Review(s): DVD Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Volume Three
Do you mock the clown society?
The Aqua Teen Hunger Force is back for their third season. Meet fast food heroes Master Shake, Meatwad, and Frylock. Who would have thought that such a lame premise could be so funny? With Meatwad's innocent stupidity, Frylock's dry wit, and Shake's caustic contempt, the jokes just keep rolling in. Completing the circle is next-door neighbor Carl, a disgusting, uneducated, sloppy fat, hairy, Jersey-speaking guy who wears a sleeveless tank top, sweats, and flip-flops.
New monsters in season three are Skeeter and D.P., the evil Broodwich (a sandwich), Turkatron, The Wisdom Cube, a floating mechanical clown head, and an onion-spider named Willie Nelson.
DISC ONE:
1) Frat Aliens - Frat-boy aliens Skeeter and D.P. (who's dad owns a dealership) are attracted by the security grid Carl put up around his pool, and wind out passing out on the ATHF's lawn. (Best line: "Dude, she's like a moped, fun to ride until your friends see you.")
2) Total Recarl - Carl's body is destroyed in Frylock's air toilet so Frylock looks for ways to rebuild him.
3) Kidney Car - Shake wrecks Carl's car and Meatwad gets it from the organ charity instead of a kidney.
4) Revenge Of The Trees - Shake deep fries a cow and dumps the oil in the woods, so the trees get angry and take him to wood court.
5) The Cloning - Frylock clones the TV too many times. Matter breaks down over time.
6) Broodwich - Shake falls through the yard digging for gold and finds a bunch of skulls and the 'Broodwich', a haunted sandwich. The argument in the netherworld is hilarious, about how their wives hate their hobbies. Turns out its just the sun-dried tomatoes that are haunted, which no one will eat.
7) The Dressing - Turkatron, the robot turkey from the year 9595, shows up for Thanksgiving to save the ancestor of Gobblox.
8) The [blank] - Frylock moves out because Shake is so filthy. Meatwad, Carl, and Shake get swollen, pus filled eyes from playing with raw chicken and burning Styrofoam.
9) The Cloning - The Wisdom Cube shows up on the ATHF's lawn. He has all the wisdom in the world, but only wants to play practical jokes.
DISC TWO: (Note: I found the Disc Two titles misleading, they look like they are only commentaries. There *are* episodes on this disc, and they are some of the very best!)
1) The Last One - Ignignot and Err, the Mooninites, gather all the beasties together from all the past ATHF episodes to discuss getting rid of our fast food heroes. There's Happy Time Harry, the Brownie Monsters, The Wisdom Cube, D.P. and Skeeter, Rabbot, the Master Shake Clone, Oog the Caveman, Rolulox, Travis the Super Spore, Randy The Astonishing, Mothmonsterman, Drippy the mould, the Cybernetic Ghost Of Christmas Past, and The Plutonians. The plot is to kill the ATHF with the Screw Of Damnation (which Ignignot found behind the Armoire Of Despair).
2) The Clowning - Carl gets a wig, but the hair possesses a strain of galactic DNA from the Clownacillus organism. He turns into a clown, and so does Meatwad when the hair touches him.
3) Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary - Shake hires Zack Wylde and Geddy Lee to create a new birthday song called Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary. I costs him 1.4 million to produce the song, and makes Zack angry.
4) The Shaving - (My favorite episode of all!) It's Halloween, and the ATHF discover there is an onion-spider monster named Willie Nelson living in their attic. Shake has to show Willie how to be scary, when all Willie wants to do is hang out and drink juice. But wait till you see the juice!
-- Extras include deleted scenes, commentaries, making-of segments, and script pages.
I completely cracked up at the Wisdom Cube's prank phone calls, the gathering of bad guys in The Last One, the clown head, and especially Willie Nelson. Season Three picks up the beat on this zany cartoon, making up for a slightly flat Season Two. If you like Family Guy, Futurama, South Park, or Invader Zim, them you should get a big kick out of ATHF (though they still should lose the annoying theme music). Enjoy!
# 1 IN THE HOOD, G!
this is the best Adult Swim has to offer and it is awsome. Better then Robot Chicken by a little bit but its still better. but it feels like a rip when the whole thing is only 150 min. and a show is just 11 min. still is the best out there.
Seriously guys... This is post-modern art.
This day in age, few things strike me as truly brilliant. Like, Holy FU*)@NG SH*% that is utter GENIUS. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is, without any question in my mind, body, or soul, the most brilliant show on television right now. In fact, I don't think there's a piece of television programming within the past decade that can match the audacity of the show; the only thing that can run along side it (and beat it, really) is 'The Simpsons' in its prime -- you know, I'm talking like, seasons 4-8, or somewhere around there. That level of excellence, I think, shall never be reached again, but if anything comes close, it's Aqua Teen Hunger Force in its later seasons -- namely three and four. This just so happens to be three, you lucky dog.
