"Sons of Mars" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of the American

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

''. The episode was written and storyboarded by Ako Castuera and

Jesse Moynihan Jesse Moynihan (born January 4, 1978) is an American artist, animator, composer and director. He is best known for being a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series ''Adventure Time'' and as the creator of the graphic novel ' ...

, from a story by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, and

Pendleton Ward Ward Taylor Pendleton Johnston (born September 23, 1982), known professionally as Pendleton Ward or simply Pen Ward, is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor who has worked for Cartoon Network Studios, Freder ...

. It originally aired on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

on July 23, 2012. The episode guest stars

Tom Gammill Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, Miguel Ferrer, and

Melissa Villaseñor Melissa Anne Villaseñor ( ; born October 9, 1987) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, impressionist, artist, singer, and musician. Villaseñor was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from Saturday Night L ...

. The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by

Jeremy Shada Jeremy Shada () is an American actor, musician and singer. He is best known for his work as the voice of Finn the Human from the American animated television series ''Adventure Time'' and Lance in '' Voltron: Legendary Defender''. He is also know ...

), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother

Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), a s ...

(voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, when the Martian deity Grob Gob Glob Grod (voiced by Tom Gammill, Miguel Ferrer, Melissa Villaseñor, and Tom Kenny) comes to arrest Magic Man (voiced by Kenny) for his crimes, he uses his magic to disguise himself as Jake to escape his trial while having the real Jake take his place. Jake is tried by

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

(voiced by Ward), King of Mars, but soon, all is righted when Finn travels to Mars to save his friend. The episode marks both the return of Lincoln, who had appeared in the series'

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

, as well as the on-screen debut of the oft-mentioned deity Grob Gob Glob Grod. Ward had originally wanted

Bill Nye William Sanford Nye (born November 27, 1955), popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American mechanical engineer, science communicator, and television presenter. He is best known as the host of the science television show ''Bill ...

, Bill Cosby,

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, and Bill Murray to voice the character. "Sons of Mars" helped

mark double digit growth in all kid demos for the night, according to Nielsen ratings. It received largely positive reviews from critics, with many applauding the

absurdity An absurdity is a state or condition of being extremely unreasonable, meaningless or unsound in reason so as to be irrational or not taken seriously. "Absurd" is an adjective used to describe an absurdity, e.g., "Tyler and the boys laughed at ...

apparent in the episode.

Plot

Magic Man (voiced by Tom Kenny) is spotted by his four-headed Martian brother Grob Gob Glob Grod (voiced by Tom Gammill, Miguel Ferrer, Melissa Villaseñor, and Tom Kenny) comes to arrest Magic Man (voiced by Kenny), who are planning on bringing Magic Man back to Mars to face trial for his many crimes. Magic Man soon runs into Finn and Jake, and knocks them both unconscious. He then physically turns himself into Jake, and transforms Jake into him. Grob Gob Glob Grod, not realizing the difference, seizes Jake and rockets off to Mars. Finn, aware of the charade, forces Magic Man to take him to his house in order to find something that can help him save Jake. Magic Man's house, however, is completely derelict, and is a reflection of Magic Man's "sick mind". For instance, plants and animals live wildly in the structure, and a tiny Manticore is kept in a glass jar, apparently for Magic Man's amusement. Finn discovers a Martian teleporter that was given to Magic Man in the hopes that he would learn love and voluntarily return to his home planet. Finn warps to Mars, and witnesses Jake being put on trial in front of

(voiced by

), the King of Mars. Magic Man is found guilty, and while Jake tries to plead his case, it falls on deaf ears. Lincoln gives Jake two options: he can either be put to death with the Wand of Disbursement, or Lincoln can use the power of the wand to turn him into living star dust. Before Jake can answer, Finn intervenes, accidentally causing the wand to touch Jake, killing him. Lincoln, realizing his mistake, travels to the 37th Dead World and pleads with Death; Lincoln initially offers Death a

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

in exchange for Jake's soul before agreeing to surrender his

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...

. Death accepts the deal, bringing Jake back to life, but leaving Lincoln as a lifeless statue. Finn and Jake then rocket back to Earth and punch Magic Man in the face.

Production

"Sons of Mars" was written and storyboarded by Jesse Moynihan and Ako Castuera, from a story developed by series creator Pendleton Ward, Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, Moynihan, and

Doug TenNapel Douglas Richard TenNapel ( ; born July 10, 1966) is an American animator, writer, cartoonist, video game designer, and comic book artist whose work has encompassed animated television, video games, and comic books. He is best known for creating ...

