Aqua Teen Hunger Force

If you just want to laugh and laugh at some of the most joke-packed dialogue on TV today--and you don't care whether any of it makes sense--then you'll love ATHF.

The writers don't waste time explaining why the characters are food or what "Aqua Teen" even means. They don't try to tie up plot threads, illuminate the backstory, or even have the characters leave their neighborhood to fight crimes as depicted in the opening and closing credits. None of that is necessary. Instead, they just bring us a stripped-down, personality-driven yukfest that shows encumbered with the usual baggage simply can't match.

ATHF meets---nay, far exceeds!---my personal gold standard for comedy: that the jokes should not only be funny, but be ones I couldn't possibly have thought up for myself, and that there not be a moment's lag time between them.

Watching it is like eating potato chips (um, guess I mean fries) of pure, mindless laughter. ENJOY!

This show has been out for almost 12 years. While I love it, I do have to admit that it's later episodes aren't even close to being as good as the originals.

Seasons 1-2: Hysterical. Did not stop laughing.

Season 3: Still amazing. I miss Dr. Weird but Spacecataz is still funny.

Season 4: Where most people think it started going downhill. I like it, although I do admit it isn't as good as the first three. They now have more freedom in the maturity factor, and boy do they abuse it throughout the rest of the series.

Season 5: Bleh. Don't even bother watching the first three episodes of it. This season does get better as it goes on, and I have to admit that "Bible Fruit" is one of my favorite episodes. This is where they really start relying on sex jokes and shock humor, but it's still funnier than other shows that attempt to do this.

Season 6: Better than season 5, but still suffers from the same laziness as last time where many of the jokes are just mindless sex jokes rather than actual creative writing. Just not as bad as before.

Season 7: Better than season 6. Has a couple of my favorite episodes and is a step in the right direction, as "A PE Christmas" and "Rabbot Redux" are two of my favorite episodes.

Season 8 (also known as "Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1"): A MASSIVE improvement. I thought at this point there was no hope for improvement, but I was completely wrong. Has a nice balance between mature humor and good writing.

Season 9 (also known as "Aqua Something You Know Whatever): Recoil. Their efforts are going entirely the wrong way. With all the other seasons I complained about, I at least still enjoyed all of them. Not the case here. VERY hit and miss. Literally half the episodes in this series have no redeeming qualities about them, but that does mean that the other half is pretty damn good. Just make sure to skip "Shirt Herpes", "Rocket Horse Jet Chicken", "The Granite Family", "Fightan Titan", and "Totem Pole". I was bored out of my mind through those.

Overall, a very good show. They just need to refocus their efforts a bit. I hope Season 10 will be better than the last one, though.

Firstly I'd like to say that "Aqua Teen" is one of the funniest animated shows, mixing absurd situations with absurd characters who do absurd things. But great comedies (which this is) are more than simply absurd, they're smart. They bring us into the world of the cartoon and have us relate to each character. So I'm going to look into why this is a "great" animated comedy, merely because of its characterization.

Carl is a poor, single, overweight man on welfare whose main cares in life consist of the cardboard cutout of a girl advertising beer, his car, lawn, swimming pool, and reminiscing of the old days, when he would get hammered and go to rock concerts. The interesting part about Carl is that he never admits to any kind of friendship with the Hunger Force, yet they are in his swimming pool almost every episode, and all of them, through all the bickering, get along. Even though Carl is always apparently miserable, his true joy comes from the friends he presently has, which he never addresses. How many people do you know who want to go back to the "good ol' days" when everything was simpler and sweeter, but fail to see the good things in their present life until they're reminiscing about it twenty years down the line?

Shake is funny. Very funny. Perhaps the funniest character in any cartoon show ever. This is achieved in an ingenious paradox. While he is cruel (esp. to Meatwad), self-indulgent, and egotistical with absolutely no sign of empathy, he is the most likable character in the show. Why? I think it's because of his simplicity, like a more intelligent form of a child (aren't children selfish and always unsatisfied?), and who can blame a child? All you can do is laugh at their behavior.

Meatwad is also like a child, but instead of being the kind that doesn't share (like Shake), he is the kid that gives his toy truck to the new kid in school to play with in the sandbox. While Shake is the most likable, Meatwad is the most lovable, and is even more-so because he is missing a brain (does Shake's intelligence give way to vice? If one looks at the episode where Meatwad becomes smarter than the other two, it would seem so). But we can never "like" Meatwad, because we can't associate with him in his stupidity, we can only love him like a small, cuddly dog. Meatwad's voice sounds like a mixture of Yoda and Terrence from SouthPark, which is, somehow, indescribably perfect.

Frylock's character acts many times as the mediator in arguments. He is highly intelligent, humane, but at the same time conceded in his intelligence and humanity (when Meatwad gets a brain and surpasses Frylock's intellect, Frylock becomes jealous and angry). He is individually the least funny of them all, but this is on purpose. He is the sanity in the absurdity, accentuating that absurdity.

Perhaps the best aspect of the cartoon is its lack of development. Nobody changes (at least in character) from one episode to the next. Carl is still poor and resentful, Meatwad is still lovably stupid, Shake still conniving and hilarious, and Frylock still intellectual and, well, normal.

It is impossible to keep a straight face during any episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (most especially when the Mooninites make an appearance). But if one allows himself to watch with an active mind, you will see a satire on human nature, which inclines the characters to do some absurd things. But are we really ones to laugh at these characters in their absurdity? Wouldn't we be actually laughing at ourselves? Of course! That's another part of the genius. It takes human faults and shows how stupid and fruitless they are. And by laughing at ourselves, we are in fact reflecting upon ourselves.

This is the reason I watch "Adult Swim" every week, on the chance that ATHF are in the line-up. An incompetent but egotistical shake, a super intelligent box of fries and a happy-go-lucky meatball spend the day outwitting the most incompetent gang of villains this side of the Amoeba Boys and tormenting their loser neighbor to the point where you can actually feel sorry for the poor, no class, unemployable, grouchy slob.

Shake is similar to at least one person who works with all of us. He's a bully, he's lazy, he's selfish, he's pathetic at what he does, but he feels he's the leader just because he says he is. Frylock is the guy at the office or the plant who actually DOES know what he's doing and saves the day without any desire for the responsibility or glory of leadership. Meatwad is the guy who tries his best, usually doesn't hit the mark perfectly and is just fun to have around.

Full-length movie anyone? Or at least a marathon?

If you are expecting a great cartoon with exciting plotlines and lots of drama, this is not the show for you. If you are expecting a hilarious cartoon filled with lots of random, witty humor, this IS the show for you. There is not one way that one can fully describe AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE. Just take a look at the title; it is random and makes no sense. That is what is so amazing about this show. AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE follows the adventures of Meatwad, a meatball, Frylock, a floating order of fries, and Master Shake, a milkshake. They live in a house next-door to Carl. That is basically the premise of the show. Anyway, AQUA TEEN HUNGERFORCE is an incredible show that I recommend to anyone who is looking for a funny cartoon to watch, besides THE SIMPSONS and FAMILY GUY. AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE currently airs on Cartoon Network's adult programming block, Adult Swim, at 12 and 12:15 AM.