Fall Asleep While Learning About Adventure Time

In this episode of the I Can’t Sleep Podcast, explore the whimsical world of Adventure Time. This beloved animated series, created by Pendleton Ward, follows the adventures of Finn, a brave boy, and Jake, his magical, shape-shifting dog, as they journey through the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo. Since its debut in 2010, Adventure Time has captivated fans with its quirky humor, vibrant animation, and touching themes of friendship and self-discovery.

Meet unforgettable characters like Princess Bubblegum, the Ice King, and Marceline the Vampire Queen. The show’s unique blend of fantasy and heartwarming moments has made it a cultural icon. Whether you’re a long-time fan or new to the series, let this episode’s calming details help you drift off. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,

Adventure Time.

Adventure Time is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network.

The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake,

A dog with the power to change size and shape at will.

Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic land of Ooo,

Where they interact with Princess Bubblegum,

The Ice King,

Marceline,

BMO,

And others.

The series is based on a 2007 short film that aired on Nicktoons.

After the short became a viral hit on the internet,

Nickelodeon's executives passed on its option before Cartoon Network commissioned a full-length series from Fred Siebert and Ward,

Which was previewed on March 11th,

2010.

The same year,

The series premiered on Cartoon Network on April 5th,

And it ended its eight-year run on September 3rd,

2018.

The series drew inspiration from a variety of sources,

Including the fantasy role-playing game,

Dungeons & Dragons,

And video games.

The series was produced using hand-drawn animation.

Action and dialogue for episodes were decided by storyboarding artists based on rough outlines.

Because each episode took roughly eight to nine months to complete,

Multiple episodes were worked on concurrently.

The cast members recorded their lines in group recordings,

And the series regularly employed guest actors for minor and recurring characters.

Each episode runs about 11 minutes.

Pairs of episodes are often telecast to fill half-hour program slots.

Cartoon Network announced on September 29th,

2016,

That the series would conclude in 2018,

After the airing of its tenth season.

The series finale aired on September 3rd,

2018,

Which was followed by the Adventure Time Distant Lands specials,

And the Adventure Time Fiona & Cake spin-off,

Which were released on Macs.

Two additional spin-offs,

Entitled Adventure Time Side Quests and Adventure Time Hey-Yo!

Have also been greenlit by Cartoon Network Studios as of June 2024.

Adventure Time was a rating success for Cartoon Network,

With some of its episodes attracting over three million viewers,

And despite being aimed primarily at children,

The show has developed a following among teenagers and adults.

Adventure Time has received universal acclaim from critics,

With much praise for its originality and world-building.

The show won eight Primetime Emmy Awards,

A Peabody Award,

Three Annie Awards,

Two British Academy Children's Awards,

A Motion Picture Sound Editors Award,

And a Caring Award.

The series has also been nominated for three Critics' Choice Television Awards,

Two NC Festival Awards,

A TCA Award,

And a Sundance Film Festival Award,

Among others.

Of the many comic book spin-offs based on the series,

One received an Eisner Award and two Harvey Awards.

The series has also spawned various forms of licensed merchandise,

Including books,

Video games,

And clothing.

Adventure Time follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human,

Voiced by Jeremy Shada,

And his best friend and adoptive brother,

Jake the Dog,

John DiMaggio,

Who has magical powers to change shape and size at will.

Pendleton Ward,

The series' creator,

Describes Finn as a fiery little kid with strong morals.

Jake,

On the other hand,

Is based on Tripper Harrison,

Bill Murray's character in Meatballs.

This means that while Jake is somewhat carefree,

He will sit Finn down and give him some decent advice if he really needs it.

Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic land of Ooo,

Which was ravaged by a cataclysmic event known as the Mushroom War,

A nuclear war that destroyed civilization a thousand years before the series' events.

Throughout the series,

Finn and Jake interact with major characters,

Including Princess Bubblegum,

The sovereign of the Candy Kingdom,

And a sentient piece of gum,

The Ice King,

A menacing but largely misunderstood ice wizard,

Marceline the Vampire Queen,

A thousand-year-old vampire and rock music enthusiast,

Lumpy Space Princess,

A melodramatic and immature princess made out of lumps,

BMO,

A sentient video game console-shaped robot that lives with Finn and Jake,

And Flame Princess,

A flame elemental and ruler of the Fire Kingdom.

