Writers: Pendleton Ward, Patrick McHale, Tim McKeon
Director: Larry Leichliter
Starring: Jeremy Shada, John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny, Hynden Walch
Channel: Cartoon Network
Episodes: 3rd Season – 39 episodes in total
Original air date: 5th April 2010
Just when we had all but lost hope for a decent kids cartoon emerging from the pit of sugar coated politically correct nonsensical rubbish we’ve stumbled across the diamond in the rough! Adventure Time first aired in April 2010 after Cartoon Network snatched up the rights to produce a series after an animated short featured on Nickelodeon but wasn’t picked up by the rival network. The reason for it’s success and inevitable production by Cartoon Network came from the viral success of the short episode online and since then it has become a critical success receiving rave reviews.
The show currently has a TV-PG rating something that we are a little curious about but we’ll get into that a little later!
Adventure Time is based on the adventures of Finn the Human (Jeremy Shada) and his best friend Jake the Dog (John DiMaggio – Bender from Futurama), best friends with a passion for nothing but kicking evils butt and ransacking lost treasures from forgotten kingdoms. Together they seek out mystery, thwart the evil plans of the Ice King and rescue the many princesses of the Kingdom while offering any assistance to their favourite princess, Princess Bubblegum (Hynden Walch – Starfire from Teen Titans). There is no central plot to the show and episodes are just as random and insane as the characters and general look of the show, in saying that though season two’s finale is a two-parter.
The animation is just as out there as the episodes themselves with most of the artists working on the show coming from indie comic backgrounds. Executive producer Fred Seibert has likened the overall look of the shows animation to that of Felix the Cat and the Max Fleischer cartoons while the inspiration for the plot and episodes is taken from Dungeons and Dragons and even Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.
One of the best aspects of the show is something we were kind of surprised by but the music in Adventure Time is brilliant and we’re not talking about the background music but the songs sung by characters. That’s right characters in the show will randomly (you’ve got to get used to the randomness that is this show quite quickly) burst into song and while some of them are explained – for example Marceline the Vampire Queen (Olivia Olson) is also a travelling musician whose Axe is both an axe and a guitar! Finn also breaks into song at times and he even explains his auto-tuned voiced (he accidentally swallowed a little computer).
Adventure Time is not a kids cartoon or rather it is but it works on an adult level so our dirty little minds are able to absorb all the tiny little winks and nudges. We are a little shocked that Adventure Time only has a TV-PG rating, anyone who has seen it and isn’t twelve years old will easily pick up on the more adult humour and in-jokes…case in point:
Finn: Dude, there’s like a lava man on our front lawn. He’s so hot!
Jake: (rubbing his stomach) Mmhhhmmm!
Finn: Wait, I don’t mean it like that! Like, not sexy hot…
Jake: Dude, you so did!
Now that isn’t exactly the stuff that X-rated erotic literature/art/movies are made of but it certainly doesn’t seem like it belongs in a kids cartoon but we’re not complaining. Just when we had given up hope that a kids cartoon could be smart and dirty (who could ever forget Ren & Stimpy or when SpongeBob SquarePants used to be funny!) along comes Adventure Time and our lives are once more filled with subtle smut and adult humour.
The voice actors involved from DiMaggio to Kenny and Olson are sheer brilliance and we can’t imagine these characters sounding any better. In particular Tom Kenny’s work as the corrupt and sociopathic Ice King almost earns him the title of our favourite character in the show but then again who doesn’t love a psychopath with a lust for kidnapping princesses and wielding all powerful ice magic! He is however pipped to the post by Lumpy Space Princess or LSP for short (voiced by the creator of the show Pendleton Ward), the obnoxious, spoilt rotten, purple floating princess is by far the greatest character in the show whether she’s inflicting the Lumps on Jake or running wild and free with her adoptive wolf family!
Adventure Time is a smash hit in our books with some amazing characters, whacky stories and fantastic one liners! If you’re in need of a laugh or something to brighten up your day then you cannot go wrong with those show – it appeals on so many levels from our inner child to our 8-bit geek to our dirty joke loving adult selves! Adventure Time…we love you!
Good Points
Insane, colourful, off the wall
Lumpy Space Princess and the Ice King
Bad Points
Finn and Princess Bubblegum aren’t dating!
There isn’t enough Lumpy Space Princess
Interesting Fact: The show is going to be adapted into a comic series created by web comic extraordinaire Ryan North
Rating: 90/100
