Animation has a long history of having characters use their imaginations to conjure up wild fantasies it can bring to life. From Rugrats and Muppet Babies to Ed, Edd, and Eddy, to more recent examples like Craig of the Creek and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, an extended imagination sequence is an evergreen way for a relatively grounded show to let the animation team indulge in some weird designs and fantastical locations. But how would a show like Adventure Time approach an episode about the wonders of imagination? How would a show where its characters can see everything they could possibly imagine (and several things they can’t) before lunch?
The answer, at least in “Rainy Day Daydreams”, seems to be to show the audience nothing at all. Aside from the beautiful shot of the titular Knife Storm rolling in, we see very little of the perils Finn and Jake imagine until we enter Finn’s imagination space. Just going by what Jake describes there’s not a whole lot you wouldn’t expect to see in a typical Adventure Time episode – a bazooka goblin, a troll and his soon-to-be-uppercutted family – but the animators deny showing the audience any of this as a meta joke twist on the imagination episode formula.
Even before the shenanigans kick into high gear, we get some interesting characterization for both Finn and Jake in how they relate to imagination. Jake is more than willing to let his mind wander and pass the time in his own head. We’ve seen his love of music in the past and can infer he’s a creative soul, so imagination is a must for him. Finn, on the other hand, looks down on imagination and other mental pursuits as a distraction from facing reality. He’s definitely the act before you think type, but something seems off about this reaction; Finn has shown himself as more than willing to get creative in the past when it comes to solving problems, so why is he so adamant about refusing to use his imagination now?
I believe the answer lies in the “facing reality” aspect of his objection. In the final act of the episode, we see Finn show reluctance at using his imagination to save Jake, for fear of seeing anything dainty in his headspace. He seems to fear introspection, lest he somehow fall short of the tough, manly self-image he’s crafted for himself. Finn thrives on maintaining forward momentum in his adventures, and in moments where he’s forced to stop and reckon with what’s going on around him, it’s easy for him to lose confidence in himself.
Spoiler Level: Season 3
Later on we’ll see that Finn relies heavily on “The Vault”, a coping mechanism that lets him suppress confusing or traumatic memories, in order to maintain his chipper outlook against an increasingly scary world. Presumably he subconsciously knows that getting too in his own head with imagination or introspection would let the contents of The Vault come pouring out.
Fortunately, Finn is able to overcome his inner desire for culture and civilization with some good old fashioned cartoon violence, and in doing so successfully restores Jake’s imagination. Having attained an incrementally healthier relationship with the contents of his own head, Finn is able to enjoy the rest of the day playing pretend with Jake, and we’re treated to a fun gag of Jake using his stretchy powers to “melt” into the lava as the episode closes.
Notable Quotes:
- “Who wants to play video gaaaames?” Everyone, little buddy, so long as it’s with you
- “Barf that! Imagination is for turbo nerds who can’t handle how kick-butt reality is.”
- “I would rather die than be imaginative. I mean that.”
- “I was just playing around with my imagination. Then everything got intense…”
- “Uh oh, now you’re uppercutting his family!”
- “Imaginary poison! Coursing through my veins!”
- “Dang, girl. If you weren’t a figment of my imagination, I’d wanna have your baby”
- “Jake, what happened to your bombastic personality?”
Dispatches from the Animatic:
- In a complete coincidence (seriously), the two episodes I requested both had animatic commentary videos on the second DVD of the season 1 compilation.
- BMO was originally conceived as having a deep, gravelly voice before Niki Yang took the role. You can hear the original concept for BMO’s voice on the animatic voice track
- This episode was thought up as a bottle episode with a low design count to give the rest of the animation team a break, as were slammed with trying to deliver on the glut of ideas in the rest of the season 1 episodes.
- In the animatic, Pen Ward does a self-admittedly poor impression of John DiMaggio for some unused dialog from Jake. John DiMaggio would later go on to voice a Banana Guard by doing an impression of Pen Ward doing an impression of him.
Spoiler Level: Season 4
Pen mentions that Finn’s Imagination Zone would return in the episode “King Worm”. That episode also dealt heavily with Finn’s fears and feelings of inadequacy, building off of his hesitancy to introspect in this episode.
Spoiler Level: Snail
On the shelf to the right of the boys as BMO approaches them to play video games.
You can see why they burned off this episode towards the end of the season.
