5 out of 5

Director: Various

I realize the Adventure Time world is still scattered over several discs and not a convenient season by season collection, but we’ll go ahead and make this review for what’s aired up to this point – that is, up through the first halfish of season 5.  I would say that if after 2 or 3 episodes of settling into the rhythm of AT you’re not over-joyed or laughing / smiling constantly, then the flavor just isn’t right for you.  The show has absolutely maintained its quality of humor throughout, simultaneously expanding the world in rewarding ways – more on that in a second – without having to re-tool the feel, so it’s not like Aqua Teen, where it gets more random as it goes along, or the reverse, like Venture Bros., where it finds more of a plot as it goes along.  Thus, again, if you don’t get the chuckles, you probably never will.  Still, there’s a learning curve: AT finds a perfect spot to sit between child logic and modern kid (or adult) awareness of the world, thanks to connectivity making our meme-filled lives very mutable in terms of what makes sense from moment to moment.  Thus you’re thrown right into the mix – Finn the Human and Jake the shape-shifting dog are best bros in the Land of Oo, saving princesses and accomplishing random quests.  Kids don’t need an explanation beyond this, such as whether this is a dreamland, or why Finn and Jake share a father, it just is.  And so it is.  And while the structure of most of the episodes – calamities that require Finn and/or Jake to rescue and/or help someone – is consistent, and the over/under response of all the characters is continually mined for humor, the world is slowly expanding – Finn’s crush evolves, Marceline’s relationship with her father evolves – and starting in season 4, we get more carryover between our episode parts, as though the creators have accepted that we can deal with the random, so they’re willing to stretch it out a bit more.  The animation and voice acting are always pitch perfect – the style reminds me of Ren and Stimpy creator Jon Kricfalusi’s apparent rule of having his animators never re-use expressions, because each episode, though certainly comparable in design, features brand new stinkin’ ideas.  The humor also doesn’t drawn attention to its randomness (which is what I think people have a problem with with the evolution of The Simpsons), it just seems to exist because it does.  So?  Enough?  As long as it remains this good, it never will be.  You can watch this show forever if you enjoy it.