It's no surprise that the fourth season of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, now available on DVD, lacks the glory of the show's early days. What was once a trendsetter for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim -- a late-night block of mature programming, usually with seemingly random jokes -- has become entirely stale.

The show is currently halfway through its fifth season, but this new DVD set from the 2005-2006 season illustrates that the once-hilarious stoner comedy ran out of steam long ago.

Aqua Teen features a team of anthropomorphic fast-food items: the egocentric, irresponsible Shake, the dimwitted Meatwad, and the (relatively) normal Frylock.

The plots are incoherent, surreal fifteen-minute non-sequiturs that appeal mainly to potheads and sleep-deprived teenagers. A recent feature film adaptation gave the show new buzz, but the fourth season (captured on this fifth volume of the show's DVD set, after the first season was released on two separate DVDs) reheats the same old jokes and falls flat.

Take the episode "Global Grilling." Shake and Meatwad try to make a mucus man by heating him with a super-powerful grill, which melts the polar ice caps and causes flooding.

In the end, the episode has been all in Shake's mind, and he closes with a heartfelt plea, complete with waving American flags, that "You must eat your boogers, America, for the sake of your grandchildren's lives."

And I used to like this? It's hard to tell if the show has gotten worse, or if I simply lack the mindset of a high-schooler up at 2 a.m., but the "random" and "wacky" humor is just lame.

Then again, I don't think something like "Dickesode" (guess which male body part is subject to most of this episode's jokes!) would have gotten laughs after puberty passed. Of course, Meet the Spartans was a recent No. 1 movie, so obviously there's still a market for crass, mindless comedy.

Worst of all is that, for a show with no discernable purpose, point or direction, Aqua Teen repeats itself.

Other episodes feature a similar gag, in which a character will feign sincerity, usually while piano music swells. And most of the "random" plots fall into categories. Three episodes, for example, could be grouped under "Episodes in Which the Teens Create and/or Fight Off a Monster" ("Hand Banana," "Dirtfoot" and the aforementioned "Global Grilling").

Even the Mooninites, the show's funniest villains, fall flat in their "Moonajuana" episode, in which they trap Shake and Meatwad in a giant bong in an attempt to get them high and burgle their apartment. (The episode might be more enjoyable if the viewer was trapped alongside the characters, though.)

There are a few laughs. "Boost Mobile" parodies corporate marketing when Shake begins to shill for the cell phone service and features cameos by other products ("Heeey, it's Axe body spray! Where are the girls?"). Shake's claim that his Boost Mobile gear "represents my lifestyle and status as street-savvy irreverent youth who lives large, yet hungers for the next level in life," directly before going into a sales pitch, is one of the season's better quips.

Worth a mention are the DVD's special features.

Among the extras is "The Worst Game Ever," and it's not false advertising.

The game, originally hosted online to promote the movie, features Shake and Meatwad talking across a blank pink screen. Every few minutes, you hit an "obstacle," such as a tiny pebble, which you pass by hitting the up button to jump. At the end of the trek, which takes a whopping 40 minutes, you are promised an exclusive clip from the movie.

And, of course, the clip is less than a minute long, an unfunny punch line to a tedious set-up, just like the rest of the show.

But does it matter? Another extra, "Aqua Teens Respond to the Critics," suggests not. The segment features the Mooninites (funnier in this bonus feature than in their actual episode) bashing a critic for panning the film.

The smaller Mooninite, Err, taunts a fictional reviewer: "And now we're gonna review your movie ... oh, wait, you don't know how to make one!" His partner, Ignignokt, rubs it in: "Now run, run to your blog and tell everyone how we hurt your feelings with your many exclamation points."

The point is, the show's fans will not care what a reviewer says, they want cheap laughs. But those laughs will come only to the dedicated audience, and maybe not even that; on IMDB.com, the eight lowest-rated episodes of the show are from this season.

To the typical (sober) viewer, there's nothing worthwhile here.

Grade: D