Franken Berry: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 07:55, 19 October 2007

Franken Berry is a member of the line of monster-themed breakfast cereals produced by General Mills for the North American market. It contains strawberry-flavoured corn cereal bits and marshmallows. Franken Berry is also the name of the cereal's mascot, a variant of Frankenstein's monster.

Monster themed cereals of the 1970s

In 1971, the first two cereals in the line were introduced, the still-available Count Chocula and (strawberry flavored) Franken Berry. Franken Berry was very popular at that time, even though the initial batches of the cereal used a dye that didn't break down in the body, causing many children's feces to be bright pink,^[1] a symptom sometimes referred to as "Frankenberry Stool." Boo Berry was released two years later, in 1973, and Fruit Brute appeared a year after that, in 1974. Fruit Brute was discontinued by 1983. General Mills tried replacing Fruit Brute in the late 1980's with Yummy Mummy in 1988, but that too had a short shelf life when it was discontinued in 1993. Boo Berry and Franken Berry are sometimes mistakenly thought to be discontinued as well. In reality, their distribution is just much lower and more sporadic than that of the flagship cereal Count Chocula. The best time of the year to find Boo Berry and Franken Berry is around Halloween. Target and Wal-Mart are among the stores that have been known to carry these more scarce cereals during October. They can be found year-round in the Midwest at Wal-Mart Supercenters and on Amazon.com. In addition, they have been spotted year-round in some Wal-Mart Supercenters in the East.

Cultural references

At the beginning the October 16, 2007 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Franken Berry was compared to former republican Senator Fred Thompson based on their similar appearance.

The red dye problems of the early batches of Franken Berry inspired a major plot thread in Stephen King's novel Cujo. "Red Razberry Zinger Cereal" contained a red dye which made folks think they were bleeding, hemorrhaging, or throwing up blood; the ensuing panic and the need for damage control causes ad man Vic Trenton's absence from home during the critical events of the story.^[2]

A parody of Franken Berry ("Franken Fruity") was featured in the television show Dead Like Me, and was one of Georgia Lass's dolls that she had in her room. She proclaimed (when she went back after she was dead and saw her mother was selling the figure) that "Franken Fruity is the shit."

G4's Attack of the Show aired a parody of a Franken Berry television advertisement calledFranken Pereirry. The fictional cereal was named after television host Kevin Pereira. The video was part of a "User Created" cereal box contest.

Franken Berry's voice was originally provided by Bob McFadden. It is an obvious impersonation of Frankenstein's monster, as portrayed in movies by actor Boris Karloff.

Franken Berry has also appeared several times on the hit animated television show Family Guy as a recurring character. For example, Peter and Brian try to use their "Wonder Twin" rings to save their house, and Brian comments that they got them in a box of Franken Berry.

An episode of Invader ZIM contains a parody cereal called Frankenchokey.

Franken Berry is often referenced by Conan O'Brien as his favorite cereal because it turns the milk pink.

On the television show Futurama, Kif proclaims to Amy that he will make her a perfume of Lilac, Jasmine, and Franken Berry.

On an episode of Robot Chicken, Franken Berry appears as a judge on Zombie Idol, a parody of American Idol, mimicking the personality of American Idol judge Randy Jackson.

In 1999, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a front-page story about Count Chocula, characterizing him as an actual blood-sucking monster to underscore the humor of his role as mascot for a children's cereal. Franken Berry is also referenced in the article, although not by name.

1990s South Carolina punk rock band, Bedlam Hour, used to involve the audience in a ritual called the Franken Berry Mosh, which involved throwing the cereal into the audience.

For the Halloween edition of Something Awful's Tub Bites, Frankenberry and Count Chocula, appearing as Strawberrystein and Chocolate Dracula, try to get kids to eat ther cereal, but are murdered by them because they're monsters.

Chris Rock referenced the cereal on his 2006 HBO special Never Scared while talking about Michael Jackson's loony court appearances: "Twenty minutes late? This ain't `Barbershop 2.' It's court motherfucka! He didn't even wear a real suit. He came in there lookin' like Captain Crunch! Who's your lawyer? Franken Berry?"

Frankenberry was the name of an intern on the Opie & Anthony Show and also on the Ron & Fez Show in the fall of 2006. He famously had an on air spat with Opie and Anthony after he left their show to intern for Ron & Fez.

