Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series
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Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was a cartoon based on the movie 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.
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[edit] How The Series Came To Be
Back in 1978, the original Attack of the Killer Tomatoes film was released by Four Square Productions. 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 an episode upon which Baby Fozzy deals with how he once faced an 'Attack of the Silly Tomatoes'. The segment used clips from the movie and concluded with Baby Fozzy 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. It was one of the rare films where the sequel was actually better than the original (unsurprisingly, considering the obvious low-budget value of the first). 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 Childrens 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 wasn't afraid to poke fun at itself or its low-budget film origins. It was smartly written, and to an extent, carried on the parodies that its film predecessors introduced twelve years before.
[edit] 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 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). Though the good guys (plus Gangreen and his assistant, Igor Smith) started to make progress and take back parts of San Zucchini, the series was cancelled before any final battle could take place.
[edit] 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 occassion would be breaking the fourth wall with antics such as aiming a pistol but then making the comment "Dang! If this were prime time television, I could have used real bullets". This is likely also a reference that Dr. Gangreen realizes he is part of a children's cartoon show 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. During the second season, Gangreen accomplished his goals of conquering Earth, only to be overthrown by Zoltan and imprisoned. 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. John Astin reprised his role as the "Angry" Scientist for the cartoon.
- Igor Smith - Igor Smith is a tan good-looking but 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. Igor Smith was voiced by Cam Clarke.
- 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). 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 realised they didn't need Gangreen anymore and overthrew him, allowing Zoltan to seize control of leader. Zoltan and his tomatoes were defeated in the end by the one thing Gangreen knew could destroy them, the African Tomato Worms. Zoltan was voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
- Chad Finletter - The main hero of the story. Chad is a bright ten-year-old boy living with his Uncle Wilbur, working as a pizza delivery boy for Wilbur's Pizza Palace. Chad is one of the few people to know the truth about Tara and F.T. really being tomatoes, but as an act of friendship promised to keep their secret. Chad is the real guiding force behind stopping Gangreen, but because he is a kid, nobody takes him seriously. During the second season, Chad became a more of a leader by convincing the others to freeing Gangreen to help their cause. Chad was voiced by Christian Guzek.
- Tara Boumdeay - One of Dr. Gangreen's failed experiments. She abandoned his evil plans with F.T. and escaped to the finletters, where she is Chad's best friend and waitress at Wilbur Finletter's Pizza Palace. She would be safe from being revealed as being a tomato if it wasn't for one flaw made by Dr. Gangreen: once salt touches her, she'll revert back to a tomato. Only when touched by pepper will she revert back to her human form. Her best friend, Chad, is the only person who knows her secret, and he promises to not just keep her secret, but find a way to allow her to remain human permanently. Oddly enough, in the second season opener, it seems that not only did the rest of the Killer Tomato Task Force know that Tara was a tomato, but the allergy to salt was done away with. Now she could turn into a tomato and back to human without salt or pepper thrown into the mix (shown not once, but twice: first, during Chad's escape plan at the end of the second season opener, and in the episode which introduced the Phantomato). Tara was voiced by Kath Soucie.
- Wilbur Finletter - Great Tomato War veteran, leader of the Killer Tomato Taskforce and owner of Finletter's Pizza Palace. He's Chad's uncle, and is very protective. He's frequently trying new recipes for his tomato-less pizzas, most of the time failing. He's still slightly delusional from the war and believes that the only good tomato is a squashed tomato. Although brave, he's not very smart, as he and every adult believe F.T. is just an ugly dog. During the second season, Wilbur became more of a rebel leader when the killer tomatoes conquered the planet. He even put aside his grudges when breaking Dr. Gangreen out of jail to help the KTTF with their cause. Wilbur was voiced by Thom Bray.
- F.T. - aka Fuzzy Tomato. F.T. was another failed experiment as he turned out cute, fuzzy, and completely unable to do anything destructive or evil. Right before Gangreen was going to destroy him, Tara rescued him and both ran off. Because of the tomato-hating world, F.T. masqueraded himself as "the world's ugliest dog". Chad is the only other person who knows what F.T really is, but promised to keep it a secret. Chad has found this easy so far as everybody besides those who know his secret believes he is a dog, and has not questioned its appearance. F.T. was voiced by S. Scott Bullock.
