Category: Animation

Adventure Time, Animation

“Evicted!” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: May 17, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Bert Youn & Sean Jimenez

Jake tells Finn a spooky “based on a true” story about vampires that really psychs him out. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned this yet, but Finn’s pajamas really psych me out. There’s no way in hell they’re even remotely comfortable, and they must itch a bunch. Finn heads off to bed, but is too scared to sleep, and is intruded on by a worm in his bed. Finn tosses the Enchiridion at it, because that book is only good for killing bugs and sitting on when the grass is wet.

After seeing the shadow of a vampire through his window, Finn rushes downstairs and panics to Jake. Jake calms Finn down by telling him that he made the whole thing up, but just then, Marceline the Vampire Queen pops in! And thus, we have our first appearance of Marcy. Sorta weird how it took 12 episodes to introduce one of the show’s most fleshed out and interesting characters, but here she is! Odd to say, but I especially like the way she’s designed in this episode. She’s wearing the basic gray outfit you see in most promotional pictures and merchandise (ain’t it weird how this is the only episode she wears that shirt?) but there’s something especially fluid and expressive about her movements and facial expressions in this episode. Marceline informs Finn and Jake of all her adventures around Ooo, including riding through a sea of fish in the DAYTIME. You lie, Marcy! Marceline overstays her welcome, however, when she kicks Finn and Jake out and claims that treehouse was her property first. Of course, Finn wants to kick her in the face a little, but Jake’s hella scared of vampires, so the two search for a new home together.

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What follows is one of my favorite scenes from AT’s first season: “The House Hunting Song.” The montage is a fast-paced romp, featuring some of the funniest and most absurd parts of the episode; Finn continuously keeps sticking his foot in people’s houses and a frog barfs a tiger, all perfectly ordinary events in the Land of Ooo. What really ties this scene together is Pendleton Ward’s hilarious singing voice. He gives every line of the song a certain umph and really nails every single delivery that the song never grows stale throughout its entirety. In addition, it even helps build Marceline’s character a bit! She’s 1,000 years old and she lost track of her moral code, but she certainly isn’t a villain of any sorts. After losing her closest friend, her jerky boyfriend, her favorite teddy bear and her father figure going completely bananas, I don’t blame her for losing stability in her life. The one small thing that bugs me about the sequence is that it raises the question: why isn’t BMO with the boys?? I know this is before BMO becomes a major character, but it seems like a bit of discontinuity looking at the series now with how close the boys are to their sentient game console.

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After that song is done with, we transition into another one where Jake serenades Finn by telling him that home is where the heart is. Obviously Jake isn’t really taking it seriously and is only having fun with it, but it’s a sweet little moment between the two brothers. After finally finding a home inside a cave, F&J decide to throw a rad housewarming party. A party that’s so rad, it raises back Tree Trunks from the dead!

As all the guests party, Marceline enters the boys’ new home and tells F&J that the cave is also her property. Finn’s like, “fuck this, it’s time to kill us a vampire!” Jake reminds Finn that home is where the heart is, which prompts Marcy to try to kidnap Jake. Marceline transforms into that awesome bat form that she has under her sleeve, as her and Finn begin to fight. Marceline grabs Jake once again, and sucks the blood right out of him. Finn is super pissed and punches that literal homewrecker right in the jaw. Marceline is impressed and kisses Finn on the cheek, causing his 12-year-old boyhood to exacerbate. Jake is revealed to have survived because he stuffed all of his guts in his thumb, and Marceline decides to give the boys their house back. Upon returning, Finn and Jake find that their house is infested by worms. The King Worm enters the room and makes Finn and Jake hug him. End of episode.

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There’s not a whole lot going on in this episode, to be honest. It’s pretty much just Finn and Jake get kicked out, find another house, fight Marceline and return back home. That being said, I think it’s a really great and fun introduction to Marceline’s character. While she actually doesn’t appear much in this episode, you can clearly tell from her brief appearance that Marceline is a very two-dimensional and layered character, and I really like how Finn and Jake work off of her. Jake is obviously terrified of her, while Finn seems equally scared of her, but more of an “intimidated by a hot girl” sort of way. Aside from that, “The House Hunting” song is really what turns this episode from a good one to a great one, and really is one of the most enjoyable scenes in the entirety of the first season.

