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Come Along With Me: Adventure Time – Graybles Allsorts and On the Lam

CedricTheOwl

Graybles Allsorts

Boarded by Steve Wolfhard, Geneva Hodgson, and Patty Guo

Aired: July 6, 2015 – November 1, 2015

Reviewed by: CedricTheOwl

Somewhere during production of season 6, Adventure Time also started work on a series of shorts that would be exclusively available on the Cartoon Network website.  Fortunately for them, Adventure Time already had an episode format perfect for this project:  the Graybles.  Unlike the other Graybles episodes, these shorts only obliquely reference Cuber, and were released one at a time over a period of months.  In the interest of completionism (and because this season would otherwise have an odd number of episodes), I wanted to cover them for Come Along With Me as well.  And while the Cartoon Network website is no more, the shorts thankfully survive on the Cartoon Network channel, and were released as bonus episodes on the Season 7 DVD.  So follow along, crimpy glimmers, as we once again go flimping the diode.

All’s Well that Rats Swell

Boarded by: Steve Wolfhard

Aired: July 6, 2015

The first minisode opens with BMO going about their daily routine while the rest of the treehouse still slumbers.  They lovingly kiss some eggs, do some aggressive plant watering, feed a rubber ducky, and steal the first vestiges of facial hair adorning Finn’s lip.  The early morning peace is shattered when BMO opens the cupboard and finds a rat helping itself to their flour.  BMO leaps into action, declaring a thumb war on the rat, but the rat is more than prepared for it, biting BMO’s thumb for their troubles.  BMO wakes Finn, begging him to kiss the grievous injury to make it better.  This only results in Finn getting sick from the rat’s germs.  While Jake tends to him, BMO once again catches the rat getting into the flour.  BMO declares a thumb war once again, but this time the rest of the hand joins the coalition, bopping the rat on the nose and sending it packing.  Awash with the thrill of victory, BMO smears flour on their screen and climbs to the top of the treehouse, screaming victory to the heavens.

Have You Seen The Muffin Mess?

Boarded by: Steve Wolfhard

Aired: August 3, 2015

Our next minisode takes place in a secluded cabin, wherein Princess Bubblegum is experimenting with a new method of creating muffins.  Is it a new recipe, or a meticulously designed Rube Goldberg oven contraption to automate the muffin-making process?  Of course not; our girl won’t settle for less than…

Thankfully, an affinity for nanotech is the only similarity between Princess Bubblegum and an autocratic government official who can regenerate a missing arm

After installing the muffin recipe into her gingerbread nanite, they quickly start to replicate and eventually produce a complete muffin.  And then another.  And another.  To her horror, PB finds that her nanites are too good at their job, turning her muffin tin, her work table, her cabin, and even her arm into a pile of muffins.   Left with little recourse, she calls in Finn and Jake to save Ooo from a potential Gray Goo scenario. (As an aside, I love how casually PB reforms her lost arm in the middle of a conversation.)

Unfortunately, this minisode takes place concurrently with the first, which means Finn is still sick with the rat plague.  That’s not enough to keep him down though, as he takes the field with only a little help from Jake carrying him the entire way.  PB warns him of how dangerous the muffin nanites are, but Finn only has the energy to shuffle into the muffin mass and fall facefirst into them.  This proves to be enough, as the muffin nanites interact with the germs emanating from Finn’s blight-striken breath to create a giant pestilence-muffin hybrid.  It announces to the world that the microscopic world can see everyone at their most private moments before stomping off.

Sow, Do You Like Them Apples

Boarded by: Geneva Hodgson

Aired: October 1, 2015

The next minisode joins Ice King as he makes a midnight run to his refrigerator, only to find it as barren as his social calendar.  Forced to forage for himself, he eventually sets his sights on a sleeping sow, though it quickly becomes apparent he has neither the will nor the knowledge to turn the pig into something edible.  Fortunately, Marceline happens to wander by, saving the famished Ice King from his own ineptitude.  She demonstrates a new-found appreciation for being nice to someone in order to get what you want from them, first by giving the pig an apple, then by sucking the pink coloration out of her skin for nourishment.  Ice King tries to follow suit with the apple Marcie gave him, first by giving it compliments, then by asking it to turn into bacon.

