When making a cartoon spin off of something you would usually expect the source material to be something kid appropriate. For example, the Droids and Ewoks cartoons that came from the Star Wars series: kids have seen the films, already have a load of toys and these are some of the more cuddly/silly characters from the series so they make nice non-threatening family viewing and the parents hopefully won't complain about anything. It wouldn't make sense to make a cartoon series out of Comando would it? Wait, maybe it would. Kids always manage to see things they're not supposed to, so while there are no kids in the cinema watching action films like Terminator 2, they've all seen it on video at home and are playing it in the playground. The big guys in suits smoking cigars know this so they commission action figures and toy spin offs of popular 18 and 15 certificate movies. The parents aren't gonna like it but it's gonna happen. I can remember going into Woolworths and seeing toys for Last Action Hero and thinking "who is buying these things?" I don't think many people who were actually over 15 were going to see that film so why was someone expecting children to buy toys of a crappy film they weren't supposed to see? It does not make sense!
Well anyway, this sort of thing did happen a lot so here are the top 5 cartoon spin offs to inappropriate source material:
5 - Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
You take this:
Super campy B-movie spoof that involved people getting killed by giant killer tomatoes. It's not a very serious film. It was also made in 1978 and the animated series didn't come out until 1990 so what the hell? Well, sequels starting coming out in the late 80s after some footage from the original film was used in a scene in Muppet Babies (stick with me here). The episode was one of the most popular in the series, so much so that the producers contacted the guys who made the original Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes to make some sequels and gave them two million dollars to do it! The knock of this was a few more sequels, the cartoon series, comics, videogames and toys, and George Clooney was in one of the sequels! Epic!
And turn it into this:
The story picks up after "The Great Tomatoe War" and follows a mutant tomatoe who has turned into a human girl, a cute furry tomatoe dog and a regular boy fighting against an evil doctor trying to take over the world with his evil mutant tomatoes. Also, tomaotes are outlawed in this strange post-apocayptic future. No tomatoes actually kill anyone, dispite the title.
I'm sure this made more sense when I watched it at the time.
4 - Police Academy - The Series
You take this:
A group of misfit police recruits make cock jokes and other forms of low brow humor, torment their superiors and somehow solve crimes.
And turn it into this:
The same thing but without all the cock gags, just a bit more goofy slapstick.
3 - Robocop
You take this:
A policeman who is brutally murdered by the dad from That 70s show, Dr. Romano from E.R. and some other bad guys has his brain and body turned into a futuristic robot law enforcing machine. He has a big gun hidden inside his leg and kills the bad guys.
And turn it into this:
Mortally wounded policeman (no hand getting shot off scenes here) is turned into a robot super cop. Now the story has a more futuristic setting with more robots to fight and lazers instead of bullets. I'm pretty sure no one got covered in toxic waste and melted when they got hit by a car either.
2 - Rambo and the Forces of Freedom
You take this:
One mentally scared, ex-Vietnam war vet who is a one man killing machine. He blows shit up, shoots big guns and chops people up with a huge knife. He also makes a real meal out of doing up the laces on his boots.
And turn it into this:
Rambo is part of a G.I. Joe-esque combat force out to save the world from some dudes out to do no good. He uses violence as a last resort and no one dies.
1 - Toxic Crusaders
You take this:
B-movie horror / comedy / gross out superhero spoof The Toxic Avenger: a weedy dork gets dumped in a load of toxic waste and transformed into a super-strong and super-deformed hero. He kills goofy villains, and someone who may or may not be Ron Jeremy, in grotesque/comic fashion and also gets it on with a blind girl.
And turn it into this:
Dorky guy gets mutated and assembles a band of similarly disfigured do-gooders who protect their town from being polluted by bad guys... kind of like the Turtles meets Captain Planet but as ugly as Madballs. This show did not do very well but they still made a video game and toy line out if it, because that's what kids want, action figures based on people who have been hideously disfigured by toxic waste. "You know, FOR KIDS!"
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