Adventure Time, Animation

“Wizard” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: May 10, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Bert Youn, Peter Browngardt & Adam Muto

Wizardry has always been one of the most interesting topics brought up in “Adventure Time.” Whether talking about the species, religious aspects or the secrecy behind its culture, wizardry has been fleshed out majorly throughout AT’s run, and has given us some of the most thought provoking material and most mysterious elements of the entire series.

“Wizard” doesn’t provide anything too heady, but it’s a great deal of fun and a neat introduction to wizardry itself. Finn and Jake are strolling along in the woods and find a stranger named Reaper, who offers the two boys free magic powers, but Finn is a bit skeptical at first. However, Reaper offers up a keychain with those magic powers, so Finn accepts that offer. I mean, who wouldn’t? Keychains are rad. F&J travel through a portal and end up at a wizard training facility. They meet a magic frog who offers to lead them to a wizard named Bufo, which the frog reveals to be several tadpoles inside of his croaker, all voiced by Tom Kenny. I think it’s really interesting that Tom Kenny voices a majority of the magic users: Ice King, Magic Man, Laser Wizard, Urgence Evergreen, Bufo, etc. As repetitively as he’s used in most animated shows in recent years, he really does a standout job to give each of these magic users their own identity, and Bufo is no exception. His whimsical inflections, as well as the echoing by the tadpoles, real brings life to the character.

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So Bufo brings the boys inside the facility and begins training them to become magic users. Their first trial to achieve “dustomancy” is to eat a broom. Jake uses his stretchy powers to eat the broom with no sweat, but Finn takes quite a while to finish. That poor kid’s gonna have wood in his stool for weeks. The boys achieve dustomancy, which allows them to control dust particles in the room. Magic is neat-o! The next trial is to touch a bowl of eyeballs blindfolded, but Jake’s peaks and see’s that the eyeballs are just peeled grapes, so the boys have no trouble. I’m just wondering who has the time to actually peel a bowl of grapes. A very amusing montage of the many trials Finn and Jake had to get through follows. I love how inconsistent the difficulty is of some of the trails; after about thirty trials, Jake has to put an orange slice in his mouth, and then proceeds, yet he had to eat a broom in the first trial. The spells are especially silly as well, who would’ve thought that wizards could shoot mayonnaise from their fingertips?

The boys reach the final trial, but Jake backs out and casts a sleep spell on himself because he already has everything he needs, what with his unlimited mayo supply. Finn’s still in it to be an ultimate wizard, and takes “The Pledge of Ultimate Responsibility” to proceed. Little does Finn know is that he agreed to shoot his magic at an orb with two other old wizards to prevent an 847 year old meteor from hitting for the rest of eternity. The philosophy of “magic, madness and sadness” wasn’t yet introduced into the series yet, but it could easily be applied to this episode. The idea of hanging by a rope and using magic to prevent a meteor from hitting a castle for an entire lifetime is certainly mad, and the fact that it’s the sole purpose of these old wizards and Finn is especially sad. But, since Finn is energized and full of youth, his does things his way and tries to prevent the meteor in an anime type fashion where he shows off his various abilities to drag the meteor out of the way.

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The transformation sequence is terrific, showing off some of the many crazy and creative wizard powers, as well as some superb animation. Finn tries to get Jake to help him, but Jake is conked out. The old wizards join in with Finn, and successful drag the facility out of the way. The meteor hits the ground and causes a large explosion that blows the clothes off of everyone. Bufo’s all upset because his whole life revolved around giving people free wizard powers to protect the meteor, but now the meteor hit. Finn, with a piece of wood covering his junk mail (the time’s are changin’), tells Bufo to still give out free wizard powers, and then he and Jake run into Reaper again, who offers them a demon heart. But no keychain?

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Like I mentioned, this episode’s a ton of fun. It’s very creative with the unlimited possibilities for wizard powers there are, and really takes advantage of it. In addition, this is a really funny episode! I know I haven’t really mentioned that as being a big factor in the past 10 or so episodes, but the humor in this episode is spot on. I love the little visual gags throughout, such as Jake eating the broom and growing small, only for the broom to be sticking out of his gut. Also, Finn sending a spell to wake up Jake but instead accidentally giving a rock life got a real kick out of me. In addition, wizardry is just a really cool element of the series for me. I love to see all the different layers there are to these characters and species, and this was certainly a delightful introduction to magic users.

