History WesternAnimation / AquaTeenHungerForce

* UnrelatedEffects: ''Anything'' thrown to the ground explodes. It's occasionally lampshaded, but usually ignored.

** In "Chicken and Beans," Shake, jealous that Meatwad's eponymous song got so popular to the point where it made him famous, decides to make his own food related song. However, it turns out Shake actually just plagiarized the lyrics to the Music/{{Scorpions}}' "Big City Nights", for which he ends up getting sued for copyright infringement.

--> '''Carl:''' "Which one of you guys has been playing "I Like Candy" ''for a frickin' week?''"
--> '''Frylock:''' "It was your other neighbors-"
--> '''Shake:''' "Meatwad."
--> '''Carl:''' "Y'know what? At this point, it doesn't matter! 'Cause it keeps runnin' inside my head and it won't leave unless I blow it out - ''with a bullet!''"

** For one thing, at the start of the series, they were apparently some kind of private investigation agency. Much of the characterization, but especially Frylock, is noticeably different.

** There's also the Dr. Weird intros; they only appeared in the first two seasons, but the intros themselves also demonstrate this trope as for the first few episodes, Dr. Weird's actions actually affected the plot. Before long, the major defining characteristic of Dr. Weird's scenes became that [[NonSequitur nothing he did ever had any effect on the plot and was completely forgotten about the second the actual episode started.]]

-->'''Happy Time Harry:''' "You know, sometimes... I like to take this knife and just... cut myself. See how hard I can do it before I just... pass out, y'know?"

---> '''Shake''' "See? it's unethical, it's immoral, I have standards."

-->'''Creator/AdultSwim''': "Um, guy? Duh? Who could be confused by this?"

** Mooninite attacks, which supposedly will disintegrate anyone and anything, move at a rate of an inch per minute. And can get swatted away. The only person they successfully attacked was Carl (he was knocked unconscious), and in the end, all it apparently did was teleport him to the Moon.

* AssPull: In "100", Shake invoked it by name on Frylock's random 100-related ramblings.

* AbsenteeActor:
** Out of the show's 139 episodes, Carl was absent in only 20 of them.[[note]]Specifically, he's absent in "Dumber Dolls", "Super Hero", "Universal Remonster", "Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary", "Broodwich", "Little Brittle", "Hypno-Germ", "The Marines", "Shake Like Me", "Creature from Plaque Lagoon", "Fry Legs", "Der Inflatable Fuhrer", "A PE Christmas", "Eggball", "Allen Part One", "Rocket Horse & Jet Chicken", "Zucotti Manicotti", "Piranha Germs", "Spacecadeuce", and "Mouth Quest".[[/note]]
** The Aqua Teens themselves are absent in "Robots Everywhere" and "Sirens", with the in-universe explanation being that their landlord [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Markula]] has them trapped inside the Mojave Desert until they pay their rent, which Frylock refuses to do until Markula fixes their gas leak. The former episode is a downplayed case in that Frylock and Shake can be heard at one point, but they never physically appear onscreen.
** "Spacecadeuce" is notable for being the only episode in the entire series to not feature neither Carl ''or'' the Aqua Teens at all, with the episode instead focusing entirely on the Mooninites and the Plutonians.

* BitingTheHandHumor: Against Boost Mobile. See TakeThat.

** Boost Mobile once had Master Shake dressed in ghetto bling for Creator/AdultSwim {{eyecatch}}es on Comcast On-Demand... and then there was an episode dedicated to mocking Boost Mobile, killing some irritating sentient cellphones from said company, and Master Shake getting killed by the overdemanding cellphones. Interestingly, the actual company's service is never mocked (which is probably why they could get away with it).

