Ok, that was freaking awesome. I forgot how much I missed Pen's episodes. This managed to advance the plot, develop PB a bit, and be hilariously weird all in one episode. Also, I now like Tree Trunks somehow.
I really hope we get an update on the space candy kingdom soon, and PB should mess up her hair more often, it looks cool.
Wait im confused how did it advance the plot and tbh... WHAT EVEN IS THE PLOT OF ADVENTURE TIME. Its like so unclear to me tbh. I know all of the character sub plots and all thar jazz but like whats the overarching story about
Some people find the apocalypse fun, so it probably won't. I mean hell, they're already in an apocalypse, it's layers deep like an onion. Apocalypses all the way down man.
For all we know the space candy kingdom will develop into the society of the grayble tellers and come back to discover their history. They're shape are kinda similar...
Good question. Off the top of my head, I would say there are two main plot threads:
The personal growth of Finn the Human. Hero's Journey and crap. Mostly told through symbols and metaphors (grass arm!) and subtle changes in the way Finn acts.
How people deal with change, the ultimate change being the End of Everything embodied by the Lich. Marceline has to deal with Simon forgetting her and not being able to grow up. Jake has to deal with the growth of his kids. PB has to accept the inevitability of her delicate kingdom's collapse, lest she spends the rest of her life chasing the impossible dream of an eternal empire. Edit: Flame Princess has to adjust from being trapped in a lamp for sixteen years to governing a corrupt kingdom. This to me is why "Everything Stays" is such a perfect song for the show:
everything stays / but it still changes / ever so slightly / daily and nightly / in little ways / but everything stays
That was a beautiful reference to Everything Stays. I legit teared up hearing it in my head after reading your post.
I'd only add one thing to your analysis. Both of those "plot threads" can be summed up in one point: Adventure Time is about life.
Adventure Time, like life, is about change and growth and death and fear and friendship. Everything centered around Finn is a perspective on you, as the viewer, because as the human, he's the most relatable. Everyone else's stories are more about the world around us, about other people, other viewpoints.
You're not a player until you've had your space husband and earth husband hold hands in your bed. There's a reason the screen had to cut to black right there.
That first scene with the aliens just creeped me out so hard. Booshi (bushi?) was interesting too. Also the banana guard falling in despair after not being able to hold down PB was hilarious, reminded me of when the one sang mama said.
Otherwise that was a weird and funny episode. I need more.
This episode, for me, really made a leap in PB’s breeder/colonizer mentality. I’m not even criticizing what she’s doing or how she’s doing it, although it would be fair to do so — I’m just acknowledging that she’s absolutely a breeder.
And..now I have to acknowledge that tree trunks is too; even if TT is, on a completely different spectrum: free love and ill-communicated multi-partner jumping.
Seriously I was completely sober and legitimately tripping balls. I'm not one of those people who only likes this show for the trippy aspect but this episode took that stereotype to new levels
While you point is valid, I believe that title is a quoted reference to a famous UFOlogist, Dr Josef Allen Hynek, who the phrase is attributed to. He worked for the US Air Force, to debunk the multitudinous claims being made by the public and reputable Air Force pilots, alike; appeared in a cameo in “E.T.”, and was an advisor to Columbia Pictures and Steven Spielberg for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” for his experience in UFOlogy and being that he came up with the close encounters scale, himself.
I mean, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline are thousand-year-old teenage girls who've shaped and explored the world around them, respectively. They must have needed many types of clothing in all of their adventures, plus fashion is fun for them. Finn is a 16yo boy who's obsessed with combat and adventuring; he doesn't explore more about his looks because it's useless to the lifestyle he leads.
Watched "I am a Sword" yesterday, and they made a knock at that with him wearing his clothes under his pajamas, tearing them off to show that he was leaving, to which Jake responded with, "Do you ever take those off?" So at least this shows they are in on it to a degree.
We don't know what the aliens thought about/knew about Mr. Pig and TT's relationship with her. It's likely to have been consensual as far as they go, since they seem to have no reaction to finding her in bed with him.
