Category: Adventure Time

Adventure Time, Animation

“The Jiggler” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: April 19, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Luther McLaurin & Armen Mirzaian

I mentioned in my last review that I thought “The Enchiridion” would’ve been more suited as the series premiere, and being paired with “The Jiggler” only solidifies this belief. “The Jiggler”, in many respects, highlights the fun and charm of the series that “The Enchiridion” displayed, but this episode also has the distinction of showcasing the more emotional side of the series.

The episode starts off with Finn singing his “Baby” song in his auto-tuned voice, as he and Jake rescue Stanley the watermelon from a morbidly burning village. Hey, the first AT song to ever be sung! I love how absurdly this episode starts out by the way; a town is on fire, Finn rescues a seemingly lifeless watermelon named Stanley and his family, including a sausage link, a pineapple, banana and marshmallows. What the fuck is this watermelon’s story? As they set down Stanley and his family, a little baby creature follows the duo and whistles along to Finn’s song. Finn and Jake take a liking to the little “Jiggler” and bring him back to the Treehouse. Hey, this is also the first time we see the Treehouse! F&J decide to welcome the baby Jiggler by, of course, having a dance party. After partying all day long (and destroying some of their belongings for the fun of it) Jake passes out, and Finn takes the Jiggler to bed. It’s a nice quiet moment after a very energetic few minutes, and it’s certainly welcomed.

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(Had to include this screenshot just because of how friggin’ insane it is. Leg crotch!)

The next morning, Finn and Jake are ready to party once again, but the Jiggler seems a bit sickly. F&J try to find some food for him to eat, including purple whatevers, but come to the conclusion that the Jiggler likes to eat drawings. Finn then draws a picture of Jake, wanting the Jiggler to eat the drawing. Not cool, Finn. You don’t have a Jiggler eat your best friend. Things go really awry when the Jiggler starts spewing juices out of its holes (sounded a lot less dirty before I started proofreading), and F&J desperately try to plug them up using Finn’s glass eye collection and Jake’s eyepatch collection. This only very briefly works, and the Jiggler explodes its juice everywhere (again, a lot less dirty before proofreading), and its body parts and limbs start flying around the room. F&J try to put him back together, to no avail. Finn concludes that they shouldn’t have taken the baby, and tries to revive him using kisses. This scene’s pretty hard to watch, man. It certainly doesn’t rank anywhere near the show’s most devastating moments, but watching a young boy in desperation trying to revive this poor baby creature is really sad, honestly. Finn clearly blames himself for the Jiggler’s state, and wants to do anything he can to help it.

Using its own kisses, the Jiggler makes a picture of his mother, and the boys conclude that his mother must live near Stanley’s house. The boys find the mother, but the Jiggler’s mom rejects her baby. Finn angrily shouts at the Jiggler mommy, and tells her she’s supposed to love her baby. I thought this scene was especially interesting, given Finn’s future relationship with his father. Obviously it was unintentional, but Finn’s psychological belief that parents should love their children no matter what is only more heartbreaking when his father doesn’t seem to care from him at all. You could also argue that Finn’s relationship with Margaret has led him to believe this too, which is generally the most heartwarming approach toward it. Jake realizes that the baby needs it’s mother’s scent for it to be recognized, so Finn tosses the baby in its mother’s juice. The mother and baby reunite and Finn and Jake leave the baby behind.

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As I mentioned, this episode has a pretty decent emotional core. F&J’s investment in the Jiggler is particularly strong, and even though they’re only together for a short amount of time, you can tell that the two boys deeply care for this creature. Besides tugging at the heartstrings, this episode’s wildly silly as well. I really love Finn’s “Baby” song, and it’s fun to see that his auto-tuned voice later carries over to future episodes. In addition, this is one of the first laugh out loud episodes of the series. There’s a lot of really absurd and off-the-wall humor in this episode (“He’s all over the place, even in the floorboards!” “And the cupboards!” “And the galloshes!”) that AT is really known best for. Personally a very memorable episode from the first season for me.

Adventure Time, Animation

“The Enchiridion!” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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^ Feel like it’s worth mentioning that this title card originally depicted Finn stabbing Jake with a knife and Jake’s guts scattered everywhere. Yeesh.