Adventure Time, Animation

“Memories of Boom Boom Mountain” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: May 3, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Bert Youn & Sean Jimenez

The episode begins in Marauder village, where a group of Marauders rough house with each other. One of the most noteworthy features of these Marauders is that most of them have robotic body parts and head implants, which become somewhat of a major player in the story later on. Probably not intentional, but something that’s still very interesting to take a second look at. It really adds to the lore and backstory of AT’s world. After participating in a fight with the head Marauder, Finn hears someone crying in the distance, and wants to tend to their distress. The head Marauder calls him a chicken, so Finn gets all deep and exposition-y and tells a tale of a time he shit in a leaf as a baby and then fell in it, but no one came to help him, so he swore to help anyone in need from that day on. Sad stuff, man.

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Finn and Jake take off to find the person in distress, but it turns out that it’s a giant mountain who cries boulders that needs assistance. The mountain hates that he has to watch the fighting Marauders all day long because he hates violence, but Jake’s not buyin’ it. Finn relives some traumatic boom-boom memories and decides to help the mountain out. Finn attempts to ask the Marauders to stop their rough-housing, but the head Marauder angrily declines. So Finn decides to tie animals to the Marauders fists, much like that one Giant had animals tied to his limbs (miss you, Enchiridion Giant) to soften the blow. This proves to succeed, but the Mountain is still displeased because now the Marauders are abusing animals. I dunno, the animals look pretty happy to be abused from my perspective. This Mountain’s really pushin’ it.

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So, Finn tries to get the Marauders to stop, but they tell him to get lost because they’re having a good ass time. Finn pats one of the Marauders and then that Marauder likes it so he starts patting another Marauder who then pats another Marauder and they all start… patting each other. Well, alright. The Mountain’s really pleased with the patting, but it goes awry when the Marauders begin to get a skin rash. So, they decide the most logical decision is to turn the Mountain around, but they can’t turn the Mountain around because there’s a female Mountain behind him that likes staring at his “gorgeous back” and so if they turned him around, she couldn’t anymore. Well, alright. Finn really doesn’t know what to do at this point, and then a bunch of different characters ask him for different favors, and everything begins to go completely batshit crazy.

Finn begins to feel distraught because he is overwhelmed with favors, but Jake then questions Finn on what he wants. We flashback once again to Finn’s poopy memory, where Joshua and Margaret, Finn and Jake’s parents, find Finn in the woods. I remember being really confused when I first saw this scene, and I feel like there could’ve been a little more context behind who Joshua and Margaret are. I didn’t know who the hell these Jake look-a-likes were! Finn informs Jake that all he wants to do is help people, so they work together to make sure everyone is helped out. They come up with a solution to all the problems these characters were faced with, which honestly seem more like short-term solutions than long-term solutions, but whatever. Jake mentions that he has a problem, which is that a dolphin fell in love with him, but Finn tells his buddy that it’s the opposite of a problem. The end.

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Honestly, this episode was all over the place. Most of the episode is spent with the Mountain and the Marauders, and so once we jump into the problems with other characters, the episode just seems completely rushed. I’m cool with the Marauders, but honestly, the Mountain wasn’t really a likable character at all, and so spending most of the episode with him isn’t really that pleasurable of an experience. In addition, the moral of the episode seems confused. Season one is a really good platform at teaching Finn actually pretty well thought out lessons not only from a heroic standpoint, but from a human standpoint. Aka, fears are normal and necessary, some people are just jerks for no reason, etc. I feel like this episode could’ve had a solid “it’s impossible to make everyone happy all the time,” but it sorta missed that opportunity. In addition, I’m usually down with AT’s absurd and random humor, but most of it in this episode just seemed weird for weird’s sake. The Marauders patting each other was just kind of an awkward and nonsensical solution, and the idea that the lady Mountain wanted to stare at the male Mountain’s back made little to no sense. There’s like, 12 mountains in sight! Pick another back to stare at!

