Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Encyclopedia - Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Aqua Teen Hunger Force (a.k.a. ATHF) is an American animated comedy shown on Cartoon Network as part of its Adult Swim late-night programming block. The series features three anthropomorphic fast food items—the Aqua Teen Hunger Force or Aqua Teens—who are supposed to be detectives. As the series progressed, the crime-solving aspect of the show was quickly abandoned, although many episodes still involve villains. There is also little emphasis on continuity between episodes: virtually all of the recurring cast members have died at least once. The focus is instead on character interaction and a pervasive form of brutal, ironic humor.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Overview

Aqua Teen Hunger Force takes place in Union, NJ and was created through brainstorming episode ideas for Space Ghost Coast to Coast (SG:C2C). None of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force characters appeared on Space Ghost Coast to Coast prior to the airing of the pilot episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force in late 2000. However, an episode of SG:C2C featuring a prototypical version of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force, "Baffler Meal" (a parody of McDonald's Happy Meal), was produced once this series became popular. A full first season was put into production shortly thereafter and its first episode was shown on September 16, 2001. To date, five seasons have been produced, with the fifth starting on December 4th, 2005.

During the first three seasons, episodes opened with a glimpse into the laboratory of Dr. Weird (within the Belle Isle Asylum, located on the Jersey shore). The clinically insane Dr. Weird and his baffled assistant Steve use the first several seconds of the show to create monsters, disasters, or random silliness, generally accompanied by the phrase "Gentlemen, behold!" as Dr. Weird unveiled his latest accomplishment. These monsters would then potentially have to be dealt with by the Aqua Teen Hunger Force in early episodes. As the crime-fighting element of the program became less prominent, the Dr. Weird segment became an unrelated opening gag. During the fourth season, a segment called Spacecataz began the show. The segments feature the Plutonians and the Mooninites clashing with each other, trading insults and gestures. Spacecataz ended with the conclusion of the fourth season, and the series just opens now with the opening theme song.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is written and directed by Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro. Much of the dialogue is improvised by the voice talent and edited and animated to fit this improvisation in a process called retroscripting. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is produced by Williams Street Studios, who also produces other animated shows such as The Brak Show and Sealab 2021. Noted 1980s rapper Schoolly D performs the theme song. Each episode is approximately twelve minutes in duration.

The title of the show is a decided misnomer: The characters have no major affiliation with water (though many episodes involve their neighbor's pool), they are not teenagers per se, and they are rarely shown as any kind of a force. In early episodes (particularly first season), the trio are identified by Master Shake as the 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force', which make a living solving crimes for money. Shortly into its run, that premise, and the use of the name during the show, is dropped. (It is later explained by Frylock in "Kidney Car" that the detective business dried up.) The show is rated TV-14 for Cartoon Violence and Suggestive Dialogue.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Characters

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - The Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Master Shake (voiced by Dana Snyder) is a rude, mean-spirited, and self-centered pistachio milkshake in the form of a white cup with a pink straw sticking out of his lid. He has two yellow gloves for hands. Put simply, Shake's role is to make wild and illogical decisions, presumptions, and demands.

Much of the series' humor is based on the thoughtless abuses of Master Shake and his absurd actions. He seems oblivious to any suffering his behavior causes others, yet he will become violently petulant the moment he feels he has been wronged in the slightest. He appears to be utterly incapable of learning anything from even the most catastrophic consequences of his actions. Because of his arrogance, viewers can easily laugh at Shake's self-inflicted suffering without any shame. Master Shake is rarely productive and can often be found watching television, or destroying the television and demanding a new one.

Complementing his laziness is Shake's lack of an overwhelming superpower: when he tries to summon a power, he usually ends up dripping a glob of milkshake out from his straw. In later episodes, however, he is able to cause various household items to violently explode by simply throwing them. This "power" was attained after he poured toxic waste on himself in an attempt to attain the ability to control the rain. This occured in episode 22, "Super Hero".

He has also admitted to not having a brain, which explains his unreasonable demands.

Frylock (voiced by Carey Means) is a red box of french fries, sporting a goatee, french fries for hair, dental braces, and a blue mystic jewel which is embedded in his back. He moves by levitation, and uses his fries as limbs. Frylock is also scientifically-minded and conducts experiments in his room, which contains his computer, cloner, and various other lab equipment.

His comedic role is usually that of the straight man, and he acts as the voice of reason to a fault; he acts as a foil to Shake's extravagant personality and tries to prevent his numerous mistakes. He defends Meatwad and tries to keep peace with Carl. Still, Frylock occasionally displays weak characteristics.

He is not free of selfishness and cruelty in some situations. In one episode it is revealed he has a S & M suit, and has been known to wear it around the house. A picture in his room shows himself and a young Dr. Weird. Its significance has never been explained.

Frylock's power is the ability to shoot things such as lasers, fireballs and even carbon dioxide (used as a fire extinguisher) from his eyes. He possesses a "Frydar" that can pick up most any frequency or location.