A weird, crude, and [[WidgetSeries often completely random]] original series from Williams Street, ''[[WordSaladTitle Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' (2000 - 2015) is a show on Creator/CartoonNetwork's Creator/AdultSwim lineup [[NeverTrustATitle which has nothing to do with]] water (save their neighbor's pool and the occasional beach trip), teenagers, or whatever a "hunger force" is. Instead, it covers the adventures of three amateur detectives/superheroes ([[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness only for the first few episodes, though]] - the rest of the series has them reduced to bums; this is [[LampshadeHanging commented on]] at least twice later in the series) living in UsefulNotes/NewJersey. The Aqua Teens originated as one-off characters in a formerly unmade episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'' (a fellow Williams Street production), but were eventually given their own show -- [[AdaptationDistillation with changes to their appearances and personalities]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:

* StuffBlowingUp: As mentioned above.

* BrickJoke: In one opening, Steve impersonates Dr. Weird, shouting "Fill me with BBQ sauce because I'm dumb as hell!" A few episodes later, Dr. Weird actually does inflate himself with BBQ sauce.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent
** The live-action episode.
** And the second half of "Hypno-Germ," a bad play acted out by germs and beans inside Shake's head, with voice {{Cameo}}s from Bob Odenkirk, Creator/TimAndEric, Fred Armisen, [[Website/TheOnion Todd]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}} Hanson]] and Creator/JaneaneGarofalo.

Six years after the series' cancellation, [adult swim] [[https://io9.gizmodo.com/aqua-teen-hunger-force-metalocalypse-and-the-venture-1846878179 revealed]] that a sequel to ''Movie Film For Theaters'' (as well as films for other network powerhouses ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'') will be released for home video and broadcast in the near-future. [[https://www.cbr.com/adult-swim-rick-morty-aqua-teen-hunger-force-spinoff-series/ There will also be]] a SpinOff series, ''Aquadonk Side Pieces'', starring ''Aqua Teen'''s RoguesGallery, that will premiere on [adult swim]'s digital platforms.

* {{Mundangerous}}: ''Part all The Time'' stands out for being about Frylock contracting skin cancer, with no supernatural or sci-fi elements.

* {{Mondegreen}}

** That last one is HilariousinHindsight, as the real Glenn Danzig appears in one episode to buy Carl's haunted and elf blood-soaked house.

** Adult Swim's flash game, [[http://games.adultswim.com/worst-game-ever-twitchy-online-game.html Aqua Teen Hunger Force's Worst Game Ever]]. A side-scroller with only one direction key and long stretches of nothing, interrupted by a harmless obstacle to jump over. The teleport key moves Shake ''all the way back to the beginning'', and Alt-F4... probably does your sanity a favor.

Carl also does a [[http://video.adultswim.com/carl/ "Stone Cold Lock of the Century... Of the Week"]] during the NFL season.

* BittersweetEnding: The series ends with [[spoiler: Master Shake and Frylock dying horrible deaths (as usual), but Meatwad gets married and has a family of his own]]. Or at least this is how it seemed at first. Only three days after the "finale" aired, a second finale titled "The Greatest Story Ever Told" was [[http://www.adultswim.com/the-greatest-story-ever-told/ released on Adult Swim's website]] which overwrote the previous finale and instead ends with a very ''Aqua Teen'' styled joke.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: In "T-Shirt" after Santa is summoned by Meatwad he angrily tells him off for waking him up and needs time for "those faggoty elves" to show up. Later airings change it to "those sweet elves".

-->'''Frylock''': "Well, I'm sure glad that it wasn't blood ''(turns to [[NoFourthWall camera and gives a shit-eating grin]])'', or I would have been offended out of my [[PrecisionFStrike mother*HONK*ing]] [unintelligible]. ''\\
'''Shake''': ''(while looking at the screen and FlippingTheBird)'' Me too, you [[ClusterFBomb mother*HORN* *clink* suck!]]\\

** PlayedForLaughs in "Gee Whiz." [[https://www.adultswim.com/videos/aqua-teen-hunger-force/gee-whiz (skip to 05:32)]]

* WidgetSeries: '''IN AMERICA.'''

