What time is it? ADVENTURE TIME!!!!

Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time!  2010-present.

This is largely a book blog, but working with kids, tweens and teens, I also like to be aware of what they are watching online, in the theatres and on TV. 

One such show is Cartoon Network’s breakout animated show Adventure Time! This show is aimed at an upper-elementary through middle school audience, but its appeal is far broader—I know 4 and 5 years olds who are fans and plenty of twenty-and thirty-somethings who are fans (myself included!)

This wacky, surreal series follows the adventures of Finn the Human and Jake the Dog, who is super-stretchy and has magical powers, in the Land of Ooo. Recurring characters include the Lumpy Space Princess, Princess Bubblegum, the vampire Marceline, and the villainous Ice King.  The episodes are very short, usually around 12 minutes.  

In a Lumpy Space Princess-centric episode, titled “The Monster”(in season three) LSP runs away from home and tries to be independent because she feels smothered by her parents, the King and Queen of Lumpy Space. She finds it hard to fend for herself and find food. She is taken in by a pack of wolves and feels accepted for the first time in her life—until she sees the wolves cheating on each other (they are actually just grooming each other). Then the wolves turn on her, and she flees. Covered in filth and goo, she looks really frightening. She comes into a village peopled with tiny farmers called the Fat Villagers and scares the daylights out of them. They drop their food and run, and LSP eats their crops.  Soon LSP realizes that she can be well fed by pretending to be a monster. When Finn and Jake hear this, of course, they must tell her this is unacceptable. They help mend the relationship between LSP and the villagers (she apologizes and gives them her “samiches”) and LSP and her parents.

The witty writing, great cast, and splendidly odd animation of Adventure Time make this show a great choice for kids and tweens. This is a recommended cartoon for anyone who has a slightly odd sense of humor, people who like satire, fans of absurdity, and most kids and tweens. The humor is clean and eccentric, and there are plenty of hilarious situations and fast-paced asides to stimulate the brain cells and funny bones of the viewers. 

Adventure Time is visually striking because the drawings are so simplistic and colorful. The human characters have few facial features. Princess Bubblegum’s face, for example, consists of a mouth and eyes. Her chin appears to dissolve into her long, long neck. Despite this, the characters are ultra-cute, except for villains like the Ice King. What I’ve noticed is that villainous characters are drawn with more detail than the heroes and their friends (even the friends that are very flawed, like LSP).  Anime characters are often like this as well, particularly male villain versus male heroes.  The cuteness of the characters, as well as their weirdness reminds me of anime, as well. Many anime fans are also very enthused about Adventure Time. A commonly heard refrain at LA’s Anime Expo (2011) was “What time is it?” and the loud, shouted response: “ADVENTURE TIME!” The voice acting in this series is insanely funny (i.e. LSP’s valley girl accent, juxtaposed with a deep voice) and never hits a wrong note.

I don’t watch much TV, but when I do it’s Adventure Time!

 Interest level: Grades 4-8, although fans are all ages! Rated TV-PG

Genre: Humor, satire

Awards: In 2010 and 2011 was nominated for Outstanding Short-Format animated program Emmy Award.

 

Characters:

Finn—13-year-old human boy, one of the last humans, in fact, whose hat covers his long flowing blond locks. Hyper and adventure loving!

Jake—28-year-old, laid-back magical dog who can bend and stretch into any shape. Finn’s best friend.  

Marceline the Vampire Queen—1000-year-old vampire who drinks shades of red—not blood—and becomes friend and ally of Finn and Jake.  

Princess Bubblegum—a combination of bubblegum and human genetic material. Extremely intelligent and sometimes temperamental ruler of Candy Kingdom. Finn has a crush on her J

Ice King—creepy 600 year old villain with magical powers (of freezing things, who woulda thunk?) who keeps kidnapping women in hope that they will become his princess.

Lumpy Space Princess—a spoiled-rotten extraterrestrial with a valley-girl accent who spends a lot of time living in the woods.  She can change other beings into her own species by biting them.

Similar shows & books: Fans of Adventure Time will love Roald Dahl and Lewis Carrol.  Older fans of Adventure Time may appreciate shows like Family Guy and South Park for their wacky humor, although these shows are not aimed at or appropriate for Adventure Time’s target audience.  Fans will also love the related show Fiona and Cake, the story of Fiona the human and Cake the cat, an alternate universe version of Finn and Jake.