- Whitley White - The first and only reporter for San Zucchini newsstation. Like most of the other adults on the show, Whitley is an idiot. He has a habit of showing up in different parts of town to report on the events of the show or the aftermath (sometimes simultaneously carrying on conversations with himself from both the KRUD studios and 'Live At The Scene'). Whitley was voiced by Neil Ross.
[edit] Recurring Characters
- Tomato Guy - A character who appeared in every episode of the show. He would shout "Tomato!", only to cause anybody in the area to panic. This was presumably inspired by the character Costa Dillon played in the original "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes" film, who simply says "Tomato" in a classrooom and scares all of the students so much that they run out of the classroom screaming in fear. It was later revealed in Season 2 that he makes fun of tomatoes because as a kid, he was terrified of them after his cousin Larry made a "killer tomato" and pestered him with it. In Season One he is seen as a customer at Finletter's Pizza. Tara as a waitress is asking him to please make up his mind for a topping, after all, he could not kill anyone. The man responds "OK, do you have tomato?", which sends Tara into shock and reminds her of her horrible creation. She is revived by Uncle Wilbur who reassures her that the police have arrested him (presumably for violating the tomato prohibition laws) and that he will not be in the pizza parlor again for some time. His voice and design resembles that of Woody Allen.
- The Censor Lady - an old woman (in a similar vein to 'The Church Lady' character played by Dana Carvey on "Saturday Night Live") who appears and tries to stop a character if they are doing some violence-related or imitatable behavior (such as suggesting that instead of the vampire tomatoes biting people's necks, they kiss them. She has also been seen arguing with Chad about his skateboard safety equipment, etc.) It was revealed in the episode 'Streets of Ketchup' she was something similar to Tara because she turned into a prune when squirted with salt water. After the first season, she only appeared twice; the first time in the second season opener ('The Ripening Disaster') where she warned the audience about the violence that was overtaking the episode and threatened to end it early. Standing behind a red background, it soon becomes apparent that the red background is indeed Zoltan, who gobbles up the Censor Lady and spits her back out (completely red from head to toe). She is then seen in the beginning of the second episode of season two briefly walking with the other world leaders who are all red from head to toe (apparently suffering the same fate as the Censor Lady).
- Sam Smith - a member of the Killer Tomato Taskforce. Sam is a master of disquise, but yet his most reconisable outfit is that of the Lone Ranger. Also known as 'Sam The Sham'.
- Floyd Bridgework - a member of the Killer Tomato Taskforce. Floyd is an underwater expert, and is never seen without his scuba gear on, even when trying on a disquise or something like skating. He is often confused with his live-action counterpart underwater expert Greg Colburn due to the similarities the two have in design and concept.
- Mary Jo Nagamininashy - a member of the Killer Tomato Taskfroce. Mary Jo is the only female on the team besides Tara. She is a German athlete that is always into exercise, even when battling tomatoes. She is often confused with her live-action counterpart Russian Olympic athlete Gretta Attenbaum due to the similarities the two have in design and concept.
- Tomacho - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Tomacho rules over South America, and is known as being very calm. Tomacho speaks like John Travolta and is somewhat of a brown noser.
- Beefsteak - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Beefsteak rules over Europe, and is known for his short temper. Beefsteak has bullhorns on his head and wears a nose ring, which only helps his image of charging at enemies like a bull.
- Fang - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Fang rules over Africa, and is known for her snake-like personality. Fang has serpent eyes, a snake's tongue and large fangs filled with venom. Fang had the biggest problem with her continent due to her soldiers not returning from the "Heart of Africa".
- Ketchuck - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Ketchuck rules over all of Asia and is known for being the biggest and fattest of the gang of six. Besides being large, Ketchuck is constantly drooling and always hungry for food.
- Mummato - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Mummato rules over Australia and New Zealand, and is known for his silence. Mummato is wrapped in bandages like a mummy and spoke only once through his entire screentime. His single line was in reply to Gangreen dispatching him to conquer Australia and New Zealand, and consisted of "Australia will fall to me tonight".
- Phantomato - A deformed tomato that sought refuse in the sewers after the tomatoes seized control of Earth. He hid his face behind a mask just like the Phantom of the Opera, and even had his own pipe organ. He fell in love with Tara and tried to make her stay with him, but saved her and the taskforce by holding off the tomato soldiers while they escaped.
