Adventure Time (also known as Adventure Time with Finn & Jake) is an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward. It is based on the animated short "Adventure Time" that aired as part of Frederator Studios' Random! Cartoons on Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the surreal adventures undertaken by two best friends and adopted brothers: Finn, a 12-year old (later 17) boy, and Jake, a dog with magical powers that dwell in the Land of Ooo. In August 2008, the short was officially greenlit for a series by Cartoon Network.^[1][2][3] The series was then announced on January 2010 when character art was revealed and its website was launched. Half-episode "sneak peeks" aired on March 11 and 18, 2010, and the series officially premiered on April 5, 2010. The series ended on September 3, 2018, with the hour-long special "Come Along with Me", which was named after the end credits song.

On October 23, 2019, four specials, collectively called Adventure Time: Distant Lands, were announced, and were released on HBO Max from 2020 to 2021. On August 17, 2021, an adult-oriented spin-off series, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, was announced, and was released on Max on August 31, 2023. On June 12, 2024, two more spin-offs, Adventure Time: Side Quests and Adventure Time: Heyo BMO, and a film were announced at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Plot

12-year-old (later 17) Finn, who was found in the woods as a baby by Jake's parent's, Joshua and Margret, and his best friend and adopted brother Jake, a dog with magical powers, are adventurers living in the Land of Ooo, a setting full of surreal characters, with fantasy and post-apocalyptic elements. The duo's typical adventures involve saving princesses, fighting evil monsters, exploring dungeons, and helping people in need. They also meet characters with strange characteristics.

Characters

Main article: List of Adventure Time characters

Episodes

Season 1 of the series ran from April 5, 2010, to September 27, 2010. After the premiere episode drew strong TV ratings, earning the number one spot in many kids' demographics, Cartoon Network renewed the show for the second season of 13 half-hours (26 episodes). For the first five and a half seasons, the show aired on Monday nights. However, starting with the sixth season episode "Breezy", the show began to shift both its timeslot and its day of airing.

Main article: Adventure Time episode list

Season	Episodes	Originally aired
		Season premiere	Season finale
Pilot		December 7th, 2008
1	26	April 5th, 2010	September 27th, 2010
2	26	October 11th, 2010	May 9th, 2011
3	26	July 11th, 2011	February 13th, 2012
4	26	April 2nd, 2012	October 22nd, 2012
5	52	November 12th, 2012	March 17th, 2014
6	43	April 21st, 2014	June 5th, 2015
7	26	November 2nd, 2015	March 19th, 2016
8	27	March 26th, 2016	February 2nd, 2017
9	14	April 21st, 2017	July 21st, 2017
10	16	September 17th, 2017	September 3rd, 2018

Broadcast history

Country	Channel
United States	Cartoon Network (Original Run: 2010-2018 Reruns: 2018-Present) Boomerang (Reruns: 2018-2019) Adult Swim (2019)
Canada	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Latin America	Cartoon Network (2010-2019)
Brazil	Cartoon Network (2010-2018)
United Kingdom Ireland	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Netherlands	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Germany	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
France	Cartoon Network (2011-2019)
Spain	Cartoon Network (2011-2018)
Portugal	Cartoon Network (2013-2018)
Italy	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Greece	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Template:Flagicon NordicNordic	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Poland	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Russia	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Bulgaria	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Turkey	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Australia	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
New Zealand	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
India	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Pakistan	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Philippines	Cartoon Network (2011-present)
Japan	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
South Korea	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Template:Flagicon ArabicArabic	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)
Template:Flagicon AfricaAfrica	Cartoon Network (YYYY-YYYY)

Production

Following the animated short, Frederator Studios pitched an Adventure Time series to Nickelodeon, but the network passed on it twice.^[4] The studio then approached Cartoon Network, with creator Pendleton Ward delivering them an early storyboard for "The Enchiridion", showing that the premise could be expanded into a series while maintaining elements from the original short: funny catchphrases and dances, an awkward kiss moment with the princess, and an "Abe Lincoln moment." Cartoon Network greenlit the first season in September 2008, and "The Enchiridion" would become the first produced episode.^[4]

Series creator Pendleton Ward has stated that the artistic style is influenced by his time at CalArts and later working as a storyboard artist on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. He tries to include "beautiful" moments like those in Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro and some subversive humor, inspired by series like The Simpsons and Pee-wee's Playhouse.^[5] Executive producer Fred Seibert compares the show's animation style to that of Felix the Cat and the Max Fleischer cartoons but says its world is also equally inspired by video games.^[6] Ward intends the show's world to have a certain physical logic instead of "cartoony slapstick" -- even though magic exists in the story, the show's writers try to create an internal consistency in how the characters interact with the world.^[5][6]

Ward describes the character Finn as a "fiery little kid" with strong morals, while Jake is based on Bill Murray's character in the movie Meatballs, as a laidback twenty-something who usually jokes around, but occasionally gives good advice.^[5]

Awards and nominations

Adventure Time has been nominated three times for an Emmy in the category, Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program. The first was for "My Two Favorite People." The second was for "It Came from the Nightosphere." The third nomination was "Too Young" for the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Animated short

The animated short "Adventure Time" aired as part of Frederator Studios' Random! Cartoons, and led to the creation of the animated series.