If there’s one thing I like about this episode, it’s the brief bit of lore regarding Finn’s past. Again, I would’ve like if the episode was a bit less subtle about who Joshua and Margaret are, but it’s a nice little flashback that helps us connect with Finn a bit more. And also, Finn and Jake are officially brothers! It’s nice to know their definitive relationship. But yeah, this episode is somewhat scattershot and a bit too arbitrary for my liking. It’s weird to find myself complaining that AT’s humor is too random, as 9 out of 10 times I’m completely fine with absurd humor, but when it affects the strength of the plot, it can really hurt the episode.

Adventure Time, Animation

“My Two Favorite People” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: May 3, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Pendleton Ward & Kent Osborne

Finn and Jake are battling with Science Cat and the late Sword Shark (R.I.P., brother) when Jake realizes that it’s 4 o’clock and that he’s late for viola practice with Lady Rainicorn. Jake’s upset that he’s leaving because he’s missing out on Finn decapitating Science Cat and Sword Shark’s heads only for them to re-grow them the next day. I wonder why Science Cat and Sword Shark would ever put themselves in that position. That just sounds very uncomfortable. Jake shows up to play viola with Lady, but she’s hecka tired, so Lady goes right off to bed. Man, Rainicorns go to sleep super early. So Jake sadly rides home on his bike while venting to Shelby, the worm that lives inside of his viola, about how he wishes he could hang out with both Finn and Lady at the same time. So Shelby’s like, “why don’t you just hang out with Finn and Lady at the same time?” and Jake’s all, “great idea!”

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So Jake, Lady and Finn get together for a super awkward picnic where Finn tries to break the ice. Finn starts up a knock-knock joke with the setup of “diarrhea” but Lady never answers with “diarrhea who?” I really wanted to hear that joke; diarrhea always makes for a funny punchline. Jake asks Lady to say something funny and she mentions a time when her and Jake ran naked through a farmer’s field. If you ever wanna get past the censors kids, just speak in Korean. Obviously, Finn isn’t bilingual so he doesn’t understand what Lady’s saying, so the trio embarks on a journey to find a translator at the bottom of Lake Szelezon. The scenes underwater are especially a highlight; the animation is fast-paced and energized, and the music packs a feeling of thrill and whimsy. There’s also these really cool creatures called the Lake Knights that look like a mixture between a fish and a garden gnome.

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Once receiving the translator, the only settings on it are alien, nightmare and grandpa, so naturally they choose grandpa. Finn gets a real kick out of it and he and Lady begin to bond. Jake slowly starts feeling left out when Lady and Finn leave him behind to go collect some choice cursed rings from Forest Wizard, and jealousy ensues. It’s interesting that only two episodes we were dealing with Finn’s jealousy toward PB and now we’re more so entering into Jake’s jealousy revolving around his love interest. I find that throughout season one, there’s a couple of episodes where Finn and Jake individually experience the same or similar situations to one another, and it’s interesting to see the different ways they handle it. In this instance, Finn seems more inclined to hide his feelings while Jake is a bit more brash and a bit more honest. It’s a good deal of character building that may or may not have been intentional, but helps flesh out the characters so that they don’t exactly seem like carbon copies of each other.

Cut to Lady and Finn playing on BMO in the tree house, whilst Jake watches. It’s kinda weird how this is BMO’s second appearance and he’s still just sort of a lifeless console. BMO’S MORE THAN JUST AN ITEM, DAMMIT. Jake’s jealous gets more and more obvious and he refuses to join Finn and Lady at a Cloud Kingdom party. A couple hours later, the two have neglected to return, so Jake calls the Cloud Kingdom and finds out that Finn and Lady had left an hour earlier. Jake shows up to Lady’s house and finds out that the two of them are hanging out without him, leaving Jake devastated. In a fit of rage, Jake looks through his phone contacts for some he can call to make his friends jealous. It’s fun to look back and see that most of these characters in Jake’s phone return later on, whether it be his old gang members or Card Wars tourney participants. And uh oh, Jake calls Tiffany. Finn and Lady hear someone shredding it on the viola, and find Jake and a mysterious stranger in the bushes. Finn’s all, “what the fuck man?? You’re cheating on Lady?” but Tiffany is revealed to be a boy, so Finn proceeds to beat the snot out of him. While Finn and Tiffany fight, Jake makes amends with Lady, apologizing for his behavior and realizing it’s sorta his fault. Tiffany runs off and vows to get Jake back, but Finn spits in his face and he runs off crying. Finn, Lady and Jake agree to always be stupid forever and the episode ends.

