 If you are a fan of “Adventure Time”, I can easily say that you’re getting your money’s worth with “Adventure Time – The Complete First Season”. The series looks awesome on Blu-ray and special features galore!  “Adventure Time” is hilarious, addictive and highly recommended!
TITLE: Adventure Time – The Complete First Season
TV SERIES AIR DATE: 2010
DURATION: 26 Episodes (286 Minutes)
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 16:9 Widescreen, Dolby Digital 2.0, Subtitles: English SDH
COMPANY: Warner Bros./Cartoon Network
RATED: Not Rated
Release Date: June 14, 2013
Created by Pendleton Ward
Directed by Larry Leichliter
Written by Pendleton Ward, Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, Mark Banker, Adam Muto, Merriwether Williams, Rebecca Sugar, Cole Sanchez, Timothy McKeon, Ako Castuera, Bert Youn, Tom Herpich, Thurop Van Orman, Somvilay Xayaphone, Steve Little, Jesse Moynihan, Sean Jiminez, Elizabeth Ito, Luther McLaurin, Armen Mirzaian, Niki Yang, Benton Connor, Dick Gruner
Excutive Producer: Fred Seibert, Curtis Lelash, Brian A. Miller, Jennifer Pelphrey, Rob Sorcher, Rob Swartz, Derek Drymon
Producer: Kelley Crews
Co-Producer/Executive Producer: Pendleton Ward
Supervising Producer: Thurop Van Orman
Music by Timothy Kiefer, Casey James Basichis
Production Design by David O’Reilly
Art Direction by Nick Jennings
Starring:
Jeremy Shada as Finn
John DiMaggio as Jake
Tom Kenny as Ice King
Hynden Walch as Princess Bubblegum
Pendleton Ward As Lumpy Space Princess
Maria Bamford as Wildberry Princess
Niki Yang as Beemo
Olivia Olson as Marceline
Dee Bradley Baker as Cinnamon Bun
Steve Little as Peppermint Butler
Kent Osborne as Joshua
Jessica Di Cicco as Flame Princess
What time is it? It’s time for Adventure Time: The Complete First Season DVD. The Cartoon Network’s #1 hit comedy show and Emmy-® nominated series that centers on the post apocalyptic adventures of Finn, a human boy with a funny hat, and his friend Jake, a magic and mischievous dog. The DVD includes all 26 episodes from season 1 and tons of special features done by the creator. The Adventure Time: The Complete First Season DVD is packaged with a collectible slipcover and a must have for any Adventure Time Fan!
Pendleton Ward is known for writing for animated series such as “Random! Cartoons” and “The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack” and most recently “Bravest Warriors”, but in 2010, Ward would create a series that would become a popular animated series on the Cartoon Network titled “Adventure Time”.
Originally produced by Frederator’s Nicktoons Network animation incubator series “Random! Cartoons”, the short for “Adventure Time” would first become a viral hit on the Internet before being picked up by the Cartoon Network and featured on television in 2010.
Heavily inspired by “Dungeons and Dragons” and video games, “Adventure Time” is hand-drawn animation and is recorded as a group, than with voice talent recorded individually.
With a sixth season of “Adventure Time” to air in 2013, since 2012, the series has earned around 3 million viewers per week and has led to video games and comic books based on the animated series.
And now “Adventure Time” (Season one and two) will be released individually on Blu-ray in June 2013.
“Adventure Time” is a series that revolves around Finn the Human, a 14-year-old boy and his best friend, a talking yellow dog named Jake, who has magical powers to change shape, stretch and shrink.
The two live in a post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo where they interact with friends such as Princess Bubblegum, the Ice King, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Lady Rainicorn and more!
Season 1 features a total of 26 episodes which are 12 minutes long (all episodes are on one Blu-ray disc). Here is a spoilerless summary of each episode:
- EPISODE 1 – “Slumber Party Panic” – Finn makes a promise to Princess Bubblegum to protect the Candy Kingdom from Candy Zombies. But he must not tell them why he’s protecting them or else…
- EPISODE 2 – “Trouble in Lumpy Space” – Finn must travel to Lumpy Space to find an antidote for Jake who has been bitten by Lumpy Space Princess and now has “The Lumps”.
- EPISODE 3 – “Prisoners of Love” – Finn and Jake try to set prisoners of Ice King free.