Note: In a segment created for a New Year's Eve airing of the Adult Swim block which depicted characters from various shows at a holiday party, Frylock and the character Thundercleese of The Brak Show apparently recognized each other, Frylock calling Thundercleese by name and Thundercleese calling Frylock "Father". Externally, this is clearly a reference to the fact that the characters are voiced by the same actor, but this supposed connection between the two characters has to date never been dealt with within the show, either on Aqua Teen or the currently cancelled Brak Show.

Meatwad (voiced by Dave Willis) is a mass of compressed meat that was not approved for human consumption. Meatwad moves around by rolling and can change his shape. He can morph into an igloo, a hot dog, a "meat bridge", a flower, a hammer, and once shaped himself into a "Wayne Gretzky" which was in fact a "Samurai Lincoln," a katana-wielding Abraham Lincoln.

Simple and gullible Meatwad is constantly abused by Master Shake, and is usually the butt of some half-thought practical joke. Meatwad is also sometimes corrupted by Shake's insane "run with scissors" philosophies. Frylock often acts like Meatwad's parent, trying to educate him, and protect him from more mature themes.

There is also a more sinister side to Meatwad. He can become quickly corrupted by power, and is sometimes very sly and manipulative. Shake is usually the focus of Meatwad's megalomaniacal tendencies, often becoming his cowering slave once Meatwad has some kind of advantage over him.

Meatwad's room is empty except for filth, a jambox, meaningless crayon scribblings on the walls, a brushed nickel colander, his bed (which is a grill), and a closet full of sand. His body consumes all waste materials, and his brain is actually a cat toy.

He occasionally makes dolls and other toys out of household items such as an apple named Vanessa, a paper towel tube named Dewey, and a box named Boxy Brown. Throughout the series he is referred to as underage (e.g. whenever he comes across alcohol), probably in his teenage years as opposed to the young adult ages of Frylock and Master Shake, though in the episode "Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary", Meatwad claims to be 55 years old. This could be explained by Meatwad's apparent lack of intelligence however, especially considering the fact that he makes similar claims in other episodes such as having a nonexistant wife.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Other characters

See Also: Minor characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Carl Brutananadilewski (voiced by Dave Willis) is the Aqua Teen Hunger Force's neighbor. Carl is the only main character not in the ATHF.

Balding, overweight, hairy, a victim of pubic lice, and usually wearing a gold chain, wifebeater shirt, pocketless sweatpants, and green flip-flops, (although he claims to own a pair of "badass red jeans") Carl embodies the unmarriable bachelor, due to the fact that he is addicted to pornography, has poor self-esteem, questionable hygiene, dubious rapport with the opposite sex (he once tried to pay a hooker with $200 worth of pennies, stored in a water cooler bottle) and the very fact that he lives next door to the Aqua Teens (his house always has a 'for sale' sign up). He "works" out of his home.

He has an above-ground swimming pool in his backyard, which the Force constantly invades without his permission, and a red sports car detailed with the graphics "2 Wycked".

He considers the Aqua Teens freaks, and would usually prefer to avoid contact with them. He and his possessions often end up being the unwitting victim of the Aqua Teens' enemies or the Aqua Teens themselves, driving him away from them again. In most episodes he is in a constant state of frustration and anger.

A main source of Carl's humor comes from his overwhelmingly low self-confidence. In the episode Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, it shows in a flashback that Carl was going bald at eight years old. Carl regularly attempts to go back to his youth, as seen in "The Clowning" episode, where he buys a long haired wig and digs out his Judas Priest Screamin' for Vengeance t-shirt. In the episode "Carl," a lonely Carl calls his old high school flames (or "fat chicks" from the flag corps). This episode highlights another aspect of Carl's humor: his actual love of the ATHF. Faced with utter loneliness, Carl always opts for the company of the Aqua Teens. Of the regular characters, Carl dies the most frequently.

Dr. Weird (voiced by C. Martin Croker) is a mad scientist who lives in an abandoned mental asylum on the perpetually rainy Jersey Shore. Dressed in a colorful outfit reminiscent of 1960s cartoon villains, complete with glass space helmet (his "Hair-arium"), he starts many shows by presenting his latest creation with his catch phrase "Gentlemen, behold!" to his lone lab assistant Steve. His nonsensical inventions include a giant rabbit robot called Rabbot, and a rainbow-making machine.

A picture of his younger self with Frylock present on Frylock's bookshelf suggests that he has some past ties with the Aqua Teens. However, aside from the previously mentioned inventions (and a few others), Dr. Weird's opening segment usually had nothing to do with the rest of the episode.

Steve (also voiced by C. Martin Croker) is Dr. Weird's assistant. Red-haired, wearing a lab coat, and frequently holding a test tube, Steve is aware of Dr. Weird's insanity, but he remains his assistant nonetheless.

MC Pee Pants, aka Sir Loin, aka Little Brittle and the C-Bag (voiced by Chris Ward, a.k.a. mc chris) is a demonspawn rap artist from Hell, who is reincarnated in different forms. With each return, he establishes a new name and identity, but his voice, personality, clothing (i.e. shower cap and diaper) and yellow eyes remain constant.

