This Mushroom War, as it’s known, supposedly wiped out the human race and gave rise to the candy creatures and other mutated species. Ooo’s origins are hinted at throughout the series as fallout from nuclear warfare. Often episodes, which last a mere 11 minutes, have anti-climactic non-endings that leave the viewer asking, “What the fuck did I just watch?” This no-eraser way of animating lends itself to the show’s signature style of discontinuity. In a show with a market demographic of kids 6-14, such hauntingly arbitrary elements raise the question: who exactly is the show intended for, and what is it trying to say?Ĭreator Pendleton Ward has described his storyboarding process as “unexpected.” In a Cartoon Network Q & A, he said that he has forgotten pending situations while writing, such as a knife storm, and instead of reworking the story-line, will use spontaneity to carry on.

For what it’s worth, this series of events has apparently little to do with the advancement of the main plot. Once they near the center, a winged skeleton launches itself out of a locked vault, desperately begging the Flame Princess to “take its place,” which she proceeds to burn. As the pair battle skeletons in pursuit of the key to a treasure chest, they descend deeper and deeper into the hellish catacombs.

Or take, for example, a more recent episode: Finn invites the Flame Princess on a date to go dungeon exploring. These Lemongrabs, as they are known, face deathly famine after having used all the kingdom’s food to bring life to mutated clones of themselves, generated from a god-like formula left behind by the princess-turned-scientist when she conceived them. However, what makes it appropriate for one demographic is precisely what makes it questionable for the other.Ĭase-in-point: in one episode, Finn the human and Jake the dog venture to Earldom, which is governed by a pair of lemon-headed characters created by Princess Bubblegum (sounds innocent enough). Inversely, the show’s underlying dark themes and off-color humor draws in the 18 and up crowd. In the ludicrous and post-nuclear war Land of Ooo, everything a child could imagine, from wizards to vampires to candy castles, is brought to life through the Cartoon Network venture. “Adventure Time,” a show about a boy and his elastic yellow dog, has taken hold of young and old audiences alike since its inception in 2010. Today, it makes you the coolest kid on the block. There used to be a time when, in college, if you told someone you watched a show about rainbow unicorns and candy princesses, you’d be stuffed in a locker and ostracized well-past graduation. MaIllustration by Jennifer Luxton/Visual Editor

Adventure time merch