Ah, Adventure Time. One of the foundational animated series of the 2010s, it has long been one of my favorite TV shows of all time – my absolute favorite, even. Following the adventures of a human boy named Finn and his stretchy dog/brother Jake, the show ran on Cartoon Network for ten seasons and 283 episodes between 2010 and 2018 (followed by four specials with a spin-off currently on the way). Heavily acclaimed, the series became well known its expansive supporting cast, unique sense of humor, and complex overlapping storylines. Even The New York Times, upon the show’s ending, referred to it as a ‘surreal masterpiece’.

When I began planning for what eventually became my Infinity Train review series, Adventure Time was one of the first shows I considered. The length and depth of the series proved too daunting for me to cover on my own, however, especially as I was (and still am) relatively new to both reviewing and the Avocado itself. It was brought to my attention recently, though, that there might be others willing to collaborate on an Adventure Time review/analysis series as long as there was someone to coordinate it. (Full credit to The Widow Queequeg for the idea!) That is where this potential project comes into play.

Here are my ideas on how such a collaborative review series might work out. (Note that ‘review’ is being used in a very general sense here – the threads could be anything from a discussion prompt to an in-depth analysis.) I’ve bolded particular questions of interest but I welcome any and all other suggestions from you on what could be done differently:

1. Weekly Schedule/Frequency

In order to get through the series in a relatively timely fashion, I would prefer to have at least two episodes reviewed per week. In my opinion, the best option would be to have two single-episode reviews per week, such as on Tuesday and Thursday or Monday and Friday (or any other such combination). Not only would this give each episode more time to shine and more discussion room, but it would also mean that each person would likely review at maximum only one episode in a week. The other option would be to have one two-episode review in a week, which is also doable.

Which would you prefer – two single-episode reviews a week, one two-episode review, or some other combination? What day(s) do you think would work best?

2. Season Central Hub/Sign-Up

My plan at the moment would be to set up a thread for each season a couple of weeks before reviews for that season are set to start. This thread would serve as our central hub for that season, containing the sign-up sheet for episode reviews, providing links to each review as they are written, and providing a place where questions can be asked or concerns brought up. I would post a link to the central hub in the comments to each review from that season so that the hub thread could be easily accessed. If your concerns/questions (such as not being available to review an episode you had previously signed up for) are urgent, I would just ask that you ‘@’ me so that I see it sooner.

In terms of the sign up process, my thought is that I would create a Google Sheets file that anyone can view but only I can edit. The file would list the episodes and the dates on which the reviews should be posted. You would indicate your willingness to review in the comments to the central hub for that season, and I would update the sign up sheet when I have the chance. I think that the ideal way to do it is that each reviewer would have the chance to volunteer for one episode of their choosing (on a first-come-first-serve basis) and then the remaining episodes would be divided out at random between the volunteers to provide some fairness. There would definitely be an option to limit the number of episodes you review each season, though.

Does this sound like a good way to sign up for the episodes, or would you prefer a different method (all episodes assigned at random, all episodes assigned as requested, etc.)?

3. The Reviews Themselves

The way I’m thinking, there would be two options for posting your reviews – post them yourself through WordPress, or type up the review in Google Docs and provide me the link in the central hub thread a day or more ahead of time so that I can transfer it to WordPress myself. This way anyone that wants to could write a review, even if you don’t have a WordPress account. (Note that if you do have a WordPress account with Avocado access, I would prefer if you posted the review yourself to alleviate some of the work for me.)

In terms of the format/content of the review, that would be entirely up to you! You can write as little or as much as you want, about the episode as a whole or even just a single component of the episode. You could be watching the show for the second time, for the tenth time, or even for the first time. The point is to get as many viewpoints about the show as possible and to stimulate discussion about the episode in the comments. There will likely be some small requirements – I’m thinking that we might want the header images to be the episode title cards, and there will likely be tags that I want to keep consistent. I would also ask that spoilers for future episodes be marked in some way as such or lumped in a certain area of the review so that people new to the series can avoid them.

If there is enough interest in this project, I could probably get the Season 1 Central Hub and Sign-Up thread posted sometime next week, with reviews likely to start at some point in August.

Would you be willing to review episodes for this project? (This is not a commitment right now, I’m just trying to gauge interest.)

Do you have any other questions about/ideas for this project?

Thanks so much!