Balloonenstein (episode)

"Balloonenstein" is the fifth episode of the first season of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It originally aired on December 23, 2001.

Plot

Cold open

In the cold opening Dr. Weird unveils a Black Hole from behind the garage door, that sucks up both Steve and him. This black hole reappears several times throughout the episode.

Plot

At the beginning, both Frylock and Carl are sucked up by the black hole created by Dr. Weird in the intro. When Frylock returns, he finds that Shake has kept Meatwad in the dryer for almost a week. Meatwad emerges with newfound static electricity powers that may be more trouble than they're worth (since he killed so far Carl and Squirrley with them). So Meatwad takes a balloon given by Frylock (shaped as Meatwad's dead squirell Squirrley) and rubs it all over his body in order for the balloon to absorb the electricity within him. It then grows to tremendous size, and it is capable of shooting beams of electricity. It flies downtown and its up to the Aqua Teens to solve this disaster. At the beach, frylock tells meatwad to jump into water with glass covering his whole body, but fails by going into a portal. Shake and Frylock mourn for meatwad in Carl's pool, but before they finish Meatwad who is now gigantic appears. The show ends with Meatwad jumping into the pool, killing Shake.

Featured Characters

• Dr. Weird
  
• Steve
  
• Carl
  
• Master Shake
  
• Frylock
  
• Meatwad
  
• Narrator (Schoolly D)
  
• Squirrley
  
• Balloonenstein

Notes/Trivia

• The footage of the black hole was recycled from the early 90's Hanna-Barbera series SWAT Kats; in that series, it was the villain Pastmaster's time portal. (Other footage was recycled in Rabbot (and in the case of the cityscape BG, every episode since) and in The Cubing.
• In this episode, Shake makes a placesetting for Meatwad and happens to use a plastic utensil set. However, when he is setting it up, a metallic sound is heard, indicating that the sound must have come from something other than plastic utensils.
• The brand of dryer Shake tosses Meatwad in is denoted as "MoreMore".
• It is first mentioned (and utilized to some effect) in this episode that the Aqua Teen's have a ceiling fan in their living room. The inconsistency is that in later episodes it doesn't appear in the spot it should be in.
• The first of Meatwad's many friends make an appearance in this episode. Squirrelly the squirrel unfortunately couldn't survive the static-charged hugs of Meatwad.
• The Aqua Teen's roof has four shingles out of place in various spots on it.
• When Frylock smiles for the first time, his braces make their first appearance (this excludes their appearance during the opening sequence).
• Meatwad's brain makes its first appearance in this episode.
• This episode marks the first reference made toward the computer game called "Clam Digger".
• The drawing meatwad makes later appears in "Jumpy George".
• This is the first time Carl did not bow his head.
• Although it is a bit unclear, this may be the first time Shake and Carl die in the series.