Toxic Crusaders facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Toxic Crusaders
The Toxic Crusaders: The Television Series, Vol. 1 DVD cover
Created by	Lloyd Kaufman Michael Herz
Based on	The Toxic Avenger film series
Directed by	Bill Hutton Tony Love
Starring	Gregg Berger Susan Blu Rodger Bumpass Paul Eiding Ed Gilbert John Mariano Chuck McCann Michael J. Pollard Hal Rayle Susan Silo Kath Soucie Patric Zimmerman
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Fred Wolf
Producer(s)	Walt Kubiak
Running time	30 Minutes
Production company(s)	Murakami-Wolf-Swenson Troma Entertainment
Distributor	Sachs Family Entertainment
Release
Original network	Syndication
Original release	March 1 – May 20, 1991 (1991-05-20)

Toxic Crusaders is a 1991 animated series aimed at children, loosely based on The Toxic Avenger films. It features Toxie, the lead character of the films leading a group of misfit superheroes who combat pollution. This followed a trend of environmentally considerate cartoons and comics of the time, including Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Swamp Thing, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. As this incarnation was aimed at children, Toxic Crusaders is considerably tamer than the edgy films it was based on (although it nevertheless contained many adult-oriented jokes that would go over most children's heads).

Thirteen episodes were produced and aired, with at least a few episodes airing as a "trial run" in Summer 1990 followed by the official debut on January 21, 1991.

It aired on YTV 1991 to 1997 in Canada. The US cable network G4 aired the first two episodes on July 25, 2009.

Overview

Prior to Toxic Crusaders, cartoons based on R-rated (under-17s must be accompanied) films had indeed been attempted with programs like Rambo: The Force of Freedom. Created by New York-based Troma, Inc., a company famous for such low-budget classic films as Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, Class of Nuke 'Em High, and Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD, the animated Toxic Crusaders departed significantly from its live-action source.

The Toxic Avenger film series starred Melvin Junko, a scrawny nerd who, through exposure to toxic waste, was mutated into a "hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength."

Only thirteen syndicated episodes of Toxic Crusaders were produced, but like the feature films, the episodes became cult favorites, spawning a string of merchandising.

Plot

Toxic Crusaders cleaned up Toxie's act considerably. Toxie was still a grotesque mutant endowed with superhuman powers, but underneath it all, he was a good-hearted, law-abiding citizen of the fictional town of Tromaville, New Jersey (the setting of most of Troma Entertainment's films). Another change from the films was that the toxic waste also mutated his mop into a sentient being that would sometimes battle enemies by itself or motion to Toxie ideas on how to solve problems. The villains were still polluters, albeit polluters from a different world. Hailing from the planet Smogula, Czar Zosta, Dr. Killemoff, and Psycho wreaked ecological havoc with the help of Tromaville's corrupt Mayor Grody. Bonehead, a street punk who bullied Melvin, joins them in the first episode.

Dr. Killemoff and Czar Zosta were cockroach-like extraterrestrials from the planet Smogula, which is a world where pollution is natural as fresh air and water is natural to Earth. Natives of Smogula thrive on pollution and need it to survive. For unexplained reasons, Czar Zosta and other Smogulans were able to withstand Earth's atmosphere without problems while Dr. Killemoff wears a breathing apparatus to survive. Dr. Killemoff, like most villains, also had a seemingly endless army of foot soldiers called Radiation Rangers.

Other villains and heroes made their appearances on the show with equally ridiculous origins as the Crusaders. Few if any of these characters made more than one appearance.

Characters

Toxic Crusaders

• Toxie (voiced by Rodger Bumpass) – The main protagonist of the series. Melvin Junko is a wimpy janitor at a health club who was often picked on by Bonehead and his friends. When Bonehead and his friends played a trick on Melvin which involved him wearing a tutu and unknowingly kissing a sheep, Melvin ran in embarrassment and ended up falling into a drum filled with toxic waste that turned him into a creature of superhuman size and strength. Toxie's weapon of choice was a superpowered mop (named quite appropriately Mop) which had a mind of its own as it was also exposed to the toxic chemicals.
• No-Zone (voiced by Paul Eiding) – No-Zone was originally a test pilot who flew through a hole in the ozone layer and crashed into a silo of radioactive pepper. He gained the appearance of a blue-skinned humanoid with a wheel for a right foot and powerful sneezes emitted from his enormous nose.
• Major Disaster (voiced by Ed Gilbert) – Major Disaster was originally a military soldier who gained the ability to control plants after falling into a radioactive swamp.
• Headbanger – A fusion of two opposing personalities into a two-headed body made up of Dr. Bender (voiced by Hal Rayle) the cantankerous mad scientist for the right half and Fender (voiced by John Mariano) the surfer-like singing telegram boy for the left half. The Fender part was responsible for the accident where they fell into the atom-smasher and got joined into one body. Bender mutated into a green creature akin to Toxie, but Fender retained his human appearance. Headbanger originally worked with Dr. Killemoff when it came to his plot to put chemicals in the food at a fast food restaurant.
• Junkyard (voiced by Gregg Berger) – Junkyard was originally a junkyard dog and a homeless man who took shelter in Junkyard's kennel which was covered in toxic waste when lightning struck it and merged them together into one humanoid dog. He joined up with the Toxic Crusaders upon helping them fight Dr. Killemoff's forces at the time when Dr. Killemoff disguised City Island as a resort.

