Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series is an animated television series based on the movies Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Return of the Killer Tomatoes . It aired on Fox Kids from 1990 until 1992 and again in the spring and summer of 1996. It also aired on Fox Family Channel from 1998 to 2000.
Origin
The original film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was released by Four Square Productions in 1978. A parody of the giant menace movies of the 1950s, it became a cult hit and predated the movie-spoofing disaster film Airplane! by two years. The Killer Tomatoes might have remained in that genre had it not been for an unlikely intervention from an equally unlikely source. During the 1986-1987 season of Muppet Babies , there was a segment in the episode "The Weirdo Zone" upon which Baby Fozzie deals with how he once faced an 'Attack of the Silly Tomatoes'. The segment used clips from the movie and concluded with Baby Fozzie using a giant-sized ketchup bottle to capture the Silly Tomatoes (he told bad jokes and the large tomatoes launched themselves at him, only to be caught inside the bottle when he ducked out of the way). Oddly enough, it became one of the higher-rated episodes of the season... so much that New World Pictures (the owner of Marvel Productions, which made Muppet Babies ) approached Four Square about making a sequel to Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes . Four Square had never intended to make a sequel but when New World approached them with a two-million dollar budget towards filming a potential sequel, John De Bello, Costa Dillon and Stephen Peace got to work on crafting a script. The resulting film, Return of the Killer Tomatoes , was a surprise success. New World was pleased with the results, and the company decided to duplicate the results of the film with an animated series aimed at a younger audience. Tweaking various characters and ideas from both Attack and Return , Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Series was born and debuted as one of the first Saturday morning cartoons on the Fox Children's Network in the fall of 1990.
Though many mistake the series as being a typical 'heroes vs. villains' struggle, there were many inside jokes to popular television series and movies that played out during the series' run. It often poked fun at itself or its low-budget film origins.
Plot
The series picks up five years after The Great Tomato War (much as the film Return Of The Killer Tomatoes did), where tomatoes are banned. However that hasn't stopped Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen from engaging in his experiments. Gangreen's ultimate goal is to rule the world (like any evil villain, of course) and he won't let anyone stop him. But his most successful experiment may very well be his undoing. Tara Boumdeay, a tomato turned human runs away from Gangreen, taking with her 'Brother' the fur-covered F.T., whom she passes off as a dog. They befriend Chad Finletter (nephew of the Great Tomato War veteran, Wilbur Finletter) who, after saving the pair from a tomato attack, gets Tara a job at his uncle Wilbur's Tomatoless Pizza Parlor. She shares their secret with Chad regarding the two of them being tomatoes and Chad vows to help them against whatever Gangreen has planned. That is where everyone stands at the start of the first episode, "Give A Little Whistle", where the evil Doctor sets his new plans into motion (and would continue through the first season).
Season Two would center on Gangreen actually conquering the world in the debut episode. But Gangreen learns on a personal level the importance of the quote "Be careful what you wish for". He's overthrown by Zoltan and his gang of twice-mutated tomatoes, and is forced to join up with Chad, Tara, Wilbur and the rest of the Tomato Task Force (other vets of the Great Tomato War).
Cancellation
Numerous changes from season one to season two factored in the cancellation of the series. The show was now animated in a much different style than viewers were used to (the second season is known for being the first Saturday Morning cartoon series to be computer animated), the single episode plots were done away with in favor of an ongoing storyline (partly due to the series changing story editors between seasons), no more than eight episodes were made for this second season (shown out of sequence in its initial run, no less) and changes to already-established characters contradicted facts and events that viewers witnessed in season one (such as Tara now being able to change into a tomato even if salt wasn't utilized at times, her being a tomato was now public knowledge, and she could move freely around and talk in her tomato form; none of these were true of Tara in season one). The final change came in the form of taking the comedy-relief provided by Zoltan and the Gang of Five and doing away with that in favor of turning them into serious threats.
