Adventure Time

Adventure Time

Come on grab your friends

We'll go to very distant lands

With Jake the dog

And Finn the human

The fun never ends

It's Adventure Time!

It's Adventure Time! Everyone knows Adventure Time, right? If not, Adventure Time is a cartoon, set in the post-apocalyptic land of Ooo. Ooo consists of different lands and places, each governed by its own ruler. For example, the Candy Kingdom is governed by Princess Bubblegum, the Ice Kingdom is governed by the Ice King, and so on.

The Land of Ooo

The main characters are Finn, a heroic and adventurous human boy, and his adoptive brother, Jake the dog. Jake has the abilities to stretch his body to almost immeasurable lengths, and also change the shape of his body. He can become a hammer, to attack their attackers, a boat to carry people over water, a parachute, and so on and so forth.

Finn and Jake

Every episode  is a different story, but this isn't like normal cartoons, where once something happens in a previous episode, it isn't carried on to the next episode. In Adventure Time, if something happens in a previous episode, you see it being continued in the next episode, and the next, and the next. A very good example is Goliad, a creature created by Princess Bubblegum in the episode "Goliad". At the end of that episode, Goliad is left battling Stormo on a pillar of the castle in the Candy Kingdom in an eternal battle of wits. After that episode, Goliad and Stormo are always seen on the castle. This proves that this show practices continuity, not like most cartoon series, which really interests me.

Stormo and Goliad

Another really interesting aspect of this series is the place itself. The Land of Ooo is post-apocalyptic, as I've said before. But how? Apparently this world is what came out of the ruins after the great Mushroom War. People got infected, bad things happened, and this is what happened after. You can see hints of the world before Ooo in some scenes if you pay close attention. Sometimes corpses can be spotted, and sometimes you can see remnants of the world before, with things such as old buildings, ambulances, cars, etc.

The dialogues in this show are also very interesting, with little snippets of mention of grown-up aspects such as psychological damage, witty insults, and so on. All in all, the dialogue in this series is very intelligent and witty, and although it's "supposed to be for kids", it appeals to an older crowd as well. 

Not only is this show entertaining, but it has a heavy emotional side to it that appealed to me greatly when I saw it as well.

Oh, wait! Have I introduced the characters? The main recurring characters are - of course - Finn and Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Lumpy Space Princess, Lady Rainicorn, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Ice King, and BMO.

In descending order: Ice King, Marceline, LSP, Princess Bubblegum, Finn, Jake, BMO.

Okay, back to the emotional stuff. One storyline that is explored in the middle of the whole series is Marceline and the Ice King. We see Ice King as a crazy, princess-obsessed old man with no memory of his past, and Marceline is a bitter vampire from the Nightosphere. However, later in the series, we are brought back to the past, a time during the Mushroom War. 

SPOILERS AHEAD! If you don't wanna know, that is.

Ice King used to be a man named Simon Petrikov, a normal man who was a specialist in the knowledge of ancient artifacts. He got hold of a magical crown that when put on, made him crazy and say things he didn't mean, and he also had magical powers that enabled him to control snow, wind and ice.

With every time he put on the crown, he lost more and more of himself. It slowly changed his appearance, as well.

A depiction of Simon's transformation to the Ice King

Halfway through losing himself, however, Simon stumbled upon a 7-year-old Marceline, who was lost and abandoned by her father. The world was abandoned and in ruins, during the Great Mushroom War, and so Simon decided to take Marceline under his wing and take care of her. They have a good time and start bonding, and there's a touching bond formed between the two, like father and daughter.

Marceline knows about Simon's weakness when it came to the crown, and did her best to prevent him from putting it on. However, whenever they were in possible danger, Simon would put the crown on to protect himself and especially Marceline, whom he nicknamed Marcy.

Because of this, Simon slowly lost pieces of himself, but he tried his best to keep it together, "for her".

A fan drawing of young Marcy and Simon

In the present day, in Ooo, Ice King finds old writings and photographs from his past, and hoping to write a song to pick up princesses, he asks Marceline to help him write a song. Marceline finds an old photo of herself as a child, and Simon's writings on the back of it. What proceeds turns into a heart-wrenching song about Simon trying to keep himself sane to take care of Marcy. I would be lying if I said I didn't cry at this episode. Marceline remembers everything, but Ice King remembers none of it.

The song that was written by Simon and Marceline

This is the most emotionally trying part of the whole TV series, in my opinion, and made me love the TV show even more.

On a lighter note, other aspects of the show that I like... New characters are always introduced and new storylines of Finn and Jake going on adventures are also brought to light. You see parts of the Land of Ooo that you've never seen before, and even developments from previous storylines. There are even spinoff episodes, ones that star characters other than Finn and Jake, and even a spinoff in Ice King's own words, a "fanfiction" starring female versions of Finn and Jake: Fiona and Cake. Every character of the Land of Ooo swaps genders in Ice King's fanfiction.

Bits and pieces of the series I love as well are the voice actors. They are lively and expressive, bringing characters to life and also giving them personalities that are entertaining and interesting. A personal favourite voice actor of mine is the one for Lemongrab. Lemongrab was created by Princess Bubblegum - whom, did I mention, is a genius in science and whatnot - to help her govern her kingdom, but instead goes a little bit cuckoo and overprotective in everything he does. His voice actor gives him a crazy but hilarious outlook on everything, and while people hate him, he's also lovable, because his voice and the way he says things are entertaining and laughable.

Lemongrab

While I like Lemongrab's voice actor, my all-time favourite is Lumpy Space Princess. The voice actor for LSP sounds manly but at the same time girly, and she talks in a sassy, sarcastic fashion that I just can't help but love and favour. She says funny things and tidbits and insults people as well. Her facial expressions and her personality are entertaining, as well.

Lumpy Space Princess, her expressions and phrases said by her

Voice actors and sound bytes that are put into the show all combine to make this show both entertaining in a visual and audio way. There are even songs made up by the characters in some episodes, and again, funny voice actors for random characters.

All in all, this cartoon can be both entertaining, witty, intelligent, emotional, horrifying, and everything in between. I would highly recommend watching it! If you hate it, well, TOO BAD.