- EPISODE 4- “Tree Trunks” – Tree Trunks joins Finn and Jake on a quest to pick a “Crystal Gem Apple” from the evil forest.
- EPISODE 5 – “The Enchiridion!” – Finn and Jake go on a quest to find a magical book.
- EPISODE 6 – “The Jiggler” – A strange creature is attracted to Finn’s auto-tuned singing voice and follows them home.
- EPISODE 7 – “Ricardio the Heart Guy” – Finn believes that Princess Bubblegum’s new friend Ricardio is evil.
- EPISODE 8 – “Business Time” – Finn and Jake become too lazy when they delegate responsibilities to businessmen they thawed from an iceberg.
- EPISODE 9 – “My Two Favorite People” – Jake feels overwhelmed when Finn spends too much time with Jake’s new girlfriend Lady Rainicorn.
- EPISODE 10 – “Memories of Boom Boom Mountain” – Finn remembers an upsetting experience when he was a baby.
- EPISODE 11 – “Wizard” -Finn and Jake enroll in a course for free magic powers.
- EPISODE 12 – “Evicted!” – Finn and Jake search for a new home after Vampire Queen Marceline claims their treehouse.
- EPISODE 13 – “City of Thieves” – Finn enters the City of Thieves with Jake to confront a thief.
- EPISODE 14 – “The Witch’s Garden” – Jake loses his enthusiast for adventure when a witch strips him of his powers.
- EPISODE 15 – “What is Life?” – Finn builds a Never-Ending Pie-Throwing Robot (N.E.P.T.R.).
- EPISODE 16 – “Ocean of Fear” – Finn realizes he is terrified of the ocean.
- EPISODE 17 – “When Wedding Bells Thaw” – The Ice King wants Finn and Jake to throw him a “manlorette party”.
- EPISODE 18 – “Dungeon” – Finn wants to explore a dungeon in 11 minutes to find the Crystal Eye.
- EPISODE 19 – “The Duke” – Finn turns Princess Bubblegum green and bald.
- EPISODE 20 – “Freak City” – Finn is transformed into a foot by Magic Man.
- EPISODE 21 – “Donny” – Finn and Jake help a grass ogre named Donny by trying to make him nice.
- EPISODE 22 – “Henchman” – Finn becomes Vampire Princess Marceline’s new henchman.
- EPISODE 23 – “Rainy Day Daydream” – Finn discovers that Jake can make his imagination come to life.
- EPISODE 24 – “What Have You Done?” – Princess Bubblegum wants Finn and Jake to capture the Ice King as their prisoner.
- EPISODE 25 – “His Hero” – The Great Warrior Billy inspires Finn and Jake to practice nonviolence.
- EPISODE 26 – “Gut Grinder” – Finn and Jake pursue the “Gut Grinder” creature.
VIDEO:
“Adventure Time – The Complete First Season” is presented in 1080p High Definition (presented in 16×9). The animation is absolutely fantastic in HD! Colors are vibrant, color palette is colorful and while the character designs may lack incredible detail and shading of other animated series (note: background art is shaded), what makes “Adventure Time” work is its abundance of characters, creative backgrounds, locations and more.
During my viewing of the series, I did not see any artifacts, banding, even during scenes with a lot of red or orange. Line detail is very strong and for the most part, fans of the series should be happy with the overall presentation.
AUDIO:
“Adventure Time – The Complete First Season” is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. While my picky side would prefer for a 5.1 immersive soundtrack, the fact is that a lot of animated series is presented in stereo. Dialogue is clear!
Subtitles are in English SDH.
SPECIAL FEATURES
“Adventure Time – The Complete First Season” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary for “Trouble in Lumpy Space” – Featuring audio commentary with creator Pendleton Ward and voice talents John DiMaggio (Jake), Tom Kenny (Freeze King) and Jeremy Shada (Finn).
- Audio Commentary for “Prisoners in Love” – Featuring audio commentary with creator Pendleton Ward and voice talents John DiMaggio (Jake the Dog), Tom Kenny (Ice King, Gunter the Penguin) and Jeremy Shada (Finn).
- Audio Commentary for “Tree Trunks” – Featuring audio commentary with Bettie Ward (Pendleton Ward’s mother) and voice actress Polly Lou Livingston (Tree Trunks),
- Audio Commentary for “Ricardo the Heart Guy” – Featuring audio commentary with creator Pendleton Ward and voice talents George Takei (Ricardio), Hynden Walch (Princess Bubblegum), Tom Kenny (Freeze King) and Jeremy Shada (Finn).