According to series creator Pendleton Ward,

The show's style was influenced by his time attending the California Institute of the Arts,

CalArts,

And his experience working as a writer and storyboard artist on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack,

A series that ran on Cartoon Network from 2008 until 2010.

In an interview with Animation World Network,

Ward said he strove to combine adventure time subversive humor with beautiful moments,

Using Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro as inspiration for the latter.

Ward has also named home movies and Dr.

Kadd's Professional Therapist as influences,

Largely because both shows are relaxing and feature conversational dialogue that feels natural and is neither over-the-top nor cartoony and shrill.

The series can trace its origin to a seven-minute stand-alone animated short film of the same name.

This short was later identified as the show's pilot post-facto.

Produced by Frederator Studios,

The short was created by Ward almost entirely by himself,

And its production concluded in early 2006.

It was first broadcast on Nicktoons Network on January 11,

2007,

And was rebroadcast as part of Frederator's anthology show Random Cartoons on December 7,

2008.

After its initial release,

The video became a viral hit on the internet.

Frederator then pitched an Adventure Time series to Nicktoons Network,

Which rejected it five times.

When Nicktoons' rights to commission a full series expired,

Frederator pitched it to other channels.

One of the studios that Frederator approached was Cartoon Network,

Which was interested in producing a full series,

But would commit to a deal only if Ward could prove the pilot wasn't a one-hit wonder.

Rob Sorcher,

The chief content officer at Cartoon Network,

Was influential in getting the network to take a chance on the show.

He recognized the series as something that felt really indie,

Comic-booky,

And new.

Cartoon Network asked Ward to submit a sample script for their consideration,

But Frederator convinced him to rough out a storyboard instead,

As a board would give a better sense of what was on Penn's mind,

According to Frederator's vice president,

Eric Homan.

Ward and his college friends,

Patrick McHale and Adam Muto,

The former of whom served as a writer,

Storyboard artist,

And creative director for the show during its first few seasons,

While the latter served as a storyboard artist and creative director for the show before becoming its showrunner,

Began developing ideas,

All the while concentrating on keeping the good things about the original short,

While also improving on them.

The group's first product was a rough storyboard featuring Finn and Princess Bubblegum going on a spaghetti supper date.

Cartoon Network was not happy with the story,

And so Ward,

McHale,

And Muto created a storyboard for the episode,

The Enchiridion,

An attempt to emulate the style of the original Nicktoon short.

This tactic proved successful,

And in September 2008,

Cartoon Network approved a first season,

Which was produced by Cartoon Network Studios.

The Enchiridion was the first episode to enter into production.

Ward and his production team began storyboarding episodes and writing plot outlines,

But Cartoon Network was still concerned about the direction of the new series.

McHale later recalled that during the pitch of an episode titled Brothers in Insomnia,

Which for various reasons was scrapped,

The room was filled with executives from Cartoon Network.

The pitch went well,

But the production staff was soon inundated with questions about the stylistic nature of the series.

Around this time,

Cartoon Network paused the production of the show in an attempt to resolve these creative issues.

A number of writers and animators were let go,

And in their place,

Cartoon Network management hired three veteran animators who had worked on SpongeBob SquarePants.

Derek Dreiman,

Who served as executive producer for the first season of Adventure Time.

Meriwether Williams,

Who served as head story editor for the show's first and second seasons.

And Nick Jennings,

Who became the series' long-serving art director.

Dreiman in particular played a key role at this time,

Ensuring that both Cartoon Network and the show's production crew were on the same creative page.

Therup Van Orman,

The creator of the Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack,

Was also hired to guide Ward and his staff for the first two seasons.

The storyboard for Prisoners of Love assuaged many of the fears some Cartoon Network executives had expressed.

As production for season one progressed,

More artists were brought on board.

Dan,

Ghost Shrimp Bandit,

A freelance illustrator who had also written and storyboarded on Flapjack,

Was hired as the show's lead background designer.

