Adventure Time: The Complete First Season (2010)

Details: By Loron Hays; 04 June 2013

{2jtab: Movie Review}

Adventure Time Season One - Blu-ray Review

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Oh my glob! The very first season of Adventure Time has finally crash-landed onto Blu-Ray! Run to the stores, grab it along with some sugary snacks, and settle in with 26-magical themed episodes of F-U-N.

Created by Pen Ward, Adventure Time is just about as fun and crazy as animated cartoons get these days. The adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and a dog named Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), will transport you to a bizarre world that gets more exciting and funnier with every visit. Cleverly written as entertainment for adults and kids, Adventure Time keeps things exciting and magical in Ward’s Land of Ooo.

Ward’s cult-favorite series is based on a short that became a viral hit and officially premiered on Cartoon Network in 2010. The series – think Dungeons and Dragons syphoned through Atari video games – is produced by hand-drawn animation. Each one of these eleven-minute episodes (26 episodes total for Season One) takes roughly nine months to complete. Really good entertainment – the mind-bending kind – takes time and Adventure Time – being a product of a wicked imagination that makes adults actually want to be kids again – is art that is worth that time.

Behind the scenes, the regular cast of the show – DiMaggio, Shada, Hynden Walch (as Princess Bubblegum), Tom Kenny (as the Ice King), and Olivia Olson (as Marceline the Vampire Queen) – record their parts as a group instead of individually. Their chemistry together – adlibs included – adds to the charm and overall impact of the show. The stories – written and storyboarded by War, Bert Youn, Sean Jimenez, Adam Muto & Elizabeth Ito as well as others – can only be described as fresh hysterics.

Now, Season One starts a little rough. The laughs don’t really begin to pay off until the third or fourth episode but – after a lot of groundwork as we cover zombies, royal secrets, and other oddities – the series finds it groove and never lets up on its hold. The show is all about momentum and never does it become tired or repeat itself.

Time is Adventure Time’s greatest weapon and, from here on out, the first season only gets stronger. The childlike wonder on display here is hungry for adventure and pays off with moments of charm. Of course, there’s a bit of hipster shenanigans you have to weed through to get to the chewy center of this Tootsie pop. That’s to be expected with anything on Cartoon Network, I suppose. I guess that’s the only real beef one can say against a show as seriously fun as Adventure Time.

It’s probably too soon to call Adventure Time a classic of the genre. That being acknowledged, it only gets better from here on out.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Adventure Time Season One - Blu-ray Review

Component Grades
Movie		Blu-ray Disc


Blu-ray Experience

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - June 4, 2013
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192kbps)
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD); UV digital copy; Digital copy
Region Encoding: Region A

Adventure Time: The Complete First Season has a sharp and perky 1.78:1 image. Released by Warner Bros and Cartoon Network, the 1080p transfer crackles with a brilliant picture. It's not bursting with detail but it is much better than the DVD release a few years back. Why you ask? Because that's just the way Adventure Time is drawn. It's done completely by hand, and you will write the animators a thank-you note for that. It adds to the charm of the show, as does this release's bright, bright, bright colors. Everything pops. Viewers should have zero complaints. The Dolby Digital 2.0 track is fine for what it is but I guess I had hoped for a more immersive track.

Supplements:

Commentary:

Each episode has its own commentary! This is truly a release to celebrate!

Special Features:

The Complete First Season includes all 26 episodes including audio commentary for each. There’s also a variety of extras including Animatics, some behind the scenes featurettes, music video, Finndemonium, and more. Not all of these were available on the DVD release and in that case these should be a lot of fun for those who are upgrading their standard sets.