Villains

• Czar Zosta (voiced by Patric Zimmerman) – One of the primary antagonists of the series and the ruler of Smogula. Czar Zosta is a small bug-like Smogulan who is Dr. Killemoff's boss.
• Dr. Killemoff (voiced by Rodger Bumpass) – One of the primary antagonists of the series. He comes from the planet Smogula. Dr. Killemoff wears a breathing apparatus (which resembled a mask giving him a somewhat human appearance) in order to survive on non-polluted worlds. Two recurring gags involving Killemoff are that he always corrects someone when they only refer to him as Killemoff by shouting "That's DR. Killemoff" and that he never listens to Psycho's predictions despite the fact that they could help him succeed.
• Psycho (voiced by Michael J. Pollard) – An obese bio-mechanical being that had an uncanny ability to guess the future which was a key point in the TV show where his guesses would end up as the spoiler to how Dr. Killemoff's plans would fail.
• Bonehead (voiced by Hal Rayle) – Bonehead was a bullying Earth punk who embarrassed Melvin in front of girls. He later attempts to fight Toxie when he finds Bonehead and his friends harassing Yvonne. In self-defense, Toxie throws him into a barrel of acid rain in the first episode resulting in his near-skeletal appearance. Bonehead then joins forces with Dr. Killemoff. He was mostly brainless and incompetent. He is based on Bozo from the first movie.
• Mayor Max Grody (voiced by Chuck McCann) – The corrupt Mayor of Tromaville who is allied with the Smogulans. He is based on Mayor Peter Belgoody from the first movie.
  • Mona (voiced by Susan Blu) – Mayor Grody's secretary.
• Polluto – A living oil slick monster created by Dr. Killemoff. Toxie managed to destroy Polluto in "The Maxing of Toxie" by having No-Zone sneeze a pile of cat litter on Polluto which caused it to explode. In "Club Fred," Polluto was recreated and unleashed on the Toxic Crusaders. The Toxic Crusaders threw large antacid pills which caused Polluto to dissolve.
• General GarBage – A Smogulan general who appeared in "Invasion of the Biddy Snatchers." He was called in by Czar Zostas to replace Dr. Killemoff. His plot involved having his infiltrators taking over the elderly citizens of Tromaville by biting them and becoming a four-armed clone of the elderly citizens. This plan went into action with some of the victims being Mrs. Junko and Mayor Grody's mother. When Dr. Killemoff is surprised that General GarBage's plan is actually working, he states to Psycho and Bonehead that they will be out of a job resulting in Dr. Killemoff having to call the Toxic Crusaders for help. With help from Toxie's mom and the other elderly citizens, the Toxic Crusaders ended up defeating the clones with the elderly citizens using their hair spray to regress the clones back to normal form. General GarBage then appeared and unleashed the Radiation Rangers on the Toxic Crusaders. Under the idea of his mop, Toxie uses the hair spray to shrink General GarBage causing him to retreat back to Smogula.
• Radiation Rangers – A bunch of hunched-over mutants in yellow hazmat suits and intimidating gas masks that serve as Dr. Killemoff's foot soldiers.

Other characters

• Blobbie – Toxie's pet which resembles a little blob of goo. Toxie first met Blobbie when he first arrived in the toxic waste dump
• Yvonne (voiced by Kath Soucie in a Bronx accent) – Toxie's buxom blonde girlfriend. Yvonne is often playing the accordion and singing soprano so high that it would break things, but Toxie is too polite to criticize her about it. One time the show literally broke the fourth wall in the form of Yvonne's singing causing the viewer's TV to break (in the form of animated broken glass), and Toxie apologizing to the viewer and saying the Toxic Crusaders will come by to buy them new TV sets. She is based on Toxie's blind girlfriend Sarah from the movies, yet Yvonne is nearsighted.
• Mrs. Junko (voiced by Susan Silo in a Brooklyn accent) – Toxie's mother.
• Lloyd – A friend of the Toxic Crusaders. A joke about him in this series is that his wife and children also had the same full beard as he did.
• Snailman – Crash Shelby is a race car driver who careened off a bridge into a barge full of snails where the engine oil merged him with a snail. He once helped the Toxic Crusaders fight Dr. Killemoff and Czar Zosta.
• Mower Man – Mower Man was originally a gardener who took a nap in a garden shed that happened to contain leaking gardening chemicals, which exploded in the heat of the day and made him into a half-man, half gardening equipment hybrid or as he preferred: "A hideously deformed creature of superhuman shears and strength." He once worked with Dr. Killemoff in a plot that involved Weed Monsters. After being fired for accidentally mowing the Weed Monsters, Mower Man was last seen applying for a job in the want ads to help Mayor Grody destroy incriminating evidence.

Episode list

Voice cast

• Gregg Berger – Junkyard
• Susan Blu – Mona
• Rodger Bumpass – Toxie/Melvin Junko, Dr. Killemoff
• Paul Eiding – No-Zone
• Ed Gilbert – Major Disaster
• John Mariano – Fender
• Chuck McCann – Mayor Max Grody
• Michael J. Pollard – Psycho
• Hal Rayle – Bonehead, Dr. Bender
• Susan Silo – Mrs. Junko
• Kath Soucie – Yvonne
• Patric Zimmerman – Czar Zosta

Crew

• Cindy Akers – Assistant Dialogue Director
• Susan Blu – Dialogue Director