Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Baffler Meal Complete Collection: A Feast for Fans
What can an introduction mean? We'll, for Aqua Teen Hunger Force fans, it's probably some mix of "Shake zula, the mic rula, the old schoola, you want a trip, I'll bring it to ya." True to form, the episodes you boot up at the beginning of The Baffler Meal Collection greet you with those familiar tones. In essence, that's the draw of this meaty DVD collection.
The Baffler Meal Complete Collection is for devotees of the shenanigans that Frylock, Master Shake, and Meatwad find themselves in regularly. Aqua Teen Hunger Force ran for 15 years on adult swim and has its own cult acclaim as a torchbearer for the late night programing block.
As its looking stature would suggest, any collection that attempted to collect all of these entries would have to be considerably solid. 20 discs. It's amazing to look at and realize that you have every episode of the series right there in the palm of your hand. (You better have big palms.)
In an age where shows are disappearing off streaming with no way to retrieve them afterward, being able to go to the shelf and watch any episode from an entire run holds a specific type of charm. Opening the case even represents individual sections of season like burger and toppings. It's undeniably cool to look at and would fit alongside massive collections of other adult swim oddities.
With that said, there are some small questions raised by such a release. For one, some consumers might balk at the price tag outright. $100 could be rich for some people's tastes, but die-hard fans might not even bat an eyelash in their quest to own all of the series in one convenient place. Aqua Teen episodes only run for about 11 minutes. Even this quantity of content isn't nearly as long as some other full series box sets.
Adding to that consternation for some viewers is the fact that these episodes aren't on Blu-Ray or in that quality. Just your standard DVD aspect ratios and such. But with good sound quality. (Certain Aqua Teen purists might argue that it's a part of the appeal. Just think, this show premiered before HD broadcast TV was widespread!) So, you have to be ready for that before you click add to cart.
Where The Baffler Meal Complete Collection really shines is in the extras department. Not only is every episode accounted for, but the movie is included along with some wild extra features. There are commentaries for most of the seasons. Along with that, pilot episodes for some of the earliest episodes, including the pilot!
183 episodes is nothing to sneeze at, but there are certainly some viewers out there who might have been anticipating a bit more image quality for $112.99. While that does need to be weighed when making the overall decision, it's just hard not to recommend this to an Aqua Teen Hunger Force fan.
Buy the ATHF: The Baffler Meal Complete Collection on AmazonThere's 30 hours in just special features alone. Most of the people that are going to get the most out of that kind of run will already be ready to pay for the convenience of having every episode on DVD instead of trying to find them on streaming. (On services like HBO Max, the original aspect ratio remains intact as well.) 11 Season releases of television shows doesn't happen all that much anymore. Especially not with all the commentary and a movie tagged alongside it as a bonus.
With all of that taken into consideration, Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Baffler Meal Complete Collection is an instant buy for fans of the series or adult swim fans that have been there since the beginning. If for nothing than the ability to track one of the longest-running programs on the bloc from its inception to multiple reinventions in later seasons. As far as the home releases for this series, the fans are going to eat this one up.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Baffler Meal Complete Collection gets a 4 out of 5.
The DVD is available for purchase right here.
What's your favorite episode? Let us know in the comments below!