In the popular webcomic Something Positive, protagonist Davan McIntire and his best friend Aubrey Chorde buy a large supply of the monster cereals, which Davan (who has a culinary bent) transforms into a number of experimental desserts. The odd foodstuffs are then "donated" to a bunch of collegiate potheads.

In season 4 episode 15 of Saturday Night Live actor, comedian, writer and Senatorial hopeful Al Franken complains that his face, name, and posterior are being used to sell Franken Berry Cereal

In a 1990 episode of Roseanne, Darlene has to take a field trip to the grocery store where Roseanne reveals that she has been filling the Franken Berry box with generic cereal, Darlene is shocked to find out the whole time she has been eating generic Franken Berry.

In an episode of the The Simpsons actor Rainier Wolfcastle gives out t-shirts of his failed movies to reward Homer, Apu, Moe, and Principal Skinner. One of the movies is Frankenberry the Movie II: The Frankenberry Wears Prada, a parody of the movie The Devil Wears Prada.

On The Critic, the episode "A Little Deb Will Do Ya" contained a joke on pink dye incident. While in direct competition with Humphrey the Hippo (the series' joke on Barney and Friends), Jay critizes Humphrey, and tells him "your cereal turned my urine pink". Humphrey responds by saying, "You would need to eat six straight bowls for that to happen!"

On the Drawn Together episode Breakfast Food Killer, Frankenberry appears as the President of the cereal regime, and as the villainous mastermind behind the slavery of African children working in mines to produce American cereals. In an attempt to kill Toot Braunstein by having Wooldoor Sockbat turn on her, he is pushed off a ledge and eaten by a crocodile.

External links

General Mills

Parody article on Count Chocula in The Onion, mentioning Franken Berry

References

^ Everything2: Frankenberry
^ List of fictional cereals, including various Franken Berry parodies and the red dye cereal from Cujo

[1] Everything2: Frankenberry

[2] List of fictional cereals, including various Franken Berry parodies and the red dye cereal from Cujo