Plot

The cartoon begins with Pen (who was renamed Finn in the series) sleeping under a tree and Jake meditating. After they do a little dance (which Jake downloaded from the internet while meditating), Lady Rainicorn (a unicorn/rainbow hybrid) flies by in tears. They discover that Lady Rainicorn is so sad because Princess Bubblegum is being imprisoned by the Ice King. Using snowballs, they battle their way past the Iceclops, Snow Golem, and other monsters that inhabit the Ice Kingdom.

Eventually, Pen and Jake reach the Ice King's mountain lair. Pen and the Ice King fight while Jake remains outside flirting with the Rainicorn, ignoring the battle. Just when Pen seems to be gaining the upper hand, the Ice King uses his "frozen lightning bolts" to freeze Pen in a block of ice. For unexplained reasons, this transports Pen's mind "back in time, and to Mars" where he has a short motivational conversation with Abraham Lincoln. After being told to believe in himself, Pen is returned to the present: just in time to see the Ice King fly away with Princess Bubblegum. Chasing after him using Jake's extendable legs, Pen rescues the princess from the Ice King's grasp. Jake pushes the magical crown off the Ice King's head, thereby removing the King's source of power. The Ice King then plummets off-screen, yelling a long list of complex threats of things he will do when he returns.

The story closes with Bubblegum giving Pen a kiss, which embarrasses him greatly. He attempts to leave, but Jake claims that they have nowhere else to go and that there are no adventures that need them. Fortunately, some nearby ninjas are stealing an old man's diamonds, and they both run off in pursuit.

Video games

Adventure Time was adapted into various video games of the series:

• The first game in the series, Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!!, was released in November 20, 2012 for Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS.
• Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know! was released in November 19, 2013 for Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS.
• Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom, released in November 18, 2014 for Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox 360.
• Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations, released in October 20, 2015 for Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.
• Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion, released in July 20, 2018 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, two months before the series finale.

Finn appeared in Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers, where he was using Jake as a hammer weapon.

Finn, Jake, Banana Guard, and Marceline the Vampire Queen are playable in the Warner Bros. crossover video game, MultiVersus.

Home Media

DVD volumes:

• My Favorite Two People (September 27th, 2011)
• It Came from the Nightosphere (March 6th, 2012)
• Jake vs. Me-Mow (October 2nd, 2012)
• Fionna and Cake (February 19th, 2013)
• Jake the Dad (September 17th, 2013)
• The Suitor (May 6th, 2014)
• Princess Day (July 29th, 2014)
• Adventure Time and Friends (October 7th, 2014)
• Finn the Human (November 25th, 2014)
• Frost and Fire (March 3rd, 2015)
• The Enchiridion (October 6th, 2015)
• Stakes (January 16th, 2016)
• Card Wars (July 12th, 2016)
• Islands (January 24th, 2017)

• The Complete First Season (July 10th, 2012)
• The Complete Second Season (June 4th, 2013)
• The Complete Third Season (February 25th, 2014)
• The Complete Fourth Season (October 7th, 2014)
• The Complete Fifth Season (July 14th, 2015)
• The Complete Sixth Season (October 11th, 2016)
• The Complete Seventh Season (July 18th, 2017)
• The Final Seasons (September 4th, 2018)
• The Complete Collection (April 30th, 2019)

Digital media:

The series is available on iTunes, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. It was released on HBO Max on May 27th, 2020, later on Max on May 23rd, 2023, and later on Disney+ (as part of the Hulu merger) on December 6, 2023.

