Character: Jake the Dog

The other main character of Adventure Time is Jake. Jake is Finn's older adoptive brother. He is a magical dog, with a variety of special skills and powers. In magical dog years he's 28.

Jake is an funny character. While he can do things that are completely unlikable and seem unjustified, he does have good intentions most of the time.

While he tends to be a bit of a slacker and unmotivated by most things, he is deeply loyal to his bro. Despite this loyalty, there are times when he is extremely selfish or unfocused on what he's supposed to be doing, such as when he needs to rescue Finn from gnomes. 

Jake has an ability known as "Stretchy Powers" that allow him to transform into various objects. This isn't just limited to his full body, but it can also be specific parts of his body such as his arms, legs, or even head.

Jake acts as a "voice of reason" to Finn sometimes. I put that in quotes because there are sometimes where Jake's advice is truly terrible and unhelpful. Its often well meant and it does come from a place of caring, but due to his somewhat flawed morality it turns out to be bad.

I like the character of Jake acting as a foil to Finn's unquestioning heroics. Jake does do things that are highly questionable, such as grave robbing and bike theft, but he mostly has his heart in the right place of helping people. He's shown to be a good boyfriend to Lady and is loyal and supportive to his friends. He's likable  though seriously flawed morally. It works though, and that's another part that makes me enjoy this show.

Episode: Trouble in Lumpy Space

The frog and the mushroom are a portal. Don't ask questions.

The next episode up is "Trouble in Lumpy Space." This episode introduces Lumpy Space Princess, who is hands down one of my favorite characters in the series. From her obnoxious mannerisms to the valley girl speak, her character is absolute hilarious in all the right ways. Though not often seen, when she's in an episode its almost always hilarious how out of touch she is with the rest of Ooo.

The episode starts with Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, LSP, and Hot Dog Princess having a tea ceremony. During this LSP accidentally bites Jake, giving him the early stages of the lumps. The lumps are a disease that transform into a Lumpy Space person, both physically and mentally. If the antidote isn't used by sunset, he'll be lumpy forever.

They travel to Lumpy Space where its revealed that they only way to travel is by car due to the kingdom being on clouds. They meet LSP's parents, who are physically conjoined. They chide her for bring "smooth people" into their kingdom as well as her attitude. With that route closed off, they turn to LSP's friend Melisa. 

This doesn't really work, as LSP gets distracted by the "Promcoming" dance that night. Finn manages to wrestle the antidote away from some Lumpy Space teenagers wanting to be smooth and eventually cure himself and Jake of the lumps.

Score: 7/10

I like this episode, but LSP is the only thing it has going for it. Jake and Finn's transformation due to the lumps can be a bit grating sometimes, but overall pretty funny. I think its a good look into one of the places besides the Candy Kingdom, even if its not mentioned too many other times. Lumpy Space is beautifully designed, looking like what I imagine clouds would look like on a really good acid trip. Overall a few good laughs with beautiful background art. Also "lump" as a curse word. Brilliant.

Episode: Slumber Party Panic

Ah to the main reason I decided to do this blog: The episode reaction and thoughts. Now I'm going to start off with saying that some of what I write may differ than other interpretations of the episodes. This is just what I think and how I felt about the episodes.

The first episode in the official run of Adventure Time (I'll get around to the original short later) is Slumber Party Panic. I think it does a good job at introducing some of the most important and recurring character, such as Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Lady Rainicorn, while also having a good plot to go with it.

The episode begins with PB and Finn in a graveyard, there for PB to test out a reanimation formula on dead citizens of the Candy Kingdom. The experiment fails, bring back the dead candy people as zombies intent on "sugar" (A substitute for brains) and reeking havoc. PB assembles all the citizens of  the kingdom in the castle for the most obvious of reasons: A slumber party!

Nah, its actually just an excuse to get all the candy people in one place for their own protection from the zombie outbreak. Bubblegum makes Finn promise not to tell anyone about the zombies, which he agrees to. The rest of the episode is just Finn trying to keep everyone from finding out about the zombies while also protecting them from the killer, undead candy people.

