Why Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 8 Was Dubbed Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1

Here’s why Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s eighth season was dubbed Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1. Aqua Teen Hunger Force was one of Adult Swim’s earliest successes, with both it and Sealab 2021 starting life as spinoffs of Space Ghost Coast To Coast. Aqua Teen Hunger Force follows the misadventures of a loser trio of talking food products, consisting of Master Shake, Meatwad and Frylock, with their neighbor Carl Brutananadilewski also playing a major role.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a surreal sitcom essentially, where anything can and does happen. The main characters could suffer hideous, gruesome demises in one episode and reappear the next week perfectly fine. The show was a cult favorite and proved to be the channel’s longest-running series, lasting from 2000 all the way to 2015. It even spawned a film version in 2007 with Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. A sequel dubbed Death Fighter was planned but ultimately didn’t happen.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force ran for eleven seasons, and like any series that’s run for so long, it liked to freshen up its formula from time to time. Fans tuning into season 8 in 2011 may have noticed it came with the moniker Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 and even featured a new theme song and intro. Despite the dynamic new title sounding like some kind of cop show, very little about Aqua Teen Hunger Force itself changed with the new title.

The show’s creators Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis later admitted they got bored of the show’s name after seven seasons and wanted to mix things up a little. The title changing each series became a recurring joke too. Season 9 is labeled Aqua Something You Know Whatever, season 10 is Aqua TV Show Show and the final series is Aqua Teen Hunger Force Forever. Willis himself would later reveal that changing up the title was intended to get outlets writing about the show, but this stunt didn’t really pan out.

Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 was a well-received season despite the format “change,” and featured guest voices like Idris Elba (The Suicide Squad), Matt Berry and Michael K. Williams. While Matt Maiellaro revealed in a 2019 interview with Decider that Adult Swim had considered an Aqua Teen Hunger Force special, it didn’t happen for unknown reasons. He also stated he’s open to reviving the show but for the time being, the adventures of Frylock, Carl, Meatwad and Master Shake have come to a close.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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