The alchemy of Adventure Time, in its better episodes, depends on a delicate mix of carefree plotting, childish logic and just a hint of adult knowledge. It was created by an animator who sought to free his people from the shackles of the word-writers who tend to ground their inspired notions and drown spontaneity in verisimilitude. In the Land of Ooo, storyboards rule over scripts. You can chuck your precious words out the window, Webster! The results are mad and free and fun… But the freehand magic doesn’t always come together…
No doubt “What Have You Done?” began with a good premise—or at least the inversion of one. The Ice King is always kidnapping princesses, so what if a princess captured him instead? It seems like a no-brainer, but the fatal flaw of the episode shows up early when the creative team has to stretch for a reason this would happen. Finn and Jake aren’t complete flunkies—they ask the question right up front. But all that Princess Bubblegum can offer in terms of an answer is that she is too busy to give a reason. This evasion, to put it delicately, makes Three’s Company look subtle. It is such a cheap cop-out that we can’t help but know that there will be a big misunderstanding. Finn will zig when he should have zagged but will eventually make everything right with a zog. We’ve seen it before. Adventure Time doesn’t usually tip its hand like this—more often than not, it keeps us guessing with every twist of the plot—but we’re barely past the first minute and we can see the story sweating.
I have never been a fan of skip lists and essential episode designations—I like to ride the creative ups and downs of a series—but I see in my research that this episode is often cited as an important milestone in the development of the Ice King’s character. (Don’t worry. I haven’t finished the series so any spoilers will be accidental.) Frankly, I think he’s just vamping here. We already know that he’s lonely and pathetic and I find the arguments that this is the first time we learn that he isn’t evil to be unconvincing. He’s about as wicked as any kid who’s ever been “it” in a game of freeze tag. Most of his lonely talk and clueless wooing seems fairly boilerplate and wouldn’t strike you as out of place if it were inserted in any number of other episodes.
The backstory of the unstolen crown might prove to be important later, but here it’s just a gag. Though funny, the whole scene comes across like a clumsy attempt to shoehorn in the fact that Ice King needs his crown to perform magic. You can almost feel the notes scribbled in the margins where, in an earlier draft, he flung some freeze rays bareheaded and someone had to get out the series bible.
That said, the fact that the jail cell only has two bars makes me cry laughing. Ice King is the comedic MVP of the episode, hands down. I won’t turn this into an inventory, but I do love the character and the performance of this particular joke is a masterpiece. I also quite like the image of him making snow with his beard. Maybe it’s supposed to be gross, but I think he looks adorable here. I’m almost mad at the show for making this flurry the start of the freezer burn flu epidemic. Can’t he just have this moment?
Speaking of the flu, doesn’t Princess Bubblegum look awesome in her pink plague outfit? Seriously, I like it. Nevermind that the mask doesn’t make much practical sense and is taken off immediately after the gag lands. The Princess is here to show off her dark and scary side, but we already knew she had this edge—see episode one. I think her iron will is a little over done here—and her random explosion into emotional German may be a bit on the nose for a tyrant character.
The laziest bit of writing in the whole episode may be the spellbook that justifies why Princess Bubblegum wanted to make the Ice King scream. There’s an ancient tome that describes how to cure everyone of freezer burn flu in case the Ice King sprinkles beard snow on everyone? Because this happened before? And his groaning cured it? If the answers to all these questions is yes, then how did anyone ever forget something like that? I am sure you could rationalize the answer a thousand different ways—maybe that guy in the book only looked exactly like the Ice King and had the same powers and did the same thing—but I think this show can and will do better.
What cannot be so easily rationalized is this episode’s flippant attitude regarding torture and unlawful detention. Finn ultimately makes the right choices because he is a true-blue hero, but the path the story takes to get him there is still kind of gross. You can argue that turnabout is fair play and laugh as the Ice King gets a good look at the inside of a dungeon, but does he deserve to “howl with pain” as the Princess repeatedly suggests? Yes, there are story reasons for this seeming cruelty that leave everybody’s hands clean, but I’m not sure why the show is opening a discussion about human rights if it has no intention of following through.
The Oculus of Rehabilitation suggests perhaps an earlier, more thoughtful draft, complete with echoes of Bentham’s Panopticon—but then a wailing cry from the Shelf of Pentinence is played for a gag. And I just can’t laugh at that. I am weary of the edginess around me and I come to this show for a little lightness and heroism. The final blow comes when, after Finn decides to pursue a more enlightened course of action, Jake grows impatient and says, “Let’s just beat it out of him.” Ugh.
To be clear, I’m not accusing the animators of being bullies and torturers. Rather, I think this unfortunate detour from righteousness is due to some sloppy writing, exacerbated by a layout-led process that prides itself on not connecting the dots. The thing is… a topic like torture deserves connected dots. Adventure Time can usually play things fast and loose and pull off their wild schemes with surreal charm, but this adventure got away from them. And I have to call it out.
I hate to be such a Lemongrab, but we’re here to take cartoons seriously. While I think it is possible for good people to shrug off my objections and enjoy this cartoon anyway, I would suggest that we need higher standards for whimsy. Our detractors would say that adults who watch cartoons are escaping reality—and we don’t need to bolster their argument by brushing off human rights violations. For my part, I am watching cartoons to help me dream of a better world—to find the courage and imagination I need to make my real-world contribution.
Keep on, keeping on, Finn!
You want snail?