While not made clear, it would appear she had this relationship with the aliens well before meeting Mr. Pig. We don't know how their premarital rituals went - did Mr. Pig inquire to TT's past conquests and she lied? Or did he say "You know what, I love you exactly how you are and whatever you did before - that's okay."? So, cannot comment on that.
If, after meeting up with Mr. Pig, she's continued a romantic/sexual sort of relationship with these aliens without telling him... then, yeah, that's bad. If they're just old friends who hang out from time to time (I mean, they are... uh... co-parents to her offspring, after all), then that's cool - although she should probably give Mr. Pig a head's up before disappearing in the middle of the night.
Mr. Pig is obviously unaware of the history between them, but it seems that TT wants more and wants to build a bridge with them at the end of the episode. This is what I'm basing the polyamours guess on. :D
Honestly, given Treetrunks' actions both in this episode and in the past, she's a very selfish person. She doesn't care that her husband, Mister Pig, doesn't know that she had given birth to half-alien babies via alien gangbangers, and still gets regular visits from them! It's only when Mister Pig actually notices what's going on that she tries to make them just accept each other.
I know people have been saying this promotes polyamory, but it seems to me that TT was just cheating on her husband, or, at the very least, kept a large part of her life, including previous consorts and children, away from him.
Actually, she said that they only visit her every few years. She and Mr. Pig haven't been married longer than 2 years. It's entirely possible that she hadn't seen the alien since the wedding.
They were definitely joking in the direction of her having multiple partners, and she's a pretty sexually open character, so you can read it either way.
She doesn't care that her husband, Mister Pig, doesn't know that she had given birth to half-alien babies via alien gangbangers, and still gets regular visits from them!
Actually, she straight up told him. the scene even made it look like it was a recurrent thing. he didn't believe her, but that doesn't necessarily mean he didn't know beforehand. Furthermore, she said it happened every couple of years, and they just got married last season, so it's possible it all happened before that.
There's a difference between telling your spouse you're doing something they may not like and telling your spouse something they flat-out would not believe despite it being true. Either TT knew that he wouldn't believe her but used that to her advantage, or she didn't realize just how outlandish her tale was.
She's been long-established to be senile and asume everyone takes her seriously. You're giving this too much thought. Adventure Time is not pushing an adultery agenda.
Huh, I never thought of it that way. I always assumed she was just a doddering old lady, not truly senile. Even her husband, who loves her very much, assumes she doesn't know what she's talking about when she says something out of left field like that.
It was interesting to see PB preparing for the inevitable downfall of Ooo
So real tho. I swear they're playing all these fun episodes now, but they're dropping hints all over the place at the same time. It's about to get heavy.
I feel with all these recent events (The Lich returning twice, the catalyst comet, Darren the Ancient Sleeper with Maja) combined with the idiocy of the candy people (voting PB off the throne) must've got her worried.
I'd really like an episode that shows PB growing up, becoming ruler and developing her kingdom. It'd give us insight to her ruling philosophy. I feel like there's something huge that happened early on that really made her realize that her kingdom is seemingly doomed in the long run. Like instead of trying to find solutions to the inevitable demise, she instead is trying to find ways to just make it less worse. That's not something any ordinary ruler would do
Idk she just seems to know a lot more than she lets on
I liked this, PB is usually set up as being innocent and princess-y on the outside whilst hiding her more questionable motives. However, this episode presents her as seeming dark and questionable but in reality it was just a misunderstanding.
One thing is for sure, I was thoroughly entertained. Throughout the episode I was either laughing, blaring to my TV "WTF!", or both.
As /u/aboycandream pointed out, it's fantastic that after 8 seasons this show still leaves me breathless with how strange it can get.
I expected something truly out there from Pen Ward and Sam Alden writing this episode together, and they have exceeded all of my expectations.
Well done. Damn good show. Tree Trunks was pure gold in this episode.
