History Film / AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes

This would have been the end for the red menace (no, not '''that''' [[DirtyCommunists red menace]]), if it hadn't been for an episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'' using footage from the film to narrate a story called, "Attack of the Silly Tomatoes". It was a highly rated episode and New World Pictures (which owned [[Creator/DepatieFrelengEnterprises Marvel Productions]] inexplicably decided the world needed a sequel and offered the creators of the original 2 million dollars to film one.

* EvilLaughTurnedCoughingFit: Dr. Gangrene suffers a moment of this at he is introduced at the start of the second film.

* TakeThatUs: In one episode of the cartoon the heroes are captured and tortured by being forced to watch the original movie.

* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat: In the second film: “THIS TOMATO CAN SHOW YOU WHERE WE ARE. I don’t trust tomatoes! I KNOW YOU DONT TRIST TOMATOES, BUT TRUST THIS ONE.”

-->'''Tara''': Then I shall make toast, eggs, bacon, toast, waffles, and toast.

-->''Tara'': Then I shall make toast, eggs, bacon, toast, waffles, and toast.

* IdiotHero: Downplayed with Wilbur Finletter. He's never actually been the main protagonist in any of the films or the series and is always a supporting character. Otherwise he fits the trope well: he's a bumbling FearlessFool constantly getting tangled up in his parachute but he (usually) helps to save the day and is still revered as a war hero after the events of the first movie. The image of him charging after the tomatoes with his saber drawn and his parachute trailing behind him is one of the most iconic of the franchise and sums his character up pretty well.

* LovableSexManiac: Matt's personality in the second film, combined with a bit of LovableCoward. He's constantly hitting on women or hatching schemes to get laid. At the end of the film [[spoiler: he uses Dr. Gangreen's machine to turn a bunch of tomatoes into sexy women...but we don't get to see what happens next.]]

* {{Troll}}: The guy in the first film who causes a stampeding panic by just saying the word "tomato" in public.

* TheEighties: ''Return of the Killer Tomatoes'' has this in spades with mullets and EightiesHair, garish clothes and synth music. Not to mention all of pop culture references and product placement jokes. Matt himself invokes this when he suggests the director sell out to help finish the movie.

** Lampshaded in the second movie when Igor tries to start a car chase but crashes immediately because the movie doesn't have the budget for an actual chase.

* IdiotHero: Downplayed with Wilbur Finletter. He's never actually been the main protagonist in any of the films or the series and is always a supporting character. Otherwise he fits the trope well: he's a bumbling FearlessFool constantly getting tangled up in his parachute but(usually) helps to save the day and is still revered as a war hero after the events of the first movie. The image of him charging after the tomatoes with his saber drawn and his parachute trailing behind him is one of the most iconic of the franchise and sums his character up pretty well.

* [[CarChase Alleged Car Chase]]: Between two [[AllegedCar geriatric clunkers]] that go so slowly that Mason catches up with the other guy by getting out and running him down on foot.

* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Tara mostly fits, but given she was made as a sex-slave in ''Return...'', but in the cartoon, she's an escaped experiment.

* TheEighties: ''Return of the Killer Tomatoes'' has this in spades with mullets and EightiesHair, garish clothes and synth music.

* ExcitedShowTitle

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The titular tomatoes don't quite reach 50 feet, but they grow very large for tomatoes, with the first movie mentioning that a roughly soccer-ball sized tomato was [[OhCrap a (typically tiny) cherry tomato]]. Revolutionary giant killer carrots are also seen. However, in the Season One episode ''Camp Casserole... So Vine'', there was an '''''ACTUAL''''' one. There is also Larry the Monster Mountain Tomatoe from the Nintendo game.

** In the animated series, an {{Expy}} of the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] appears in a brief gag, and the [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Ninja Turtles]] are indirectly mentioned in another.

** The animated series episode "Tomato from the Black Lagoon" has [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk a background character who gets angry and becomes green and muscular as his rage worsens]].

* ShoutOut: In the second episode of the animated series, and {{Expy}} of the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] appears in a brief gag.

* VillainRespect: In the animated series Doctor Gangreen has this for Chad in his own way.

In 1978, a film was made spoofing B monster movies, in which tomatoes mysteriously gain sentience and mobility, becoming killer tomatoes, which then attack. It was, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin sensibly]], called ''Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!'' No genre was safe as the self-billed "Musical-Comedy-Horror Show" ripped up everything from romantic comedies to spy films, pausing long enough to take pot shots at superheroes and politics. Despite being made for less than $100,000, it's generally regarded as a failure at the box office. It, nonetheless, earned a cult following and practically became the defining film for SoBadItsGood. (If a parody can count as that, anyway.)

The plot, such as it is, takes place ten years after the first film. Tomatoes have been outlawed! But, alas, the younger generation has forgotten the threat they pose, and tomato smuggling is at an all-time high. Chad Finletter, nephew of the hero of the Tomato Wars, has fallen for Tara, who serves the mysterious doctor Gangrene. Little does Chad know that Tara has a dark secret; she is secretly ''a tomato!'' Can true love bring peace to all, or will blood prove thicker than chlorophyll?

''Return of the Killer Tomatoes!'' was a moderate success, and the executives behind it made the kind of decision only corporate executives can make without being deemed insane: What these two non-child-friendly films really need to follow them up is a [[AnimatedAdaptation Saturday morning cartoon]], on the fledgling Creator/FoxKids Network.

This would have been the end for the red menace (no, not '''that''' [[DirtyCommunists red menace]]), if it hadn't been for an episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'' using footage from the film to narrate a story called, "Attack of the Silly Tomatoes". It was a highly rated episode and New World Pictures inexplicably decided the world needed a sequel and offered the creators of the original 2 million dollars to film one.

''Return of the Killer Tomatoes!'' was a moderate success, and the executives behind it made the kind of decision only corporate executives can make without being deemed insane: What these two non-child-friendly films really need to follow them up is a [[AnimatedAdaptation Saturday morning cartoon]].

* ShowDontTell: Inverted [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] (and due to the ShoestringBudget), as Martha and her husband are shown watching a tomato devour little Timmy from down the street, commenting on the proceedings with "such a shame" levels of worry.