Adventure Time-Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray) (2010)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Audio Commentary-Various Episodes Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Distant Bands - Music of Adventure Time
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	286:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Larry Leichliter
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Timothy Kiefer Casey James Basichis Nick Jennings

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     By now I have pretty much given up trying to work out how the various Adventure Time DVD and Blu-ray releases relate to each other. It is easy enough to work out the complete seasons but the individual compendium releases, usually accompanied with a piece of Adventure Time memorabilia, contain episodes spanning multiple seasons. It can be a chore trying to work out which episode belongs to which season.

     Show co-creator Pendleton Ward described the Fourth Season as somewhat of a challenge. In the first three seasons the wacky team of writers had come up with fantastic ideas and the question was whether the standard could be maintained or whether the well was running dry. If that concern was running behind the scenes then it is not reflected in the quality of the Fourth Season; there are some cracking episodes in this season which demonstrate the surreal, superb and often heartfelt devotion that the team have to the characters of Finn and Jake and the crazy Land of Ooo in which they live.

     As said, Season Four contains some classic episodes. A personal favourite is Bmo Noire in which the little sentient video game console-shaped robot (per Wikipedia) attempts to solve a mystery, Sam Spade style. The episode Gotcha is great for fans of LSP as she tries to understand how her lumps drive people crazy and try to hold back the tears when one sad little pig sings Dream of Love in that episode to his life partner Tree Trunks.

     Fans and Adventure Time completist's will have snapped up this volume already. For others who are curious it is a worthy purchase.

Video

     Adventure Time Season Four comes to Blu-ray in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio of its original television broadcast.

     Whilst the production qualities on the show have never been intended to rival cutting-edge animation this is still an attractively presented show. The colours are bold and well transferred

     The animation lines are accurate.

     There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The soundtrack for Adventure Time is, consistently with the previous seasons, a relatively low English Dolby Digital 2.0 track running at 320 Kb/s. It is most surprising that a Blu-ray is released with a soundtrack that does not represent high-definition audio.

     However, truth be told, the sound is perfectly adequate for the show conveying accurately the dialogue as well as the occasional music.

     We can only assume that the show is not mixed for 5.1 surround.

     The technical qualities of the soundtrack are fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are two extras with this Blu-ray.

Commentary Tracks

     As usual various cast members, creators, writers, animators and generally anyone who was hanging around at the time contribute to the commentary tracks. They are always entertaining and consistently shambolic as they clearly have a great time going through the creation of the episodes.

Distant Lands: The Music of Adventure Time

     This is actually a pretty good feature. Not only does it give an insight into the songs used in this and other episodes but it also takes us back to the days when members of the Adventure Time crew were performing in the bands with mixed to poor results. Check out Pendleton Ward performing a boy band potential hit.

     This is an All Region Blu-ray.

    Season Four continues the great run of quality with Adventure Time. If you're a fan of the show this Blu-ray should be in your collection. It looks and sounds fine and has enough wacky extra material to keep even the most die-hard fan going.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall