Some questions with “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” and “Squidbillies” co-creator, Dave Willis.
Las Vegas Weekly: So what’s in store for the Aqua Teens for this wonderful fall/spring/whatever season?
Dave Willis: I don’t know. Not a whole lot is going on with the Aqua Teens. We got so bored and annoyed with them in the movie, we decided to write some other characters, but we decided to keep the title of the show the same, because we felt people would watch it. There’s actually not a whole lot of aqua teens in this season of aqua teens.
LVW: Well in the first episode of this season, there’s robots, dozens and dozens and dozens of robots. Is this going to be a recurring theme in the aqua teens?
DW: Well yeah, you always go to a robot if you can’t come up with an idea, so possibly. But robot’s are pretty funny ... We figured that if we were going to jump the shark, we were just going to rocket vault it and introduce a new character every single episode in exchange for the aqua teens.
LVW: So by the end of the season people will be wondering, “Who are the Aqua Teens?” “Were there ever really Aqua Teens?”
DW: They’ll be wondering where, because then we’re also going to emit a low, low magnetic frequency on the last episode developed by the Chinese to eliminate memories and they’ll forget that the movie came out and they’ll go out and buy the DVDs again.
LVW: Well the movie was an unparalleled success. Did you guys even expect that at all?
DW: It did ok. We didn’t know what to expect. I went out the first night to the theaters and I went to one showing at 6:40 p.m. and it was four other people in the theater and two of them were elderly. I could see them frantically talking to each other in the first ten minutes clearly saying “Wait this isn’t Notes on a Scandal!” and they walked out, so I was despondent. But then I went to some theaters later on and they were packed. It’s weird. The R rating kind of killed us because some of our fans are old enough to get it. But I thought it would do modestly well and it did that.
LVW: But in the process, you guys got tired of the anthropomorphic food figures?
DW: No, I just think we wanted to do something different. I think I said in an interview that they’re going to be on vacation next season and the house is going to be the star. And then I walked away from that thing and was like “Wow, that smart ass comment actually could happen!” So I talked about to [series co-creator] Matt Maiellaro about that and he was like “Yeah, let’s do that.”
LVW: Are you and Maiellaro working on other projects?
DW: I kind of have a lot on my plate right now. We’re putting out ten Aqua Teens and twenty “Squidbillies” (episodes) and that’s an entire year’s work coming down the pike. I have a live pilot called “Sea to Shiny Sea” we’re currently editing and a CGI pilot we’re doing called “Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugartown Candy Fudge.” And Neko Case is playing Cheyenne Cinnamon, a pop princess living in a magical candy forest just twenty miles outside of Detroit and she goes into the inner city to help people solve problems like racism and teen pregnancy with the power of her pop songs.
LVW: One thing I’m always surprised at is how grossed out I can get during an average episode of the Aqua Teens. Do you guys have meetings over things like, for example, Carl’s Rocket Sex Radiation Penis Enlarger?
DW: I think Matt and I have different sensibilities, but they come together with things that are shocking like shocking humor. He’s a big horror fan and I love that kind of stuff. But in the end, we don’t’ talk about it, we just do it.
LVW: Does the Internet or supposed Internet-culture weigh on plot decisions or with what’s going on in the show?
DW: We actually kind of have a little bit of a story going on this season. We’ve never done that. It’s real half-assed, but it is a natural story arc that goes over a number of episodes. So it’s always nice when we leave things completely unanswered in the beginning because that leaves of things to answer as we go on.
LVW: Kind of like “Lost”?
DW: Exactly like “Lost.” In fact more complicated than “Lost.” If you’re not confused, then you’re not looking hard enough … We’re actually doing a joint venture with the creators of “Lost,” they just don’t realize it yet.
LVW: Oh God.
DW: I also just walked by a warm pile of vomit on the street, but realized I left my coffee in the car. So I had to walk by the same warm pile of vomit three times before I got back to the studio.
LVW: In Hollywood?
DW: Of course.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force premiers January 20 at 11:45 p.m. on Cartoon Network.