God of the Tomatoes

God of the Tomatoes is the twenty-sixth episode of FruityTales.

The story is a parody of J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" series and the film trilogy.

Plot
Rudolf (Mr. WaterMelon) arrives in the shire for Ballboy Birdypants' 122nd birthday party. Ballboy (Archibald Celery) talks about retiring and leaving the shire and uses a strange tomato to produce a birthday cake. Returning to his home, he finds Rudolf waiting in his living room. Rudolf remarks on Ballboy's impressive height, his fine clothing, and his luxuriously appointed home, knowing they have come from the tomato, and warns his friend of using such things lightly. Ballboy concedes that the pea has given him almost everything he could want. He then announces that he is leaving the shire due to dissatisfaction and bequeathing everything he owns, including the tomato, to his nephew Poco (Timmy Strawberry).

Waiting for Poco, Rudolf relates that Ballboy has departed and draws his attention to the tomato. Poco is curious as to why he would want a tomato and Rudolf describes the origin of a magical tomato that could produce clothing, consumables, and small kitchen appliances, and also change your appearance. After verifying the pea's authenticity from an inscription left after warming it in the fire, Poco is unsure about accepting such a gift and tries to pass it off to Rudolf. However, Rudolf explains that one cannot choose his gifts and must determine for himself how they should best be used.

He then suggests that Poco travel to the Elders of the Razzberry Jungle for insight with some friends that he has already gathered to assist with the journey: the ranger, Ear-a-Cabbage (Harry); the elf, Log-O-Lamb (Jimmy); the dwarf, Grampy (Pa Orange); and Log-O-Lamb's brother (Jerry) who had nothing better to do. They trek through the Mountains of Much Snowia and eventually reach the Razzberry Jungle. There, Rudolf warns the others not to laugh because the elders have lost their sense of humor. The Elders welcome them and inform Rudolf that they must travel to the Land of Woe. The others burst into laughter upon hearing the greetings and native tongue of the Elders, which involves blowing raspberries. This gets them sentenced to detention on a platform forever until an eagle "saves" them and they escape.

Leaving the forest, they emerge near the entrance to the Land of Woe. After opening the door, they realize that Poco is the only one small enough to fit through and he proceeds alone. However, the remainder of the group soon learns that a group of sporks, minions of the evil Crazyman (Leek #1), are after Poco in order to seize the bean for their master. The fellowship then goes in pursuit.

In the Land of Woe, Poco encounters a strange creature named Amen (Mr. Morty), who reveals that he was once a normal flobbit like Poco and the former owner of the pea. Ahem then agrees to accompany Poco into Woe as a guide. Meanwhile, the others charge through the Red Gate, only to be trapped by the Sporks. The "Other Elf" then bakes cookies and gives them to the Sporks who have not eaten anything for days and the fellowship journeys on. Poco and Amen arrive in Woe to find a desperate people lacking the most basic necessities, such as food and water. Amen wants Poco to leave them, to use the tomato for his own creature comforts, but Poco recognizes that he can use it to help the people of Woe. The fellowship arrives just ahead of Crazyman, who steals the tomato. However, Ballboy suddenly reappears, recovering the tomato and returning it to Poco. Poco throws the tomato into the well, bringing water back to the Land of Woe and restoring it to its fertile and beautiful state.

Explanations

 * An optical illusion is a way of seeing something that does not exist or that is other than it appears.

Trivia

 * This is the last time the 1993 Big Deal closing bumper is used.
 * This is the first main FruityTales episode where there's no commentary track. Phillippe Vischer and Jim Hodge later apologized about it. Though a character commentary track was featured in the DVD.
 * Shortly after the episode's release, Phillippe Vischer got a notice from New Line Cinema about them not legally parodying the "Lord of the Rings" films without permission. This is the reason why The Beautiful Land of Pass was late in production.
 * Harry got his unicycle from saving 500 boxtops from Frosted Flaky Flippers.
 * The answers the Fellowship guessed before Poco spoke up
 * A cow
 * An ostrich with a suitcase
 * Bacon
 * A vicuna
 * A three ring binder
 * A vespa
 * A lint
 * The things Ballboy got/received with the tomato are:
 * Making himself taller.
 * Fine clothing.
 * An espresso maker.
 * A birthday cake.
 * The things Amen/Spiegel got/received with the bean are:
 * Fine clothing.
 * Lifetime of food (e.g., pizza, cupcakes).
 * A fountain of Grape Nehi that shoots out from the ground.
 * A 200 pound marshmallow Peep.

Remarks

 * Harry doesn't have legs, and yet he can pedal the unicycle.
 * Some of the other flobbits at Ballboy's party are just cardboard cutouts.
 * This is one of the episodes where the Serious Song is in the later half in the runtime.
 * Rob seems to show his inner feelings of the What Have We Learned Song. Even Harry thinks he's somewhat out of place.

Goofs

 * When Rudolf pops up and asks Ballboy why he looks different, Ballboy is cross-eyed.

Inside References

 * Some references in the countertop, such as Harry almost falling in the sink and mentions of FruityBeat were from Lawrence, Aiden & James. In fact, this episode was released ten years after that said episode was released (1989).
 * Some of the sets were reused from the previous episode, such as the mountains and the underground lair. Even the hairbrush Grampy offers to Amen was from that episode.
 * The small bee that shows up in the beginning and later appears when the group were stuck on the tree is the same model as Snail Doo.
 * Some of the flobbits were about to eat a slice of pizza.
 * The Other Elf offers the sporks cookies.
 * Scaryman's "Show yourself!" is an echo of Marlin's line when he encountered coral.
 * Harry riding a unicycle is a talent he previously did on The Good, the Bad, and the Eggly.

Real World References

 * Frosted Flay Flippers is a play on words for Kellog's Frosted Flakes.
 * Jerry’s entire motif is a reference to the Keebler elf.

Fast Forward

 * Mr. Morty and his habit for labor-saving devices would come in the second feature film.