When Adventure Time started, it's was obvious Cartoon Network wanted an "on crack" cartoon to match the viral success of Spongebob Squarepants. They hired writers and producers FROM Spongebob for this purpose.
For the first season of Adventure Time, that's exactly what they got. The episodes were random. Had no continuity. And were bizarre to the point of being disturbing. It was a massive financial success which gave the creative team of the show more freedom to do what they wanted during the following seasons.
You'd think they'd push the envelope and make the show even more bizarre and random. Instead, Adventure Time took off in the exact opposite direction.
SPOILER ALERT!
While still hiding under the guise of a random, bizarre, children's cartoon it began to take on continuity and lay down the ground work for hidden, mature themes. The land of Ooo is actually Earth 1000 years after the "Mushroom War" which is a fun, child friendly way of saying Nuclear Apocalypse. Finn, at one point, sings a song passed down from his ancestors a song called "The Cloud" which is a song about running from the ravages and death of nuclear fallout. Finn himself is the last known living human on Earth. The rest of the inhabitants are magical creatures or mutants. This is only a couple examples of the MANY hidden themes going on in the show that its child audience would never catch but older viewers are eating up like candy.
From the second season on the characters start picking up significant back stories. Marcelline the vampire has daddy issues and has great trouble getting close to anyone. Princess Bubblegum is a borderline mad scientist who creates new, bizarre creatures on a whim. Some times with tragic results.
The Ice King.... The Ice King started out as a generic, princess kidnapping, ice wizard. As the season went on... Well the Ice King became quite possibly the most tragic character on television. One of the few living beings in the land that comes from before the mushroom war. His name was Simon and he was a kind, loving man. Then he found the Ice Crown. A cursed object of incredible power. It allowed him to survive the Mushroom War. Unfortunately, it inflicts its wearer a horrific combination of alzheimers and schizophrenia and the effects are permanent and irreversible by any known magic or science. Desperately lonely yet completely incapable of having any sort of functional relationship be it romantic or merely friendship. He occasionally has lucid moments where he wails and rages against the madness that's drowning him but these are rare and short lived.
Here we see the ending of "I Remember You" where Marcelline tries to reach him with song only to cry when she finds out nothing she can say will ever bring Simon back from the madness that has devoured him.
It's painfully similar to someone trying to reach a loved one with Alzheimers. It is the best example that Adventure Time is moving further and further away the crack cartoon it was originally meant to be.
For the first season of Adventure Time, that's exactly what they got. The episodes were random. Had no continuity. And were bizarre to the point of being disturbing. It was a massive financial success which gave the creative team of the show more freedom to do what they wanted during the following seasons.
You'd think they'd push the envelope and make the show even more bizarre and random. Instead, Adventure Time took off in the exact opposite direction.
SPOILER ALERT!
While still hiding under the guise of a random, bizarre, children's cartoon it began to take on continuity and lay down the ground work for hidden, mature themes. The land of Ooo is actually Earth 1000 years after the "Mushroom War" which is a fun, child friendly way of saying Nuclear Apocalypse. Finn, at one point, sings a song passed down from his ancestors a song called "The Cloud" which is a song about running from the ravages and death of nuclear fallout. Finn himself is the last known living human on Earth. The rest of the inhabitants are magical creatures or mutants. This is only a couple examples of the MANY hidden themes going on in the show that its child audience would never catch but older viewers are eating up like candy.
From the second season on the characters start picking up significant back stories. Marcelline the vampire has daddy issues and has great trouble getting close to anyone. Princess Bubblegum is a borderline mad scientist who creates new, bizarre creatures on a whim. Some times with tragic results.
The Ice King.... The Ice King started out as a generic, princess kidnapping, ice wizard. As the season went on... Well the Ice King became quite possibly the most tragic character on television. One of the few living beings in the land that comes from before the mushroom war. His name was Simon and he was a kind, loving man. Then he found the Ice Crown. A cursed object of incredible power. It allowed him to survive the Mushroom War. Unfortunately, it inflicts its wearer a horrific combination of alzheimers and schizophrenia and the effects are permanent and irreversible by any known magic or science. Desperately lonely yet completely incapable of having any sort of functional relationship be it romantic or merely friendship. He occasionally has lucid moments where he wails and rages against the madness that's drowning him but these are rare and short lived.
Here we see the ending of "I Remember You" where Marcelline tries to reach him with song only to cry when she finds out nothing she can say will ever bring Simon back from the madness that has devoured him.
It's painfully similar to someone trying to reach a loved one with Alzheimers. It is the best example that Adventure Time is moving further and further away the crack cartoon it was originally meant to be.
