The third season of this show picks up in quality just where the second season left off – which means if you hated it then you'll still hate it so don't bother giving it another shot here. The show now opens with the segments called Spacecataz which is essentially a series of pranks between the Mooninites and the Plutonians; these bits were apparently meant to be a show in their own right but didn't make the cut so were used here as cold opens. I missed the bits with Dr Weird and Steve but I do enjoy both sets of aliens and mostly they had a random abruptness that made then funny by virtue of going nowhere, just as the other characters did. The season itself has plenty of great episodes that make great use of the characters but out of a 13 episode set it is probably too much to have about 3 or 4 that don't work as well as they should.
These episodes tend to be the ones that rely less n the characters being themselves and push the plot or supporting characters to the foreground. This isn't always bad (eg Mooninites can always get me) but the episodes with the stripper city worker, the hyno-germs and a few others didn't engage or amuse me as much because of moving past the main characters a bit. That said there are plenty of episodes that the plot is almost incidental and the actions and dialogue of the characters are what makes it very funny – particularly episodes where one of the main characters dies only to be fine the next one. The characters continue to be very well drawn and I love them all when they are on form – Shake in particular with his sudden proclamations and selfish actions works well with Meatwad's dumbness. Fry remains a supporting character for me but is a good straightman in the trio.
The writing of the dialogue is mostly good and the nonsense plots are wisely left to be excuses for an episode rather than a reason for an episode. As I said, where the plots drive the episodes then they tend not to be quite as good because they become more about the events, but this is the minority of episodes this season. It is still very much an acquired taste and I don't know why I love it while I dislike some other Adult Swim shows, but this third season was mostly very funny and effective thanks to the strong and funny characters in the leads. Just a handful of episodes see it underperform, which is still a little disappointing but doesn't hurt too much although it is a shame that several of them are grouped together towards the end of the season.
These episodes tend to be the ones that rely less n the characters being themselves and push the plot or supporting characters to the foreground. This isn't always bad (eg Mooninites can always get me) but the episodes with the stripper city worker, the hyno-germs and a few others didn't engage or amuse me as much because of moving past the main characters a bit. That said there are plenty of episodes that the plot is almost incidental and the actions and dialogue of the characters are what makes it very funny – particularly episodes where one of the main characters dies only to be fine the next one. The characters continue to be very well drawn and I love them all when they are on form – Shake in particular with his sudden proclamations and selfish actions works well with Meatwad's dumbness. Fry remains a supporting character for me but is a good straightman in the trio.
The writing of the dialogue is mostly good and the nonsense plots are wisely left to be excuses for an episode rather than a reason for an episode. As I said, where the plots drive the episodes then they tend not to be quite as good because they become more about the events, but this is the minority of episodes this season. It is still very much an acquired taste and I don't know why I love it while I dislike some other Adult Swim shows, but this third season was mostly very funny and effective thanks to the strong and funny characters in the leads. Just a handful of episodes see it underperform, which is still a little disappointing but doesn't hurt too much although it is a shame that several of them are grouped together towards the end of the season.
