Fans of Finn and Jake have been more than excited for their animated friends to return to their screens with four new 45-minute episodes of Adventure Time: Distant Lands on HBO Max.
And with the June 25th, 2020 premiere of the first episode, aptly named "BMO," fans saw a bevy of old and new characters as BMO made his way through distant lands in outer space. The highly-anticipated episode gave viewers a fun adventure that combined easter eggs, familiar voices, and a surprise look at BMO's last adventure before meeting a young Finn and Jake. However, smaller details from the episodes went unnoticed by many.
10 Wizard Of Oz Props Inside BMO
"BMO" begins with a look through the little robot's interior, including his golden heart. But did anyone notice what's next to the heart? In a possible homage to The Wizard of Oz, BMO's heart has its own little medal attached to its lower half and a diploma to its left. Each talisman represents the gifts given to Scarecrow, Tin-Man, and the Cowardly Lion by the Wizard at the end of the story. While this isn't the first time these have been shown, they're still worth noting.
9 Familiar Character Designs
The first new character that is introduced is the little service robot that BMO runs into out in space. Due to the robot's green coloring and shape, they're named "Olive" (after BMO's favorite bread, of course), and what's interesting about Olive is that their look is reminiscent of Squidward's self-portrait "Bold and Brash" from Spongebob Squarepants. Another example is how Y-5, the anthropomorphized space bunny, looks an awful lot like Other Fionna from season nine of Adventure Time, but without her Fionna the Human hat.
8 Old Television References To Popular Commercials & Sitcoms
While BMO usually has his own original catchphrases, the little robot is no stranger to making references to television, though some may go over the heads of younger viewers. In the episode, BMO says, "Time to make the donuts" when he must get to work. This is directly from a Dunkin' Donuts commercial from the 1980s.
Later on, BMO hears another robot singing a song that BMO recognizes, which is the theme song from the Seattle-based sitcom Frasier, a spin-off of the popular Cheers.
7 Film Homages
Along with television, the episode is full of movie references. The most obvious is a visual homage when BMO and Olive make their way to The Drift and they pass through colorful lights that are straight from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Another space movie reference is BMO's supposed mission to Mars to plant some potatoes, and "Mars" and "potatoes" can't be put together in a story without thinking of The Martian. In terms of dialogue, BMO directly quotes the movie Tombstone when he says "I'm your huckleberry."
6 In-Universe TV Show, Rumble Jaw
When Y-5 takes BMO and Olive to her parents, there are many other anthropomorphized bunnies that they pass by, including one with a mustache watching a small TV set. While it's really easy to miss what's on the screen, the eagle-eyed, obsessive Adventure Time fan will know that it's Rumble Jaw, an early production code-name turned in-universe TV show. According to the official Tumblr blog of the Adventure Time crew, Rumble Jaw is about a girl, her enchanted boxing glove, and her magical tiger friend.
5 Y-5's Binary Code
After leaving the garbage shoot, BMO, Y-5, and Olive make their way across a fluffy white landscape and Y-5 speaks in a binary code to unlock an elevator-type hub so they can get to Y-5's parents.
It's easy to miss since the audio is hushed but, according to the closed captions, Y-5 says, "01110000 01100001 01110011 0111001 01110111 01101111 01110010 01100100", which translates to "pas9word." While it's hilarious that even space humanoids living in the distant future are just like humans of the real world, at least they have the foresight to throw a number in there.
4 Voice Actors
Adventure Time the TV show was filled with celebrity guest voices, like Ron Perlman as The Lich or Donald Glover as Marshall Lee, and voice acting powerhouses (Jake The Dog's John DiMaggio and Ice King's Tom Kenny), and Distant Lands continues with this trend. While Tom Kenny returned to "BMO" to voice Y-5's dad, Stephan Root did his best Jeff Bridge's impression for the voice of Mr. M. Fans were also introduced to Randall Park, the voice of tech billionaire-type Hugo, the episode's surprise antagonist
3 Mr. M Is Possibly Finn's Dad
Though it's not explicitly stated, there are many signs that point towards Mr. M actually being Finn's father, Martin Mertens. While the two characters share the same voice actor, the audience is led to believe that Mr. M is some kind of robot.
This changes when he takes off his boot to reveal a human foot and the familiar characteristics start to break through. Mr. M and Martin share the same selfish attitude toward kids calling out their parents and catchphrases like "here comes the rascal."
2 End Credits Filmed In Space
The end of the "BMO" episode shows a real-life BMO with a lit-up face and computer buttons floating around. While this may look like a cute end credit made possible through some sophisticated CGI, it's actually footage of BMO in actual space! As part of the project, "Quest for Space," AstroBMO was launched into space by the Quest Institute on July 25th, 2019 and is currently hanging out on the International Space Station. The end credit footage and other AstroBMO videos are now on Youtube.
1 Shoutout To Football
Throughout the episode, BMO talks with an alternate identity referred to only as Football, who is even given their own credits at the end of the episode. The audience is usually shown Football when BMO is looking into their reflection and is generally described as BMO's "imaginary friend." Football was sometimes shown in the original show as someone who teaches BMO how to live as a human. There's even an episode where Football tries to take over BMO's body. Good thing "BMO" is a prequel.