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I think this one’s a pretty good introduction to Lady Rainicorn. I also like how it sort of goes in a realistic route of what sometimes happens with friends: someone introduces their friend to their other friend, and those two friends end up establishing a strong relationship, leaving the person who introduced them feeling somewhat hurt and betrayed. This is really the episode where Jake is actually starting to sound like Jake as well. The past handful of episodes kinda felt like John DiMaggio was trying to find a direction to take his voice in, but Jake mostly sounds very fluid and natural in this episode. This episode also introduces Tiffany, who we’ll be seeing a lot of later on. 

Adventure Time, Animation

“Ricardio the Heart Guy” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: April 26, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Bert Youn & Sean Jimenez

The episode jumps right into the action, as Ice King has captured Princess Bubblegum. It’s interesting to think that this is only one of two times that Ice King has kidnapped PB. Even Wildberry Princess has been captured a whopping four times!! Finn and Jake come to the rescue and throw snowballs at the IK. While he’s distracted, Jake substitutes PB with his butt and tricks the Ice King into kissing it. Would’ve killed for John DiMaggio to have said “kiss my shiny metal ass.”

PB decides to throw a party to honor F&J, to which Finn makes a paper bird for her, because he has the hots for her. He denies his feelings to Jake, and as they arrive at the party, they find a small grotesque heart man giving LSP a massage. Bubblegum enters the room and the heart man is instantly all hot and bothered by her. He introduces himself as Ricardio and they walk off to talk about science and zanoits and all that fun stuff.

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Finn begins to get jealous of Ricardio as his 12-year-old boy hormones kick in, and he attempts to impress PB with his science dance. Naturally, it just freaks her and Ricardio out, and PB decides that Finn is totally jealous of Ricardio. Instead, Finn claims that he’s just “WEIRD” and makes the party hella awkward. Finn decides that Ricardio must be a villain, because when you’re 12 and someone has the chance to steal your crush away from you, they automatically become pure evil. F&J decide to spy on him, and catch him taking a rope and a bottle from a dumpster, followed by him kicking Ice King’s ass. Finn concludes that Ricardio is a supervillain, but Jake thinks he’s a hero, so they decide to investigate further. Finn interrogates Ricardio and then punches him in his smug mug. Of course, PB shows up right at that point and scolds Finn for punching Ricardio and then walks off with the little guy. Finn feels all sad because the girl of his dream now hates him, but Ice King crawls out and helplessly explains that Ricardio is evil. Apparently IK wanted to create a serum that would make PB fall in love with him, but it just ended up with him losing control of his own heart, thus creating Ricardio.

F&J then rush over to the castle, and find PB tied up and Ricardio holding her hostage. Ricardio claims he’s going to cut out PB’s heart and “makeout with it,” followed by a really creepy close-up of Ricardio’s face.

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Finn and Jake manage to beat Ricardio up, then Ice King crawls in and regains his heart. He attempts to kidnap Bubs once again, but Finn kicks him square in the face, as he flies off. While the three have a nice spaghetti dinner, Finn denies that he was ever jealous of Ricardio, and PB tries to trick him into kissing her butt. Give it 3 years and I feel like Finn totally would’ve done it.

This episode suffers a bit from being predictable, something AT usually excels at never being. From the title card alone, you know that Ricardio is clearly going to be a villain, so it seems a lot of time is wasted for an obvious plot twist. However, the episode still is a pretty good time. George Takei does a great job at Ricardio, of course, and the design of Ricardio in general is worth a good chuckle. Ice King’s return in this episode is surely rewarding, and I like how, in his own Ice King-y way, he sorta helps save the day. Even though he was the one who almost doomed PB to begin with. Also, this is the first episode dealing with Finn’s affection for PB! I like how this is really the first instance of Finn growing up, and dealing with his growing feelings of jealousy and infatuation. It’s always fun to see that little guy growing, and considering this is only the first season, his love life would only become more and more complicated as time went on.