Trivia

• Adventure Time was the last show to still be airing new episodes since the Noods Era.
• The series franchise has a total of 297 episodes, which makes it the second most number of episodes on all Cartoon Network series, the first being the Ben 10 franchise (414).
• The series originally had 9 seasons, but Cartoon Network split it into 10.
  • Because of this, Adventure Time is now the first Cartoon Network show to have reached 10 seasons.
  • Season 7 was originally meant to have 39 episodes, going from Bonnie and Neddy to Reboot, and Season 8 was meant to have 28 episodes, going from Two Swords to Three Buckets. But when releasing Season 7 itself on streaming websites like the official Cartoon Network website, Cartoon Network themselves decided to make the episode, The Thin Yellow Line as the season's final episode, making them give official recognition to Season 8 as comprising that it originally planned to end the 7th season as well as the 14 episodes originally made up Season 8 itself. Then, Cartoon Network labelled the episodes through Three Buckets as Season 9.
• In some countries outside United States, several episodes are edited because some of the contents were considered offensive to the overseas audiences.
• The episode, Tree Trunks, was originally called Tree Trunks: She's Steppin' Out! but was changed because it was disliked by a Cartoon Network Studios executive.
• The character, Ghost Princess, was originally going to appear in the episode, Sons of Mars, but was written out of its storyboard, according to Jesse Moynihan.
• Adventure Time was originally offered to Nickelodeon, but Nickelodeon themselves rejected it, twice.
• The series is the only of two things:
  • The only Cartoon Network series to be co-made by Frederator Studios
  • The only Cartoon Network series to have 10 seasons.
• In the original pitch of the episode, Five Short Graybles, It is revealed that the graybles themselves were going to be introduced by a live action video of Pendleton Ward's head superimposed on footage of Tony Hawk taken at the Hall of Game Awards 2011.
  • Cinnamon Bun was originally meant to fall into a manic coma and meant to began to mutter mysteriously after eating a sandwich from Princess Bubblegum.
  • There was originally meant to be an additional grayble about Finn and Jake focusing on on the "extra" sense, memory.
  • The "Sound" story was originally meant to be about Marceline playing an incredible song. This idea was later used in the episode, Five More Short Graybles.
• On the Australian streaming service, Stan, and Amazon Prime Canada, the opening for the episode, Food Chain, appears incorrectly in the episode, James II. While on Stan, James II itself appears with the alternate opening of Food Chain itself.
• Adventure Time, along with Regular Show and Samurai Jack, are the only Cartoon Network shows to have Blu-Ray releases.
  • Adventure Time only had its first six season released on Blu-Ray and Regular Show only had Seasons 1 and 2 released on Blu-Ray itself, While Samurai Jack gets to have all five seasons released on Blu-Ray as a whole.
• During the early 2010's, While the first two seasons aired letterboxed during their premieres and broadcasts in the U.S., in Latin America/Brazil, they aired cropped to fullscreen.

References

External links

• Cartoon Network/Adult Swim Archives: Adventure Time
• Adventure Time at TV Tropes
• Adventure Time at Behind the Voice Actors

Adventure Time
Characters		Finn • Jake • Ice King • Princess Bubblegum
Locations		Land of Ooo
Media	Episodes	Episodes (Seasons: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10) • Video releases • Distant Lands • Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (Seasons: 1 • 2) • Adventure Time: Side Quests • Adventure Time: Heyo BMO
	Video games	Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!! • Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know! • The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom • Finn & Jake Investigations • Pirates of the Enchiridion
	Other	Comic book

Cartoon Network Shows
1990s premieres	The Moxy Show • What a Cartoon! • Dexter's Laboratory • Johnny Bravo • Cow and Chicken • I Am Weasel • The Powerpuff Girls (1998) • Ed, Edd n Eddy • Mike, Lu & Og • Courage the Cowardly Dog
2000s premieres	Sheep in the Big City • Time Squad • Samurai Jack • Grim & Evil • Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? • Codename: Kids Next Door • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy • Evil Con Carne • Star Wars: Clone Wars • Megas XLR • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends • Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi • The Life and Times of Juniper Lee • Camp Lazlo • Sunday Pants • Ben 10 (2005) • My Gym Partner's a Monkey • Squirrel Boy • Class of 3000 • Out of Jimmy's Head • Chowder • Transformers: Animated • Ben 10: Alien Force • The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack • The Secret Saturdays
2010s premieres	Adventure Time • Ben 10: Ultimate Alien • Generator Rex • Regular Show • Sym-Bionic Titan • Tower Prep • Robotomy • The Problem Solverz • The Amazing World of Gumball • Secret Mountain Fort Awesome • Level Up • Ben 10: Omniverse • Incredible Crew • Uncle Grandpa • Steven Universe • Mixels • Clarence • Over the Garden Wall • We Bare Bears • Long Live the Royals • The Powerpuff Girls (2016) • Ben 10 (2016) • Mighty Magiswords • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes • Apple & Onion • Craig of the Creek • Summer Camp Island • Victor and Valentino • Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart • Infinity Train • Steven Universe Future
2020s premieres	Adventure Time: Distant Lands • Tig n' Seek • The Fungies! • Elliott from Earth • We Baby Bears • Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake • Jessica's Big Little World • The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe • Regular Show: The Lost Tapes
Upcoming	Adventure Time: Side Quests • Barbara! • Foster's Funtime for Imaginary Friends • Adventure Time: Heyo BMO • Steven Universe: Lars of the Stars