Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (TV series) explained

Developer:	Richard Mueller
Director:	Karen Peterson
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Num Seasons:	2
Num Episodes:	21
Runtime:	23 minutes
Channel:	Fox (Fox Children's Network)

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is an American animated television series based on the 1978 film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and its 1988 sequel Return of the Killer Tomatoes.^[1] The series aired on Fox Kids from 8 September 1990 to 23 November 1991. Repeats aired on Fox in 1992 and 1996, and on Fox Family from 1998 to 2000.

The show, a sequel to the original film, is about the mad scientist Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen and his associate Igor Smith turning the tomatoes in the town of San Zucchini into monsters.^[2] The evil doctor was battled by young Chad Finletter, and his friends Tara Boumdeay (secretly a human/tomato hybrid pretending to be a teenage girl) and F.T., a "Fuzzy Tomato" pretending to be a dog. The second season is known for being the first Saturday Morning cartoon series to be computer-animated.^[3]

Ownership of the series passed to Disney in 2001 when Disney acquired Fox Kids Worldwide, which also includes Marvel Productions.^{[4] [5] [6]}

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). 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.^[7]

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.

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 has not stopped Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen from engaging in his experiments. Gangreen's ultimate goal is world domination and he will not 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 along 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. However, he is 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 Killer Tomato Task Force (other vets of the Great Tomato War).

Characters

Main characters

• Chad Finletter (voiced by Christian Guzek) - The main protagonist 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. By the end of season one however, Gangreen puts a bounty on Chad to stop his constant interference. During the second season, Chad became a more of a leader by convincing the others to free Gangreen to help their cause.
• Tara Boumdeay (voiced by Kath Soucie) - One of Dr. Gangreen's failed experiments. She abandoned his evil plans with F.T. and escaped to the Finletter's where she is Chad's best friend and waitress at Wilbur Finletter's Pizza Palace. Tara is a beautiful teenage girl who has always liked Chad since he is always brave. She reverts to tomato form when exposed to salt, which can be cured with pepper. She is also shown to have telepathic and telekinetic powers.
• Wilbur Finletter (voiced by Thom Bray) - A Great Tomato War veteran, leader of the Killer Tomato Taskforce and owner of Finletter's Pizza Palace. He is frequently trying new recipes for tomato-less pizzas, most of the time failing. He is still slightly delusional from the war and believes that tomatoes are only good squashed. Although brave, he is 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.
• F.T. (vocal effects provided by S. Scott Bullock) - Short for Fuzzy Tomato, F.T. was another failed experiment as he turned out cute, fuzzy, and completely unable to do anything evil. He would have been destroyed by Gangreen, but was rescued by Tara, who disguises him as an ugly dog.
• Whitley White (voiced by Neil Ross) - A reporter for the San Zucchini news station. 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').

Recurring characters

• Tomato Guy (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - A character who appeared in every episode of the show. He would shout "Tomato" only to cause anybody in the area to panic, and additionally appears as a speaking extra in various episodes. It was later revealed in the Season Two episode "Stemming The Tide" that he makes fun of tomatoes because as a kid, he was served cold tomato soup at a family get-together (his cousin, who turned off the stove, bore a significant resemblance to a young Putrid T. Gangreen, though it was never made clear if the two of them were actually related). In any case, the soup was alive and pestering Tomato Guy until he captured it by covering his soup bowl with a saucer. His voice and design resembles that of Woody Allen.
• The Censor Lady (voiced by S. Scott Bullock) - 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 imitable behavior. 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. She was a recurring character in the first season, but in season 2 only appeared three times; 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 eats the Censor Lady and spits her back out. She is then seen in the beginning of the second episode of season two briefly walking with other world leaders. The final appearance was in "The Tomatoes Worms Turn" where she first made sure those in the African ride were buckled in as well as preventing the audience from hearing what Tomato Worms actually do to tomatoes.
• Sam "The Sham" Smith (voiced by S. Scott Bullock) - A member of the Killer Tomato Taskforce. Sam is a master of disguise, but yet his most recognizable outfit is that of the Lone Ranger.
• Floyd Bridgework (voiced by Thom Bray) - 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 disguise or something like skating.
• Mary Jo Nagamininashy (voiced by Kath Soucie) - A member of the Killer Tomato Taskforce. 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.
• Mayor Leonard Earwax (voiced by Cam Clarke) - The mayor of San Zucchini, who 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 (in "Invasion of the Tomato Snatchers") and an appearance where he decides to name Wilbur Finletter as San Zucchini's first sheriff since the 1920s (in "The Gang That Couldn't Squirt Straight"). An election poster could be seen of him as well in the episode "Give A Little Whistle".

