Teens who turn a cold shoulder to coats miss the point

There's a moment at the end of "Antenna," an episode from the fifth season of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," when the near-Dadaist, Adult Swim montage comes to a strange yet wholly appropriate realization: After Master Shake is tricked into climbing an interplanetary tower, he's confronted by a group of aliens who tell him, "you are the (television) show" before broadcasting him on every network in the world. Strange though it may be, the ensuing scene - Frylock, Meatwad and their despicable neighbor Carl are mesmerized by Shake's broadcast, wading in filth from prolonged viewing stasis - plays as the punchline to this moment's meta-joke, positing Master Shake as mindless entertainment even in his own show.

After five seasons and a full-length film, "Aqua Teen" has found itself with a near-dry well of spastic humor and offensive sight gags. Born of senseless violence and incoherent drug trips, "Aqua Teen" has proven itself the most beloved and often incomprehensible of the Adult Swim animated shows. But where the show was once impossibly innovative and full of I-never-would've-thought-of-that moments, it now feels run-down and mundane, using not only recurring characters but, essentially, recurring plotlines.

This is not to say it's all gloom and doom in the animated wonderland that comprises "Aqua Teen" - though the episode "Grim Reaper Gutters" from this season might argue otherwise. The show still carries some of the originality and ingenuity it saw in its first few seasons. The episode "Boost Mobile" critiques increasing consumerism and blatant whoring of public ad space as Master Shake virtually sells his soul for Boost Mobile phones, chains and sunglasses. Meanwhile, "Bart Oates" jokes that former New York Giants center Bart Oates is actually a robot from the future, looking to stop the creation of "Terminator" and henceforth limiting human's awareness of the animatronic takeover.

But for every great episode, there are ones like "Dickesode." Downright offensive in its conception and animation, the plot revolves around a Chinese restaurant that, in their fortune cookies, threatens to cut the patron's dick off - all in an effort to allow an oversized humanoid penis the ability to travel back to his home planet ("Dickplanet") in a ship made of dicks ("Dickship"). Um, sure.

Where exactly does a show like "Aqua Teen" go from here? This show has covered such a wide range of topics and grilled so many public affairs that it seems almost out of material. But it also seems like a show that should have an unlimited amount of ideas given the flexibility of its platform.

It will then come down to whether or not the writers are able to sift through their half-baked ideas and harvest the ones that are truly hilarious. In any case, season five seems to be the crossroad: From here, "Aqua Teen" can either catapult to greater work or stagnate and settle for lackluster episodes and flat, dry jokes. But if this season's extras are any indication - a mass of completely inane and worthless short clips - the show is tending towards the latter. Unfortunate for a show that once made 2D, multi-colored pixels seem the most devious and hilariously terrifying creatures to visit earth.