Credit:DVDtown.com
Created by
Matt Maiellaro
Dave Willis
Cast:
Dave Willis …. Meatwad/Carl Brutananadilewski/Ignignokt
Carey Means …. Frylock
Dana Snyder …. Master Shake
Matt Maiellaro …. Err
The Show
Cartoon Network has really created a niche for its original programming with its Adult Swim line. Series like Sea Lab 2021, The Venture Brothers, and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law all feature a hilarious style of irreverent humor that sets them apart from any other animated shows on television. The flagship title for Adult Swim has got to be Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
For those that don’t know the series features three would be superheroes (or at least they were in their first appearance on Space Ghost: Coast to Coast); Master Shake, Meat wad, and Frylock. They don’t wear costumes or anything, they just happen to be giant walking, talking fast food products. I believe the original concept was for them to be superheroes hilariously fighting hunger, but now the three are just odd beings that sit around and crack jokes and get into trouble.
Season 4 does change up the formula a bit. Gone are the “Dr. Weird” intros that were in front of every episode up to this point. In their place is Spacecataz, the ongoing struggle of the dreaded Aqua Teen foes, the Mooninites and the Plutonians. This intergalactic feud features such classic moments such as the Mooninites themselves getting mooned and the Plutonians ordering 50 million pizzas to their enemies’ ship.
As for the episodes themselves, there are some real gems here. Nothing in this season is as good as Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future from Season 2 or Season 3’s The Last One which was a Legion of Doom style episode with all of the Aqua Teen’s villains banding together to defeat the trio. Despite this, funny moments still abound.
T-Shirt of the Living Dead is probably the set’s best episode. Master Shake steals a T-Shirt belonging to the Egyptian God of the Dead. Having to wash the 5,000 year old garment, the T-Shirt shrinks, and in doing so becomes too small for Shake to wear. Meatwad, being the only one who can wear the powerful shirt, goes crazy with power. Conjuring up Easter Bunnies, Santa and a hideous monster, Eggzilla, Meatwad causes much mayhem with hilarious results.
The most insane show of the season is Hypno-Germ. Sitting on the wrong toilet seat, Shake gets infected with germs that cause him to hallucinate and try to kill himself in the funniest way possible. To combat the germs hold on Shake, Frylock injects him with the germs natural enemy, Mexican jumping beans. That’s really par for the course in this installment.
Mooninites 4: The Final Mooning has the Mooninites running a scam to get money out of the Aqua Teens. Lampooning The Last Star Fighter, the villains plant a copy of their horribly easy video game, Moon Master. Meatwad finds the game and immediately after beating its epic three levels, the Mooninites proclaim him Moon Master. He must save the Moon from a horrible monster, and to do so he will need to purchase a bunch of products from their catalogue. The episode also has Shake and the Aqua Teens’ neighbor Carl also falling for the scam.
For grossness, this set also provides plenty here. Diet has Carl going on a diet of eating just candy bars made of parasites. Robositter has feature a skinless Carl and Shake. Lastly, Unremarkable Voyage has one of the grossest things I’ve ever seen in a cartoon.
Overall, this is a pretty decent set of episodes. Considering that Season 3 has some really crazy episode (Total Re-Carl for instance) I was a little disappointed until T-Shirt of the Living Dead, which adds an extra point to this score. For anyone looking for something new, that’s really funny and completely outrageous, Aqua Teen Hunger Force is for you.
Score: 8.0/10
The DVD
The Video
Each episode is presented in Fullscreen with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The episodes themselves look fine and don’t call attention to themselves in terms of quality.
The Audio
The show is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds great. That Aqua Teen Hunger Force theme totally rocks as you turn up your TV to the max.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio commentaries, Funny Pete Stuff, San Diego Must Be Destryed 2004, Spacecataz, Raydon, F-art, The Faces in Front of the Throats That Make the Voices That Speak Into the Microphones, Send Us Money For This
Audio commentaries – This is actually just one long commentary track that runs over 9 of the 14 episodes. Too say that this track is odd would be an understatement. It apparently takes place at a pizza party and people go in and out of the conversation talking about the show. The biggest topic of conversation is Spacecataz, its origins, and whether it’s coming back. At first the track is very distracting, but it’s not too bad once it gets going.
Funny Pete Stuff – This is a bunch trailers featuring the Mooninites rapping. This is pretty amusing and if you can’t get enough of the Aqua Teen villains, this feature is for you.
San Diego Must Be Destryed 2004 – Yes, “Destroyed” is misspelled for some reason. This is a funny promo for the Adult Swim featuring several characters of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Spacecataz – This is all of Spacecataz in one 10 minute episode. Its may actually be funnier here than it is in front of all the episodes.
Raydon – This is a super weird live action short with the creators of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It involves a new couple moving into a house and a mysterious Raydon monster that lives in the basement.
F-art – This a section of fan art and there is a ton of it.
The Faces in Front of the Throats That Make the Voices That Speak Into the Microphones – This is a 20 minute Featurette on the voice actors that work on the show. This is actually a nice look at the production of the series and finally lets you put faces to those retarded voices.
Send Us Money For This – This is a promo for Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie.
Score: 7.0/10