In each incarnation, he wears a diaper, a shower cap and a gold chain around his neck. He usually has an elaborate scheme to take over the world, which begins by sending instructions to his listeners in the form of a hit rap single such as "I Want Candy" and "4 Da Shorteez". Each scheme involves a song asking the listener to go to an abandoned warehouse at "612 Wharf Avenue" (a real address in Red Bank, New Jersey). His forms have included a giant spider, a cow, an elderly human, and a worm.

The Mooninites, Ignignokt (voiced by Dave Willis) and Err (voiced by Matt Maiellaro), are pixelated, two-dimensional inhabitants of the Moon. Resembling extremely simplistic, blocky low-resolution game sprites, the duo is a sendup of the Atari 2600 era of video games. The sound effects that accompany their movements are taken directly from such classic early arcade games as Space Invaders, Pitfall, and Asteroids.

Ignignokt, the leader, is green and larger than his purple counterpart Err. He speaks with a usually self-important, condescending air.

Err is his hyperactive and trash-talking tag-along. He often yells.

Err fits precisely in a notch in Ignignokt's head; joining them together activates their super power: they can fire a large square slow-moving (and easily avoided) video-game "bullet" they call the "Quad Laser", which is a magnification of their smaller, faster moving individual laser attacks. A more powerful version of this attack is known as the "Quad Glacier" which also happens to be much larger and much slower than its counterpart, and barely appears to be moving to the naked eye.

The Mooninites enjoy boasting that the Moon is superior to Earth in every way, often referring to Earth objects or concepts as primitive, such as claiming that they have 5000 dimensions (although they can never actually prove this superiority.)

The Mooninites often persuade the seemingly impressionable Meatwad into performing acts of vandalism, stealing, and smoking in a nonsmoking area.

The Plutonians, Oglethorpe (voiced by Andy Merrill) and Emory (voiced by Mike Schatz), are two spiny extraterrestrial creatures who are orange and green, respectively, and usually sport nothing but sweatbands. According to the show's website, they became mis-shapen and deformed after trying to retrieve their keys in a woodchipper. Oglethorpe is high-strung and easily angered, speaks in a German accent, and conceives most of their plans, while Emory is much more passive and perhaps more intelligent. Both are named after universities in Atlanta (Oglethorpe University and Emory University).

They plan to eventually conquer the Earth, but instead spend more time devising bizarre, ill-advised ideas, bickering with each other, and feuding with the Mooninites.

They are easily the most incompetent of the Aqua Teen's enemies; Ignignokt refers to them as "teh suck," both an accurate summary of their abilities and a reference to an internet meme. They command a huge spaceship that they barely know how to operate.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Episodes

As of November, 2005, Aqua Teen Hunger Force has run on Adult Swim for 5 seasons, the first of which debuted in September, 2001 and the most recent fifth which debuted December 4th, 2005.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - DVD Boxsets

Volume Releases

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie

In an interviewat the 2004 San Diego Comic-Con, Dana Snyder and Matt Maiellaro confirmed rumors that there would be a feature-length movie of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. More detailswere revealed at the 2005 Paley Television Festival, such as a possible cameo by 80s funk group Cameo and Maiellaro described it as "An action piece that leads into an origin story that unfolds in a very 'Aqua Teen' way."

The creators revealed much more information in an interview with Wizard Entertainment. While they dodged many questions, they confirmed that the movie will run 80 minutes, was filmed on a meager $750,000 budget and features a plot detail about a "lost Aqua Teen." They also confirmed more cameos, with Rush drummer Neil Peart, Jon Benjamin from Home Movies, filmmaker Jon Glazer, SNL's Fred Armisen and Bruce Campbell to make appearances. On the matter of the film's rating, which will play a large part in how loyal the film will be to the show, Maiellaro commented that "I think if (the movie is rated) R, it won’t get the audience that watches it. But we don’t know yet. We’re still waiting to find out." Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie is expected to be in theatres around Spring 2006, but its release date is not yet confirmed.

A short teaser on the ATHF Volume 4 special features suggests that the film is in production.

Episode 58, entitled "Deleted Scenes" (First aired: 12/18/2005), is the first 30 minute episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and according to the episode narration contains deleted scenes from the upcoming movie. Hovever, the deleted scenes all combine to form one normal 11-minute episode, so it is unknown if they are actually deleted scenes or an episode used to promote the film. The episode refers to the name of the movie as "Untitled Master Shake Project". However, the whole episode alltogether is really the unfolding of a prank in which Master Shake (via his being the director of the alledged Master Shake Project movie) persuades Carl to shove a broom stick up his ass while filming (because Carl was simply playing his role in the story line).

See also

• List of Aqua Teen Hunger Force episodes
• Minor characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force
• Dangerdoom - collaboration between DJ Danger Mouse and rapper MF Doom, featuring characters from ATHF and other Adult Swim titles.
• Cult television

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