The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was a 1978 movie labeled as a “musical- horror comedy.” It's the story of a US department of agriculture experiment that gets out of hand causing a group of mutant “killer” tomatoes to get loose in the city. They go on a rampage through the city with a plan to wipe out all of humanity. The plot thickens as no one can stop the murdering tomatoes, but only until it is discovered that the playing of rock music can kill them. It seemed people really had an appetite for killer tomatoes, for the movie had 3 sequels and was even made into an animated cartoon for kids.

The Killer Tomatoes cartoon series aired on the Fox Family Channel in the 1990’s, and it was about the same time that another vegetable cartoon for kids became popular. It was a cartoon called Veggie Tales. Unlike the killer variety of veggies, Veggie Tales had a Christian bend to them, but much like the killer variety, audiences find them funny and feed them to their kids.

Veggie tales featured vegetables like Larry the Cucumber, Bob the Tomato...

But, hey... wait a minute... is a tomato a fruit or a veggie?

There has been an age-old debate about whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. Scientifically speaking, the way to know the difference is to figure out if the fruit has seeds inside of it that you can eat, or not. In the case of a tomato the answer is “yes,” so, it is scientifically classified as a fruit.

The confusion about the tomato comes from the difference between how people use them in cooking. Science calls it a fruit because of its seeds; but culinary people call it a veggie because of it’s ability to be made into sauce. The argument seemed to come to a settlement when in1893 when the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling (for taxation purposes) that the tomato be classified officially as a vegetable. They made this determination because the tomato was primarily consumed in the manner of a vegetable rather than a fruit.

And so, it makes sense that Bob the Tomato, the star of Veggie Tales is indeed a veggie.

In Veggie Tale productions, produce, (yes "produce;" that means: tomato cucumber, scallions, carrot, asparagus pea and gourd, and occasionally a blueberry or a grape) dance, sing “silly songs” and act out familiar stories that are humorous, and they do this for the purpose of teaching kids moral lessons, many of which are from the Bible. Well actually, they are from other places too, AND the ones from the Bible are only similar to the Bible stories. They are not exactly the same. Veggie Tale producers say that they are a “parody,” that is, they are supposed to be “humorous imitations of the old familiar tales, a sort of lampooning of the tales” to have some fun and learn some lessons along the way.

For example, in Dave and the Giant Pickle, (a retelling of the David and Goliath story) kids get a lesson in self-esteem as they learn that “it makes no difference whether you're 9-feet tall or 2-feet tall -- with God's help, even little guys can do big things!

Well, it was no surprise that before long, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber became the favorite vegetables of young and old alike. The Big Idea sold over 50 million DVD’s and videotapes as well as all sorts of other paraphernalia to families, particularly Christian families, with kids! Things went well until 2003 when the company (Big Idea) filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

They were in financial trouble.

Filing Chapter 11 meant that they hoped to pay their debts but needed time to reorganize their business so that could happen. The weird thing about this is that it all occurred right after making of the Veggie Tale movie Jonah, which had grossed more than $24 million at the box office. Because of their financial woes, the company was forced to lay off employees, and restructure and in restructuring the partnered with Classic Media LLC, (owners of Barney the Dinosaur, Lassie, and Bob the Builder.) They still made videos but with a consider drop in their payroledl staff.

With only three people working and with a new name, (Jellyfish Labs, LLC) the future looked brighter for Larry, Bob, and friends, but a real opportunity knocked when in 2006, television broadcasters wanted to incorporate the well loved Veggie Tales into their Saturday Morning Values cartoon television for kids,.

Needless to say, Veggie Tales creator Phil Vischer thought that was another great idea, after all he believed wholeheartedly that the company was to continue its mission of “enhancing the spiritual and moral fabric of society through creative media," and Vischer said yes. But unfortunately NBC wanted them to cut out the bad parts in the Veggie Tales before airing the program.

You may wonder, as did Phil, “What bad parts?"

According to NBC, the “bad” part reffered to is the part that mentions the new politically incorrect word that has been banned from the airwaves and public speaking: “G-O-D," (aka God.)

Well, there is some food for thought.

Some critics of Veggie Tales thought that was pretty funny because they already were of the opinion that the" supposedly " Christian cartoon was missing some key Christian elements and was basically harmless. They pointed out that there was not even a veggie named Jesus, and that no one in the stories was raising the dead, raising from the dead, being crucified or doing miracles either. They didn’t quite get the reasoning behind NBC's request.

Veggie Tale fans were perplexed too, they thought that NBC producers would have been more “tolerant” of the word “God,” and the phrase,“God made you special and he loves you very much!” Especially on a cartoon intended to transfer values to children.

