"The Dressing" is the twenty-first episode of the second season of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and the thirty-ninth episode overall. It originally aired on December 14th, 2003.
Plot
Cold open: A decapitated Space Ghost is shown, then Dr. Weird puts his head on as a hat and exclaims, "There can be only one!" as guest Seth Green looks on and says "Nice."
Meatwad approaches Carl and invites him to Thanksgiving dinner at the Aqua Teens house. Since they aren't legally US citizens yet, the Aqua Teens have Thanksgiving a week past the actual holiday. Carl agrees only after hearing they actually have a turkey; however, he eats outside "where witnesses can see him", correctly predicting something terrible will happen. As Shake gorges himself on a taco pie, a robotic turkey enters, threatening to choke Carl if the Aqua Teens don't put the "bird" down. After dropping Carl, the turkey identifies itself as Turkatron and explains he was sent from the year 9595 to save "the great, great, great, great, great grandfather of Goblox". He then proceeds to tell a long, Terminator-esque story (and even claims he's the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future) until he learns the turkey has been dead and that the Aqua Teens have been eating him. While waiting for a "time rift" (actually the curtain), Turkitron decides to stay for a little bit so he can eat taco pie and get drunk off wine. After becoming a burden, Frylock opens his circuitry & reveals that Turkatron is actually a defunct toy called "Hustlin Tom Turkey" and that there are hundreds more turkeys out there. Just then, there's a knock on the door - Shake opens it up and finds over nine thousand robotic turkeys outside looking for Goblox. Shake points them in the direction of Carl's house - Carl opens and says, "You have got to be frickin kidding me." When the Turkeys ask Carl what he's eating (turkey leg), Carl tells them "Your mother". The turkeys destroy him with laser-guided socks.
Cultural references
- Meatwad: "Bird is the word."
A reference to the song "Surfin' Bird (Bird is the Word)" by The Trashmen. - Turkatron's story that he has arrived from the year 9595 to protect the ancestor of Goblox, who is destined to lead the rebellion against "Master Chickens," echoes the plot of the Terminator trilogy, where a robot is sent back in time from the future to assassinate (and later, after being reprogammed by the humans, protect) the mother of the man destined to lead the human rebellion against their robot masters.
- Turkatron's quote of saying "...in the year 9595" may be a reference to the 1969 song "In the Year 2525" by Zager & Evans.
- Dr. Weird: "There can be only one!"
A reference to the movie Highlander. Shake made this exact reference in the past episode Dumber Dolls.
Notes/Trivia
- The objects Meatwad pulls out of his head are: His 'To Do' list, the Jiggle Billy doll from Dumber Dolls, and his (dead) pet squirrel Squirrely from Balloonenstein.
- Carl gets his head cut open when he's thrown through the glass, but at the end of the episode, he is fine.
- In one scene, Shake eats one of the turkey legs but a few scenes later the leg is back on the turkey.