In which Central Avenue watches Adventure Time

edited 2013-09-13 05:20:30 in Liveblogs
Yep, a full two months after I first decided to do this, I've finally stopped putting it off. I've been wanting to watch this show for a loooong time, in part because Naney has assured me I'll like it, so here, without further ado, is my blog of the first episode, "Slumber Party Panic".


We open on Finn and Princess Bubblegum mixing chemicals in a cemetery.

See, I can already tell I'm going to love this show. The only thing better than a weird cartoon is a weird cartoon that just drops you into its nonsense with no exposition or backstory. Chef and Waiterman would be proud.

Princess Bubblegum is apparently making a "decorpsinator serum" to bring dead Candy People back to life. But her formula is incomplete. Instead of restoring the Candy People to full health, it turns them into sugar-craving zombies...and they're headed straight for the Candy Kingdom!

Finn and the Princess rush back to the kingdom, where Bubblegum assembles the citizens in her palace. Rather than warn them about the zombies, however, she simply tells them she's hosting a huge slumber party for them all. In private, she explains to Finn that the Candy People can't ever know about the zombies, because...holy crap! The Candy People literally explode when they get scared!

Bubblegum makes Finn ~Royal Promise~ not to spill the beans about the zombies before rushing off to correct her serum. But, uh oh, Jake realizes they're up to something, and tries to get Finn to share!

There's a brilliant bit here where a talking cupcake asks Jake about eating chocolate and fudge, to which he responds by explaining that eating either would kill him because he's a dog. Something about this is just so hilariously surreal. Like, we're dealing with a world of talking candy and magic zombie serums, but the real-world rules of canine nutrition still apply.

Anyway, the zombies have finally made it to the castle, so Finn is now faced with the dual task of defending the castle from the zombies while simultaneously keeping the Candy People (and Jake) in the dark about their presence. This culminates in a brilliant sequence in which Finn blindfolds the Candy People and convincing them they're busting piñatas when they are, in fact, beating the living candy out of the zombies.

Jake sees the carnage and wants to know what's going on, so Finn casually explains. But suddenly everything freezes in blue—uh oh, Finn broke his Royal Promise!

The Guardians of the Royal Promise appear and explain penalty for breaking a Royal Promise is death, but because the Princess pleads for mercy, Finn is instead allowed to answer a math question. Things look bleak, as Finn is terrible at math, but in a stroke of luck he's given the very simple problem 2 + 2, which he correctly answers as 4.

Finn and Bubblegum are freed and the world slowly returns to normal. As luck would have it, Bubblegum realizes that 4 is the answer—the last number she needs to perfect her decorpsinator formula! And so Finn and Bubblegum return to the palace and restore the dead undead Candy People to full health. The end.

Wow, what can I say? I feel like I wrote a freakin' essay about an 11-minute cartoon, and I barely even scratched the surface. I love the way this show just revels in its own strangeness. Why is there a kingdom full of sapient sweets? Why do a human kid and a dog hang out with their Princess? Why does she want to revive the dead in the first place? It's complete nonsense, but as a wise woman once said, nonsense is good.

Tune in next time as I check out episode 2, "Trouble in Lumpy Space"!

Comments

  • Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
    Bubblegum's trying to revive the dead because it's there. A true mad scientist.
  • :D

    I'm actually wearing my AT shirt today as I read this, so seeing you start to enjoy the show makes me smile.

    (psssst you should totally start watching Regular Show too)
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    It's about time I dusted this thing off, I suppose! It's only been three bloody months. :P

    Today it's time for “Trouble in Lumpy Space”.

    Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum are having a “tea party” with Lumpy Space Princess, who looks like a talking raincloud but probably isn't. Anyway, they're jumping on marshmallows and stuff. It's weird. Then LSP accidentally bites Jake.

    “Sorry I bit your leg.”
    “You're STILL biting me!”

    Apparently being bitten by Lumpy Space Princess means Jake's going to turn into “a lumpy space guy” too. After Bubblegum intervenes, LSP explains that the is an antidote, but they'll have to go into Lumpy Space to get it, and that Jake has to take it by sunset or he'll be lumpy forever.