NBC officials said that the censoring of some words in the cartoon would have to be done if it was to air, this because it was important to protect people's first amendment rights. They could not allow this kind of information going out to their “Saturday Morning Values- Saturday Morning Fun” pre-teen crowd, and they they insisted on censoring, (oops,) er, eh, "selectively cutting-out" what they considered blemishes in the Veggie Tale stories before they were aired. For Vischer, this would not be an easy decision.

After all, Big Idea productions was made up of Christians, making videos to help families and children learn good lessons from moral tales, something that would be encouraging to Christian kids. But on the other hand, they did want to be able to reach outside the church to others with the messages as well. Rationalizing that they could target a broader audience with the help of NBC, they were willing to make a compromise.

Retrospectively they say that they didn’t really think the films would end up with simple references to “God” being thrown out completely, but it did happen that way. The “God” parts were removed, left in pile of rubbish on the cutting floor. The Veggies went forth into 'TV land and the little children happily gobbled up their friends and all their funny stories that made them laugh, but sadly, like the vegetables we consume for nutrition today, the Veggies had been depleted of their power. Now they were just cartoons.

Like the garden variety vegetables at the local supermarkets, they have gone into commercial production. They have been genetically altered, unable to reproduce, and are no longer produced for the benefit of distributing life giving truth. The New Veggie Tales has no life giving scriptures, and no references to God or God's love, now that they have all be cut out. All for the sake of gaining a broader audience?

In talking about it all, Paul Vischer, one of the Veggie Tale original Big Idea guys, says that creating the stories for Saturday morning cartoons has become even trickier than it used to be when he simply broadened the concept of God. Now that he had to take God out completely, he has to do more editing than he is truly comfortable with, but still he perseveres, because, he says, “the new stuff we're coming up with is really fun, and at least some new kids will meet Bob and Larry on NBC, and maybe wander into Wal-Mart and buy a video with all the God still in. So it could be better, but overall it's not a total loss. The new stuff is really cute. You'll like it.”

“Really cute?”

They may be cute, but are they safe?

TV producers think they are safe, after all Veggie Tales has been completely processed, in fact they show no sign of having any blemishes at all. They have been commercially grown, inspected, sliced, diced, canned, and labeled for their nutritional values and only need to be served up as moral food, saturday morning values, that the minds and hearts of growing kids can really sink their teeth into. Besides, we all know that TV producers of the world, know what’s “good and not good” when they see it. If it wasn’t safe for kids, do you think it would be allowed on kids TV?

Regarding the Veggies, NBC Spokeswoman Rebecca Marks proudly told reporters, “NBC is committed to the positive messages and universal values of Veggie Tales …Our goal is to reach as broad an audience as possible with these positive messages, while being careful not to advocate any one religious point of view." And NBC TV producers were happy as rating jumped dramatically the day Veggie Tales hit the Saturday morning air. Veggie Tales creators were happy too. In a Baptist Press article titled, "Jonah, A Whale of a Good Time," Vischer commented, “We never forget that we are in the entertainment business.” He added, “Veggie Tales helps kids learn life-changing lessons in a delightfully wacky way. The positive messages of the stories can now reach a wider audience and, in doing so, affect a new generation of children."
So.... while not exactly “God” messages, they are positive and life-changing too.


Ironically, Jesus didn’t come to entertain men with cunningly devised tales, or various forms of slapstick comedy. He didn’t come to affirm the universal values of the world. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10) He did the will of God, he fulfilled the scriptures and he had a lot to say before he was brutally beaten, mocked, scorned, shamed and humiliated and left on a cross to die… naked. Meanwhile, many a person loves the Veggie Tale stories, particularly the ones about the Bible, not because they are accurate, but because they make us laugh.

Just the same, Jonah was not laughing when he was sent by God to tell Nineveh to repent of their sinful ways, he was afraid and this because it wasn’t for slapping one another with fish that they were in trouble with God as the Veggie Tale full-length movie, Jonah, portrayed. What they were really doing was not something God thought to be funny.

What does The Lord think about such altering or adding to scripture? How does the Lord view it when his Name and references to his Word of Truth are removed by His people in order to reaching a broader audience or have some more financial gain? And when you think about it, does not the scripture say that the broad way the way that leads to destruction?

It was Jesus who said, “A branch cannot bear fruit except it remain in the vine, no more can you except ye abide in me.” ( John 15:4) It’s true!

The tomato is not intended to be a vegetables. They are created by God with seeds that you can eat, and that is what would make a fruit a fruit. But like anything else, a tomatoes, can become known not for what they are meant to be, but for what they have become.

You might even say, they mutate.