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 In [[1971]], the first two cereals in the line were introduced, the still-available [[Count Chocula]] and (strawberry flavored) [[Franken Berry]]. Franken Berry was very popular at that time, even though the initial batches of the cereal used a dye that didn't break down in the body, causing many children's feces to be bright pink,<ref>[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Frankenberry Everything2: Frankenberry]</ref> a symptom sometimes referred to as "Frankenberry Stool." [[Boo Berry]] was released two years later, in [[1973]], and [[Fruit Brute]] appeared a year after that, in [[1974]]. [[Fruit Brute]] was discontinued by [[1983]]. General Mills tried replacing Fruit Brute in the late 1980's with [[Yummy Mummy]] in 1988, but that too had a short shelf life when it was discontinued in 1993. [[Boo Berry]] and [[Franken Berry]] are sometimes mistakenly thought to be discontinued as well. In reality, their distribution is just much lower and more sporadic than that of the flagship cereal [[Count Chocula]]. The best time of the year to find [[Boo Berry]] and [[Franken Berry]] is around [[Halloween]]. [[Target Corporation|Target]] and [[Wal-Mart]] are among the stores that have been known to carry these more scarce cereals during October.  They can be found year-round in the Midwest at [[Wal-Mart]] Supercenters and on Amazon.com. In addition, they have been spotted year-round in some Wal-Mart Supercenters in the East.
+==Cultural references==
+*At the beginning the October 16, 2007 episode of [[The Daily Show with Jon Stewart]] Franken Berry was compared to former republican Senator [[Fred Thompson]] based on their similar appearance.
+*The red dye problems of the early batches of Franken Berry inspired a major plot thread in [[Stephen King]]'s [[novel]] ''[[Cujo]]''. "Red Razberry Zinger Cereal" contained a red dye which made folks think they were bleeding, hemorrhaging, or throwing up blood; the ensuing panic and the need for damage control causes ad man Vic Trenton's absence from home during the critical events of the story.<ref>[http://www.lavasurfer.com/cereal-fictional6.html List of fictional cereals], including various Franken Berry parodies and the red dye cereal from ''[[Cujo]]''</ref>
+*A parody of Franken Berry ("Franken Fruity") was featured in the television show ''[[Dead Like Me]]'', and was one of Georgia Lass's dolls that she had in her room. She proclaimed (when she went back after she was dead and saw her mother was selling the figure) that "Franken Fruity is the shit."
+*[[G4 (TV channel)|G4]]'s [[Attack of the Show!|Attack of the Show]] aired a parody of a Franken Berry television advertisement called[http://www.g4tv.com/pile_player.aspx?video_key=9231 Franken Pereirry]. The fictional cereal was named after television host [[Kevin Pereira]]. The video was part of a "User Created" cereal box contest.
+*Franken Berry's voice was originally provided by [[Bob McFadden]].  It is an obvious impersonation of Frankenstein's monster, as portrayed in movies by actor [[Boris Karloff]].
+*Franken Berry has also appeared several times on the hit animated television show ''[[Family Guy]]'' as a recurring character. For example, Peter and Brian try to use their "Wonder Twin" rings to save their house, and Brian comments that they got them in a box of Franken Berry.
+*An episode of ''[[Invader ZIM]]'' contains a parody cereal called Frankenchokey.
+*Franken Berry is often referenced by [[Conan O'Brien]] as his favorite cereal because it turns the milk pink.
+*On the television show ''[[Futurama]]'', Kif proclaims to Amy that he will make her a perfume of Lilac, Jasmine, and Franken Berry.
+*On an episode of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'', Franken Berry appears as a judge on ''Zombie Idol'', a parody of ''[[American Idol]]'', mimicking the personality of ''American Idol'' judge [[Randy Jackson]].
+*In 1999, the satirical newspaper ''[[The Onion]]'' ran a front-page story about [[Count Chocula]], characterizing him as an actual blood-sucking monster to underscore the humor of his role as mascot for a children's cereal.  Franken Berry is also referenced in the article, although not by name.
+*1990s South Carolina punk rock band, Bedlam Hour, used to involve the audience in a ritual called the Franken Berry Mosh, which involved throwing the cereal into the audience.
+*For the Halloween edition of [[Something Awful]]'s Tub Bites, Frankenberry and Count Chocula, appearing as Strawberrystein and Chocolate Dracula, try to get kids to eat ther cereal, but are murdered by them because they're monsters.
+*[[Chris Rock]] referenced the cereal on his 2006 [[HBO]] special ''Never Scared'' while talking about  [[Michael Jackson]]'s loony court appearances: "Twenty minutes late? This ain't `[[Barbershop 2]].' It's court motherfucka! He didn't even wear a real suit. He came in there lookin' like [[Cap'n Crunch|Captain Crunch]]! Who's your lawyer? Franken Berry?"
+*Frankenberry was the name of an intern on the Opie & Anthony Show and also on the Ron & Fez Show in the fall of 2006.  He famously had an on air spat with Opie and Anthony after he left their show to intern for Ron & Fez.
+*In the popular webcomic [[Something Positive]], protagonist Davan McIntire and his best friend Aubrey Chorde buy a large supply of the monster cereals, which Davan (who has a culinary bent) transforms into a number of experimental desserts.  The odd foodstuffs are then "donated" to a bunch of collegiate potheads.
+*In season 4 episode 15 of Saturday Night Live actor, comedian, writer and Senatorial hopeful Al Franken complains that his face, name, and posterior are being used to sell Franken Berry Cereal
+*In a 1990 episode of ''[[Roseanne]]'', Darlene has to take a field trip to the grocery store where Roseanne reveals that she has been filling the Franken Berry box with generic cereal, Darlene is shocked to find out the whole time she has been eating generic Franken Berry.
+*In an episode of the ''[[The Simpsons]]'' actor Rainier Wolfcastle gives out t-shirts of his failed movies to reward Homer, Apu, Moe, and Principal Skinner. One of the movies is Frankenberry the Movie II: The Frankenberry Wears Prada, a parody of the movie ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]''.
+*On [[The Critic]], the episode "A Little Deb Will Do Ya" contained a joke on pink dye incident.  While in direct competition with Humphrey the Hippo (the series' joke on [[Barney and Friends]]), Jay critizes Humphrey, and tells him "your cereal turned my urine pink".  Humphrey responds by saying, "You would need to eat six straight bowls for that to happen!"
+*On the [[Drawn Together]] episode [[Breakfast Food Killer]], Frankenberry appears as the President of the cereal regime, and as the villainous mastermind behind the slavery of African children working in mines to produce American cereals. In an attempt to kill [[Toot Braunstein]] by having [[Wooldoor Sockbat]] turn on her, he is pushed off a ledge and eaten by a crocodile.
 ==External links==