Elements (miniseries)
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"Elements" is an eight-episode-long miniseries that aired as part of the American animated television series ''
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 ...
''s ninth season on Cartoon Network from April 24 to April 27, 2017. ''Adventure Time'' 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 kno ...
), 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 ...
(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'', H ...
), a dog with magical powers to change shape, and grow and shrink at will. In this limited event series, which itself follows the events of the ''
Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
'' miniseries, Finn, Jake, and BMO return home to discover that Ooo (i.e. the magical land in which they live) has been turned into a veritable dystopia thanks to extreme elemental magic. Finn and Jake team up with Ice King (voiced by
Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in '' ...
), Betty (voiced by
Felicia Day Kathryn Felicia Day (born June 28, 1979) is an American actress, writer, and web series creator. She is the creator and star of the web series '' The Guild'' (2007–2013), a show loosely based on her life as a gamer. She also wrote and starred ...
), and Lumpy Space Princess (voiced by Ward) to set things straight. ''Elements'' is the third and final ''Adventure Time'' miniseries produced, following '' Stakes'' (2015) and ''Islands'' (2017). The miniseries' story was developed by head writer
Kent Osborne Kent Matthew Osborne (born August 30, 1969) is an American screenwriter, actor, animator, producer, and director. He has worked for such animated television shows as ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''Camp Lazlo'', ''Phineas and Ferb'', ''The Marvelou ...
, series showrunner Adam Muto, Jack Pendarvis, and
Julia Pott Julia Pott (born 13 June 1985) is a British animator, illustrator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actress. She is the creator of Cartoon Network's'' Summer Camp Island'', as well as the voice of Susie McCallister. Early life and education ...
;
Patrick McHale Patrick McHale VC ( ga, Pádraig Mac Céile; 1826 – 26 October 1866) was born in Killala, County Mayo and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that ca ...
also contributed to the story for the episode "Cloudy". Storyboard artists who worked on this miniseries include Sam Alden, Polly Guo, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone,
Steve Wolfhard Steve Wolfhard is a Canadian artist who is best known for being a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series ''Adventure Time''. History Steve Wolfhard grew up in Kitchener and then Midland, Ontario and graduated from Sheri ...
,
Graham Falk ''Untalkative Bunny'' is a co-produced animated series about a yellow anthropomorphic rabbit and its life in the big city (closely based on Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.). The show is aimed for kids 6-17. The series consists of small episodes (about ...
, Hanna K. Nyström, Aleks Sennwald, Kent Osborne, and Laura Knetzger. Cole Sanchez and Elizabeth Ito served as the miniseries' supervising directors, and Sandra Lee served as art director. All eight of the miniseries' installments were watched by approximately 0.90 million viewers, making them among the season's highest-watched episodes. ''Elements'' was released on DVD in Australia on July 3, 2018.


