Cartoon Network's Adventure Time was an incredible and prolific series in the animation genre, and it really paved the way for a lot of what fans see today like The Owl House or Steven Universe: Future. Adventure Time was a series that started fantastical and simple, but really started to push boundaries as the seasons went on, and eventually, it changed the way cartoons are viewed in the West overall.
The show started all the way back in 2010 and it ended in 2018, which is an incredibly long lifetime for a non-sitcom. And, since everyone is stuck at home for the moment and may have already watched the first episode of Adventure Time: Distant Lands, it's time to rewatch the OG series. And, after finishing it, fans may realize there are a ton of aspects of the show that hold up, but also a surprising amount that don't. So, let's look into it.
10 Holds Up: Lessons About Life And Aging
At its core, Adventure Time is written by people who are much older than Finn and have already gone through some variation of most of the issues he's dealing with. As such, they have the wisdom from it they can impart to both Finn and the viewers through older characters such as Jake, PB, or Marceline.
There are a ton of lessons about getting older in Adventure Time, and a lot of them are new ways of verbalizing both the issue and solution. For example, Jake's struggle in the episode "Daddy-Daughter Card Wars" is actually about something very relatable even though its portrayed by a magical dog raging out whenever he loses at a collectible card game. There are just so many relatable moments and quotes throughout the series that people forget about.
9 It Hasn't: The Way Characters Treat Young Finn
Remember early Adventure Time? You know, before all the complex familial issues, the love triangles, and the world-endingly dire confrontations. But, actually, most of that stuff is in the earlier seasons, it just isn't handled as well.
In season 1 and 2, Finn is only 12 years old And, for some reason, in these early episodes, characters hit on Finn and call him and random objects "sexy" so much more often. It's incredibly uncomfortable looking back on it and we're glad this cartoon changed over time, as all cartoons and even their reboots (looking at you She-Ra) should.
8 Holds Up: The Artstyle And Setting
For people wondering if the charm and appeal of Adventure Times style has degraded at all over the years, good news, it hasn't. The Kingdoms of Ooo, the noodle arms that everyone has, and the overall atmosphere of the show are completely intact and just as adorable as they were when the show first aired.
If anything, the style only gets better the further the show goes, and the contrast of Finn's simplistic design (which is great for fan-artists) with the busy backgrounds is still just so great.
7 It Hasn't: The Ice King Early On
Anyone who has watched a significant portion of Adventure Time will tell you that the Ice King is actually one of the most complex characters within the show. But, early on, before fans knew about Simon, Marcy, or Betty, they only knew the predator that was the Ice King. In the earlier seasons (and a bit of the later ones as well), the Ice King is a straight-up predator on women. He sneaks into their homes, kidnaps them, holds them hostage, acts like they've been in a relationship for a while already, and many more awful things.
This would all work well for a disgusting villain, but they make Ice King into a part of the crew like he's redeemable and forgiven. But, he's not some misunderstood tragic hero, that's Simon, Ice King is a whole different beast that was forgiven way too easily.
6 Holds Up: Marceline and Bubblegum
The relationship between Marceline and Bubblegum is one of the best parts of the finale (and touches on one of the best parts of modern cartoons in general), as it gives closure for two characters who have been sad and lonely for the duration of their appearances. But, more than that, it just makes more sense the more you think about it.
The two obviously have history, they're both essentially immortal, and they're confident & powerful women. Finn and Bubblegum was a cute idea before viewers found out she was much older than him, but Marcy and PB just feels more realistic.
5 It Hasn't: Season 5 In General
Season 5 of Adventure Time is the longest season by far, with over 50 episodes in all. It's also the Season were many of the crucial cast left to work on their own series, such as Pendleton Ward leaving as the showrunner (to seemingly relax for a while before working on Midnight Gospel), Rebecca Sugar leaving to go start Steven Universe, and Skyler Page leaving to work on Clarence. They all left at different points in the season but it's safe to say that about halfway through, the quality really started to fall.
Rebecca Sugar is an amazing songwriter so the music fell flat after "Simon & Marcy" (one of the series best episodes by the way), Page was one of the best storyboard artists, and Ward kept AT charmingly-weird. Without them, fans have episodes like "Breezy". It's safe to say this latter half fell short, and now they know for sure after looking back.
4 Holds Up: The Finale
It's hard to say goodbye to a show that went on for so long and impacted so many people's lives. Thankfully, the team behind AT really planned ahead for the finale, and spent the episodes leading up to it in order to conclude many different Character Arcs.
Once production began on the finale, all the greats came back, Ghostshrimp came back to design backgrounds (he left originally in season 4), Rebecca Sugar came back to write "Time Adventure" (one of AT's best musical moments), and even people like Andy Milonakis and Willow Smith contributed. It was an incredible ending to the series that was received in an overall positive light.
3 It Hasn't: The Status Quo Problem
One of the biggest complaints about Adventure Time for the longest time was its diehard conviction to returning things to a "status quo". It doesn't matter how many times it was implied that Finn would lose his arm, he would always get it back in some way. It didn't matter that Jake literally had children, he'd still live in the treehouse and barely see them. Everything always returned to a "standard".
And yeah, while rewatching the series, this status quo issue is a lot more noticeable and a lot more annoying, but it also makes the times when things do actually change that much more impactful.
2 Holds Up: The Messages The Translate To Reality
We're not going to get all too political here, but you can't talk about the intricacies of Adventure Time without talking about all the ways it addresses different political or societal issues.
Think about how Finn and Jake talk about the concept of money in the episode "Furniture & Meat", how the Demons address their governmental system in "Return to the Nightosphere", or how Princess Bubblegum constantly deals with the issues of running a matriarchy and how Democracy actually blows up in her face when the King of Ooo is elected at the end of "The Dark Cloud".
1 It Hasn't: Those Rushed Side-Arcs
And lastly, in comparison to the perfection that was the Adventure Time finale, the side-arcs in the leadup to this ending were not handled quite as well. A lot of these side stories feel rushed and a bit forced. The background for Jake's powers, in particular, were teased as this huge mystery, and the payoff just wasn't worth it.
Flame King and his issues with his daughter were also handled in a very atypical way for Adventure Time, a rap battle, but they were also sorted out just a bit too quickly. We're just saying, the finale for this incredible show felt so complete, so earned, and so punctual, so by comparison these episodes fell a bit short.