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.

Animation, Uncategorized

“Prisoners of Love” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: April 12, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Pendleton Ward & Adam Muto

The episode starts out with a solid minute of Finn and Jake sledding around in the Ice Kingdom, which includes the usual fun snow activities of decapitating snow golems and covering a cyclops in snow. I have to say, even though I find season one of AT to be the weakest of the series, it really does a great job of establishing an element of fun and excitement. Finn and Jake are pretty intoxicating to be with throughout the first part of the episode, and it’s hard not to want to join in on their good times.

During their fun and games, the boys accidentally bump into the Ice King, effectively pissing him off. Ice King bickers with the boys back and forth about his status as a big nerd, and how F&J were just trying to cool off because a totally hot Lava Man is outside the treehouse (not sexy-hot). Ice King summons his snow monsters to kick some little boy and magic dog ass, but F&J prevail. The duo rubs it in Ice King’s face, but IK freezes them into a block of ice. As they return to the ice castle, Ice King tosses Finn and Jake into a cell with a bunch of kidnapped princesses, including Wildberry Princess, LSP, Slime Princess, Hot Dog Princess, Ghost Princess, Emerald Princess and Raggedy Princess. Where’s my girl Embryo Princess??

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Slime Princess informs Finn that Ice King had been keeping them there for weeks in order to pick the perfect bride. Finn and Jake brainstorm ways of escaping, including using Finn’s iconic flute, but it’s ineffective. Jake suggests shapeshifting his hand into a key-hand, but Ice King freezes Jake. Finn flips out and the princesses complain that they aren’t having any fun, even though Ice King read them the classic timeless novel “Baby Whoozlefut & the Wuttlebugs.” IK then suggests they should all play instruments, while Finn strategizes a plan with a very detailed thinking face. God, it’s weird seeing Finn with eye-whites.

While Ice King takes a shit, Finn devises a plan for the princesses to all act like they’re having fun so IK can release them. The plan works, and Ice King opens the cell, only for Finn to kick him square in the face. Finn confronts the Ice King and knocks him unconscious, as Ice King enters a dreamlike world and ponders his existence. It’s both pretty funny and pretty sad to watch; obviously Ice King is insane, but you just sorta feel bad for this guy. Sure, as the Cosmic Owl states, he’s a sociopath. But he’s written so charismatically that even after threatening to kill princesses, you still just want this old creep to have a friend or two!

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Ice King awakes, but all the princesses have escaped, along with Finn and Jake. Slime Princess then asks Finn if she can marry him, but Jake claims that Finn pees in his pants constantly, so SP backs off. Somewhere, a 7-year-old bed wetter is feeling very triggered. My condolences to that child. Anyway, this episode was a pretty solid introduction to Ice King. He doesn’t quite sound like the IK yet, just as how Jake doesn’t really sound like Jake yet, but you feel sympathetic for him as well as feeling like he’s a decent threat, while also being able to laugh at him. Quite the combination! Like I said before, this episode does a really great job of showcasing the enjoyable presence of Finn and Jake, while the past two focused more on the bond between the two. The beginning is an invigorating journey through the Ice Kingdom and the energy remains throughout the episode. I also really enjoy the extended cast of princesses they introduce, including one of my favorites, Slime Princess. I could listen to Maria Bamford talk all day long, truthfully. (insert pun about this episode being cool here)

Animation

“Trouble in Lumpy Space” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: April 5, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Adam Muto & Elizabeth Ito

Finn, Jake, PB, Lumpy Space Princess and Hot Dog Princess are all participating in the Mallow Tea Ceremony, which involves them bouncing up an down on marshmallows and trying to drink tea, I guess? Every time they have one of them in my hometown, they neglect to send me an invitation. Finn claims it sucks in a big way, and calls out LSP because she’s floating, not bouncing. LSP ceases floating to show Finn she’s capable of doing so, and ends up biting Jake, which accidentally infects him with “the lumps.” LSP claims the only cure for Jake is in Lumpy Space, and he has to be cured by sundown, or he’ll be lumpy forever, because “werewolf rules.” Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess rush off to Lumpy Space, while PB tends to a bad case of diarrhea. What, did they just leave Hot Dog Princess by herself?? That was rude.

