Shake zula, the mic rula, the old schoola, you want a trip, we'll bring it to ya.
Here's 107 Facts all about Aqua Teen Hunger Force here on Cartoon Hangover presented by Channel Frederator.
I'm your host Nicky, let's get into the list!
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, which was Cartoon Network’s first
fully produced original TV show for stoners.
The Space Ghost episode that Aqua Teen Hunger
Force is derived from was titled “Baffler Meal”. It featured three corporate mascots
from the fictional fast-food chain “Burger Trench”, which served as the prototypes
for Meatwad, Master Shake, and Frylock, all of whom could beat up the Hamburglar.
The creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro liked the characters so much they went and developed a show around them.
The three mascot characters were conceived
early on in Space Ghost’s run, but the episode featuring them did not air until well after
Aqua Teen Hunger Force had become popular.
Series creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro
wrote together on Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Squidbillies, Sealab 2021, and several other unaired pilots.
George Lowe, the voice actor for Space Ghost,
has had guest spots in numerous episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. A few of his roles
have been the DJ in “Mail Order Bride,” Space Ghost in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Colon Movie Film for Theaters, and even playing himself in the episode “Antenna.” Basically,
he’s the Michael Caine of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, if Aqua Teen Hunger Force was directed
by Christopher Nolan.
Lowe became a member of the show’s cast
in 2011 by landing the role of announcing the title of each of Season 8’s episodes.
Seasons 8-11 all featured a different title
for the show. They were: Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, Aqua Something You Know Whatever,
Aqua TV Show Show, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Forever.
The reason for the name changes? Boredom.
Willis and Maiellaro’s were tired of the original title and wanted to, “come up with
a new fresh open and a whole new show, just to try it out.” “Just to try it out.”
The show was made into a feature film which
premiered in theaters on April 13, 2007.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for
Theaters was the first feature film made from an Adult Swim TV show.
The show’s two creators wrote all its episodes.
They also directed many of them and even lent their voices to the series.
Dave Willis is the voice Meatwad and Matt Maiellaro is the voice of Err.
Since the show’s first episodes were so short,
most of the writing was done without an outline.
Dana Snyder nabbed the job of voicing Master Shake with the help of an old college friend
who went to highschool with Dave Willis.
Snyder’s first audition was a drunken, abusive
voicemail left on creator Dave Willis’s phone.
The mall in the first episode is taken directly
from The Powerpuff Girls. It’s even called Powerpuff Mall.
The show takes place in southern New Jersey, but in Season 8, the location was changed
to Seattle, Washington.
In Season 9, the setting was changed yet again to the fictional location of Seattle, New Jersey.
The team’s original name was Teen Hunger
Force, a reference to the team’s goal of conquering teen hunger.
The show’s first few episodes were about the team solving crimes. Its creators only
went with the format because Cartoon Network executives did not want the show to be about
fast food doing random things. That's totally what the show's about now.
The team decides to stop solving crimes because
it, “wasn’t making a whole lot of money.”
Gangster rap pioneer Schoolly D wrote and performed the show’s theme song. He also did some of the show’s narration.
After Maiellaro and Willis completed a script, they would spend a week working on a rough video of the show and completing voiceover work.
Both of the show's creators provided backup vocals.
There was a lawsuit filed in 2006 against the show and Schoolly D by a man who claimed
he was not compensated for his work on the theme song.
The accuser demanded $150,000 for every time the series was aired after the lawsuit was
filed; he also demanded that all existing copies of the series' DVDs be impounded and
for Aqua Teen Hunger Force to cease broadcast. The case was dismissed in 2007.
The theme song for Season 10 was made by Flying Lotus.
The cold opening of the show for its first two seasons was always a short segment about
Dr. Weird, whose actions would do would often lead to the episode’s conflict.
In Season 3, the cold opening was changed
to segments from an unaired spinoff pilot called Spacecataz staring the Plutonians.
Cold openings were cut out from the series once its fourth season premiered. But Dr.
Weird and Steven did return in a one-off cold opening for the Season 8 premiere, “Alien Part 1”.
The show was canceled by Adult Swim in 2015 against the wishes of both creators.
Both creators actually learned of the show’s
cancellation halfway through the production of its 11th season, from people at the animation studio.
The second to last episode was called, "The
Last One Forever and Ever (For Real This Time) (We Fucking Mean It)" and because they didn’t
actually mean it, the last episode was called, “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”
The creative team had planned a sequel to the movie and finished the script, but the
show got canceled before production could begin. Creators are thinking about doing a
Kickstarter to try and rally up the $3.4 million they would need to produce it. Hey, if Zach Braff can do it...
Aqua Team Hunger Force is the longest running original show in Adult Swim history.
