Tag: season two

Adventure Time, Animation, Lifestyles

“Slow Love” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: November 15, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Cole Sanchez & Benton Conner

One of Adventure Time’s trademarks is introducing a character and making that entire episode their day in the limelight. To name a few are Me-Mow, Banana Man, Rattleballs, Root Beer Guy, James, Kent, and so on. For the most part, the characters carry the episode by being very fun, likable, and interesting. On the other hand, they can be obnoxious, loud, and pull the episode down with them. Snorlock the slug falls more into the latter category. It’s not necessarily that he’s an awful character, but he’s certainly a character that doesn’t warrant  having an entire episode dedicated to him.

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In addition, the plot in this one’s a bit thin. Finn and Jake trying to help a faux-snail find a girlfriend is definitely a funny premise, but again, it’s a bit squandered by the idea that Snorlock is unlikable. He’s a bit selfish in his actions, and it’s hard to sympathize with him when he isn’t concerned with the well-being of our main protagonists at all. He just wants to find a girlfriend and that’s about it for his character motivations.

Benton Connor co-storyboarded this episode, and if you didn’t already know, Connor was a storyboard artist on Regular Show for all eight seasons. Connor actually only storyboarded two episodes of AT including this one, and the tone in this one is actually more reminiscent to that of Regular Show. I feel like it’s more like Mordecai and Rigby to help someone find a girlfriend and act cool than Finn and Jake. The drawings and use of slow motion help to strengthen this belief.

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One thing that stands out in this episode is John DiMaggio’s voice work. He’s really grown into Jake at this point, and does a superb job of giving life to his character as well as using his range of voices to add flair and humor. This is also when BMO starts to feel like a crucial part of the treehouse. She doesn’t do much, but the sheer fact that Jake acknowledges, “BMO, you live here too!” is really endearing.

Other than that, it’s a bit of a forgettable ride.

Favorite line: “Girl, you smell good. Did you take a bath in rainbows and cupcakes?”

Adventure Time, Animation, Lifestyles

“Storytelling” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: November 8, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Ako Castuera & Tom Herpich

Storytelling isn’t a personal favorite of mine, but it’s one of the sweetest Adventure Time episodes to date. It shows just how far Finn will go for his best friend, even beyond his heroic instincts. In a way, it shows Finn in his most destructive side, but also his most compassionate.

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So far, we’ve only ever gotten to see Jake as a caretaker for Finn, so the dynamic switch in this one is rewarding. As for dynamic changes, this is also a big switch from the traditional “cartoon fairytale episode” that shows like Ren & Stimpy, Animaniacs, and even Samurai Jack have tackled. While these shows did fairytale renditions especially well, AT continues to avert being a carbon copy and stick to being as original and creative as possible.

The episode’s humor is mostly carried by the colorful animal characters of the forest. A personal favorite of mine being Mr. Fox, whose entire character is primarily carried by his hilarious voice, provided by storyboard artist Tom Herpich. Mr. Fox himself has become somewhat of a recurring character, and while his personality isn’t nearly as compelling as some of the other secondary characters, Herpich’s dry inflections certainly make him standout. Aside from him though, I actually really like the other side characters in this episode too. Boobafina, Forest Wizard, and that bear with attitude issues and his mother are just what’d you’d expect from Adventure Time’s side characters: bombastic, full of personality, and tons of fun. And that cow with Phil’s face on her udder. Yeesh.

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Like I said, this isn’t a personal top tier episode in my eyes, but this is actually one I watch quite often. There’s just something so charming and genuine about this one, again, mostly due to Finn’s dedication to helping his brother in his time of need. Obviously he’d never go through with it, but he was really about to squash some baby birds for Jake. What a trooper! It’s heartfelt episodes like this that remind me why I watch this show: because I care so deeply about the two main characters and they care so deeply about each other. Of course, Jake repays the favor to Finn by helping to nurse him back to health at the end of the episode. “The end.”

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Favorite line: “Yo, put that bag back on!”

Adventure Time, Animation

“The Eyes” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: October 18, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Kent Osborne & Somvilay Xayaphone

Many comedians will agree that comedy almost always derives from tragedy. That if we weren’t laughing at something, we’d most likely be crying. This very principle applies to the Ice King, who, if you think about it, is primarily funny because of how miserable he is. While it can be used for a tearjerker convention in a handful of cases, here it sort of borders on the middle. I’m not really sure if the intention for this episode was to sympathize with the Ice King or laugh at him, but I felt a little on both ends, which is a sign of great writing.

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Kent Osborne & Somvilay Xayaphone are a terrific pairing for this hilarious romp, making it one of the funniest episodes of the season. There’s a ton of memorable lines and sight gags in this episode; the poo-brained “horse”, the snakes in Finn’s underpants, the constant bickering between Finn and Jake and the deterioration of their sanity throughout, and so much more. This is one of Somvilay’s best examples of unconventional humor. There’s a lot of terrific gags going on in the background, including Jake randomly stretching his arm to say “yo” when reaching for his viola. Also, Peppermint Butler totally killed that goblin! Jesus Christ!

It’s actually kind of nice that after however many adventure filled episodes we’ve gone through so far, this is just an episode where Finn and Jake simply want to sleep. Humor and misery go hand-in-hand in these sequences as well; Finn and Jake’s descent into hopelessness is both hilarious and somewhat pitiful to watch. While I laugh, I still really just want these two to go to bed for the sake of their own sanity.