- The Ultimato - The last tomato experiment made by Dr. Gangreen. He was originally made to help the taskforce by fighting off the tomatoes, but later turned on them when he wanted to seize control for himself.
- Link - A deformed tomato that was believed to be the missing link between normal, dormant tomatoes and the killer variety. First appearing in the episode 'Tomato From The Black Lagoon', it's revealed that Link isn't quite like his killer cousins. He aids Chad and Tara against Gangreen and Igor (Gangreen originally sought Link out to use him in a renewed effort to destroy San Zucchini). He's also very wealthy, as his lair is equipped with state of the art technology and the finest foods. He appeared in a second season episode, aiding Tara and Chad in their efforts to locate the African Tomato Worms. It is established in both this episode and the episode which the Phantomato debuted that the two of them are actually cousins.
- Johnny Tomato - Inspired by his love of 1950s rockabilly music (and a desire to erase the mistakes he made when he first created Tara), Dr. Gangreen created a tomato that could change into a human named Johnny Tomato. Johnny (who looked almost exactly like a young 1950s-era Elvis Presley) was to be used to lure both The KTTF and Chad, Tara and FT to their doom. Johnny's conflicted emotions between loyalty to Gangreen (posing as Johnny's 'manager', Colonel Sam Green) and budding feelings towards Tara led to Johnny succumbing to the same allergy to salt that plagued Tara. It was then, with Gangreen's plot exposed, that Johnny (in a dormant tomato form) was swept away by Gangreen's army of Killer Tomatoes (all of this was shown in the first season episode "Streets Of Ketchup"). Though the character never appeared again, it was implied in a second season episode (Where Tara met the Phantomato) that Johnny survived, evidenced by a reference to a Memphis concert which Wilbur Finletter (dressed in a 1970s-era Elvis jumpsuit) planned to infiltrate while the cast of the episode searched for Dr. Gangreen (the whole episode concentrated on that plot point). A poster was seen of Johnny Tomato as well.
- Mayor Leonard Earwax - The Mayor of San Zucchini. As his last name implies, he may very well be the stupidest character living in the San Diego-inspired city. He is an airhead who somehow lucked into his job. He made two significant appearances in the series, one where he slept through San Zucchini being overthrown (as shown in the first season episode "Invasion of the Tomato Snatchers") and an appearance where he decides to name Wilbur Finletter as San Zucchini's first Sheriff since the 1920s (as shown in the episode "The Gang That Couldn't Squirt Straight"). An election poster could be seen of him as well in the episode "Give A Little Whistle".
[edit] Trivia
There are several small plot inconsistencies between seasons one and two.
In season one, Tara had an allergy to salt and pepper (salt turned her into her tomato form involuntarily, while pepper had the opposite effect, changing her from tomato form to human). In season two, the salt and pepper allergies are done away with and Tara is able to voluntarily change at will from human to tomato.
Only Chad Finletter, Dr. Gangreen and Igor Smith knew that Tara and F.T. were tomatoes in season one. In season two, it's common knowledge that the two are tomatoes.
Zoltan was the leader of the Gang Of Five in season one (the five consisted of himself and four other smaller tomatoes). In the beginning of season two, Gangreen orders Igor to capture Zoltan and the Gang of Six so he could transform them into larger tomato warriors. Igor manages to capture all of the original five, but once they're changed into their new forms, there are now six large tomato warriors.
Tara's speech pattern changes from the fifth episode of the series to its final broadcast. Episodes 1-4 showed her to be very smart with a hint of valley girl to her, speech-wise. Subsequently from episode five and on her speech is almost child-like, as if she'd first assumed her human form. This is the opposite of her film counterpart (from Return of the Killer Tomatoes) who speaks almost childlike when the viewer is first introduced to her, but eventually starts to speak in a normal fashion as the film progresses.
In Season Two, the Killer Tomato Task Force finds themselves in virtually the same situation that the Blackwood Project survivors found themselves after the second-season debut of War of the Worlds (TV series) (though this is a much lighter-hearted scenario than the darker-themed human vs. alien series). Mainly the fact that the enemy is now large in numbers and that the team must take refuge in an underground sewer lair while trying to stem the tide of the now-fearsome threat.