The boys and LSP transport to Lumpy Space through a frog on a mushroom, using the password “WHATEVER, IT’S 2009.” Wondering if that was an in joke referring to the year it was produced in, because as Finn states six seasons later, no one tracks time like that anymore. Anyway, they get to  Lumpy Space and LSP mentions that the antidote that will cure Jake is on Makeout Point, but they have to travel by car, something which her parents won’t let her borrow for telling them to “lump off.” I still have no idea how in the hell Lumpy Space King and Queen work. Were they just… born conjoined? Gross. LSP calls up Melissa, who’s dating her ex-boyfriend Brad, to drive them over to Makeout Point. Finn keeps getting more pissed off with LSP getting distracted, and Jake is getting progressively more lumpy. Instead of driving to Makeout Point, Melissa stops at Brad’s house, because the two of them are headed to prom-coming. Melissa is offended because she thinks Finn wants to make out with her, but no worries, Finn will get his share of lumps once season six comes along.

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Once they finally reach Makeout Point, Finn and Jake meet a gang of colorful characters, who all sit their butts on a sphere in order to temporarily get rid of their lumps. They happily offer it over to Finn, but LSP floats over and infuriates the gang, leading them to take the orb back from Finn. Finn’s all, “the fuck, LSP? Now my best friend’s gonna be lumpy forever all because of you.” LSP gets all emotional because she states that, even though she screws up, Finn is supposed to be her true friend. Her, Melissa, Brad and an even lumpier Jake head off to prom-coming, as Finn flips shit on Lumpy Space. The gang returns and admires Finn’s hatred of lumpiness (two hate crimes in two episodes!) and offer him the orb once again. Finn takes it, but realizes he doesn’t have a car to get to promcoming, and makes the decision to jump from cloud to cloud. One of the gang members claims that he won’t make it there alive, but has a 50/50 chance to survive if he was lumpy. Finn then sticks his feeble little 12-year-old arms and legs into the teeth of these strange lumpy people (it was a lot weirder writing out than viewing) and floats into the promcoming building. Finn tries to force Lumpy Jake to sit on the orb, but Lumpy Jake ain’t havin’ it. Finn then transforms into Lumpy Finn and takes the orb for himself, prompting Lumpy Jake to want to sit on it. Jake is restored to normal and tries to force Lumpy Finn to sit on it, but Lumpy Finn ain’t havin’ it. LF runs into a bulky lumpy person and loses consciousness, only to wake up and be normal again. Finn apologizes to LSP for sorta being rightfully mad, but then they all dance and wave their noodley arms!

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I should first mention that I’m not the biggest Lumpy Space Princess fan. That is to say, she’s perfectly fine when she serves a minor role in the plot or is just there to hang out. Whenever she’s in the spotlight, however, I don’t think it works very well. She’s largely vain and self-absorbent, making it hard for her to carry an episode by herself. That being said, I didn’t really sympathize with her at all during Finn’s freakout, because Finn was pretty much entirely in the right. She wasn’t taking Jake’s transformation seriously throughout the episode and Finn’s desperation for his best friend was pretty clear from the start. LSP has very few redeeming qualities, which is fine when it comes to laughs at times, but any attempt for me to feel bad for her falls a bit short (we’ll get to the two exceptions in the future). However, it’s only a small part of a mostly decent episode. I really enjoy Lumpy Space; the purple, pink and grayish blue colors are really a spectacle, and it’s a shame we only get to see it a couple times after this episode. Like the last one, I really enjoy the establishing of Finn and Jake’s strong relationship in this episode. Finn cares deeply for his best friend and Jake cares enough to act like everything’s fine while going through the transformation sequence. There are a few good laughs in this one; I really like Jeremy Shada and John DiMaggio’s inflections on Lumpy Finn and Lumpy Jake respectively, they did an awesome job of mimicking Pendleton Ward’s valley girl accent. The Lumpy people are mildly amusing, I really like that gang of lumpy people and LSP’s parents get a big laugh out of me. Another wild and weird episode to kick off the premiere night.