[finger foods]]; [[fish]]; [[flounder line]]; [[fork boy]]; [[foul]]; [[god]]; [[Grandpa Shumway]]; [[Harry]]; [[How-Are-Ya Islands]]; [[Jackson]]; [[lint]]; [[MBBL]]; [[mackerel]]; [[Mayes]]; [[mine]]; [[money]]; [[nursery school]]; [[Orbit Guard]]; [[oxygen]]; [[phlegm zone]]; [[picnic]]; [[Mrs. Quanigan|Quanigan, Mrs.]]; [[rock cod]]; [[Ruth]]; [[satellite]]; [[slopswapper]]; [[smelt average]]; [[smelt retriever]]; [[Smeltsliders]]; [[sparrow]]; [[splat]]; [[splatting practice]]; [[sports]]; [[statue]]; [[sun]]; [[tabby chop]]; [[tartar sauce]]; [[Toledo]]; [[trout]]; [[tuna]]; [[umpire]]; [[wernick]]; [[whiff]]
+===Framing sequence references===
+[[baseball]]; [[bouillabaseball]]; [[fish]]; [[Melmac Nine]]; [[parking meter]]; [[scallop]]; [[seafood]]; [[swordfish]]
+==External links==
+*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0791681/?ref_=ttep_ep8 Pride of the Shumways] at the [https://www.imdb.com IMDb]
-At practice, Gordon' skills stink in comparison to the pro players, but he is encouraged by the coach. At home, the Shumway family gushes over having a big leaguer in the family and throws a barbeque in honor of this, but privately Gordon admits to his father he may sink the team. [[Bob Shumway|Bob]] tells Gordon to listen to Coach Felty and Max Dursky as they do bouilabaseball for a career. Although sage advice, it is later revealed that there is more than meets the eye, particularly Gordon's signing near the end of the season.
-The first game where Gordon plays is a championship game where he pitches against the Smeltsliders. Gordon's lousy fish pitching enable the Smeltsliders to score many runs. Audience members boo Gordon, but Curtis remains a loyal fan, saying it is not over until it is over. After the fish attract a bunch of cats, time out is called in order for [[Eddie]] to capture all the cats. During the time out, Gordon is ostracized by the fellow Codsters, and he shows Curtis a quick trip of the playing facilities. By chance, Curtis is near the office of Jack Weenie, the corrupt owner of the Codsters, who is taking bribes from Snarfel, the owner of the Smeltsliders. The Smeltsliders are often the bottom of the league, so Snarfel conspired with Weenie to sign the worst player they could find for the Codsters, thus allowing the Smeltsliders to win. After the championship the Codsters will be dissolved. In order for this to go through, Dursky recruited the worst player he could find so the Codsters would lose. The Codsters' coach and Max Dursky are also in on the scam, where Weenie will split the payoffs with them 60%/20%/20%, and they will leave town, with Gordon Shumway being left as the fall guy because everyone will think he lost the championship for the Codsters. Curtis tells this to Gordon, Rick and Skip, who have their own plans to beat Weenie. Gordon puts his pet fish Bismarck, who is quite elusive, into the game. When Gordon is up at splat (Melmacian term for "at bat"), Bismarck flies rings around the Smeltsliders, enabling Shumway to score many runs which cause the Codsters to advance, but not overtake the Smeltsliders. One dirty player throws a bag full of rocks at Gordon's head, knocking him out. Snarfel rigs the board so Gordon is up to splat again. Gordon, still groggy from being hit, is in no shape to play. He gives his uniform to Curtis, who is the only hope. Skip is glad Bismarck is a help, only for fresh fish to be brought in for pitching. Curtis misses twice, then hits the third time. Curtis makes enough runs to win the championship, then he is carried by fans in jubilation. While Max Dursky, Coach Felty and Boss Weenie try to make a quick getaway, they are thwarted by Snarfel and the entire team of the Smeltsliders.
 [[Category:ALF: The Animated Series Episodes]]