Tag: CN

Uncategorized

“Business Time” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

BT 1.png

Original Airdate: April 26, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Luther McLaurin & Armen Mirzaian

The episode begins with Finn and Jake lighting flame guns (with the help of their pal Flambo!) and thawing out icebergs in order to build their coveted gauntlet dock, a dock that is also a gauntlet. During their scavenging, they melt through an iceberg and find four men dressed in business clothes.

It’s worth noting that this is the first episode to deal with the post post-apocalyptic elements of “Adventure Time”, as the Businessmen were likely frozen sometime during the war. Pendleton Ward himself said that this was the episode that kickstarted the idea that AT took place in a world after the apocalypse, and that they just kinda stuck with it after that. I didn’t really make anything of it at the time I first saw it, but watching it on subsequent viewings has added a much more interesting twist toward the episode.

bt-2

The Businessmen can’t remember anything about their past, except that they enjoyed doing business, so Finn hires them to finish working on the dock. The Businessmen quickly finish the dock and F&J take it out for a test run, featuring a really entertaining and well-animated longshot. Finn and Jake decide to hire the Businessmen full-time, to which they are ecstatic about. Back at the treehouse, the Businessmen assist the boys by monitoring Ooo for danger and cleaning Finn’s golden sword. When Hot Dog Princess is being attacked by battle cubes, Finn and Jake attempt to slay them for like, six hours to no avail. F&J feel burnt out, so the Businessmen take over. After the day is saved, Hot Dog Princess wants some sugar from Finn, but he’s like, “hell naw” and one of the Businessmen takes one for the team.

BT 3.png

The Businessmen begin doing everything for our duo as the two just sit around and eat ice cream while playing video games on BMO. Hey, it’s BMO! Sorta weird how his first appearance doesn’t even include a speaking role. Finn and Jake get really obese and lazy from eating so much ice cream, as they realize that the Businessmen are sucking up the Fluffy People in some big vacuum contraption. The boys realize it may be time to get some action, and confront the Businessmen. They say they want to suck everyone up into their “care sack” where they plan on protecting everyone from danger, which is somewhat psychotic, but hey, they’ve been in an iceberg for 1,000 years. Finn fires them for their actions and they have a hissy fit, as they begin to go crazy. While trying to suck up Jake, his fat clogs up the machine, and it eventually bursts. Finn rehires the Businessmen and orders to freeze themselves once more. The boys decide to go back to adventuring and Jake shapeshifts back to his normal body weight and Finn attempts to do the same, but nothing happens. The end.

Besides the brief apocalyptic references throughout, this episode’s a bit of a bore. The Businessmen are quirky and a bit amusing, but aside from them, this episode’s somewhat devoid of good humor. In addition, an episode that involves Finn and Jake just kinda lazily sitting around while other characters participate in likely more entertaining adventures off-screen isn’t an especially promising setup. It’s a bit of a slow one from start to finish, and doesn’t really mix well with how energetic and upbeat the past seven episodes have been. Overall, a pretty lackluster and forgettable episode.

Adventure Time, Animation

“Ricardio the Heart Guy” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

rthg-1

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.

RTHG 2.png

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.

RTHG 3.png

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

TJ.png

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.

tj-2

(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.

tj-3

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.