Hunger

Those ferocious fast-food freedom fighters Meatwad, Frylock, and Master Shake return for more outrageous adventures in this double-disc set culled from their third season. Longtime fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force know that the Teens rarely battle any actual evildoers--their chief nemesis, Dr. Weird, blows himself up before he can hatch any of his schemes--but the fellas still have plenty of trouble to deal with in these episodes, whether it's from an Atari 2600 that can contact the deceased ("Video Ouija"), the hellish creature known as MC Pee Pants, who returns here as an elderly gent in a retirement home ("Little Brittle"), a robot babysitter for Meatwad (voiced by Sarah Silverman in "Robositter"), or the perennially pesky Mooninites, who make two appearances here (in "Remooned" and "The Final Mooning"). But of course, the Teens' worst enemies are themselves, and in the 13 episodes featured on this set, the boys manage to take on crash diets ("Diet"), destroy New Jersey's gas line ("Dusty Gozongas"), summon a monstrous Santa Claus with a magical T-shirt ("T-shirt of the Dead), shrink themselves ("Unremarkable Voyage"), and well, expire ("Video Ouija"). In short, it's typical Aqua Teen Hunger Force lunacy, abetted by several fun celebrity guest voices (Bob Odenkirk and Fred Armisen in "Hypno-Germ," Scott Thompson in "Dusty Gozongas," and Ted Nugent as himself in "Gee Whiz"). As with previous ATHF DVDs, Volume Four comes with a wealth of supplemental features for the series' fans: nine of the 13 episodes feature commentary from the show's creators, which are unfortunately plagued by sound-quality problems. But there's also the complete "Spacecataz," which compiles the brief clips of the Mooninites and Plutonians' ceaseless and ridiculous battles which open each episode into one short feature; a short film titled "Raydon" from the show's producers; "San Diego Must Be Destroyed," an amusing clip featuring the Mooninites which screened at a comic convention; and a featurette on the vocal talent as they record the dialogue for "Spacegate World." A montage of fan art set to the show's music and an intriguing clip for what appears to be the Aqua Teen Hunger Force theatrical feature (titled "Send Us Money for This") round out the offbeat extras. -- Paul Gaita