Video Makers | Aired: April 18, 2011 | Reviewed by Grumproro
A few years ago I started a movie club of my own. Partly to show my favorite movies to my friends, partly to watch my friends’ favorite movies, but mostly to have a reason to spend time with my favorite people. We’re separated by distance, so our movie club is virtual, but we gather before and after to talk about the movie (and whatever else is on our minds), and it’s just a fun, cozy time all around. Just like this episode!
We begin the episode with everyone gathering at Finn and Jake’s to watch a movie. It’s an extremely simple, almost mundane concept. Just a group of friends getting together, serving everyone’s favorite drink, disagreeing about seating arrangements, everyone wearing their comfiest outfit, and settling in for a fun night. But the fun is put on hold when Finn and Jake realize their movie club might be…illegal!
Oh no! “Stricklty prohibited” sounds real serious!
Not wanting to break the law, even if it’s the law of a society that no longer exists in the present time 1, they cancel the movie night and send everyone home. Which might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. So disappointing!
Everyone looks so sad!
But Finn and Jake promise to find something legal to show next week. The trouble is, all the movies they have contain the same warning about unauthorized viewing. BUT, this creates the fun opportunity to make their own movie! Hooray!! What could go wrong?
Aw, no, don’t fight! 🙁
I think this episode is pretty darn perfect. Watching it for this review, I was really impressed by how they show Finn and Jake’s different visions clashing. In particular, the way that you, the viewer, start to realize that they’re quickly becoming more and more frustrated with one another as they’re voices become strained, the dialogue becomes stilted and almost forced, and they talk over one another and ignore what the other one is saying, only hearing what they want to hear. It feels so real to me. Like I’m really watching two best friends having a genuine disagreement. And it’s a little sad to see. Because, for me, Adventure Time is about Finn and Jake’s bond. I mean, it’s about a lot of things, but this is the primary thing that holds it all together in my mind. So, on the one hand, I never ever want to see them at odds. But, on the other hand, friends do sometimes disagree. They fight. They don’t always treat each other with love and patience and grace. Because nobody is perfect. Sometimes we’re selfish and stubborn and unwilling to see the other person’s perspective.
Luckily for our two boys2 BMO also sees what we’re seeing. And because BMO is able to observe everything from a distance as it happens (as a camera and a friend), we get one of my favorite moments in the series:
Even after all this time, I still get a little misty eyed watching this scene. It just fills my heart with love. What a beautiful message to put out there in the world. And, of course, what better way to convey it than through a song? BMO, like Adventure Time, understands the power of a good song, sung from the heart. <3 You know, I’m starting to notice that a lot of my favorite episodes have something pretty obvious in common. Huh, am I predictable? An easy mark for sincerity especially if it is presented in song form? Just a sentimental dork?
Hmmm…
Heat Signature | Aired: May 9, 2011 | Reviewed by Prestidigititis
Storyboarded by: Ako Castuera and Tom Herpich
Let’s just cut right to the chase here: this is an episode that feels like it doesn’t belong. There’s the fact that it was aired incorrectly—showing after the season finale two-part cliffhanger of “Mortal Recall/Mortal Folly”—making it seem as though the show had shrugged off the events viewers had just seen the week prior. There’s a sense that the story just doesn’t have much going for it: Finn and Jake wanting to be able to float, and therefore agreeing to become ghosts or vampires or whatever; a thin idea that feels like something the show should handle better. And worst of all, it squanders Marceline, giving us a version of her that the show’s already moved beyond.
A true breakout character by season two, Marceline’s story is becoming more compelling. We learn about her lineage, her origin in the Nightosphere, and some hints of past conflict between herself and Princess Bubblegum during the two previous appearances this season. Sure, she still enjoys giving Finn and Jake a hard time. But it’s an odd choice to make her decide to prank the two into believing they’re undead, then stretch the charade by making them do “lesser” vampire things in the interest of getting to their real goal of levitation. This is a plot contrivance right out of season one’s “Wizard,” and it’s a strange well to go back to.
Marceline doesn’t stick to the prank for too long, but she’s got cohorts who are happy to drag things further. The trio of ghost-friends have their own nefarious goals: not just to make fools out of Finn and Jake, but also to be able to suck their guts out (through their brains). Is that something ghosts do to mortals? Maybe in Ooo. Between this and the souls Marceline’s Dad is into, the undead certainly enjoy sucking stuff out of other beings. Anyway.
This is a paper-thin veneer of a plot conceit which wouldn’t be out of place in your typical sit-com, or even less inspired kiddy cartoon. Of course, Adventure Time still has a bunch of things going for it that make the ride more enjoyable and unexpected. The run-in with LSP, now emancipated from her parents, makes for some prime goofiness. Jake’s “yeah, I could go for some blood,” is just one of the ep’s great line-readings. This is still funny stuff, but it just never transcends the most basic ideas, and is well beneath what Adventure Time can deliver at this point.
Worst of all is the “gadzooks” moment that rescues our heroes at the very end. The ghosts ending their undeadly feast with a line like “did you guys say…Heat Signature?” is such a huge contrivance, ripped right from B-tier sit-coms, that it made me angry when I first watched it back in 2011.
Instead of another opportunity to add to Marceline’s character development, or even just giving us a fun hang-out with our pals Finn and Jake, we wind up with…a pretty crummy episode, all told. It is to the show’s credit that just two seasons in, it’s built our expectations this high. And the good news is that those expectations will be met and exceeded a lot sooner than you might suspect.
Random randomness:
“This stinkup’s mega bam-bam to the j-stop.”
The chanting by the ghosts is actually dialogue playing backwards: “Farewell Pat, good luck in New York, come back soon…” Pat being Patrick McHale, who was the show’s Creative Director through the first two seasons.
Look, a snail!