Villains

• Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen (voiced by John Astin) - 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 dull-witted 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. Although being a genius, he miscalculated two "failures" that became large obstacles in his plans. Fuzzy Tomato (or F.T. as he is 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 to 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.
  • Igor Smith (voiced by Cam Clarke) - Igor Smith is an air-headed young man from Malibu who dreams of becoming a TV reporter. He is 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.

Tomatoes

Besides Tara and F.T., the following characters are tomatoes that were created by Dr. Gangreen:

• Zoltan (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - 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. Perhaps echoing what the future was to hold for Zoltan, he underwent a transformation into a vampire tomato dubbing himself "Spatula, Prince of Dorkness" and proceeded to kiss people on the neck to transform humans and tomatoes alike into vampires. Fortunately that was undone by Count Dracula himself, who, after handing Wilbur Finletter a cure for the vampirism, declared that the people of San Zucchini did not have the class to be vampires, nor did he want the bad press associated with the citizens' sole night of terror. 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 did not 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 that Zoltan and his tomatoes were eventually defeated.
  • Tomacho (voiced by Cam Clarke) - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Tomacho rules over South America and is known as being very calm and chill but also dimwitted. Tomacho speaks like John Travolta and with a surfer accent. In the episode where the gang is temporarily turned into humans, Tomacho becomes a muscular, good-looking young man with long hair, true to his name.
  • Beefsteak (voiced by Chuck McCann) - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Beefsteak rules over Europe, and is known for his short temper. Beefsteak has bull horns on his head and wears a nose ring, which only helps his image of charging at enemies like a bull.
  • Fang (voiced by Susan Silo) - 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". Fang temporary took control of the Gang of Six in the last episode, but returned control over to Zoltan after her defeat by him.
  • Ketchuck (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Ketchunk rules over all of Asia and is known for being the biggest and fattest of the gang of six. Besides being large, Ketchunk is constantly drooling and always hungry for food.
  • Mummato (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - One of Zoltan's gang of six. Mummato rules over Australia and New Zealand, and is known for his silence (though he does speak on rare occasions; his voice sounds much like Marlon Brando). Mummato is wrapped in bandages like a mummy.
• Phantomato (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - A deformed tomato that sought refuge 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 a pipe organ. He saved Tara from Zoltan and Beefsteak and offered to help her find Gangreen once he was finished playing his organ. When the tomatoes located them and attempted to capture Tara again, he saved her by holding off the tomato soldiers while they escaped.
• The Ultimato - The last tomato experiment made by Dr. Gangreen who has the cloned brain of Dr. Gangreen. He was originally made to help the task force by fighting off the tomatoes, but later turned on them when he wanted to seize control for himself.
• Link (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - 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 is revealed that Link is not 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 is 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 ("The Phantomato of the Opera") that they are cousins.
• Johnny Tomato (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - 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, and be used to lure both The KTTF and Chad, Tara and FT to their doom. Johnny's conflicted emotions between loyalty to Gangreen 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 revealed in the second-season episode "The Phantomato of the Opera" that Johnny survived, as Wilbur Finletter infiltrated an Elvis Presley Impersonator Contest in Memphis, Tennessee, searching for Dr. Gangreen, and got a picture with him.
• Tomato Minions - The Tomato Minions are all the other mutated tomatoes in the series. They act as soldiers to Professor Gangreen and Zoltan. In the 1st season they came in different colors which was yellow, green and orange but most of them are red of course. In the 2nd season they all were red and wore Roman-style war helmets and patrolled all parts of the world. They all looked the same as well.

Episodes

Season 2 (1991)

Crew

• Stu Rosen - Voice Director

Documentary

Screaming Soup! Presents the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Retrospective, a documentary film focusing on the history of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes franchise with interviews including cast and crew from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes TV Series, was released in February 2023 on YouTube.

Notes and References

1. Book: Perlmutter . David . The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows . 2018 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1538103739 . 49–50.
2. Book: Erickson . Hal . Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 . 2005 . 2nd . McFarland & Co . 978-1476665993 . 100–101.
3. Book: Hyatt . Wesley . The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television . 1997 . Watson-Guptill Publications . 978-0823083152 . registration . 19 March 2020. 47.
4. Web site: U.S. Copyright Public Records System .
5. Web site: Disney+ and Missing Saban Entertainment & Fox Kids-Jetix Worldwide Library - StreamClues . 14 September 2022 . 2 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221226042740/https://streamclues.com/disney-and-missing-saban-entertainment-fox-kids-jetix-worldwide-library/ . 26 December 2022.
6. Web site: Liste - BVS Entertainment | Séries .
7. News: Dean . Sam . Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: An Oral History of the 1978 Film . 15 March 2020 . Bon Appétit . August 8, 2013.