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Of course, the real emotional core of this episode is Ice King disguising as the horse to learn how to find happiness. There’s a great bit of foreshadowing at the beginning of the episode when the IK shouts “I just wanna be happy!” in the flashback sequence. At this point in the series, Ice King just wants to be loved and be happy, and there’s a sweetly melancholic moment at the end of the end of the episode when IK and the boys snuggle up and he declares that he still isn’t happy. It’s admittedly hard to decide on whether I should laugh or “aww” at this statement, but it’s clear that the Ice King will remain unhappy until he finally finds someone to love and, more importantly, someone to love him. Happiness certainly doesn’t involve dressing up like or horse and stalking a boy and his dog at night, or using your ice powers against them (that was a terrific fight scene, by the way).

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If I had one thing to nitpick about this episode, it’d be that Somvilay’s drawings can look a bit wonky at times. This isn’t necessarily a criticism of his art style, but a lot of storyboard artists who were welcomed to the AT storyboard team this season had a bit of trouble transitioning into drawing the characters on model, as we’ll see with some others later on. Finn’s body can appear to look incredibly small and disproportionate at times and both Finn and Jake can look a bit flat. Other than that, it was a hilarious, spunky, and sad episode coming off the heels of an equally energetic and emotional episode.

Favorite line: “I diagnosed this horse with whacked out poo-brain five minutes ago.”

Adventure Time, Animation

“It Came from the Nightosphere” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

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Original Airdate: October 11, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Adam Muto & Rebecca Sugar

Marceline is one of the most mysterious, yet developed characters in the entire series. Many elements of her past are vague; how she came into this world, the timeline between her entrance into vampirism to the time she met Finn and Jake, her past relationship with Bubblegum, etc. In her two spotlight episodes during season one, the only thing we could gather about Marceline is that she’s lived way beyond a handful of the main and secondary characters, and that she’s lost a chunk of her moral ethics along the way. It wasn’t until this episode that the more hidden layers of her character begun to unravel, in what is most likely the second season’s strongest effort.

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This is the first episode to welcome Rebecca Sugar to writing team, and I’m sure I don’t even have to explain to any of you who she is. I have somewhat controversial opinions about some of the episodes she has worked on, but overall believe that she’s one of the strongest writers on AT. The staff has said time and time again that Marceline is one of the hardest characters to empathize with, but I think it’s safe to say that Sugar knows Marcy better than anyone. She really made the character her own during her time on the show, and helped this episode to go above and beyond to showcase her more sympathetic side, along with the help of Adam Muto.

While I’m certainly not one of those people who believes that the series instantly began to rot once Sugar left during season five, the music of the show sadly did undergo decline. The reason I mention this is because “Fry Song” is the first song that was written by Sugar, and it really sky rockets above anything we’ve heard thus far in the series, and one that isn’t really comparable to anything we hear in later seasons. The raw emotion, the soothing strums, coupled with Olivia Olsen’s beautiful voice are really what make it one the show’s most famous symphonies.

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Hunson Abadeer, who is simply referred to as “Marceline’s Dad” or “Daddy” in this episode, as well as being voiced by Olivia Olsen’s father Martin, is the first real threat to the series. Thus far, we’ve had Ice King, Magic Man, Ricardio, among others, but none have felt as threatening as Abadeer. What makes him most effective as a villain is his connection to Marceline; we’re not really supposed to like this guy, but at the same time, we feel the strong emotions of our main heroine (in this case, Marceline) and want the two of them to be able to be able to reunite as family once again. It’s an impressive feat of conflicting emotions, and helps us both empathize with Marcy, as well as wanting Abadeer to be defeated.

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Finn is written terrifically in this episode. While we’re able to put ourselves in Marceline’s shoes, Finn never lets his emotions get the best of him. What he wants is what’s best for Ooo, but also for Marceline. While a 12-year-old can’t possibly understand what Marceline’s going through, Finn knows to allow what’s pure and righteous to save the day, and not to let his own feelings control the outcome.

This is also a great episode to showcase some of Ooo’s wonderful side residents. Among some of those residents are the Marauders and the Fuzzy Friends, who, to this date, have not appeared since this episode. Maybe they never got their souls back? Keeping in the tradition of building story arcs off of non-sequiturs, Abadeer deems Gunther as the most “evil thing I’ve encountered,” and we learn later on that Gunther is actually the powerful space deity Orgarlorg. I doubt this was planned from the beginning, but it’s a lot of fun to go back and watch this episode to see that the concept of Orgalorg didn’t arise from nothing.

There are some really beautiful nighttime landscapes in this episode. Ooo feels extremely expansive, as we explore Marceline’s House, the Grasslands, Red Rock Pass and the Ice Kingdom. The colors are especially vibrant, and really make the entire experience illuminating. As I’ve said, it’s just really nice to see Finn and Marcy hanging out as well. I just genuinely enjoy the way these two characters work off of each other, and this is one of their cutest interactions thus far. Also, if you were wondering where Jake was in this episode, he was in Finn’s pocket the whole time!

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Favorite line: “No one flicks me in the butt without my consent!“