Main characters
- Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen - The main villain of the series. An 'angry' scientist (as opposed to a 'mad' one), Dr. Gangreen created the killer tomatoes with the goal of global domination. Along with his dullwitted assistant, Igor Smith, and army of tomatoes led by his head tomato, Zoltan, he is always trying to destroy San Zucchini and conquer the world. Dr. Gangreen, on occasion would be breaking the fourth wall with antics such as firing 'bullets' from his Tomatocoptor, but then making the comment "Dang! If this were prime time (television), I could have used real bullets", suggesting that Dr. Gangreen realizes he is part of a children's cartoon show (other characters also realize it at times) and the network censors are clearly not going to permit him to commit violent acts. Although being a genius, he miscalculated two "failures" that became large obstacles in his plans. Fuzzy Tomato (or F.T. as he's called) and Tara, who abandoned him to live with humans. Viewers learned much about Dr. Gangreen in the first season, from the fact that he was the first man to domesticate the wild turnip and ate an entire lawnmower at the age of six (as revealed in the episode "Give A Little Whistle") to playing in a high school rock band named "Mothra And The Handpuppets" (as revealed in the episode "Streets Of Ketchup"). In the episode "War of the Weirds" it was revealed that Gangreen's skin color and obsession with tomatoes came from his childhood rivalry with Sidney Igotcha... a rivalry that continued when Sidney became a scientist himself and used Killer Kumquats to try and take over San Zucchini. During the second season, Gangreen accomplished his goals of conquering Earth, only to be overthrown by Zoltan and imprisoned when it became apparent that conquering the world had an oddly-calming effect on the scientist. He was busted out of jail by the Killer Tomato Taskforce and joined them in attempts to defeat Zoltan and the killer tomatoes once and for all. It was implied in "Stemming the Tide" that he was the cousin of Tomato Guy, though it was never revealed conclusively one way or the other. John Astin reprised his role (Mortimer Gangreen, in the movies) as the "Angry" Scientist for the cartoon.
- Igor Smith - Igor Smith is an airheaded young man from Malibu who dreams of becoming a TV reporter. He's not really evil, but more of a man that fell into the wrong crowd. Still, he will do his master's work without question if it means that he will be rewarded for helping conquer the planet by being made a reporter. He takes any chance he gets to usurp Whitley White . During the second season, Igor was imprisoned with his master after being overthrown by Zoltan, only to be busted out by the Killer Tomato Taskforce, joining them in attempting to defeat the killer tomatoes once and for all.
- Zoltan - Dr. Gangreen's tomato commander. At first, Zoltan was a failed experiment originating from when Igor accidentally had placed old movies into their programming stage instead of training videos, causing him and his gang of five to be lazy and to imitate old movie characters occasionally (such as legendary actor James Cagney). Perhaps echoing what the future was to hold for Zoltan, he underwent a transformation into a vampire tomato, dubbing himself "Spatula, Prince of Dorkness" (shown in the episode of the same name) and proceeded to kiss people on the neck to transform humans and tomatoes alike into vampires (a stipulation that the Censor Lady put into place in fear of showing the biting and bloodshed associated with vampires on a Saturday Morning cartoon). Fortunately that was undone by Dracula himself, who, after handing Wilbur Finletter a cure for the vampirism, declared that the people of San Zucchini didn't have the class to be vampires, nor did he want the bad press associated with the citizens' sole night of terror (despite the fact that Dracula himself had given Dr. Gangreen the vampire serum that changed Zoltan into a vampire early in the episode). During the second season, Zoltan and his gang were given a transformation, becoming larger, smarter, and deadlier. Zoltan and his gang conquered the planet and were each issued a continent to rule (e.g. Zoltan controls North America). Soon after that, Zoltan realized they didn't need Gangreen anymore and overthrew him, allowing Zoltan to seize control of leader. The series was ended before a final episode resolving matters could be made, but it is assumed among fans that Zoltan and his tomatoes were eventually defeated in the end by the one thing Gangreen knew could destroy them, the African Tomato Worms.
- Chad Finletter
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a 1978 cult comedy film directed by John De Bello and starring David Miller. The film is a spoof of B movies. Made on a budget of less than US$ 100 ...
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© 2003 Killer Tomato Entertainment, Inc. Killer Tomatoes® is a registered trademark and servicemark of W. Finletter Films, LLC, licensed to Killer Tomato Entertainment, Inc
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