The Gift that Reaps Giving

Boarded by: Polly Guo

Aired: November 1, 2015

Our final minisode sees Death attempting to pitch some woo to his paramour, Life.  After failing to compose a love poem, he shifts his attention to recording a song off the radio for her in a mixtape.  Alas, his touch of death is just as effective on analog media as it is on mortal flesh, as he repeatedly unspools the cassette tape he’s trying to record on.  Driven to desperation, he journeys to the Candy Kingdom, where he sets his sights on a Gumdrop Gal and her cassette with the song in question on it.  Fortunately for her, Finn and Jake are on patrol, as they inadvertently prevent Death from reaping her by joining him in hiding out in the bushes.

Eventually Death relents, sparing Gumdrop Gal and giving Life a mixtape on CD for her birthday, even if it’s not the same.  Happily, Life is thrilled with it, as she actually has the audio equipment to listen to a CD and thus will actually get to hear his gift for the first time.  She graces him with a double cheek peck. I gotta say, Life’s design is easily one of Adventure Time’s best for a minor character.  The twin snake heads and the dress resembling a Caduceus staff are fantastic, and her leaving a trail of flowers in her wake is a great touch.

Spoiler Level: Graybles Theme

The overarching theme for this collection of Graybles shorts is the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: 

BMO declares a thumb WAR on the rat.

The PESTILENCE infecting Finn allows him to defeat the muffin nanites.

FAMINE grips the Ice King’s pad as he seeks a midnight snack.

DEATH is the protagonist of the final short.

Stray Observations –

Notable Quotes –

On the Lam

Air Date: June 4, 2015 | Written & Storyboarded by Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone, and Cole Sanchez | Story by Kent Oscbourne, Pendleton Ward, Jack Pendarvis, and Adam Muto | Directed by Elizabeth Ito, Nick Jennings and Sandra Lee | Reviewed by Malcolm Rambert

We have now arrived at the solo Martin episode, everyone!

Man, what is there to say about this guy? …No really, that’s a genuine question. It feels like at every turn, this show is committed to establishing how much of a tool this guy is.

Continuing off from where we last saw him, it appears the rocketship he was on that Finn started in “The Visitor” has landed him on yet another foreign planet, and the first we see of him is him already being in chains. He manages to escape with this tiny bear with bulging eyes and finds his colony of people. Seeing the state of living these little white Care Bears are living in, he decides to help them out and promises them food and resources out of nowhere, even declaring himself as their “rebel leader” (remember that).

The little guy (who Martin decides to name Martin 2) that was with him at the start comes along. Martin decides to take and ride the moth that they were all milking for nourishment. It feels like the start of a new journey, and…

…he immediately sells it. Can’t say I’m surprised, especially on rewatch. He immediately goes to buy HIMSELF a drink with his new money. However in the process of being at the bar, some of these royal guards point up a wanted poster, which the bartender takes notice to.

“Get him, it’s the rebel leader!”, he yells as there are royal guards just standing around. So, Martin and Snuggle Bear. A lot of running around, even encountering a supposed king, who is either a child or has a really child-like voice (given they are drinking a juice box later, I’m going with the former).

They end up trapped in a barrel surrounded by guards, and due to having some affection for his new companion, Martin decides to throw him out of harms’ way and give himself up to the guards. But surprise, surprise. Turns out this little bear that Martin has imprinted his complicated feelings for his son Finn onto is the “rebel leader” they’ve been talking about. AND he’s an old man!

This is one of those “only works once” kind of  twists, right?

Cutting his losses, Martin decides to ditch Martin 2. Don’t worry he makes it out in the end AND with food for his people. In the end, Martin rides off with the same moth he sold off and a bunch of gold he stole from the king, with seemingly no regrets whatsoever.

There are a number of things one could take from this episode; Martin is an individual who thinks too highly of himself. There’s a whole world outside of Ooo and Earth that has its own social and political problems. Star Wars has had a major effect on science fiction stories. But upon this rewatch, one thing I was constantly thinking was “Man this show has a lot of characters”.