- Behind the Scenes – (9:38) Pendleton Ward takes viewers on a hilarious behind-the-scenes tour of the creative staff behind “Adventure Time”.
- Behind the Scenes of the Behind the Scenes Featurette – (2:32) Featuring Thurof Van Orman and green screen used for the Behind the Scenes featurette.
- Adventure Time Music with Casey + Tim – (10:18) Casey James Basichis and Timothy Kiefer talk about how they came up with some of the music for “Adventure Time”.
- Animatics for “Slumber Party Panic” – (12:11) Featuring the storyboards in animatic with audio commentary with creator Pendleton Ward, Adam Muto (storyboard artist), Pat McHale (Creative Director) and Derek Drymon (Executive Producer)
- Animatics for “The Enchiridion!” – (13:10) Featuring the storyboards in animatic with audio commentary with creator Pendleton Ward, Adam Muto (storyboard artist), Pat McHale (Creative Director) and Derek Drymon (Executive Producer)
- Animatics for “Dungeon” – (11:41) Featuring the storyboards in animatic with audio commentary with creator Pendleton Ward, Adam Muto (storyboard artist), Pat McHale (Creative Director) and Derek Drymon (Executive Producer)
- Animatics for “Rainy Day Daydream” – (11:39) Featuring the storyboards in animatic with audio commentary with creator Pendleton Ward, Adam Muto (storyboard artist), Pat McHale (Creative Director) and Derek Drymon (Executive Producer)
- Music Video – (1:47) A music video featuring a kid making a Finn costume and making Jake the dog (stuffed animal) come alive.
- Fandemonium – (2:02) A Cartoon Network promo showing the fan love and cosplay for “Adventure Time”.
- The Wand – (2:07) A short animated video extra.
EXTRAS:
“Adventure Time – The Complete First Season: An Amazing Adventure” comes with a slipcover. Also, included is an Ultraviolet code which allows you to watch and share on computers, iPhones, iPads, Android devices, game consoles and connected TV’s.
Lately, I feel that my son is discovering animated series on television much earlier than I do.   I have seen him watching the series before, but I’m one of those types that if I haven’t seen episode one or earlier episodes, I choose not to see a series.
But after watching “Adventure Time – The Complete First Season”, I realized that this series allows for anyone to jump in and enjoy. There is no backstory that kicks off episode 1 and introduces these characters and why they are good friends. The series is pretty much an episode of adventures featuring Finn and Jake and what happens when the come across a variety of characters. Some crazy, some goofy, some evil and more!
Part of the enjoyment I had while watching this series is the fact that it’s not banal. You can’t predict what will happen with each episode as it is not formulaic, crazy things happen and just to see how each character deals with a certain situation, you can’t help but laugh and be entertained.
Among my favorite episodes of the first season is “Trouble in Lumpy Space”, the way that Lumpy Space Princess (voiced by Pendleton Ward) talks is so fun, but the wackiness of the episode is hilarious!
Another fun episode was “Donny” in which Finn and Jake try to make the grass ogre Donny, less of a jerk but by doing that, they ruin the cycle of Donny’s importance to the land. Another fun episode is “Henchman” in which Finn takes the place of Marcine’s henchman and each time Finn thinks the worst of her, she ends up becoming something much different.
Also, “The Duke” in which both Finn and Jake are throwing chemical bottles around. But when Finn throws one bottle, it accidentally lands in Princess Bubblegum’s castle and makes her green and bald. And Princess Bubblegum thinks that the Duke of Nuts is responsible.
And there is so many more episodes to mention but I think anyone who watches this first season will have their own favorites.
As for the Blu-ray release of “Adventure Time – The Complete First Season”, the series looks incredible on Blu-ray. Colors are absolutely vibrant in HD. While it would have been nice to have a 5.1 lossless soundtrack instead of a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, it does happen with many animated series.
But a major highlight with this Blu-ray release are the number of special features included. You have several episodes with audio commentary, featurettes and more!
Overall, if you are a fan of “Adventure Time”, I can easily say that you’re getting your money’s worth with “Adventure Time – The Complete First Season”. The series looks awesome on Blu-ray and special features galore!
“Adventure Time” is hilarious, addictive and highly recommended!
