The most complete collection of Aqua Teen Hunger Force-related series and ephemera released to date, Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Baffler Meal Complete Collection is a must-have for anyone who wants the show’s final seasons, which appear for the first time ever on home media with this release.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Baffler Meal Complete Collection
Adult Swim
DVD
September 20, 2022
If you were a teenager or a 20-something in 2000, you probably spent way too much time watching Adult Swim, and the Aqua Teens, Harvey Birdman, and the gang at Sealab 2021 got you through some hard moments and sad situations. This box set, packed with 20 discs, contains every single ATHF permutation except for the upcoming movie release Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm. It’s also got some nifty extras, making it the only practical version of the gang’s adventures you’ll ever need.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force centers its action around the titular superteam, who live in a rundown New Jersey suburb where they generally reduce the property value while going on surrealistic adventures. While they’re ostensibly supposed to be protecting the world — a concept that ends up being quickly chucked out the window in the show’s run — more often than not they become enmeshed in the minutiae of life, from taking odd jobs to encountering The Grim Reaper. The team is comprised of three sentient and oversized pieces of fast food ephemera: Frylock, the de facto leader, and the only adult in the room, who resembles a box of fast food fries and has powerful laser vision; Master Shake, a greedy, diva-ish take-out cup whose straw can be used in a canon-like manner; and innocent, well-intentioned Meatwad, a piece of beef who can mold himself into nearly any shape.
The gang is often (reluctantly) accompanied on their adventures by Carl Brutananadilewski, their fiery next door neighbor, who resembles Dennis Franz if he’d never left New Jersey. The Mooninites — a set of foul-mouthed aliens who resemble early ‘80s video game characters and whose fingers are permanently in a bird-flipping position — pop in as well. The show does not tend to boast a linear storyline; episodes feature the entire cast dying and then miraculously popping up hale and healthy in the next installment. And yet it’s easy to invest in and care about the characters. Or, at the very least, laugh at their pain.
It’s hard to ignore the cultural impact this show has had. The Aqua Teens were the first original Adult Swim animated characters; all of its other series revolved around revamped versions of characters from their vast Hanna-Barbera library at the time of its inception. They paved the way for Morel Orel, Metalocalypse, The Venture Brothers, and dozens of other Adult Swim programs which rely on the creativity of their originators. For that reason alone the show will be remembered. But it’s so beloved it has become the network’s second-longest-lived animated program, and will live in infamy after accidentally causing panic on the post-9/11 streets of Boston due to a publicity stunt linked to Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters.
That film is on this set, completely refurbished. This is also the first time the series’ last three seasons have been released to physical media, making it a must-buy for completionists. The series itself looks great, and all 11 seasons are uncut and in the original formats. Extras-wise, the set is stuffed with deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, Comic-Con panels, commentaries, and even the original episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast that started it all. Episode promos, web originals, and other rarities are also present. While many of the extra pieces were imported from each season’s DVD releases, there’s plenty of new stuff that makes buying the set worthwhile.
If you’ve been looking to collect the entire show in one go, or you’re a superfan who wants to trade in their sets for new extras and those last seasons, it’s more than worth your time. But if you already own all of these sets on DVD and don’t care about the last three, The Baffler Meal will sizzle…like fajita meat.