. TenNapel had previously written the storyboard for the scrapped first season episode "The Glorriors". The reason he was credited for "Sons of Mars" was because the scene featuring Lincoln interacting with Death was very similar to a scene he boarded in a scrapped season one episode. The entry was directed by

Larry Leichliter Lawrence "Larry" Leichliter is an American animator and director who began his work in animation in 1975 with the made-for-TV ''Peanuts'' special ''You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown''. Throughout his career, he has worked on ''Peanuts'' animate ...

. According to Moynihan, the episode was originally supposed to be connected to the third-season episode "Ghost Princess"; in Moynihan's original story, the premise involved both Ghost Princess and Magic Man. In the end, after "extensive meetings" with the show's writing staff, Moynihan decided to rewrite the episode so that it would serve as a sequel to Magic Man's story. The name "Margles" was a reference to Moynihan's ex-girlfriend Margaret. Moynihan envisioned the episode as a way to negate any negative energy about their relationship and breakup, thereby "exorcis ng he energyfrom his heart". A large portion of the episode's original draft featured Finn and Jake discovering a strange naturalistic temple inscribed with carvings of Abraham Lincoln. These scenes were excised due to the time constraints of the episode, and creative director Nate Cash storyboarded a shorter scene—featuring Finn and Jake carrying a broken robot—to take the removed material's place. Ward was very conscientious in how Lincoln was portrayed in the episode; he wanted him to be exclusively referred to as "King of Mars". This was because he felt Lincoln's appearance in the pilot was solely for cheap laughs. For "Sons of Mars", Ward wanted his appearance to have real meaning. Dan "Ghostshrimp" Bandit designed many of the backgrounds in this episode, including most of Magic Man's house; on his

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account, Ghostshrimp posted several background stills of this location, writing, "This is one of my all time fave locations for some reason! It just makes me feel silly and spooky at the same time!" Portions of Magic Man's house feature a number of cardboard boxes labelled "Dirt", which Ghostshrimp added because he thought they were "mysterious and intriguing". These sorts of idiosyncratic background details were added because Ghostshrimp was "try ngto create a story beyond the story!" "Sons of Mars" features the return of several characters, with perhaps the most obvious being Magic Man, voiced by Kenny, who had originally appeared in the first-season episode "Freak City".Alt URL
/ref> The episode also features the return appearance of Lincoln as the king of Mars. Lincoln had originally appeared in the series'

in 2007. Grob Gob Glob Grod, an oft-mentioned deity in the ''Adventure Time'' universe appears on screen for the first time in this episode; Moynihan had crafted the character in order to retcon why various names had been ascribed to the being over the course of several seasons. The deity's four heads were voiced by Kenny, Tom Gammill,

, and Miguel Ferrer. (Ward had originally wanted

, Bill Cosby,

, and Bill Murray to voice the character.) Ferrer also reprises his role as Death, a character who had first appeared in the second season episode "

Death in Bloom "Death in Bloom" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''Adventure Time''. The episode was written and storyboarded by Jesse Moynihan and Cole Sanchez, from a story by Mark Banker, Kent Osborne ...

Reception

"Sons of Mars" officially aired on July 23, 2012 on

. As part of Cartoon Network's Monday night line up, "Sons of Mars" helped the network show double digit growth in all kid demos for the night, according to Nielsen ratings. The episode first saw physical release as part of the 2013 ''Jake the Dad'' DVD, which included 16 episodes from the series' fourth and fifth seasons. It was later re-released as part of the complete fourth season DVD in October 2014. Oliver Sava of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' awarded the episode an "A" and described it as a "big mythology episode" for the series. He called it "a story for long-time fans of ''Adventure Time''" due to its reveal of several important characters like Lincoln and Grob Gob Glob Grod. Sava felt that the episode was "random" and "incredibly bizarre", but that it gave both a better look at ''Adventure Time''s "big picture" as well as the series' "psychedelic panorama of absurdity". Sava specifically applauded the episode's merging of bizarre characters and mundane tasks, such as Grod drawing on an overhead projector, as well as the non sequitur ending featuring the tiny manticore. Gordon Miller of Cinema Sentries called the episode one of the "standouts" of the ''Jake the Dad'' DVD, specifically praising the episode's use of Lincoln. Colin O'Boyle of GeekSmash enjoyed the appearance of both Lincoln and the tiny manticore, writing, "That, ladies and gents, is one of the reasons I love ''Adventure Time''".

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* {{Adventure Time episodes, 5 2012 American television episodes Adventure Time (season 5) episodes Mars in television Fictional depictions of Abraham Lincoln in television Fiction about personifications of death