Ward told him to create background art that set the show in a Ghost Shrimp world.

Ghost Shrimp designed major locations,

Including Finn and Jake's home,

The Candy Kingdom,

And the Ice Kingdom.

The position of lead character designer was given to Phil Rinda,

Who held this role for two and a half seasons.

The show's lead production crew,

Which included Ward and McHale,

Was initially hesitant to bring him on board,

But they were soon convinced by director Larry Leitchleiter,

Who assured them Rinda was talented and could draw in a variety of styles.

With the producers satisfied,

Rinda quickly began designing characters that were simple but still fell in line with Penn's natural aesthetic.

Around this time,

Rinda and McHale began drafting artistic guidelines for the show,

So that its animation style would always be somewhat consistent.

With many of the lead production roles filled,

Ward turned his attention to choosing storyboard artists for the first season.

He assembled a team made up largely of younger,

Inexperienced people,

Many of whom he discovered on the internet.

Many of these individuals had backgrounds in indie comics,

And Ward has called them really smart,

Smarty-pants people,

Who were responsible for inserting more idiosyncratic and spiritual ideas into the series.

For the show's first four and a half seasons,

Ward served as the showrunner.

In an interview with Rolling Stone,

He said he had stepped down from this role sometime during the fifth season.

As a naturally introverted person,

He found interacting with and directing people every day to be exhausting.

After Ward resigned from the Post,

Adam Muto became the showrunner.

Until late 2014,

Ward continued to work on the cartoon as a storyboard artist and storyline writer.

After November 2014,

He stopped regularly contributing to episode outlines,

But still looked over stories,

Providing occasional input,

And continued to storyboard for the series on a limited basis.

Ward,

A self-professed fan of ambivalent emotions,

Such as feeling happy and scared at the same time,

Has called the show a dark comedy.

He has also cited the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons,

Of which many of the show's writers are devotees,

As an inspiration for the show.

In the United States,

The series is rated TV-PG.

Ward said he never wanted to push the boundaries of the PG rating,

Noting in an interview with Art of the Title that he'd never really even thought about the rating.

We don't like stuff that's overly gross.

We like cute stuff and nice things.

Ward intended the show's world to have a coherent physical logic,

And although magic exists in the story,

The show's writers tried to create an internal consistency in the characters' interactions with the world.

In an interview with The A.

V.

Club,

Ward said the show's writing process usually began with writers telling each other what they had done the previous week,

To find something humorous to build on.

He also said,

A lot of the time,

If we're really stuck,

We'll start saying everything that comes to our mind,

Which is usually the worst stuff,

And then someone else will think that's terrible,

But it'll give them a better idea,

And the ball just starts rolling like that.

Because of the busy schedule of writing and coordinating a television series,

The writers did not have time to play Dungeons & Dragons,

But they still wrote stories they would want to be playing D&D with.

Sometimes the writers and storyboard artists convened and played writing games.

One game that was often used is called Exquisite Corpse.

One writer starts a story on a sheet of paper,

And another writer tries to finish it.

But while a few episodes,

Such as the fifth season episode,

Bahoy,

And the sixth season episode,

Jake the Brick,

Have been generated using this game,

Ward has said that the ideas are usually terrible.

Former storyboard artist and creative director Cole Sanchez said episode scripts are either created by expanding the good ideas produced by these writing games,

Or are based on an idea proposed by a storyboard artist in the hope it can be developed into an episode.

After the writers pitched stories,

The ideas were compiled onto a two- or three-page outline that contained the important beats.

The episodes were then passed on to storyboard artists,

Often called boarders.

While many cartoons are based on script pitches to network executives,

Cartoon Network allowed Adventure Time to build their own teams organically,

And communicate using storyboards and animatics.

Rob Sorcher said its novel approach was sanctioned because the company was dealing with primarily visual people,

And that by using storyboards,

The writers and artists could learn and grow by actually doing the work.

The storyboard artists generally work on an episode in pairs,

Independent from other storyboarders,

Which according to freelance writer David Perlmutter in his book America Tunes In,

Countered creative ennui and prevented episodes from being alike in either content or tone.

