Review – Adventure Time (2010-2018) created by Pendleton Ward.

Finished on August 7th, 2020
Rating: 5/5 Stars

Dear Adventure Time,

I can’t remember the first time I saw you. It might’ve been at a friend’s house, experiencing this funny and charming cartoon for the first time. Or maybe I was at home, on my living room couch, flipping channels, and deciding to check out what you were. However it happened, I can’t be more thankful than I am now for first finding you; you’ve been such a formative part of my life and who I am.

Once I found you, I’m pretty sure I was instantly hooked. You were so much fun to hang out with, and quickly became one of my best friends on tv. You did scare me at one point though. You’re a bit dark for a kids cartoon every now and then, and when I was younger, a couple of scenes scared me a bit. It’s funny, I was a pretty scared kid back then, in terms of what I saw on TV and in movies (even the trailers too). But as I grew a bit older, I came back to you and had the time of my life with pretty much every episode you had to offer (even the seemingly “scary” episodes too). From then on, you were my childhood.

All of the most iconic lines have stuck with me forever. Characters using a random gibberish words as an exclamation of some sort of “aw heck” type scenario is something that I still do all the time. The classic “Addddddventure time!” Is always a joke I’ve got ready up my sleeve when someone asks me what time it is. Of course, everyone's different catchphrases and characteristics always mean something different to me when I hear them in the context of my life.

From Finn: “mathematical!” “Schmow-zow!” His random autotune at the best moments. His classic squeal when he’s surprised or scared. His random gibberish exclamations. His classic antics with Jake. His legendary buff baby song. The boom boom origin. Flooping the pig. Everything.

Of course, I can’t forget Jake. His non-stop hunger and perfect sandwiches. The bacon pancakes (and the song that I still know by heart). Everything card wars. “Sucking’ at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something!” Him and Finn being the best of buds. His murder mystery train surprise party. His donked up head when the psycho deer kidnaps the kingdom. The horse. So much more.

I could go on, and I haven't even mentioned what the other characters mean to me. Simon and Marcy will always have a special place in my heart. From Ice King and everything wonderful about him to Marceline and her sick bass guitar and the classic song about her dad eating her fries. Princess Bubblegum and her steady growth from a love interest of Finn to one of the best characters in the show. Gunter’s classic “wah.” BMO and its wonderful personality and beautiful songs. Lumpy Space Princess and her “these lumps” song, and iconic voice that rings in my ears forever. I truly could go on forever.

And it doesn’t stop there. Hell, even the promos of the show on Cartoon Network still make me nostalgic. Particularly, the “wee wee” as the character cries from their armpits, or Finn being all cute and happily dancing and jumping after seeing Flame Princess.

You mean the world to me. And that’s why tonight is so special.

We would hang out all the time as a kid. And then life got busy. I got older. My tastes changed. I was growing up. And I stopped hanging out with you. I never got to see your finale. Life got complicated. Things happen. We have our ups and downs. Life is strange. I was just a little boy when I first started hanging out with you, maybe I was in 3rd or 4th grade. And now, time has flown by. I’m a graduate now. I finished high school, and I’m on my way to college. Sure, it ended a bit unconventionally, but I made it. Who would’ve thought while we were hanging out when I was a kid that I’d make it this far.

But for a while, I didn’t really hang out with you anymore. But then, as 2020 came, circumstances turned into quarantining, and lots of free time. That’s when I remembered you. We started to hang out again.

I was so happy. The first few seasons were wonderful; reliving the memories and nostalgia of your classic episodes was like a dream. I would remember so many moments, and would always get the most excited remembering a scene I had forgotten. As I got into the later seasons, it became something new. New experiences and adventures I’d never seen before. It was great.

And then, I came to the last episode, the series finale. The end.

I put you off for a while because I knew it would be the end once I saw your finale. I didn’t want the memories to end. The relationship to end. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that.

Well, I did it tonight. I wasn't ready.

I haven’t cried this hard in a long time. I genuinely lost control, and still can’t stop crying, even now. It was perfect. It was everything I could’ve wanted. It ended perfectly, and hit me incredibly hard, especially with that song and montage. But I wasn’t crying just because the episode was a perfect conclusion.

But there’s another reason for my tears. Finishing this is like a coming of age. It feels like the definitive end of my childhood. I’m no longer the 9-year-old kid sitting at the couch watching tv shows. I’m 18 (soon to be 19), and I’m about to start college, one of the biggest journeys of my life. It’s been so long. I’m growing up. It makes me happy to be maturing, but also really sad. I miss those old days. And seeing this essential piece of my childhood come to end was hard. I don’t know if I’m ready for the real world. I don’t want to lose who I was. But watching this finale was like that chapter of my life coming to a close. I’m not a child anymore. I’m growing up. But for 45 minutes, I got to be a kid again. And I'm incredibly grateful for that.

I know I can always come back to and hang out with any time I feel like it. Because homies help homies. Always.

And because you’re Adventure Time. Come on, lets grab our friends. We’ll go to very distant lands, with Jake the Dog, and Finn the Human.

The fun will never end.

It’s Adventure Time.

Thank you, Adventure Time, for being one of the best friends that I could ask for.

Check out the original review posted on Letterboxd here.