I’ll say it … I like Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
It’s absurd, random and often just plain stupid humor, but it’s also brief at 15 minutes an episode, which means the ridiculous humor doesn’t wear out its welcome. Because the show premiered while I was in high school — and ran through my entire college experience — I was the prime age to “get” the show. I spent plenty of all-nighters in college with my TV set strictly on Adult Swim or the ATHF DVDs.
A spin-off of the original random late-night cartoon Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Aqua Teen Hunger Force is not about teens, hunger, a force or any kind of water. It’s about giant food who live in New Jersey. And who occasionally deal with overly boastful 8-bit moon monsters. And who often add to their middle-aged neighbor’s death, usually involving explosions. There’s a reason this show’s prime demographics were and are 20-something stoners and 16 year-old stoners … because it makes no sense. That’s probably why I haven’t watched it in the last few years. After 100 episodes, ATHF has become a show I’ve only been able to enjoy in small doses. I mean, if a repeat is on I might watch, but watching it on a regular basis got kind of grating (although to be fair, nothing is a grating as Adult Swim’s Squidbillies, which I can’t stand).
Creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro are looking for a change, too, because they’re renaming their show for the eighth season. They brought in ATHF star and Rhodes scholar Meatwad (voiced by Willis) to explain.
It’s pretty ballsy to admit that not only was the pilot of your show rubbish, but also the “subsequent 99 episodes.” The first step is acceptance. So, what used to be Aqua Teen Hunger Force is changing to Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1. There will once again be no sort of “aqua” in the show, but there’s probably not going to be a unit, a patrol or a squad. I can’t confirm the “1” either. I say this because, despite Meatwad promising a move to Seattle and the trio solving mysteries every episode, I actually got to see an upcoming episode.
It wasn’t the premiere episode (which airs this Sunday, May 8 at 11:45 PM EST), but it is one of Willis’ favorite episodes of the new season. In this particular episode, there are a lot of familiar themes, including the violent death of Shake via lasers, the grossly immoral behavior of Carl and New Jersey as the setting. It was actually flat out hilarious, probably one of the funnier episodes I’ve seen from them in the last few years. I’m hoping this name change, even if that’s just what it is, has brought a new energy to the show. I wouldn’t mind them spending the first couple episodes pretending like the gang is going to actually be solving mysteries in Seattle before returning to the absurdity that the show does so well. But if you’re nervous that the show will start taking itself too seriously (or at all seriously), I wouldn’t worry.
Oh, and they’ve released part of the new opening credits and song. Personally, I grew to like the original Schoolly D rap, but this new ditty by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age is fun.
Clacked by Katie Schenkel 
on May 06, 2011 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
