Finally, the mystery will be revealed about how Frylock, Meatwad and Master Shake came to be Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Fans, put down the water pipe because you will have to follow a plot for the first time.
Courtesy photo | Aqua Teen Hunger Force has morphed from a strange little niche show into an underground phenomenon since it debuted on Cartoon Network's “Adult Swim” in 2001. The show, which chronicles the life of three fast-food items (a meatwad, a milkshake and a box of french fries) living together in a rented house in New Jersey, has garnered such high ratings that it was turned into a full-length movie. “Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters” hits theaters nationwide on Friday, April 13. Before the movie opens, Dana Snyder — who voices the character Master Shake — chatted with 210SA.
Before our interview, I was asked whether I wanted to speak to Dana Snyder or Master Shake. Is it strange being typecast as an animated character?
I don't know, but I guess you have to get cast to get typecast. I don't really have any negativity about it. What would I be doing if I didn't do this in the first place?
The show has been on for quite some time, so why do you think it has started to catch fire?
What I think so much of it is (is) word of mouth. It's not like we ever had a lot of ads. I know a couple of guys that made contact with “Adult Swim” right at the beginning, and within two months (of the show's premiere), they had already opened a Web site. They've still got the Web site up (aquateencentral.com), and they've been doing it since we started. I found that amazing when we first came out, and now the thing has like 1,000 subscribers. It's a super niche little tiny thing, but it's for a very specific type of people, the type of people that are up watching anime at 11 p.m.
Does that list of people include a lot of stoners?
It's not just stoners, but I don't know. I think there's definitely a pocket of stoners that are our core audience, and it's definitely some of your college-aged dudes. They're not all stoners. Some of them are drunks and boozehounds.
When did you hear that ATHF might be turned into a movie?
I went up to Comic-Con in San Diego, and (co-creator) Matt Maiellaro turned to me at one point and said to me, “Tell them we're making a movie and it will be awesome. Tell them it's done, and just keep telling everyone we're making a movie because eventually they'll let us do it.” He lied to enough people, sort of an opposite grass-roots campaign. He was preselling, but he really did want to make a movie.
What were your expectations when you heard about a possible movie?
Even after I recorded (the voice-over work), I still didn't know what they were going to do with it. Now it's in 800 theaters, and for me, personally, what I thought was going to happen was to be like, “Well, we've got some LCD projectors, and we're showing it in the parking lot of the movies.”
What are your expectations for the movie now?
It will be amped up, and unlike many of the episodes, it will have the addition of a plot. It certainly will address all of the origins of the Aqua Teen. If you like the show, you'll like the movie, but the show is very polarizing. People either like it or they don't. But my pat answer of how it will do is $1,500 to $1,800 domestically, and $350 internationally.
Why is the show so polarizing?
It's jarring in some ways. It's abrupt, and some people don't like that. And there are some people who think it's the most atrocious animation in the universe, which is fairly true. It ain't Pixar. There's no shading, and it's not for animation buffs. It is animated, but very lightly. And people watch it for the comedy, not the animation. I like animation a lot, but I'm not crazy about ours.
What kind of animation are you into?
I like “South Park” a lot, but I don't know. I don't really watch a lot of that new stuff. I'm into the older stuff. I watch some “Adult Swim” stuff, because we all kind of know each other. I try to watch everything, really, so I'm aware of it and so I know what's going on. But I love “Cops.” Any time that damned thing is on, I watch every segment of that show. The cops always say to the perp, “Can you put the beer down?” or, “No, you can't smoke in the car.” It's a sea of humanity.
Clint Hale | 210SA
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