Sure, there's Family Guy. Hoopdy damn do. Hoopdy damn doodoo. Your moment. His movement. Yeah. Family Guy, which I was once a rabid fan of, is a good show. Used to be great, I think, but now is merely good. Macfarlene is a genius but the show got lazy. American Dad, sucker that it was, got in the way. Futurama was good, and got quite awesome, but its ambition sidetracked it a bit. Oh yeah, The Critic... That show, had it lasted, would have been downright mindboggling, but you know, the greatest are often stoned too early.
What's my point? There is no point. This is divine stuff. Why? Everything comes together. Chaos transforms to order and as we witness this we are perplexed. By this season, the masters go deeper into their psyches and contemplate what is truly funny, and how in the world they could make the show better. Basically, we finally get a fine tuned program, which season two hinted at but never quite manged. Every single damn episode here is consistent. The animation, voice acting, editing, sound effects, timing... they're all spot on. It's not as quickly paced as the following season, but it's more coherent because of that.
The voice acting here cannot go unseen. Dave Willis, co-creator and vocalizer of main characters Meatwad and Carl, as well as a slew of the show's other guest characters, is a downright king among men. He's like Castellaneta at his peak with Homer Simpson, or MacFarlane in the most glorious moments of Stewie Griffin. Meatwad I believe is the show's most immediate force and attraction, and Carl ultimately becomes most fans' (that I know of) favorite. I can't get into technicality -- I'm not a voice coach -- but instinct doesn't lie to me... This guy is a bonafied prodigy. Same goes for Snyder as (Master) Shake. The guy has mastered his craft by this point. It's obvious he improvs a great deal of the time, and within each episode he simply comes more and more into his sphere of the Shake. Carey Means as Frylock showcases himself well too, and though his character isn't as pivitol regarding hysteria as the other three, he is indispensable and can still make you laugh until you s@#% yourself.
That's just the voice acting. The animation is to the common eye mediocre. To one of the higher intellect, however, it reveals its true colors. Minimilistic in the most wonderful sense. Case in point -- you often see nothing but Shake, unanimated, for seconds at a time, usually while another character verbally condemns him. Nothing more. And yet, I want to cry because it's so unbelievably funny. I don't always know exactly WHAT the reasoning behind this is -- though I know there is in fact logic to it which I can usually identify to a point -- but it doesn't matter. It makes me hurt from laughter. Yet another case in point -- normal, absurdist dialogue by Shake and Meatwad ensues, and Meatwad merely sits in the middle with his eyes going from one character to another. Like, three snippets of animation, over thirty seconds. Yet therein lie comedic gold. And this I know -- without getting into the psycho-specifics -- many of these moments cause such uproarious joy because of one thing -------- they hint at the core of the infinite ABSURDITY THAT THE WHOLE SHOW IS. It is surreal and the most whack thing you've ever seen, if you really tap into it, and within that beast of chaos is outrageous, stunning comedy.
I shouldn't write too much, as surely many fans of the show aren't looking for reviews of this nature, but I like to at least present a somewhat articulate response to the show. I actually forgot to name another show that comes close to this level of merit -- Upright Citizens Brigade. Like Aqua Teen, the show showcased absurdist humor like little else. The type of show that puts every other program on television to utter f*%@ng shame. It might be shallow, but when someone says one of their favorite shows is Friends, I immediately dismiss their entire character, because it is completely idiotic and Lifeless in the face of something so rigorously refined and crafted.
I don't like rating anything five stars. I just don't. I do it, but I usually think, "meh -- does that really deserve it?". Absolutely not an inch of doubt here with this DVD. Not an inch. I pirate things, occasionally. Download music a good amount. Never would I dare take a free copy of this DVD -- I've bought backup copies to lend to friends. This show can bring a lot of joy to someone's Life, and remind them of the most intimitely funny selves within them.
I owe these guys so much.
Related DVD's Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Volume Three
Those ferocious fast-food freedom fighters Meatwad, Frylock, and Master Shake return for more outrageous adventures in this double-disc set culled from their third season. Longtime fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force know that the Teens rarely battle any actual evildoers--their chief nemesis, Dr. Weird, blows himself up before he can hatch any of his schemes--but the fellas still have plenty of trouble to deal with in these episodes, whether it's from an Atari 2600 that can contact the deceased ("Video Ouija"), the hellish creature known as MC Pee Pants, who returns here as an elderly gent in a retirement home ("Little Brittle"), a robot babysitter for Meatwad (voiced by Sarah Silverman in "Robositter"), or the perennially pesky Mooninites, who make two appearances here (in "Remooned"... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Dave Willis (III) - Matt Maiellaro DVD Release Date: Released the 06 December 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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