Adventure Time-It Came from the Nightosphere (2010)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Biographies-Character-Little Do You Know
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	178:00
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	$19.95	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

     Welcome back to the fun, crazy world of Adventure Time from Cartoon Network with the second volume of the escapades of Finn and Jake - Adventure Time : It Came From the Nightosphere.

     I reviewed the first volume earlier this year. For those who came in late:

     "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 16 (4 more than the earlier set) episodes on this DVD are as follows:

1. It Came From the Nightosphere
2. Rainy Day Daydream
3. Wizard
4. Power Animal
5. Enchiridion
6. Slumber Party Panic
7. The Real You
8. Memory of a Memory
9. Prisoners of Love
10. Crystals Have Power
11. Business Time
12. Mystery Train
13. Guardians of Sunshine
14. The Monster
15. Hit Man
16. The Creeps

     Highlights? A lot. The set features the Emmy nominated title episode. Finn, in a fit of doing-gooded-ness casts an incantation to bring Marceline's father across from the Nightosphere only to find he is a remorseless soul sucking monster. And no fan would want to be without the quirky, Halloween themed The Creeps. As with the previous set there is one problem. These are all great episodes - funny, surreal and special. But they represent a selection of episodes from the first three 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, 2 and 3 and back again. I said before :"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."

     Those who like to be on the cutting edge of cult TV should check out Adventure Time: It Came From the Nightosphere and see if it sucks out your soul too!

Video

     Adventure Time : It Came From the Nightosphere 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. As with some other animated series including The Simpsons and Family Guy the difference in technical quality between the early episodes and the latest is quite apparent.

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 including a French Fries song from Marceline in the titular episode. 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, as with the earlier set there is only one extra which provides a page of further information for the new characters in this set. Worth one read but nothing you couldn't already find out on Wikipedia.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

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

     Adventure Time - It Came From the Nightosphere is another slice of this cool and funny show. Once again the DVD presents only a selection of episodes but, once again, they are of high quality. 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