Among the late-night programming block on The Cartoon Network called [Adult Swim] is the show called Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This stuff is hilarious. At first we found the shows to be a little weird, but man, once you have acquired a taste for the humor it is better than all Family Guy and Simpsons jokes wrapped into one. Man, we can’t believe that the Simpsons is still on the air. I mean, don’t get the wrong idea here, The Simpsons is a great show, but if you’re looking for some side-splitting hilarity, that’s not really where it’s at. You need stuff coming out of left field to hit you just right for these kinds of laughs. At least, you probably do unless you’re easily entertained. Here at Hipster Wave, we’re not easily entertained.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is directed by Richard De Longe and Matt Maiellaro, and produced by Williams Street. Much of the dialogue is supplemented with ad libs and improvisation by the voice talent. The show is fully scripted but adlibs are included in the final episodes and the shows are animated to include this improvisation. Noted 1980s rapper Schoolly D performs the theme song (which he wrote in his limousine on the way to the recording studio), among other songs related to the show appearing in credits, and has provided periodic running commentaries on early episodes. Many, if not all, of the crew and cast members formerly worked on Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
The Aqua Teens were originally created for an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast called “Baffler Meal” as the mascots for a fictional fast-food chain called Burger Trench. It featured a prototypical version of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force that resembled the future characters, but both Master Shake and Frylock differed in appearance, personality, and voice from their ultimate design.
The title of the show is based on the characters originally portrayed in the Space Ghost Coast to Coast cartoon in the episode “Baffler Meal”. The characters were written as corporate mascots for a fast food chain called “Burger Trench”. Though the word “aqua” seems entirely superfluous (aside from the odd occasion they are seen residing in their neighbor’s pool), the remainder of the name “Teen Hunger Force” refers to the squad’s mission to conquer hunger in teens (teenagers being the demographic to which they were marketed). The team seem to NOT be teenagers, and have very little memory of their own ages or histories. In one episode, Meatwad approximates his age as fifty-five, and in another, Master Shake believes he’s either thirty or forty.
In early episodes, the trio were identified by Master Shake as the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” which solved crimes for money. After a few episodes, this premise and the use of the name by the characters was dropped. The premise had originally been added to appease Cartoon Network executives, who “didn’t want to air a show about food just going around and doing random stuff.” In the show itself, Frylock mentions that they stopped fighting crime because “that wasn’t making us a whole lot of money.”