Original Airdate: April 19, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Pendleton Ward, Patrick McHale & Adam Muto

I mentioned in my review of “Slumber Party Panic” that I thought a different season one episode held the distinction of being a better “premiere” type episode for the series. “The Enchiridion” is that episode, which is no surprise, seeing how it was the first episode of AT ever produced.

The episode starts off with one big dance party. I distinctly remember this being the first clip of “Adventure Time” I had ever seen, as they had this first scene in promos. A prototype version of Cinnamon Bun who sounds more like Chet takes a tumble into Princess Bubblegum’s castle, causing her to fall. Finn saves her, and she declares him a hero. PB says she’d like to show Finn something, and it’s none other than the Enchiridion, a hero’s handbook that is only bestowed upon the most righteous of adventurers. On a side note, if y’all haven’t checked out the actual Enchiridion book written by Martin Olsen, I’d do so asap. It’s seriously amazing.

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So Finn and Jake head over to Mount Cragdor and meet a cute little guy called the Key-per, who rambles on about a riddle to open the door. Naturally, Finn just uses the big key on the top of his head to get through. In their travels, Finn and Jake save a group of Gnomes stuck in a lava pit, and to show their appreciation, the Gnomes blow up a bunch of old ladies. Only seems appropriate. Finn feels guilty for the death of these elderly women and runs off, while Jake scolds the gnomes and puts those sick little bastards back in the lava pit. As Finn wistfully stares at a lake, Jake joins him and gives advice about being truly righteous and how the old ladies were most likely just illusions. Finn feels rejuvenated, only for Jake to get gobbled up by some giant Ogre. This Ogre is awesome! He’s got animals all tied up to his arms and legs. Why? Who the hell knows? He just does! Also, he sounds exactly like modern day Cinnamon Bun. I guess Dee Bradley Baker didn’t want to do the same voice in one episode? Finn, enraged by the Ogre who ate his best friend, steals his giant dollar bill and uses it to hang-glide in the air and deliver a roundhouse kick to the Ogre’s gut, causing him to vomit up Jake. The two fly off and the Ogre cries about his stolen dollar, to which Finn returns it to him via paper airplane. Why does an Ogre who ties animals to his arms and legs need a dollar bill in the first place? I don’t know, he just does!!

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Finn and Jake finally enter a tower where a Dark Magician resides, and Finn must defeat an evil heart beast before continuing. Finn defeats it, and his final task is to slay an ant. Not an evil ant, just neutral. Finn refuses to kill the ant and kicks the Magician in the boingloins, defeating him. The Key-per then enters the room in a little devil costume, declaring that Finn has succeeded in his trials, but Finn kicks him down as well in a state of over-stimulation. The Key-per sadly states he was wearing the devil costume because he was getting ready for bed. Dude, it’s broad daylight out. Outside, Finn is greeted by Mannish Man the Minotaur and the old ladies. Hey, I guess it was an illusion after all! Finn is rewarded the Enchiridion and the first chapter he looks at is “How to Kiss a Princess.” Hasn’t helped me in real life.

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This episode is pure unadulterated fun. Pen Ward, Adam Muto and Pat McHale, arguably the driving forces of AT’s beginning, wrote and storyboarded “The Enchiridion”, and it’s clear that their vision of the show heavily influenced the tone and story this episode. It mixes Ward’s silliness and charm with McHale’s whimsy and folklore with Muto’s genuine and strong character depictions. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of small, nice details throughout. The Ogre is just riddled with scars and iconic imagery that I really wouldn’t mind an entire backstory episode devoted to this one-off character. In addition, I really like how this is Finn’s first big step into being an adventurer. I love his devotion to being as righteous as he possibly can, and that even killing a measly ant is considered unjust in the eyes of our hero. This episode is also a big step in the general tone of the show. While the past couple episodes have had more of a focus on absurdity and humor, this one definitely ups the fantasy element of the show that we hadn’t really seen yet, and it’s a totally enjoyable journey throughout. This is the ideal season one episode: charming, funny, fast-paced and imaginative. Little did we know at the time that the Enchiridion would have a bigger role in the main story that we never could’ve imagined…

Adventure Time, Animation

“Tree Trunks” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: April 12, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Bert Youn & Sean Jimenez

The episode starts off with Finn and Jake slicing up some apples with their swords. Hey, Jake’s rarely seen kickass sword! I forgot it was in this one. We’re then formally introduced to Tree Trunks, whose hot buns previously appeared in “Slumber Party Panic”. Possibly a controversial opinion, but I actually like Tree Trunks. I know a lot of people tend to detest her and believe she weighs down the show, but I think she’s really endearing honestly. I dunno, there’s just something really adorable about the idea of an elderly lady in the body of an elephant. The only thing I don’t particularly like about her is the fact that she’s like, a billion years old and she has the hots for a 12-year-old in this episode. That’s a little creepy.