Score: 8.5/10

This plot is perfect for a first episode. It gives an excuse to name who some of the background characters are without it being presented in an info dump. It also shows off some of the highlighting traits of the characters, such as Finn's loyalty and Princess Bubblegum's intelligence. All in all, it makes for a good start to the show.

The reason I'm not giving it a higher score, in spite of how much I liked it, is that there are much better episodes. 

Character Look: Finn the Human

The main character of Adventure Time is Finn the Human. He starts off as a 12 year old human boy living in the land of Ooo. He goes around Ooo with his adoptive brother Jake, a magical dog. 

Finn is implied to be one of the last humans in Ooo, the rest having been wiped out or gone extinct by some reason. The show hasn't been very clear about this so far, so when they clarify this I'll get back to you on it. 

Finn was adopted when he was a baby by Jake's parents Margret and Joshua, which lead to the two of them living together and being best friends, rather than a master/pet relationship that would be initially assumed. The two of them live together in a tree house in the Grass Lands, along with BMO, a sentient video game console. 

He is very close with his older brother, frequently going to him for advice or help in defeating a foe. This relationship is one of the cornerstones of the series, with the pair relying on each other in the various mishaps they find themselves in.

Finn is shown to be very morally good, unable to bring himself to harm any innocent person or creature. This strong morality is what leads him to be a hero around Ooo. This also allows him to get along with most of the residents of the land, aside from those with evil intentions. 

He has been shown to have many friends throughout Ooo, including Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, Lumpy Space Princess and many more because of his friendly and helpful nature. 

Overall Finn is a good protagonist. He makes for a likable character that's easy to root for, yet still has flaws and feels real. 

I've only scratched the surface with Finn. There is so much more to him as a character, both in personality and back story, than I can cram into this blog. I don't want this to turn into a wiki. So with a basic understanding of one of the driving forces of this series, stay tuned for more. Up next: The first of the episode posts!

Further reading: Finn on the Adventure Time Wiki

The Land of Ooo

One of the strangest and most interesting things about Adventure Time is its setting. The show takes place in the Land of Ooo. Upon first glance, it’s just another off and magical world with nonhuman residents. There are different lands, with different types of characters inhabiting each one. With things like the Candy Kingdom and the Hot Dog Kingdom, it feels like a typical and childish fantasy setting.

But the world is so much more than that. Throughout the show there are references to a great disaster, known as the Mushroom War. It was through this war that the land of Ooo came to exist.

The implication is that the Mushroom War was some type of nuclear war, and the resulting radiation created all the different types of beings in the world. The creator, Pendleton Ward, has said that the show does take place in a post-apocalyptic world. Hell, it’s even flat out stated that the Ice King and Marcaline lived before the war and survived through whatever happened, though not without some difficulties.

I'll get more into the Mushroom war when I get closer to the episodes that deal more with it and its implications.

There are other hints of a former civilization such as old cars and technology, even bombshells that appear in the background throughout various episodes. These give a very real sense to the dark undertones of the show and make those who watch it curious about the events that led up to our heroes existence.

Adventure is on the Horizon!

So I just recently watching the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time. For those of you who don't know, Adventure Time is a cartoon following the exploits of heroes Finn the Human and Jake the Dog in the magical land of Ooo.

If I have to explain who is who, I recommend you stop reading 
this and promptly go think about your reasoning skills.

This gem is often overlooked for its silly tone and slightly nonsensical plots. But under the mostly crazy situations is a rich and strange back story on the land and how it came to be. From the heavily implied nuclear holocaust  to tales of love and friendship, Adventure Time isn't just the average children's cartoon. 

Its a well written tale that is misunderstood by a lot of people who just hear about it in passing. Before I got roped into watching one of the episodes by a friend, I just thought it was a silly cash in on the trend of random humor. But its so much more than that. 

It has characters that all have unique ways of how they came to be and motivations beyond the typical archetypes seen in most children's cartoons over the past few years. There are some things in this show that are genuinely dark and touching, without pandering or being heavy handed. There are some sly jokes that you won't catch at first, but make for a good chuckle once you catch on to them. It treats its background and origins seriously, and builds on the world that been created.

So for this reason, I decided to start this blog. Not only to get my ideas and feelings about the episodes out, but also to get people to understand this show and why I love it.