These sets of episodes (outside of the miniseries events) clog together in my mind since it’s extremely close to when I stopped following the series during my initial viewing of the show. And when I think about this instance in my life, I think back to a video I saw at this point in time by an online cartoon critic who went by PieGuyRulz; the title of which “3 Things Adventure Time Fails With And Steven Universe Excels At!”. Coincidentally, he uploaded this video onto YouTube the DAY AFTER this episode aired:

This was around the time Steven Universe had flowers thrown at it from across the board, even by people who had yet to watch the show, and for good reason. Back in March of 2015, the show had its first #StevenBomb (an experiment by Cartoon Network at the time to drum up hype for the show by airing a new episode every day for 1 week) and one of those episodes was “Jail Break”, the episode the reveals Garnet was fusion between two gems who were madly in love; thus making this show one of the first cases of a queer couple appearing in a cartoon. (Felt the background was necessary to explain why the immediate comparison Pie does here)

In his first point, he talks about Steven Universe has all its characters located at Beach City, thus important events that occur in the show are going to be in the one place where both the main characters and supporting cast is located (Fun fact: According to Ian Jones-Quartey, this aspect of the show was inspired by Penguin Village, the setting of the Akira Toriyama manga Dr. Slump).

In contrast, Adventure Time arguably has about the same amount of characters, but they are scattered all across this vast land. EVERY single character is off doing their own thing in some form or another, and in certain instances, new characters are introduced constantly, some of which become the center of attention for an episode or two.

This may not seem like a big deal for those who decided to watch the show when it was done and see the volume of what was accomplished (200+ episodes), but when you’re a dedicated viewer, who intentionally or not, was super invested in a certain character, their arc, a specific plot thread, or even just the general lore of Ooo, it leaves you being aggravated with every seasonal airing. At one point it might have seemed exciting when these elements you enjoy in a TV show were introduced and you were deeply curious where the show was going to do, but that admiration for those elements have taken over your admiration/compliance with everything else, and now you’re annoyed by one-off episodes.

A lot of people put the blame on this because of hiatuses. After all, Cartoon Network is a TV block targeted at children, so what’s the point of being diligent with a serialized show when the most consistent viewers of your network will watch repeats of episodes out of order anyway? (For an example in this season specifically, the premieres of the episodes “Walnuts & Rain” and “Friends Forever” were separated by over a month). But I think and underdiscussed element is also the reason for the brief period of fandom grievances, and it has to do with the show Adventure Time itself.

The fact is, Adventure Time is a storyboard-driven series that introduced serialized elements and worldbuilding later on, all while still making every episode in an 11-minute format. Now this type of episode construction isn’t new, even for animated series, but it didn’t start appearing in Cartoon Network productions until sometime during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Two reasons for this that are often repeated is shorter attention span and more ad space, which whether they were even confirmed or not, is believable for most people. As a result, any story told within that timeframe usually is focused on one character.

A lot of dramas typically do scene switches so we can see where certain characters are in the current story. Even your average sitcom has an A and B plot that may or may not combine in the end, but still has a usual set of characters. If you see Lemongrab at the start of an episode of Adventure Time, you’re stuck with him and whoever he’s interacting with, whether you like him or not.

And that’s really it; going back to what I said about investment, a lot of this has to do with how much fans and viewers alike care about certain characters and storylines. Which if we’re being honest, just depends on the individual themselves. Everyone has varying thoughts on things they watch. The PieGuyRulz guy above was praising Steven Universe in that video, but eventually he would have issues with certain plot threads and how they were handled, not to mention a certain amount of very vocal viewers will come to take issue with that series’ supporting cast and believing they are taking away good time from the overall story. (While we’re here, I may as well recommend this video by James Woodall on the nature of “filler” in Steven Universe):

In the end, people watch shows for different reasons, and the number of those reasons vary. Plus, how you vibe with a series, its aesthetic and characters all depends on your personal preferences. For example, I LOVED watching the series OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes thanks to its weird mix of influences and style of humor. (To me, it’s like a millenial/zoomer Venture Bros. in terms of inspiration and testament to nerd culture). I also like how it’s one of the few examples in recent memory where it does Fantastic Racism well without being eye-roll worthy (If this site ever does an OK K.O.! recap, call me for the episode “No More Pow Cards”. I have a LOT to say about it). Sure it had serialized elements introduced, but I wasn’t watching it for specifically that, and I would think it’d be weird if anyone WAS watching a show like this for that reason alone.

So yeah, maybe when it aired as a passionate fan, I found this episode briefly annoying (as Paul A. Thomas put it, it could’ve maybe given more context), but it set out what it needed to do. Show how much Martin sucks.

Stray observations & notes:

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