3 out of 5

Directors: Various Aqua Teen people

Aqua Teen was there at the beginning for Adult Swim, and it (along with Space Ghost) is a big chunk of the reason why I am so dedicated to Williams Street and their offerings. That being said… volume one of Aqua Teen is only a glimpse of the greatness to follow, and thus it is rated in comparison to the future seasons. Whats much fun on these two discs is seeing the introduction of the main theme of the series: randomness. While other shows are weirder overall, they at least offer a general kind of hook to latch onto, whereas Aqua Teen… well, if you cant buy a talking happy meal (without any explanation), then youre gonna be confused from the outset. And hence the unevenness in season 1, as, to pitch the show, the creators had to include some more structured elements, such as, uh, plot. This gets ditched soon enough, but it still sticks around for most of the episodes, and its all worth watching for first appearances of your favorite characters. Not as genius as whats to follow, but with enough highlights and great episodes to be worth your time.

The extras here are ho-hum: the alternate version of the pilot is nice, but not so drastically different to be beyond a curiosity, and this crew is very, very quiet during the three episode commentaries. Also includes a 3-minute bumper from a Comic Con.