"The Enchiridion!" is the fifth episode of the
first season of the American
animated television series
An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...
''
Adventure Time
''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...
''. The episode was outlined, written, and storyboarded by Patrick McHale,
Adam Muto, and
Pendleton Ward
Pendleton Ward is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor who has worked for Cartoon Network Studios, Frederator Studios, and Netflix Animation. He created the series ''Adventure Time'', the Internet series ''Brave ...
. It originally aired on
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
on April 19, 2010. The episode guest stars
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, comedian, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1 ...
,
John Moschitta Jr., and
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...
.
The series follows the adventures of
Finn (voiced by
Jeremy Shada), 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
* Jake, a member of the band Enhy ...
(voiced by
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio ( ; born September 4, 1968) is an American actor. His various voice roles include Bender on ''Futurama'', Jake the Dog on ''Adventure Time'', Marcus Fenix in the ''Gears of War'' series, Dr. Drakken on '' Kim Possible'', ...
), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Finn and Jake go on a quest for the titular magical book that would prove them worthy of being righteous heroes. After passing through a series of trials and tribulations, Finn acquires the legendary book.
The first episode produced for the series, "The Enchiridion!" was crafted to retain the same spirit as the
earlier series' pilot. The middle section originally featured several more trials, but many of them were cut for time. The episode was viewed by 2.096 million viewers, and received generally positive remarks from critics, although several noted that it was noticeably different from the remainder of the series, due to the show's eventual evolution. The episode was later adapted as part of a Level Pack for the 2015 video game ''
Lego Dimensions''.
Plot
After a party that results in Finn saving Princess Bubblegum from falling from her tower, she decides that he is worthy of reading the Enchiridion: a tome of heroic knowledge. The book can only be acquired by "for heroes whose hearts are righteous". Bubblegum reveals that the book is located at the top of Mount Cragdor, past several trials.
After passing the doorkeeper, Key-per (voiced by
John Moschitta Jr.), Finn and Jake encounter gnomes who cause Finn to doubt himself. When Jake tries to cheer him up, he is eaten by an ogre. Believing his friend to be dead, Finn steals a giant dollar from the ogre and attacks him, hitting him in the groin. The Ogre vomits Jake up, and the two glide to the end of the trials. Finn, however, makes sure to send the dollar back to the Ogre, causing Jake to call his act "righteous".
Once inside the top-most building of Mount Cragdor, a malevolent entity, Dark Magician (voiced by
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...
) takes Finn to his "Brain World", wherein he is first told to slay an evil heart beast, and then slay an "unaligned" ant. Finn kills the beast, but refuses to kill the ant, leading to him defeating the being. Finn is then confronted by Mannish Man, the keeper of the Enchiridion, who gives Finn the book. Finn's first act is to read a chapter about kissing princesses.
Production

"The Enchiridion!" was the first episode of the series produced for
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
. Frederator Studios had pitched an ''Adventure Time'' series to
Nicktoons Network, but the network passed on it twice.
The studio then approached
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
. The network said they would be willing to produce the series if Ward could prove that the series could be expanded into a series while maintaining elements from the
original short. Ward, with help from
Patrick McHale and Adam Muto, turned in a rough storyboard that featured Finn and an "oblivious" Princess Bubblegum going on a spaghetti-supper date.
[ However, the network was not happy with this story, and asked for another. Ward then created an early storyboard for the episode, "The Enchiridion", which was his attempt to emulate the style of the original short.][ Cartoon Network approved the first season in September 2008, and "The Enchiridion" became the first episode to enter into production.]
Because it was the first episode of the series made, the episode originally was twice as long. During the scene in which Princess Bubblegum tells Finn about the Enchiridion, the original storyboard featured an even longer sequence of Bubblegum detailing the history of Ooo and its heroes. Because it was largely unneeded, it was cut out. The first draft of the storyboard featured Finn encountering twelve trials, which included making friends with a giant bat, dealing with a wizard gnome, and fighting skeletons. Because the episode was too long, these were cut out, and replaced by Finn stealing the giant's dollar.[ The episode originally was also supposed to have a scene featuring "this little tumor creature dancing behind these red velvet drapes that opened up in a knot in a tree." According to Ward, the red curtains were a deliberate nod to the " Red Room" from ]David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...
's famous television drama ''Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American Surrealist cinema, surrealist Mystery film, mystery-Horror film, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It Pilot (Twin Peaks), premiered on American Broad ...
''. However, the scene was eventually cut. Choose Goose was originally supposed to make his appearance in this episode, offering Finn and Jake some juice. The character was cut for time, but later reappeared in the second-season episode "Blood Under the Skin", wherein he became a recurring character.[
]Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, comedian, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1 ...
voiced the cookie that angrily yells at Finn after he bumps into him.[ In an early animatic of the episode, Rollins voiced Mannish Man; he later returned to the series to voice the character of Bob Rainicorn in the second season episode "Her Parents".] John Moschitta Jr. played the part of Keeper. Ward later recounted that Moschitta's dialogue in the episode was not delivered as fast as Ward wanted.[ Mannish Man was based on character by Justin Hunt that was originally created for a multi-user dungeon game. Originally, the character was supposed to be the start of a short that Ward and McHale made for CalArts. While it was never finished, a rough version of it was later released on the first season ''Adventure Time'' DVD.][ The sequence taking place in the Evil Guy's "Brain World" was written after executive producer Derek Drymon suggested that the scene could be longer.] The heart beast was inspired after Ward saw several instances of Sacred Heart
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...
iconography in Mexico.
Release
"The Enchiridion!" first aired on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
on April 19, 2010. The episode was watched by 2.096 million viewers, and scored a 1.4/2 percent Nielsen household rating, meaning that it was seen by 1.4 percent of all households and 2 percent of all households watching television at the time of the episode's airing.
The episode first saw physical release as part of the 2012 ''It Came From the Nightosphere'' DVD, which included 16 episodes from the series' first three seasons. It was later re-leased as part of the complete first season DVD in July 2012.
Critical reception
However, not all reviews were so complimentary. Tyler Foster of DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
, in a review of the '' It Came From the Nightosphere'' DVD, called the episode "primitive" and noted that the episode "has a sense of being locked to a traditional story structure", a structure that he muses later episodes do not have.
In the ''Ancient Psychic Tandem Warcast'' podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
, author Lev Grossman and writer Zack Smith reviewed the episode, with the latter calling it a "good, charming little episode with a positive message to it". Grossman called it a good' episode, but noted that it possessed a sort of " cartoon physics" that the series later abandoned; he specifically highlighted the scene wherein Cinnamon Bun did a backflip and destroyed a tower. Ultimately, Smith called it an "interesting homage to ''Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
'' ndbasic mythology".
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enchiridion
2010 American television episodes
Adventure Time season 1 episodes