With daytime cartoons based on adult-focused films Beetlejuice, Police Academy, Rambo and Robocop releasing throughout the 1980s, the prospect of an animated series based on 1978 B-movie parody Attack of the Killer Tomatoes seemed a natural step for the franchise. Unlike those earlier series however, its journey to the small screen was less by design and more fortuitous circumstance. After footage from the film appeared in a top-rated episode of the original incarnation of Muppet Babies, 1986's "The Weirdo Zone," the Roger Corman-founded New World Pictures (parent company of Muppet Babies developers Marvel Productions) approached the film's co-writer and director John DeBello about a theatrical sequel.

The slight profitability of 1988's Return of the Killer Tomatoes inspired New World Pictures and prolific animation writer Richard Mueller to produce a kid-friendly cartoon based on the films. The series, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, debuted on Sept. 8, 1990 at 9:30 a.m. as part of the inaugural line-up for the Fox Children's Network programming block. Hewing closer to the sequel than the original, the show kept the irreverence of the films with a visual style typical of other animated series of the time. That is, until the second season rolled around the following year and became the unexpected vanguard for a now-industry wide method of animation production.

RELATED: Steven Spielberg’s Favorite Episode of Tiny Toon Adventures Might Be a Surprise

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Season One Dr Putrid T Gangrene

Boasting a who's who of voiceover talent led by John Astin as Dr. Putrid T. Gangrene, a reprisal of his live-action film role Dr. Mortimer Gangrene, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes focused on young Chad Finletter (Christian Guzek), his surrogate sister/mutated tomato Tara Boumdeay (Kath Soucie) and lovable sidekick "F.T." (S. Scott Bullock). The central cast was rounded out by Cam Clarke, Maurice LaMarche, Rob Paulsen, Neil Ross and Susan Silo, among others. Animation services were handled by South Korean studio AKOM, a regular presence across numerous animated series. Helping the upstart Fox Children's Network to take 16 percent of the Saturday morning viewing audience from ABC, CBS and NBC by May 1991 (as reported by the Los Angeles Times), the series was renewed for a second season.

When Attack of the Killer Tomatoes returned on the rebranded Fox Kids network on Sept. 7, 1991 at 8 a.m. (the 9:30 a.m. time slot now home to incoming series Taz-Mania) regular viewers were in for a shock. Gangrene's plan for vegetable-based world domination succeeded after his gaggle of lovable tomato henchmen, led by LaMarche's Zoltan, received massive -- and merchandisable -- upgrades. Realizing they had literally outgrown their creator, the "Gang of Six" wrested away control, leading to a new ongoing narrative that saw the anti-tomato resistance working with their hated enemy Gangrene.

Along with the new direction of incoming writer Flint Dille, came a change in visuals. The second season was a completely digital production, the first animated series to attempt such an endeavor. The new episodes were overseen by American Film Technologies, a company controversially at the fore of colorizing classic black and white films during the 1980s. As work dried up by the decade's end, AFT co-founder Barry Sandrew pivoted the company toward animation and developing a system they'd hoped would rival Disney's Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), fast becoming a key component of its late '80s/early '90s theatrical animation renaissance.

RELATED: Marvel Planned To Reunite X-Men ‘97 Decades Earlier

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Season Two Gang of Six

Confirmed by artist and animation historian Tom Sito in his 2013 book Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was the first series to utilize computers throughout the entire animation process (studio Hanna Barbara had previously invested heavily in digital coloring in the 1980s, but continued to rely on pencil and paper for the actual animation). While ground-breaking, the growing pains associated with creating 2D animation directly into computer systems via tablets are evidenced from the finished product, which lacked the relative finesse and style of the original 13 episodes. 3D animation was used occasionally in the series, primarily for props and vehicles.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was canceled after its eight-episode second season, the central arc left unresolved. As revealed in a January 1993 Los Angeles Times article, AFT's work on the series lost $3 million; it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy later that year, and eventually shuttered by the decade's end. As Macromedia's Flash became a viable tool for developing animation on the growing World Wide Web circa the turn of the century, it began to creep into mainstream broadcast television programs in tandem with a complete shift from hand-painted cel animation to digital coloring. In the mid-2000s, the use of tablets for traditional 2D animation production increased following Disney's 2007 short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, 50 percent of which was produced using paperless techniques.

A few pieces of merchandise trickled out during Attack of the Killer Tomatoes first season. The second season was accompanied by a full Mattel toy line, anchored by a wave packaging a larger tomato character with a human mini-figure. This was followed in early 1992 by video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Game Boy. Reruns briefly returned to Fox Kids in 1996, running from April through August, although only first season episodes were shown. The series aired on the Fox Family Channel from 1998 through 1999, but has more or less faded into obscurity without an official home video or streaming service release. Although far from ground-breaking, the importance of the animated incarnation of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes for an entire industry -- or simply as a piece of curious trivia -- make it deserving of greater recognition.