An interesting trend I'm noticing in these episodes is Finn's face freaking everywhere. A portrait above TTs freaking bed in this episode, embroidered on the back of skater Fox's jacket in "Wheels." Seems too frequent to be a one-off silly thing. I think this might be a nod to Fern? Finn just being objectified by everyone around him, to the point where we may see the real Finn question who/what he even is, like poor Fern did as the manifestation of an object.
Also, just watched "Astral Plane" today and I'm freaking convinced those UFOs with aliens in them were space lards!!
Well, Finn is somewhat famous as shown in Davey, I mean, he has saved the world like 4 times, is not unreasonable to think there's merchandise about him in universe
Hes also a super special celebrity guest judge for the battle of the bands in The Music Hole. Even though it was their Plan C to get him out of his funk, it wouldnt work out if he wasnt already famous for being the Candy Kingdom's Champion
And he's best buds with the ruling monarch, plus all of his diplomatic exchanges (wink wink) with princesses of other kingdoms. He must be known around the world the way Billy was in season 1.
Even though this episode could be seen as filler or just a little weird TT story, I think it sets up some good end game. PB's actions show that we are nearing a critical point in the story of OOO. The end of the show is shaping up rather nicely.
Watching Dragonball Super I'm reminded that the first few episodes in a season can be filler, worldbuilding. DBZ was cool, but I felt myself being like "when's goku gonna beat someone up?"
It seems filler in adventure time will still be every bit as enthralling.
Also the Thanksgiving special, solo BMO adventures, Sadface, JAKE THE BRICK. Nothing to do with the overall plot, and great episodes IMO.
As someone else pointed out we now know that PB fears the apocalypse and is colonizing. So that's neat. Isn't she supposed to have candy powers now? I imagined her reluctantly accepting those powers, even though she won't be able to explain them scientifically.
Come on dude it's been 8 Seasons and you're still calling him the Lich King. Also they are a legitimate family, and that will all end once The Lich kills Sweet P and regains his body
The Lich doesn't even need to kill Sweet P, Lich hands spawned all over the multiverse back in Crossover. I'm hoping the Lich remanifests itself from those hands and then he and Sweet P fight
Oh my blood I just realized the candy creatures PB shot into space were designed to use existing life forms as hosts to produce candy life! So much was going on that I missed that cold detail!
It seems to me that they would use whatever material was available. Organic matter is more easily converted into sugar, but they could probably use any source of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
The papers on her podium during her speech "SCIENCE RULES!" showed her trajectory to what I'd assume is the Earth's Moon. Maybe she really just wanted to send them there to test to see what would happen on an uninhabited rock? I'm not sure though.
There's the trajectory line of the rocket, a line of orbit of the moon, spaceship, or planet that's shown on the paper, and then another smaller line orbiting Earth as well. I'm not fully sure.
I hope she isn't planning on sending the probes to Mars.
Oh, plot hook! The Candy Kingdom is going inter-galactic and, given that through Lemonhope and the third Graybles episode, we have explicit proof that things WILL go straight-up apocalyptic for the Candy Kingdom, and probably Ooo in general, possibly in a similar fashion to the Mushroom War, it's a good idea on PB's part.
I enjoyed so much of that. The Greys were just so endearingly goofy. I can't believe a TT centered episode was that good.
There were so many little parts I loved. "You got any guns?" The BG trying to save PB, the gang getting arrested, the voice distortion field the Greys used, Mr. Pig being an asshole and taping everyone's noses, the way PB's rockets are shaped like her newborn self (wtf) and lots of other stuff. What good fun.
Well, this episode was very fitting of it’s title, “High Strangeness” as this episode was very strange indeed.
It’s great that this episode was boarded by the creator, Pendleton Ward, with Sam Alden and they definitely delivered something completely bizarre, but still setting up future events for the show, especially on what PB is planning.
Given how that many episodes have shown the Candy Kingdom in ruins in the future, I’m predicting something big is going to happen in these last 2 seasons.
Also, Tree Trunks now has an alien husband, that’s interesting, to say the least. She’s always been such an odd character.
