Franken Berry

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Franken Berry is a member of the line of monster-themed breakfast cereals produced by General Mills. 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.

1 Monster themed cereals of the 1970's
2 Notes
3 Cultural references
4 External links

[edit] Monster themed cereals of the 1970's

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 childrens' feces to come out bright pink^[1], a symptom sometimes referred to as "Frankenberry Stool."^[2] 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 Walmart 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 Super Wal-Mart and on Amazon.com.

[edit] Notes

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[edit] Cultural references

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.

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."

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 is a judge similar to Randy on Zombie Idol.

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 discusses Michael Jackson's loony court appearances: "Twenty minutes late? This ain't `Barbershop 2.' It's court. He didn't even wear a real suit. He came in 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 epsiode 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