Adventure Time-My Two Favorite People (2010)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Biographies-Character-Little Do You Know
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	144:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Larry Leichliter
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Casey James Basichis Nick Jennings Keith Mack

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
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

     Adventure Time is the latest animated cult hit from Cartoon Network. On its face a kids show it nevertheless provides ample opportunity for adult enjoyment.

     The Emmy Nominated Adventure Time is the ongoing saga of a pair of plucky adventurers, Finn the Human and Jake the Dog, as they take on all comers in the Land of Ooo, a fantasy land made up of various unique kingdoms, each ruled by a princess. Finn (Jeremy Shada) and Jake (voiced by Futurama's John Di Maggio (Bender)) are an unusual couple. Jake is a 28 year old dog who can shape-shift into any combination, often unhelpful. Finn is a 13 year old boy who is relentlessly looking for battles but is unable to deal with girls - like the beautiful Princess Bubblegum or the sassy vampiress Marceline. Their nemesis is the dreaded Ice King but even he is a character with some depth as his evil nature derives from jealousy and loneliness. Other characters like the adorable Tree Trunks and Lady Rainicorn, the Korean speaking unicorn sort-of creature, also make an appearance.

     What makes the show special is the surreal and funny script and the winning performances of the cast. They manage to pack quite a lot of story into each 11 minute episode. Somehow, the duo come across as likeable characters and their journeys begin to mean something. This is in spite of, or perhaps because of, the simplistic animation style.

     The episodes on this DVD are as follows:

1. My Two Favorite People
2. Evicted
3. Ricardio The Heart Guy
4. Trouble In Lumpy Space
5. Tree Trunks
6. Dungeon
7. The Pods
8. The Limit
9. Go With Me
10. The Eyes
11. The Chamber Of Frozen Blades
12. To Cut A Woman’s Hair

     Therein lies the joy ... and the problem. These are all great episodes - funny, surreal and special. But they represent a selection of episodes from the first two seasons. Instead of a complete collection of episodes we instead get a hodge podge, albeit a good hodge podge, of episodes which aren't even in any lineal order, jumping from Season 1 to 2 and back again. For some this may be a deal breaker. Completists will probably want every episode. Those who like the show but don't want to wade through lesser moments to extract the gems will enjoy this "best of" collection. Of course, debate will rage amongst true fans as to which is the best episode. I really liked the Marcelline episode where Finn and Jake accidentally end up in her house during a game of hide and seek. Fearing her wrath they hide out in her cupboard.

     An example of the humour, not in the episodes on the DVD:

Duchess of Nuts: Hello, Finn. Are you here to arrest the Duke?

Jake: Ooh. I should've asked if these were, like, her eggs or something.

Video

     Adventure Time comes to DVD in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio consistent with its wide screen origins. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The show is, as said above, intentionally animated in a simplistic manner. It is reasonably sharp. The colours are basic but bright and stable.

     There is no aliasing to be seen and compression does not present a problem.

     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 sound for Adventure Time is English Dolby Digital 2.0 running at 224 Kb/s.

     This is quite satisfactory for this show. The dialogue and sounds are well delivered and all the dialogue is clear and easy to understand.

     The music usually consists of off-beat songs and tunes from creator Pendleton Ward and others. It is all wacky nu-folk.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Little Did You Know

     Unfortunately, this is the only extra which provides a page of further information for all of the key characters. Worth one read but nothing you couldn't already find out on Wikipedia.

    This DVD is the same as the Region 1 DVD.Buy local.

     Adventure Time is a cool and funny show which is destined to develop further into a hit, perhaps hampered only by the short running time of the episodes. I, and my Adventure Time T-shirt wearing teens wish that the series had been presented in full but the episodes included can't be faulted. Half a star comes of overall for the omission of some of my favourite (and no doubt other peoples') episodes! The DVD looks and sounds as good as the series on TV. The extra is minor but there is no way to buy it in any other format right now.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall