Tag: Finn the Human

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.

 

Animation

“Slumber Party Panic” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: April 5, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Adam Muto & Elizabeth Ito

And here we are! The very first episode of “Adventure Time” to ever air. As a 12-year-old boy, I was looking forward to the premiere of the brand new series, and enjoyed the first episode relatively well. However, does it still hold up 7 years later? Let’s check it out.

The episode begins with Finn and Princess Bubblegum working on a chemical formula to bring dead Candy People back to life, some of which include Old Mr. Cream (he and Bubblegum used to date, just so all of you know). However, the decorpsinator serum fails and turns the dead Candy People into zombies. After fighting off a couple zombies, Bubblegum calls all the Candy People, including Tree Trunks and her hot buns, to the foyer and announces they’ll be having a slumber party. Naturally, Finn’s all, “what the fuck?”

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Bubblegum then tells Finn that he must “royal promise” not to tell any of the Candy People (if you’re wondering why I keep capitalizing Candy People, I assume it’s considered a race so it only seems appropriate) because when Candy People get scared they apparently explode. Finn royal promises not to tell anyone, but naturally his best bro Jake feels as though something’s up and wants to find out. Finn tries to divert everyone’s attention with a game of Truth or Dare, but it just leads to a scandalous dare with Mr. Cupcake and Jake more anxious than ever to find out what Finn is up to. Finn distracts Jake with a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven with Lady Rainicorn, which I can only assume led to Tier 15. The zombies only become more persistent, as Finn suggests they they play a game called “Blackado”, where all the Candy People must blockade all the doors, which is a game I played at my first birthday. After blockading the doors fail, Finn blindfolds all of the Candy People and tells them that they’re instead going to smash pinatas, but not Manfried, because that would be a hate crime.

When the Candy People succeed at defeating the zombies, Jake exits the closet with a jelly donut, for some reason. Must’ve been one kinky game. Finn accidentally slips and reveals his secret to Jake, effectively freezing time and pissing off Bubblegum. The Guardians of the Royal Promise then burst in and decide to punish Finn for breaking a royal promise with a trial by fire. Bubblegum’s not about it, so they decide to give Finn a math problem instead, which I thought I’d understand when I got older, but even as a college sophomore, I have no clue what I was looking at. 2+2 is more Finn’s speed, and honestly mine too, as the Gumball Guardians reset to normal. Bubblegum lectures Finn on why breaking a royal promise is wrong and if he learned his lesson, and Finn’s all, “hell no! I love fighting zombies and shit.” Jake also mentions that Finn could’ve just mentioned it was a royal promise and he would’ve backed off, and then Starchie reunites with Finn. Finn holds Starchie in his hands, and Starchie warns Finn to not squeeze him, because he will fart. Finn then squeezes Starchy, and he farts. What a beautiful ending.

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As a season premiere, this episode may not have been the best choice. I enjoyed it fine when I was younger, but it didn’t draw me in as much as it should’ve. I opine that a future season one episode would’ve been a better start to the series, but we’ll get to that one later on. As an episode itself, it’s cute. Nothing spectacular or hilarious, but there’s a lot of charm to it. I really like the establishing bonds between Jake and Finn, as well as Finn and Bubblegum. Season one is well-known for it’s focus on the lighter and more random side of the show, and this episode’s no exception. Some of it’s a bit too random I think; even in a show with very few limits, I have a hard time believing that breaking a promise could freeze the world of AT. And while the exploding Candy People plot works, it’s a gimmick that only comes back one other time in the series, so it’s a bit of a pointless dilemma. The episode excels with its humor on the other hand, the Truth or Dare and Guardians of the Royal Promise scenes especially. Overall, I think it’s a fine episode to introduce the wackier and more energetic side of the series.

Uncategorized

Introduction

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Hey all you AT fans out there! Welcome to Adventure Time: Reviewed, a blog where I will be reviewing every episode of AT over the next year or two. As this blog begins, I plan on reviewing two episodes on Mondays and two episodes on Fridays, but as time goes on, I’ll transition into reviewing two episodes that will be posted each Friday.

First, however, I wanted to give a brief background on my history with AT. “Adventure Time” is a show very near and dear to my heart and I personally don’t think there is any show on television, animated or not, that is quite like it. I still remember when I first saw the premiere way back on April 5, 2010. I hadn’t ever seen the pilot of the show, and so watching it for the first time was certainly a treat. I wasn’t necessarily blown away by it, but thought in short, it was cute. I continued to watch up until season two, but began to lose touch a bit. I was much more interested in “Regular Show” at the time, and thought it overall delivered more laughs and more entertainment. My faith in AT was restored with “Mortal Folly”/”Mortal Recoil” and I was once again found myself hooked. I continued watching episodically through season three up until “Incendium,” and that was a significant point in my AT experience where I realized, there was no turning back. I loved everything about “Incendium”; the genuine emotion and honesty of the characters, the compelling story, the sharp humor and the beautiful colors. It was that point that I generally became obsessed with the show, and that obsession continues to this very day. My interest in AT has only grown over time, and I find that, while it may be a controversial opinion, the series has only gotten better and better with time.

As I had mentioned, there sincerely is no show quite like “Adventure Time.” I can’t think of a single other series that contains an episode that questions whether or not life is merely a giant disappointment or involves a backstory as tragic as the Ice King’s, that also contains an episode where one of the characters narrates the life of a rabbit while shape-shifted into the form of a brick. It’s a complete balls-crazy yet poignant mess that might not follow the traditional structure of a regular series, but that’s just what it is. It isn’t your typical series, it’s friggin’ “Adventure Time,” and it doesn’t need to be anything else. It can tackle big subjects like depression and the inevitability of the future in one episode, and be a completely irrelevant fun romp the next.

Ultimately the part of “Adventure Time” I find most admirable is that I’ve grown up with it from its beginning to its upcoming end. I was 12-years-old when the show first started, and through its entirety, I’ve felt as though it was easy to put myself in Finn’s shoes 90 percent of the time. Sure, I never lost my arm or owned a sword materialized from my paradoxical self, but Finn has been an easily identifiable character in the show’s entirety and I almost feel as though the show it self has held my hand through the tough times of adolescence and entering adulthood.

So, in honor of my love for this show, I’ve taken it upon myself to review all the episodes from beginning to end, covering its highest and lowest points. I’ll also cover some of the shorts, bonus content, specials and more. So come grab your friends, and let’s go to distant lands!