Thursday, October 24, 2013

The history and concepts within Ooo

There are adult cartoons such as South Park, child cartoons like Spongebob Squarepants, toddler cartoons like Blue's Clues, but nowadays pre-teens, teens, and young adults have their own cartoon, Adventure Time!


Originally only being a short six minute long slurry of animation and slim to no plot what-so-ever on Nicktoons, Adventure Time was nothing more than a short in-between episodes back in December of 2008.  Two years later and absolutely no showing besides the one six minute long pilot on Nicktoons, Adventure Time aired on Cartoon Network and doubled its air-time; the show was an instant hit.  Adventure Time is lead by the main protagonists Finn and Jake.  Finn is the only human left in the entire known universe after a nuclear fallout, or the "Great Mushroom War."  Jake, on the other hand, is one of many dogs in the Land of Ooo.  Ooo is the world Finn and Jake and many other key characters reside in, but is by far not the only world.  The episode I watched was season five's "Princess Potluck" featuring nearly every princess taken note of, Finn, Jack, Ice King, Gunther; the only "princess" not shown in the show is Marceline the Vampire Queen.  Ice King is the once genius and loving man who has been overcome by the power of temptation and destruction within a magical crown; Gunther is Ice King's favorite penguin lackey.  Princess Bubblegum is the ruler and insanely skilled scientist of the most popular kingdom, the Candy Kingdom, and plays a vital role in the show.  Marceline is the dark character of the show, and has always been a vital role, but her past is a confusing and cryptic one; Marceline is half demon and half vampire, as well as next in line to rule the Nightosphere.  The episode is simply a party with every princess, and their heroes Finn and Jake, but Ice King soon realizes he was not invited to the epic party, and goes to no end to ruin it for them.  In the fifteen minutes I watched Adventure Time several short advertisements were shown.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Action Figures, NBA 2K14, Bop-it Tetris, several Nerf commercials, Cocoa Pebbles, Airhogs, and Beyblade Shogun were all advertisements shown after the show.




















In my opinion, Adventure Time is considered a very edgy and subliminal television show that takes kind of a "Memento" approach on the chronology.  Adventure Time does the job well when it comes to being innovative and unique.  In this episode alone they deal with stalking, effeminate men, casual sex, police corruption, and the downfall of postal mail.  Adventure Time is filled with odd and absurd lingo.  Finn generally has his signature hood, golden locks of hair, his green backpack, blue shirt and shorts, and his black shoes.  The only characters that often change outfits are Princess Bubblegum and Marceline; who are also hundreds of years old and current enemies.  I feel Adventure Time is very similar to South Park with its edgy topics and subliminal messages, but definitely not as foul.  Adventure Time mainly contrasts from other shows, especially cartoons, for having an actual episodic take, but definitely not in any straight chronology.  The farthest back the show goes is the very start of the Great Mushroom War.  The show tells of dogs at war with "rainicorns," and humans fighting one another in utter chaos. 

Adventure Time holds many of old renaissance epics' stereotypes.  Finn plays the knight, the hero, the one pure of heart but naive in soul.  Jake is the talking animal companion, but Jake is also Finn's angel and devil on his shoulder; being older than Finn, Jake has wise advice, but also has a dark past and can sometimes be shady.  Princess Bubblegum plays a more new age character, for she is the feminist, leader, scientist, world saving, independent woman she is.  Marceline is the dark protagonist lost between good and evil, always going by her own rules, so lonely and cold.  Ice King is the evil, pitiful, sad sap of a king with no suitor and no real kingdom.  Flame Princess was once a huge character, but recently she has not shown up after dumping Finn and dethroning her father to become ruler of Flame Kingdom.  Flame Princess plays the hot woman with a rebellious side, but is willing to see Finn's side and try to defy the elements just to be with him.

Here is a good article on reddit about the relation of D&D with Adventure Time.


http://www.reddit.com/r/adventuretime/comments/14y9dy/the_world_of_adventure_time_is_a_game_of_dd/



 Almost every commercial I saw was a product generally popular in the 80's to early 2000's, or simply targetted for young teens  TMNT, Bop-it and Tetris, Nerf, Cocoa Pebbles, and Beyblades were all much larger in the past.  NBA and Airhogs are more for older and people with higher incomes.  If I had to be a foreigner and on the plane watch this show as I enter the U.S. I would question my knowledge of American English that is for sure!

There is no doubt in my mind that Adventure Time is entertaining.  I love the randomness, the action, the romance, the bonds, the music, the alternate reality, and the extensive plot.  With Adventure Time though, I really can't say it has everything; sometimes I just want to watch stand up, or you know, actual humans.  Though the world of Adventure Time, and parts of the multiverse within Adventure Time is incredibly fictional and obscure, I really feel it can also relate to every day life.  Friendships are broken, relationships end, brothers fight, love is real, and we as people can be so varied and yet so predictable.

http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/articles/8-most-inspirational-quotes-adventure-time ... For those who want to read just a few inspirational words of wisdom via Adventure Time.

All in all I love the epic plot, the fact that things aren't in a boring past to present order, but rather everything in time is floating in space and the more you watch the more it all pieces together.  Personally I watch this show with my girlfriend and it has its emotional times, and I can always appreciate a show that gets my soft side and lets me wipe a tear from her eye.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/why-adventure-time-now-in-its-fifth-season-is-more-groundbreaking-than-you-may-realize?page=1#articleHeaderPanel (Callura) Love this article, because they understand several of the demographics of the show.  Though the article is about the newest season it is still very promising and gives insight to the morals of the show.



I would have to say I am a part of the innovators end of our consumer scale when it comes to Adventure Time, and in some way I let it define me.  I watch the show with my girlfriend, friends, family, on television, social media, and the site itself.  I am a fan of several Adventure Time related pages on Facebook, and I watch the show every Monday.  My Tumblr blog is involved with the Adventure Time fandom even.

Ever watch Spongebob Squarepants?  Voice actor Tom Kenny plays Spongebob, Ice King, and dozens of other popular cartoon characters.  The show has won several awards and is considered one of Cartoon Network's most successful shows currently.  For you Trek fans, George Takei plays a seductive heart man in featured Adventure Time episodes.

After all this I was inspired by many people's theories on Tumblr [seriously suggest checking out Adventure Time Fandoms on Tumblr.]  Through researching all of this and contemplating the show as a whole I have found how much more it is than just a television show because they really do well on creating emotional ties to the characters.  I never knew Adventure Time started as an animated short on Nicktoons!  100% recommend watching this show.





 Here is the ending theme, and it really is beautiful sounding [though they never play it anymore...]  To get on a personal level my girlfriend learned the opening theme long ago, and she is a beautiful singer, but too bad for you guys I have a very poor singing voice and cannot hit high notes at all.  If you want, you can watch the quick performance below.




1 comment:

  1. OMG YESSS!!!! I love adventure time! It's so true what you said about how there's adult shows, kid's shows, and there's adventure time for teenagers. Do you ever watch regular show? In my opinion it's just as good and holds the same bold, random, awesomely overblown comedy.
    .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxBwE0pGpZ8

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