    LSP is my second-favorite princess so far. Which isn't saying much, I guess, since we've only been introduced to the two princesses, but the point still stands.

    So, they enter Lumpy Space...and the portal is a talking frog and a mushroom...and yeah. Anyway, they enter Lumpy Space, which is like space, but with lumps everywhere. Straightforward enough. The antidote is apparently atop Makeout Point, which is on a totally different...space-lump-island-thing, so they have to enlist the help of LSP's friends to drive them there.

    There's a rather funny exchange between Jake and Finn here.

    “Finn...if you can't save me from the lumps...if I become lumpy like them...I want you to—”
    “It's not gonna come to that! But if it does, I'll bury you beneath the nicest, most shadiest tree!”
    “Whoa, whoa, WHOA! I'm saying that, if I go totally lumpy, I want you get used to Lumpy Jake! What did you think I was saying?”
    “CAN'T THIS CAR GO ANY FASTER?”

    They finally get to the antidote, which is an orb that you sit on. Okay. The other people using the antidote are about to hand it over, but LSP insults them, so they take it and leave. Finn and LSP have a falling-out just as Jake turns fully lumpy, and the two speed off to the Weekly Promcoming Dance, leaving a despondent Finn behind.

    The lumpy kids return and give Finn the antidote, but the only way he can make it to Promcoming in time to save Jake is if he's lumpy himself. So they bite him. “Yes! I can feel the multiple bites accelerating the lumpification process!” he says, causing me to burst into laughter.

    Finn makes it to the dance and the two are saved, though not before Finn turns completely lumpy himself and Jake has to fight him to get him to sit on the antidote. Finn apologizes to LSP and they all dance together. The end!

    It's strange, I almost feel like my writing about this show doesn't do it justice. There are so many little funny moments and nonsensical things that if I actually pointed out every little thing that made me laugh I'd be sitting here writing a four-page essay on this 11-minute cartoon. Suffice to say, I get the impression I'm going to enjoy this show if I continue watching.

    Centie out!
  • Come to think of it, how were you not watching this before? It is easily the most princess-filled show on TV right now.
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Ooh, are there more princesses on the way?
  • Ooh, are there more princesses on the way?

    like literally thirty of them
  • this show is like princess city
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Princesstastic!

    (i dunno)
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Alright, time to pick up the pace on these, or I'm never gonna get anywhere.

    "Prisoners of Love"

    Ok, so Finn and Jake are sledding on an office chair, then they break the office chair, so they start sledding on each other, but they irritate the Ice King, so he sics some snow monsters on them, but they defeat the snow monsters, so he freezes them in a block of ice.

    Ice King puts Finn and Jake in his prison with six princesses. He says he's "collecting" all the princesses because he wants to marry one and needs to capture them all to make sure he makes the right choice.

    Then Finn and Jake try to free themselves and the princesses. Finn tries throwing a flute at Ice King, but it's broken. Jake tries turning his paw into a key, but Ice King freezes him in a block of ice. Finn then "flips out" (his words, not mine) and tries in vain to attack Ice King.

    Ice King finds out the princesses aren't having any fun, so he makes them all play instruments, and yeah, this is pretty funny, with the way they're all just playing at random. Anyway, Finn develops a plan: they'll all pretend to have fun, they'll tell Ice King to come in and party with them, and then they'll ambush him.

    The plan works, and everyone escapes except Finn himself, who ends up in a one-on-one fight with Ice King, trying to explain to him that "putting princesses in jail is wrong!"

    And then...Finn knocks Ice King out, and he has some kind of fantasy sequence where he's floating naked through space wondering why people don't like him, and a giant owl tells him he's a sociopath. But he doesn't listen, and by the time he regains consciousness, everyone's gone, riding off on Jake's back.

    Sorry this update wasn't very funny. I'm rather tired, and that makes humor hard for me to do. But this was a very funny episode, and I enjoyed it a lot. Plus it's loaded with princesses, so how could I not like it? :P
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