In September 2010, the Adult Swim Shop introduced
a hot air balloon in the likeness of Meatwad that could be yours for a mere $70,000. Hold on, let me go rob a jewelry store.
In 2007 Turner Broadcasting put up LED displays
depicting Mooninites in 11 different cities as a guerrilla marketing campaign.
Authorities in Boston found the Mooninite displays to be suspicious, and thought they
may be improvised explosive devices. Major roads and waterways in the city were closed for
investigation. Turner owned up to being the source of the LEDs, and paid two million dollars
to the Boston Police Department. One million for the fees of their investigation, and another
million out of goodwill.
According to Willis, the show was cancelled because Adult Swim’s president, Mike Lazzo, “was ready to move on from it.” Lazzo was the one to pull the plug.
The show only cost around $60,000 an episode
to make, which is surprisingly low for an animated television show.
To get the right sound for Meatwad moving around, sound designers bought 8 pounds of
hamburger meat and squished it next to a microphone.
Similarly, they got the sounds for Mastershake using an actual milkshake.
The neighbor never calls Frylock and Meatwad
by their real names. He always calls them Fryman or Meatlock.
The episode, “Broodwich,” is a nod to Don Hertzfeldt, an indie animator who is a
big source of inspiration for Willis and Maiellaro.
The picture of Doctor Weird's castle in New
Jersey is actually taken from an episode of the show The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
titled, "Escape to Questworld". It's a shot of The Belle Isle Institute, where Dr. Jeremiah Surd is housed.
Dave Willis has said that Master Shake sleeps
in a chair in the living room because they forgot to give him a room in the house.
The show reached out to Steve Martin to play
a character in the movie, but they couldn’t get the schedules to work out. He was probably
too busy having awesome white hair.
The show also reached out to bassist Geddy Lee to play himself, but he was busy recording his solo album.
What's up everyone, just want to let you guys know that this Thursday on Channel Frederator we have 107 Peanuts facts,
and next Tuesday right here on Cartoon Hangover we have 107 facts all about Cowboy Bebop!
Don't miss these two episodes of Tooned Up, now let's get back to the facts.
When asked if there will be more Aqua Teen,
spinoffs, or movies, Dan Willis responded, “never say never.”
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is created with Adobe
Photoshop images that are animated in Adobe After Effects and edited using Final Cut Pro.
Writing the script for an episode takes Willis and Maiellaro around four or five weeks.
The main trio is in nearly every episode except Season 5’s “Sirens,” and Season 10’s “Spaceadunce.”
One of the leading candidates to voice Master
Shake was a man doing a Christopher Walken impression. But after Dana Snyder “auditioned,”
the show’s staff knew they had found their man… or their shake.
The show’s pilot episode, titled “Rabbot”, premiered unannounced at 5:00 AM on December
30, 2000. This was a whole six months before Adult Swim even officially started.
The pilot premiere was listed on the channel’s
official schedule as “Special Programming”, and aired alongside an unfinished Harvey Birdman
pilot and two episodes of Sealab 2021.
In the original storyboard for the pilot,
Space Ghost was set to appear near the end of the episode. However, this idea was scrapped for unknown reasons.
At the start of the pilot episode, Master
Shake says “Dancing is forbidden.” This phrase was remixed into the ending credits
song of every episode.
In the episode “Working Stiffs”, it is revealed that Frylock has a Doctorate degree
in Biomedical Hypertonics and a Master’s Degree in Cryogenic Sequencing and Thermite Plasmatics.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force ran a live action episode
as their finale for Season 6. This episode featured H. Jon Benjamin as Master Shake,
T-Pain as Frylock, David Long Jr. as Carl, and an exercise ball as Meatwad.
David Long Jr. got the role as live action Carl by winning an open casting call sponsored by Burger King.
Former Adult Swim vice president Mike Lazzo
did not want the episode to air, but Willis and Maiellaro pushed it through, believing
it would be their final episode. Riggggght.
Because of this, the episode was titled “Last Last One Forever and Ever.” Much to Willis
and Maiellaro’s surprise however, the show was renewed for a seventh season.
Meatwad has made cameos in two episodes of The Brak Show, “Brak Street” and “Bully”.
In 2007, Carl hosted his own web series titled, “Carl’s Stone Cold Lock of the Century
of the Week,” which premiered on the Adult Swim website. The series followed Carl’s musing on sports.
Out of all the main characters in the series,
Carl has died the most. Not as many times of Kenny, of course, but a lot.
Among the three Aqua Teens, Shake has died the most.
Carl’s car, 2 Wycked, is based off Matt Maiellaro’s own car.
Hip hop duo, Dual Core, released a song about Carl titled 2 Wycked on their first album.