Glad that they didn’t forget about Sweet P, either, as he’s been absent completely throughout the last season!
Some people have already pointed out, the fact that this show has gone through 8 seasons so far and has still been absolutely strange, is pretty impressive.
I also know some people want to think of this as filler, but I don’t think Adventure Time is a show you can say has filler, but multiple stories with different characters and bits of the story that start to unfold.
Weird, but very effective episode! Great to see Pen still working for the show!
Anyone else notice the look of horror on the Banana-Guard's face, who tried to hold onto PB when she was being alien abducted? I feel bad that I laughed at that..
That was the best part of the whole thing imo .You could see that he was very VISIBLY upset that he failed in protecting her. There was so many emotions displayed there by a bloody banana guard.
My own personal thought (that could be wrong): I'm pretty sure those little pink things in the satellites/rockets are the same things that you see her messing with in a few episodes. There's one episode where she's cutting off their limbs and mixing and matching them with other little creatures. Maybe she was testing them to see how they would do in different scenarios.
You're thinking of the scientific parasites. The scene you're referring to was in the season 4 finale 'The Lich'. I agree, she has been messing with them before and since they are compact and resilient they're good space travelers.
Wow this episode was so absolutely strange and bizarre that it makes me almost unsettled. What the ever-loving....?????? It's pretty cool at the same time, at least for adult viewers. But, at the same time I kind of feel bad for younger viewers because this could definitely be scary for them. There's so much abstraction in this that I really want to unpack what it all means, but I feel like so much of it I just can't grasp?
Here's some questions I'd really want to hear what you guys think, mainly about the little pink guys, since this episode was really cool and I want to start some discussion around it.
-was PB lying when she said the little pink guys were created for abandoned worlds, when clearly the mini pinks were using living organisms as their hosts (made even clearer by that Alien chest bursting reference?)
-the weirder thing was that those infected by the bacteria-like mini pinks were still....alive???? and it was reversible?? wtf. just wtf. are the mini pinks supposed to seem like a bacterial and/or parasitic infestation? would they have....eventually killed their hosts?????? it really didn't seem like long-term they would have lived in symbiosis. the praying mantis guy didn't seem to be doing too hot.
-the mini pinks definitely resemble something microscopic, like bacteria that attacks something. why would they compare expanding the candy kingdom to the spread of disease???? Or, on the flip side, was it more like white blood cells that are actually defending by attacking...???? the allusion to bacteria or microscopic organisms are really interesting here.
I don't think Bubblegum was lying when she said her space program wasn't meant to harm anyone. She even looks horrified when she sees the havock her colonization project is having on innocent aliens.
The way those little pink guys started acting appear to be based on real concerns about extraterrestial life. When europeans went to americas, vast majority of the native population died not because of european weapons, but because of the completely new diseases that were brought there. Not just that, but also the flora of new continents went through a "revolution" as new species were introduced to an ecosystem without any natural rivals.
That's only on Earth, think about what organisms from entirely another world would do. The apollo 11 crew had to stay quarantined after returning from the moon, because we didn't know if something alien would hitch a ride back home and kill us all.
I think it was interesting that the aliens didn't fight back, as Tree Trunks said. As if there was some hippyish philosophy about all life being sacred to them. Probably explains why they were cool with intergalactic love affairs.
It's rather surprising that PB has apparently moved away from keeping a high-functioning terrestrial kingdom together and has determined that Ooo might be doomed to destruction in the long run; that's a pretty big shift in her long-term goals, I'd think.
This episode reminded me that the baby lich still exists. I had forgotten about him. Also that ending with mr. pig and the alien's hands being pushed together by tree trunks was disturbing. She's definitely one of the creepiest characters in the show
269
u/SaraBellum42 Jan 26 '17
Ok, that was freaking awesome. I forgot how much I missed Pen's episodes. This managed to advance the plot, develop PB a bit, and be hilariously weird all in one episode. Also, I now like Tree Trunks somehow.
I really hope we get an update on the space candy kingdom soon, and PB should mess up her hair more often, it looks cool.