Its been a long six and a half years since we’ve last seen the Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad went on a number of misadventures over 15 years from 2000 – 2015 on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block. But after all those episodes (and a feature film) under their belts, they eventually called it quits… until now!
In preparation for a new movie starring the fast food fighting force, the Adult Swim YouTube channel is releasing a series of shorts called “Aquadonk Side Pieces.”
About a year ago, we reported about Cartoon Network’s decision to revive “Venture Bros.,” “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” and “Metalocalypse” as direct-to-DVD films. Even though we don’t have any further information about those films, we know that the team over at Williams Street is pumping out a series of 10 short Aqua Teen episodes with the first of them currently available on the official Adult Swim YouTube Channel. Each of the episodes is set to show the gang confronting some of their more memorable villains of the past. Case in point, the first of these mini-episodes, or, “Aquadonk Side Pieces” is entitled, “The Return of Handbanana.”
If you want a quick, spoiler free review of a three minute video, well here you go: it’s good.
Seriously though, there’s not a lot to say about something this brief, which is probably the only real criticism of it to be fair. Everything you’d expect of an “ATHF” episode is here, it’s just sadly too short. Is anything better than nothing in this case? Yes, very much so, but it also shows how this series could continue right where it left off and not miss a beat at all.
The vocal performances are still there, the random humor, the absurdity; it’s all just as it was. If you had told me this was a scene from an episode in the 6th season I forgot about, I would completely believe you.
“Aqua Teen Hunger Force” began life as a scraped backdoor pilot episode of “Space Ghost: Coast 2 Coast,” one of the funniest programs in the history of animation, as well as one of the most underrated. Both shows carried a similar sense of comedic style, which isn’t surprising given the carry over between the production staff. In many ways, both of those shows were the forerunners for the kind of irreverent, non-sequitur, absurdist comedy that we see in modern animation programs.
Keep an eye out on the Adult Swim YouTube channel for future “Aquadonk” featurettes and we look forward to bringing you more information about the upcoming “ATHF” movie when it becomes available. In the meantime you can watch the old episodes on HBO Max along with its progenitor, “Space Ghost: C2C.” And might we also recommend the other “Space Ghost” spin-off, “Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.” And, it’s more current spinoff, “Birdgirl.” You’ll thank us later.
