Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with a scroll saying that when Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds (1963) was released, audiences laughed at the notion of birds revolting against humanity, but when an attack perpetrated by birds occurred in 1975, no one laughed. This is followed by a pre-credits sequence of a tomato rising out of a woman's garbage disposal unit. Her puzzlement turns into terror as the tomato draws her into a corner. Following the credits, the police investigate her death. One officer discovers that the red substance she is covered with is not blood, but tomato juice.
A series of attacks perpetrated by tomatoes occur (including a man dying by drinking tomato juice made from a killer tomato, a boy heard being gobbled up by a killer tomato, and a sequence where the tomatoes attack innocent swimmers, in a parody of Jaws). While the President's press secretary Jim Richardson tries to convince the public that there is no credible threat, the president puts together a team of specialists to stop the tomatoes led by a man named Mason Dixon. Dixon's team includes Sam Smith, a disguise expert who is seen at various points dressed as, among other things, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler; Navy diver Greg Colburn; Olympic swimmer Gretta Attenbaum; and parachute-toting soldier Wilbur Finletter.
Smith is sent out to infiltrate the tomatoes at a campfire, eventually blowing his cover while eating a hamburger and asking if anyone could "pass the ketchup." Colburn and Gretta are sent to sectors, while Finletter stays with Mason. Meanwhile, the president sends Richardson to the fictitious ad agency "Mind Makers," where executive Ted Swan spends huge amounts of money to develop virtually worthless ploys including a bumper sticker with "STP" for "Stop Tomato Program" on it, a satirical reference to both the real "whip inflation now" campaign with its widely ridiculed "WIN" slogan and STP motor oil decals and bumper stickers which were commonplace in the 1970s. It is revealed that a human is also plotting to stop Dixon when a masked assassin attempts to shoot him, but misses. A senate subcommittee meeting is held where one secret pamphlet is leaked to a newspaper editor who sends Lois Fairchild on the story. While she tails Finletter, he mistakes her for a spy and trashes a hotel room attempting to kill her. He then chases the assassin as the masked man fails again to kill Dixon, but loses him.
Gretta is killed and further regression has led leaders to bring in tanks and soldiers to the west coast in a battle that leaves the American forces in shambles. Dixon, walking among the rubble, sees a trail of tomato juice and decides to investigate. He ends up being chased by a killer tomato to an apartment where an oblivious child is listening to the radio. The tomato is about to kill Dixon but suddenly flies out the window. Dixon peers out to see if it has died when he spots the assassin hijacking his car. He chases the assassin until he is knocked out when it is revealed that Richardson is behind the tomatoes. He is about to reveal his secret of control when Finletter charges in and runs him through. Dixon, picking up some strewn records, realizes that both times the tomatoes left him the new hit song "Puberty Love" had been on the radio. He orders Finletter to gather all remaining people and bring them to the stadium, which is soon attacked by the tomatoes.
The tomatoes are cornered in a stadium. "Puberty Love" is played over the loudspeaker, causing the tomatoes to shrink and allowing the various people at the stadium to squash them by stomping on them repeatedly. Fairchild, meanwhile, is cornered by a giant tomato wearing earmuffs. Dixon saves her by showing the tomato the sheet music to "Puberty Love." He professes his love to her, in song. The film ends with a carrot that rises from the Earth and says "All right, you guys. They're gone now."

Tags: absurd

Review:
A superb show.
This was one of the greatest cartoons of my childhood, I wish it'd run for a bit longer because it was funny and very well written.
Based loosely on the second film "Return of the killer tomatoes" it only ran for 2-3 series, and I'm pretty sure the second series was also called "Return of the killer tomatoes" Had the very catchy theme tune from the film but only John Astin returned to voice it.
It would be great to see it again but I imagine it's nearly impossible to track it down now.
Like the other great cartoon series based on a low budget film, "Toxic crusaders", it added to the original film/s.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Fails on too many fronts.
I really liked the Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes movie franchise, it managed four films ranging from the 1970's to the 1990's and a certain amount of it's essence was captured in this Saturday morning cartoon.With the same characters, couple of the same voices and much of the same humour it showed real promise until you realised how watered down it was for the kids.Plenty of the humour will have gone over children's heads but not enough of it.
And for that reason it wasn't overly appealing to either kids or adult fans of the movies thus it only lasted 2 seasons.Sadly the show nose dived further with the second season which was made by different people.
The animation quality dipped, the writing was full on kids show and lost the original feel and the continuity died a death as if the writers had never watched the first season.Due to this the viewing figures dropped and the show was swiftly cancelled.
Though it never met its potential this was a shame as if the show had continued the way season 1 had it may well have reached cult status.For fans of the franchise I'd give this a lesser recommendation but for anyone else it's a hard pass.The Good: First series does continue the movies theme John Astin is great The Bad: Every episode is a mixed bag of conflicting demographicsSecond season is rather weak Things I Learnt From This Show: The Professor isn't mad, he's angry The Season 2 writers need to retire from the industry If a tomato eats and spits out a human they become a tomato but if a tomato eats and spits out a tomato they become human.
Wait, what!?.
Hilarious spoof of movies.
This was a funny cartoon series based around the familiar movies.
The show is hysterical, with Dr. Gangreen (voiced by John Astin) being the funniest.
I remember one scene where he is chasing and shooting at the good guys from a helicopter or something and said, 'If this were prime time I could use real bullets.' Worth watching if you can find it anywhere..
cool.
One of the great eightes movies of yester year, well tv series.It was a very good tv series but could never stand up against the much better sequel to the original film which was kinda lame.Over all, a series worth watching if you can manage to find any episodes..
A series that died way too soon..
Maybe, someday, this series can get some more exposure and it will be recognized for so many of the things that it did.
The premise is simple, even if silly: building off the movie of the same name, man versus vegetable once again as Dr. Gangreen tries to take over the world with genetically altered love apples.
(I guess hate apples in this case.)
Technically, the series is more closely related to "Return Of The Killer Tomatoes" and the following 2 sequels.
(In fact, some of the cartoon's supporting characters weren't even introduced in the movies yet until several years later.)  It pulls most of its characters the sequel.
The series itself even had a dual life: the first season was a collection of movie, TV, and novel parodies, with very little continuity between them.
The second, and superior, season was episodic, telling a correlated story, up to a point.
SPOILERThe second season is where the show really shines because the writers had the guts to not only make the show a more cohesive and better series from the first season, but, they actually had evil win!
The killer tomatoes took over the world, and, the rest of the season was a battle to restore a stalemate situation when man tried to drive the tomatoes back again.
"Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes" also has a very unique distinction.
While it was more evident in the second season, this series was the very first computer generated weekly cartoon series, even before "Reboot." While the results were mostly traditional cel animation in looks, it was computer generated.
Sadly, this also killed the show.
Despite solidly good ratings, the show had to be cancelled after season 2 due to the expense of such a revolutionary idea for the time.
The last time this series surfaced was in 1998 on Fox Family, so you may have a difficult time finding it.
But, if it ever does air, or you can find someone with the tapes, by all means, give this series a try, especially the second season.