What amazes me about Adventure Time is that it never gets boring. Pendleton Ward, and his staff of writers, seem to bring continual fresh content, while at the same time adding sprinkles of drama here and there to keep Adventure Time much deeper than it should be. The fourth season of Adventure Time ups the ante in the drama department, while keeping the status quo with its whacky episodic flow.
Let me just stress for a moment how incredibly dramatic some of the episodes have become in this series. Somewhere along the way, Pendleton and his team of writers created a post-apocalyptic backstory for the Adventure Time characters. You see sprinkles of this in season three and then it becomes heavy in some episodes of season four. For example, ‘I Remember You’, episode 25 of season four, involves the Ice King pairing with Marceline to create a song that can whoo princesses to the Ice King. The song is comprised of all the memories that Ice King saved from his previous life as Simon. Simon, if you didn’t know, is the adoptive father (in a sense) of Marceline, who was left behind after the great war happened. With each lyric that Marceline reads, it not only becomes evident that the Ice King has removed himself from any memory of Simon because of the crown he wears, but also Marceline is incredibly distraught over Simon not remembering who he was. It’s a very sad and lonely episode that is probably the best of the bunch.
This sort of drama, still sprinkled here and there within the entire series, is why Adventure Time is something more than just another cartoon on Cartoon Network. Like I stated before, it’s incredibly deep for a 30-minute cartoon, which makes it memorable. Heck, my kids have memorized the backstory of this show because it’s so powerful. There are times where I have to ask them questions about it and they explain in full detail the tragic events that led up to Ooo’s formation or how the Ice King became the Ice King (makes me sad inside).
*AHEM* *SNIFFLE* Anyway…
Season four has some of these episodes in it that make it more than just another batch of silliness. I fully appreciate and respect those episodes.
Pulling back from the seriousness of the show, there are some episodes (outside of episode 25) that really stood out this season. Here’s what I really enjoyed:
– Princess Monster Wife – So what do you get when you create a Frankenstein storyline with a bit of comedy and major horror? You get this episode. Once again Ice King is trying to find the love of his life to fill an empty hole (huge hole). Instead of stealing away all the princesses in Ooo, he decides to steal pieces of them. This is a gross episode, hilarious and sadder than expected. Enjoy this horror show.
– Princess Cookie – Finn and Jake help to rescue hostages from a rogue chocolate chip cookie named Baby-Snaps (Donald Faison). What they think is a snatch/grab/knock out the bad guy, turns out to be just the opposite of their expectations. Another tragic story for this season and one that puts a very dark edge on Princess Bubblegum’s innocent persona.
– Web Weirdos – Jake, Finn and two flies are trapped in a giant spider web and have to figure out a way out. The solution? They have to help a grumpy male spider reconcile with his female spider spouse. Bobcat Goldthwait and Susie Essman voice the spiders and the entirety of the episode is hilarious. It is truthfully one of the simpler stories of the bunch, but it’s quite good — especially the flies.
– The Hard Easy – River Scamps (tadpole/fish creatures) seek help from Jake and Finn to get rid of a giant scary frog creature that keeps capturing and eating their people. I won’t give too much away with this one, just know that the dialogue in this one (and the ending) are comedy gold. I like this one very much, except for the river scamp secretions. That’s just gross stuff.
– Sons of Mars – Magic Man is a warped, but magical, sick individual that fits perfectly in the Adventure Time world. Grob Gob Glob Grod (one being) come from Mars to reacquire the mischievous Magic Man from Ooo, who is constantly misusing his powers, only to have Magic Man switch bodies with Jake, thus having Jake taken away. Sprinkle in a little death, a case of mistaken identity and Abraham Lincoln, and you have yourself a memorable episode on your hands. Funny, strange and (reoccurring theme) tragic.
– Return to the Nightosphere/Daddy’s Little Monster – Marceline is tricked into returning into the Nightosphere by her father, with Finn and Jake, only to be trapped and turned into an evil demon. The boys have to figure out how to get her back without dying. As much as this is a two-parter, this seems a lot faster than it is. The demons are hilarious, the situation is scary and by the end you feel just as exhausted as Finn.
I felt like these episodes offered enough variety and wackiness in them, which made them stand out from the rest. That’s not to say that the rest of the episodes weren’t good, rather I just particularly enjoyed these.
Season four of Adventure Time is another great season of wild stories and heartfelt drama. It has a bit of everything in it and continues the creative tradition of solid entertainment. If you have the previous seasons, then there is no reason to hesitate pulling the trigger on this one.
To add more fuel to your purchasing fire, the Blu-ray portion of this release is really good. As I’ve stated many times in the past, animated shows and animated films born within the HD age generally look good on Blu-ray. You get all colors of the show in crisp and clean fashion with absolutely zero artifacts, graininess or compression issues. It looks really darn gorgeous in HD. If you know the show, then you understand what to expect from the HD transfer. It has such pure clarity to the picture.
In the features department of this release, you don’t get a lot, but what you do get is commentary on each episode (love it) and a feature on the music of the show. The feature that explains the music of the show is quite interesting. You get to hear about how the theme was conceived and what different elements are used in determining the musical type used for particular episodes. It’s a great feature, but I wish there was just a bit more.