** In "The Granite Family" Time Warner says he wants to reboot the titular show and sell the rights to "this fox", said fox then saying [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson's]] "woo hoo!" catchphrase. This is a reference to when the rights to ''The Flintstones'' were nearly sold off to FOX in the early 2010s, with Seth Macfarlane of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' fame planning to head a reboot of the series (said plans were later cancelled about a year after the episode aired).

** In "Jumpy George", [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZtaYZR29c a woman leaving her kids with Meatwad says]]: "They're allowed to watch half an hour of television, and only cartoons. Which means [[NetworkDecay no Cartoon Network]]."
** In "The Granite Family", they meet a time traveler who warns people about things. His name is "Time Warner". Essentially they get mad at him for being a copyright Nazi and not letting them do anything related to time-travel related because he owns all the movies in which they travel through time, and for not letting them do anything related to The Granite Family/The Flintstones.

---> '''Shake''': You're black, right? You ''sound'' black... where are you '''from'''?

%%* TokenHuman: Carl.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Frylock, occasionally. Mostly justified - it's usually against Master Shake, who's taken a bigger level of Jerkass than could be matched by anyone else on the show. Yes, even the Mooninites aren't as big of assholes as he is.

* TookALevelInKindness: In "Shake Like Me" Master Shake is noticeably nicer and less cruel when he's black.

* ArtEvolution: Subtle, but as the series ages, more frames of animation are given to the characters. Additionally, the animation itself, the character models and backgrounds become much more smoother and detailed.

* YankTheDogsChain: At the beginning of "Robots Everywhere", Carl is showing the Aqua Teen's vacant house to a couple of prospective renters, who are normal humans. Then a couple of insane robots vaporize the couple and invade.

* BewareTheSillyOnes: The Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past From the Future is normally a rather goofy robot that goes off on tangents that make very little to no sense at all as they go on. However the movie shows him as being perfectly capable of being a threat if he wants to be one.

** "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future," despite the episode itself taking place during the month of February. [[note]]With the episode itself airing four days ''after'' Christmas.[[/note]]

--->'''Meatwad''': *[[ItMakesSenseInContext pretending to wake up after mistaking Carl and Shake trying to break into the former's house for Santa]]* "Shoot, that was a good sleep that I had!" [beat] "'''''WHERE ARE THE DAMN PRESENTS?!'''''"
** "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future," despite the episode itself taking place during the month of February.

--->'''Shake''': ''(stomach rumbles)'' "OOOHH! What did I eat in Chuck D's dumpster?!!" ''(eels explode out of his ass, killing him)''
* CircusEpisode: The episode titled "Circus", where Shake sells Meatwad for a quick buck, and later tries to win the crowd at the circus performance.

-->'''Frylock:''' "Ah, we should have cloned twenties. [[UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson Jackson]] wouldn't have given a shit."

** For one thing, at the start of the series they were apparently some kind of private investigation agency. Much of the characterization, but especially Frylock, is noticeably different.
** There also used to be a JiveTurkey LemonyNarrator voiced by Music/SchoollyD.
** For the first two seasons, curse words were censored with the standard bleep. Afterwards, they were replaced with random sound effects (most prominently fart noises).

** Speaking of which, there was also the Spacecataz intros during season 3; those intros instead revolved around the Plutonians and Mooninites going at each others' throats (with the Mooninites often getting the last laugh). Like the Dr. Weird intros, they had no affect on the overall plot of the actual episode and was completely forgotten afterwards.

%%* EndOfSeriesAwareness: Parodied in "100".

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Or more like Shake does. He and Meatwad are shocked that Frylock has taken a job that entails putting poison gas in children's birthday balloons. Frylock is quick to scoff at Shake's sudden possession of a moral compass.
--> '''Shake''' "See? it's unethical, it's immoral, I have standards"

%%* EyeBeams: Frylock.

%%** The episode "Laser Lenses."

** In "Chicken and Beans," Shake, jealous that Meatwad's song got so popular to the point where it made him famous, decides to make his own version of the song. He ends up getting sued for copyright infringement.