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Anywho, Tree Trunks invites the boys in for apple pie as they talk about their aspirations and what they would do if they could do anything. Finn says he’d like to ride a shooting star and fight space monsters (one of these comes true, at least) and Jake wants to carve his face in the moon. Tree Trunks states that she’d pick in apple (lame) but includes that she wants to pick the legendary “Crystal Gem Apple” located in the Evil Forest. Insert Steven Universe reference here. F&J decide to adventure to the Evil Forest to retrieve it, and with a little hesitation, Tree Trunks agrees to come along.

Once they get to the Evil Forest, they encounter a Wall of Flesh. Huh, I wonder if it’s human flesh. Could be an ancestor of Finn. The boys try to slay the wall, while Tree Trunks spends her time putting stickers on it. Before the wall can hurt TT, Finn defeats it and lectures her on how stickers won’t do shit in battle. Then a bunch of totally gnarly sign zombies come along and Tree Trunks tries to have a picnic with them, and Finn gets pretty jacked up by them trying to protect TT. Finn’s all, “C’mon gurl, you’re killin’ me.” Tree Trunks apologizes once more, but when a brain snake beast comes along, she once again screws with Finn’s adventuring by trying to seduce the beast. Jake was supposed to keep a watch on her, but he ended up falling into TT’s seduction. Gross. Finn snaps on Tree Trunks and says she’s not a true adventurer, making the poor little green elephant cry.

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I’m just noticing now that this episode’s a lot similar to “Trouble in Lumpy Space”: Finn, Jake and a secondary character travel to a distant land and the secondary character keeps screwing things up for the main duo, causing Finn to snap at the secondary character and then apologizing in the end. This one works a lot better in respects to that episode, imo. For one, I prefer Tree Trunks is much more likable and easier to sympathize than Lumpy Space Princess. Second, LSP’s intentions in “Trouble in Lumpy Space” seemed much more based on her own selfish needs, even though she was the one who unintentionally caused Jake the lumps, while TT’s screw-ups are primarily based on ignorance. Therefore, it’s a lot easier to sympathize with Tree Trunks than LSP, because while LSP herself didn’t mean any intentional harm, TT at least was trying to help, and she does end up assisting in getting the Crystal Apple at the very end! Finn had to cure Jake’s lumps with only help from himself. Kinda weird how they decided to basically do two very similar setups so close to each other, but this one is definitely the better of the two.

After Finn and Tree Trunks apologize to each other, they’re faced with a Crystal Guardian who can mimic their every move, and after fighting the Guardian fails, the boys try to retrieve the apple “the Tree Trunks way,” which still kinda confuses me as to what they actually did, honestly. Did they seduce the Guardian? Whatever, TT takes a bite into the Crystal Gem Apple, and when Finn asks her how it is, she explodes. Well, damn. I guess I should talk about the ending a bit too. Legend has it that on the Netflix version and a couple of DVD versions of this episode, the ending cuts off when Tree Trunks explodes, while all other versions show TT in the Crystal Dimension after she bursts. I can’t really say which ending is better honestly; the ending with Tree Trunks exploding is definitely the better “what the fuck” ending, but I think it’s still pretty effective with the brief clip of TT in Crystal Dimension, so I don’t think it necessarily ruins anything. I guess Cartoon Network was afraid kids would think Tree Trunks was dead? “Crystals Have Power” must’ve not been in production yet.

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“Tree Trunks” really benefits from having a great selection of star characters and environments. I really love the Evil Forest; there’s some awesomely creative villains there, including the snake beast and the sign zombies. It’s also a pretty nice debut for Tree Trunks, and as I mentioned, plays around with the “misunderstanding between two friends” plot a lot better than “Trouble in Lumpy Space” did.