The storyboard artists were given a week to thumbnail,

Roughly sketch out a storyboard,

And fill in the details complete with action,

Dialogue,

And jokes.

The series showrunner and his creative directors then reviewed the storyboard and made notes.

The artists were then given another week to implement the notes,

And to clean up the episode.

Storyboard writing and revising usually took up to a month.

Following the writing revisions,

Voice actors would record their parts for the episodes,

And an animatic would be compiled to reduce the running time to the necessary 11 minutes.

Most artists then created prop,

Character,

And background designs.

According to Rinda,

Most of the production was done in Photoshop.

While the episode's design and coloring was done at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank,

California,

The actual animation was handled in South Korea by either Rough Draft Korea or Serum Animation.

Creating an episode often took between 3 and 5 months.

The animation was hand-drawn on paper,

Which was then digitally composited and painted with digital ink and paint.

Executive producer Fred Seabird compared the show's animation style to that of Felix the Cat and various Mac Fleischer cartoons,

But said its world was equally inspired by the world of video games.

While the episodes were being handled in South Korea,

The production crew in the US worked on retakes,

Music scoring,

And sound design.

Upon being completed,

The animation was sent back to the US,

At which point the production crew inspected it,

Looking for mistakes in the animation or things that didn't animate the way the staff intended.

These problems were then fixed in Korea and the animation was finalized.

From story outlining to broadcast,

It took between 8 and 9 months for each episode to be created.

Because of this,

Multiple episodes were worked on concurrently.

While a great majority of the series' episodes were animated by Korean animation studios,

Adventure Time occasionally featured guest animators and directors.

For instance,

The second season episode,

Guardians of Sunshine,

Was partly rendered in 3D to emulate the style of a video game.

The fifth season episode,

A Glitch is a Glitch,

Was written and directed by Irish filmmaker and writer David O'Reilly,

And features his distinctive 3D animation.

Animator James Baxter animated selected scenes and characters in both the fifth season episode,

James Baxter the Horse,

As well as the eighth season episode,

Horse and Ball.

The sixth season episode,

Food Chain,

Was written,

Storyboarded,

And directed by Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa,

And animated entirely by Yuasa's studio,

Science Saru.

Another sixth season episode,

Water Park Prank,

Features flash animation by David Ferguson.

The stop-motion episode,

Bad Jubies,

Directed by Kirsten Lepore,

Aired near the middle of the show's seventh season.

Finally,

Alex and Lindsay Small-Butera,

Noted for their web series,

Batman-Pyter-Man,

Contributed animation to the eighth season episode,

Beyond the Grotto,

And the ninth season episode,

Ketchup.

The series' voice actors include Jeremy Shada,

John DiMaggio,

Tom Kenny,

Hinden Walsh,

And Olivia Olsen.

Ward voices several minor characters and Lumpy Space Princess.

Former storyboard artist Nikki Yang voices the sentient video game console BMO in English,

As well as Jake's girlfriend,

Lady Rainicorn,

In Korean.

Holly Lou Livingston,

A friend of Ward's mother,

Betty Ward,

Voices the small elephant tree trunks.

The Adventure Time cast members recorded their lines together at group recording sessions rather than individually,

With the aim of recording natural-sounding dialogue.

Hinden Walsh has described these group recordings as akin to doing a play-reading,

A really,

Really out-there play.

The series regularly employed guest actors for minor and recurring characters,

And crew members cast people with whom they were interested in working.

For instance,

In a panel,

Muto and Ken Osborne said the Adventure Time crew often sought out actors who had roles in the television programs Star Trek The Next Generation and The Office to play various supporting or background characters.

When Ward was developing the series' title sequences,

The rough draft version consisted of quick shots and vignettes that were just sort of crazy and nonsensical,

Which alluded to the show's theme of quirky adventures.

These drafts included the characters just punching random ghosts and monsters,

Jumping through anything and everything,

And there were a bunch of atomic bombs at the end of it.

Ward later called this version really silly.

He sent the draft to Cartoon Network.

They did not like it,

And wanted something more graphical like the introduction to The Brady Bunch.