The finale of the third season is named after Carl, but was renamed “Spacegate World” for its DVD release.
In “Spacegate World”, creator Matt Maiellaro
appears in cartoon form as a man delivering Chinese takeout to Carl’s house.
The full versions of the puppet TV shows from the series can be found hidden on the Volume 2 DVDs.
Voice actor Dave Willis plays an angry caller
in the video game Grand Theft Auto V, who sounds very similar to Carl. The call can
be heard on the in-game radio station FlyLo FM.
Dr. Weird and Steve are both voiced by C. Martin Croker.
Frylock has a picture of himself with a younger Dr. Weird in his bedroom.
Carl’s last name is Brutananadilewski.
Maiellaro and Willis created an Aqua Teen spin-off titled, Soul Quest Overdrive. It
featured four pieces of athletic equipment that were based on the Bible Fruit from the
finals of Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s fifth season. Six episode were ordered, but only
four of them aired, and the show was cancelled shortly afterwards.
Footage from the “Golf” episode of Soul Quest Overdrive was used in the Aqua Teen episode “Sweet C.”
During the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Live tour
in 2010, Dave Willis confirmed that Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad were all creations
of Dr. Weird, making the main trio siblings.
In typical April Fools’ fashion, Adult Swim
advertised that they would be broadcasting the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film a week early
on their channel. And they did, but only in a tiny box in the corner of the screen with
no sound while the regular block aired in the background.
The video game Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am was released in 2007 for the
PlayStation 2. It was a strange amalgamation of fighting, kart racing and...golfing, which
feels like a combination of ALL the Super Mario games.
In the aforementioned game, it’s revealed by Frylock that Shake’s age is “pushing 40”.
Carl’s favorite NFL team is the New York Giants. "Everybody knows my love for The Giants is well documented!"
The Mooninites were inspired by the buried copies of the E.T. the Extra Terrestrial game for the Atari 2600.
Err’s voice sounds different in the episode
“The Granite Family” because Matt Maiellaro, the voice of Err, had a cold.
The Plutonians, Oglethorpe and Emory, are named after two universities in Atlanta, where
the studio Williams Street produces Adult Swim.
Demonspawn rap artist MC Pee Pants wears a shower cap and a diaper in every one of his incarnations, except for his vampire form.
Willie Nelson, not the Willie Nelson, just
the spider living in the Aqua Teen’s attic, is the final character to make an on-screen appearance.
The landlord of the Aqua Teens is a 4040 year
old vampire named Markula.
Carey Means, the voice of Frylock, also voiced Thundercleese on the Adult Swim series The Brak Show.
Master Shake is allergic to shellfish.
In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, it is
revealed that Master Shake can remove his straw.
In the original Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode, Master Shake’s flavor is depicted
as chocolate. This was later changed because the creators thought that chocolate resembled
something a lot more disgusting.
The green substance that Shake shoots from his straw suggests that he is either mint
or pistachio flavored. Both sound good to me.
In the episode “She Creature”, it is implied that Shake can’t breathe without his lid on.
In the final episode of the series, it is
revealed that Shake’s yellow hands are actually yellow dish gloves. Or hand bananas.
Meatwad has no brain. Instead, he has a plastic brain-shaped squeaky toy. "I'll be damned, you got a toy brain!"
When he was created by Dr. Weird, Meatwad was originally given spray cheese to substitute a brain.
When Dr. Weird created Shake, he gave him half of his hair and his kidney as a brain.
The original version of Meatwad that appeared
in Space Ghost Coast to Coast is very similar to how he is now, with the exception of his personality.
Meatwad was born in September, but the opening theme song says he’s a Taurus.
In the episode “Balloonenstein”, it’s revealed that Frylock wears braces.
The Visible Frylock poster in Frylock’s bedroom indicates that his fries are supported
by bone. However, in the episode “Super Birthday Snake,” Frylock braids his fries. Ouch!
Meatwad is the only member of the Aqua Teen trio to be alive at the end of the series.
In the episode “Der Inflatable Fuhrer,”
it is implied that Shake is a Scientologist.
Shake has a disturbing taste for human flesh.
Shake is a big fan of the famous, critically-acclaimed film of a lifetime… Battlefield Earth.
Thank you so much for watching Tooned Up's 107 fact videos, where we cover everything you ever wanted to know about your favorite cartoons!
Definitely check our 107 fact video on Channel Frederator, your favorite cartoon destination place on YouTube.
And for fans of Adult Swim, we also have 107 Rick and Morty facts as well!
Don't forget to download the Channel Frederator app, where we have an exclusive Pen Ward cartoon called "Butt Dance"
that he did in college, exclusive to the app. So check out the app,download it today and remember Frederator loves you!