Inspired by the title sequences of The Simpsons and Pee-wee's Playhouse,

Ward developed a new title sequence featuring a panning sweep of the Land of Ooo,

While a synthesizer note rose slowly until the main theme was played.

Ward's draft for this idea was handed to Layout Animators,

Who then finalized the timing for the sequence.

From there,

The sequence evolved.

While Ward added silly character stuff,

Patrick McHale focused his attention on the Ice King's shot and gave him a high school yearbook smile.

The crew also struggled to get the shadows in the shot featuring Marceline correct.

After the panning sweep,

The sequence cuts to the theme song,

Which plays while shots of Finn and Jake adventuring are shown.

For this part of the sequence,

Ward was inspired by the simple aspects of the introduction of the 2007 comedy film Superbad.

When the theme mentions Jake the dog and Finn the human,

The characters' names are displayed next to their heads,

With a solid color in the background.

The sequence was finalized immediately before the series aired.

The show's eponymous theme song is sung by Ward,

Accompanied by a ukulele.

As first heard in the pilot episode,

In that version Ward is accompanied by an acoustic guitar.

For the version used in the series,

Ward sang in a higher register to match the ukulele's range.

The theme song's final version was originally supposed to be a temporary version.

Ward said,

I recorded the lyrics for the opening title in the animatics room where we have this little crummy microphone just so that we could add it to the titles and submit it to the network.

Later we tried re-recording it and I didn't like it.

I only liked the temp one.

Because the series' finalized theme song was originally recorded as a temp track,

Ambient noises can be heard throughout.

For instance,

The sound of Derek Dryman trying to be heard while Jake is walking through the Ice Kingdom.

According to Ward,

Much of the series' music has similar hiss and grip,

Because one of the show's original composers,

Casey James Bassichus,

Lives in a pirate ship he's built inside of an apartment and you can hear floorboards squeak and lots of other weird sounds.

As the show progressed,

Bassichus' friend Tim Kiefer joined the show as an additional composer.

The two now work together on its music.

The series regularly features songs and musical numbers.

Many of the cast members,

Including Shada,

Kenny,

And Olsen,

Sing their character's songs.

Characters often express their emotions in song.

Examples of this include Marsline's song,

I'm Just Your Problem.

While the series' background music is composed by Bassichus and Kiefer,

The songs sung by characters are often written by the storyboard artists.

And while it is a general rarity,

The show also occasionally refers to popular music.

Early during the show's run,

Frederator,

Seabird's production company,

Occasionally uploaded demos and full versions of songs sung by the characters to their official website,

And when the production crew set up a series Tumblr account,

This tradition of publishing demos and full versions of songs to the public was revived.

On November 20,

2015,

The label Spacelab9 released a limited edition 12-inch LP featuring many of Marsline's songs,

Followed by a 38-song series soundtrack in October 2016.

The show is set in the fictional Land of Ooo in a post-apocalyptic future about a thousand years after a nuclear holocaust called the Great Mushroom War.

According to Ward,

The show takes place after the bombs have fallen and magic has come back into the world.

Before the series was fully developed,

Ward intended the Land of Ooo to simply be magical.

After the production of the episode Business Time,

In which an iceberg containing reanimated businessmen floats to the surface of a lake,

The show became explicitly post-apocalyptic.

Ward said the production crew just ran with it.

Ward later described the setting as candyland on the surface and dark underneath,

Noting he had never intended the Mushroom War and the post-apocalyptic elements to be hit over the head in the show.

He limited it to cars buried underground in the backyard and other elements that do not raise any eyebrows.

Ward has said the series' post-apocalyptic elements were influenced by the 1979 film Mad Max.

Kenny called the way the elements are worked into the plot very fill-in-the-blanks,

And Amadou said,

It's been obvious the Land of Ooo has some issues.

Reviews

I love adventure time! You did a great job setting me to sleep lol!!

My daughter and I loved the show Adventure Time. I may have to try listening again since I fell asleep so quickly.

I thought this was about time (didn’t read the description) but it was actually about “Adventure Time!” 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ Interesting but still knocked me out, maybe next time. Or is it Time? 🤷🏼‍♀️
Thank you!! 😊