Plot

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 kno ...
), Jake (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'', H ...
), and BMO (voiced by
Niki Yang Niki Hyun Yang (born in Seoul, South Korea as Hyun Jeong Yang; , June 8, 1985) is a South Korean animator, writer, storyboard artist, and voice actress. After graduating from Hongik University and then CalArts, she became one of the storyboar ...
) arrive back in Ooo and discover that their home has been converted to candy and that many of their friends are now happily brainwashed candy people. Finn, Jake, and BMO eventually locate Princess Bubblegum (voiced by
Hynden Walch Hynden Walch is an American actress. She is best known for voicing Starfire in the ''Teen Titans'' franchise and Princess Bubblegum in ''Adventure Time''. She also voiced Penny Sanchez in ''ChalkZone'', Amore and Lockette in the Nickelodeon ver ...
), who has become a large candy tower being with the power to forcibly convert matter into candy. While BMO is completely transformed by Bubblegum's power, Finn and Jake are rescued by Ice King (voiced by
Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in '' ...
), who then takes them to the Sky Kingdom. As Finn and Jake look down upon Ooo, they discover that it has been completely corrupted by the four primordial elements: candy, ice, slime, and fire. Ice King explains that after Finn, Jake, and BMO left on their adventure Betty (voiced by
Felicia Day Kathryn Felicia Day (born June 28, 1979) is an American actress, writer, and web series creator. She is the creator and star of the web series '' The Guild'' (2007–2013), a show loosely based on her life as a gamer. She also wrote and starred ...
) attempted to get Ice King to remember who he really is but in the process was kidnapped by Patience St. Pim (voiced by
Lauren Lapkus Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus (born September 6, 1985) is an American actress and comedian. Lapkus is known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2014, 2019) and Jess in the HBO come ...
), the ice elemental. Patience used Betty's magic to ensnare Princess Bubblegum, Flame Princess (voiced by
Jessica DiCicco Jessica Sonya DiCicco (; born June 10, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for voicing in animated television series and video games. Her first voice role was the announcer for Nickelodeon's educational channel Noggin. DiCicco has since v ...
), and Slime Princess (voiced by
Maria Bamford Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work has drawn critical acclaim and controversy because her humor often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depressio ...
), who make up the remaining elementals. Unfortunately, Patience's plan went awry, and the elemental magic she unleashed took over Ooo. Finn, Jake and Ice King travel to the Ice World and confront Patience, who is disappointed that her plan did not go as planned. The group flee from the Ice Kingdom and rescue Betty, who argues that she can reset the world with an alternate-universe version of the ''Enchiridion''. In order to activate the book's power, however, the group must track down the jewels of power, which are found in the elementals' crowns. Finn and Jake journey to the transformed Slime Kingdom to retrieve Slime Princess' crown for her jewel. They run into Lumpy Space Princess (voiced by Ward), who is attending Slime Princess's roller skating party. The winners of the skating competition get absorbed into Slime Princess's whole being while the losers are caged up. Finn, Jake and Lumpy Space Princess enter, but lose, only to learn that by losing they still get absorbed. While Finn manages to grab the crown, Jake gets fully absorbed into Slime Princess, forcing Lumpy Space Princess to save Finn. Finn and Lumpy Space Princess flee and, along with Gunter the penguin, they journey to a radically altered Fire Kingdom to locate Flame Princess and her crown. The group finds the monarch—who has turned into a mighty dragon—in the bowels of the kingdom. When Flame Princess swallows the jewel necessary to save Ooo, Finn gives into his violence and begins attacking her, which transforms him into a fire person. Lumpy Space Princess, angered by the violence, yells at everyone to stop their fighting. The kingdom misinterprets her anger and decide to start a war with the Candy Kingdom. Lumpy Space Princess chases after Finn and attempts to turn him back to normal, but to no avail; the Fire Kingdom citizens then start to fight the inhabitants of the Candy Kingdom. In a last ditch effort to save the world, Lumpy Space Princess reaches out to Finn's "hero heart," which reminds him of happiness, returning him to normal. Finn collects the jewels necessary to revert the world and gives them to Betty, but she betrays him and leaves him behind. Betty reveals that she wants to use the jewels to go back in time and stop Simon from transforming into Ice King. Ice King, oblivious to her plans, accidentally ruins her spell, causing her to get transported to Mars. Meanwhile, Lumpy Space Princess rescues Finn from the candy inhabitants as Princess Bubblegum begins to convert the rest of Ooo into candy. Finn realizes that throughout this ordeal, Lumpy Space Princess has yet to be converted by elemental magic. He speculates that her immunity means that she is, in effect, the anti-elemental. After Ice King arrives with the gems, Lumpy Space Princess taps into her anti-elemental powers and transforms Ooo back to normal. However, Jake now has five eyes and looks like his shape-shifter parent. Finn tells him that they'll find a way no matter what to fix everything, while Jake nervously laughs as he seems to not be aware of his true form.


Production

In late 2015, Cartoon Network aired an ''
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 ...
'' miniseries entitled '' Stakes'' during the show's seventh season. This was followed in early 2017 by a second miniseries entitled ''
Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
'', which aired as a part of the show's eighth season. On March 30, 2017, Cartoon Network announced that these two miniseries would be succeeded by a third, entitled ''Elements''. This miniseries, along with ''Islands'', had also been hinted at in 2015 (when head story writer Kent Osborne revealed prior to the airing of ''Stakes'' that the show would likely produce several more miniseries) and in 2016 (when Cartoon Network announced that "new episodes, mini-series, specials and more" would precede the series finale). Much like ''Stakes'' and ''Islands'', Note: Information taken from the show's official Tumblr account; animation house and storyboard artist information are in the image's tags. ''Elements'' has a unique title sequence that was designed just for the miniseries.''Adventure Time'' staff (April 3, 2017)
Adventure_Time:_Islands_''[sic
/nowiki>''__Main_Title.html" ;"title="ic">Adventure Time: Islands ''[sic
/nowiki>'' Main Title">ic">Adventure Time: Islands ''[sic
/nowiki>'' Main Title
Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
Retrieved April 3, 2017. Note: Information taken from the show's official Tumblr account.
The new intro was storyboarded by Hanna K. Nyström and, much like the intros for both ''Stakes'' and ''Islands'', was animated by
Masaaki Yuasa is a Japanese director, screenwriter, and animator affiliated with Science SARU, a Japanese animation studio which he co-founded with producer Eunyoung Choi in 2013. Yuasa previously served as president of Science SARU, but stepped down from t ...
's company Science SARU. The sequence was unveiled via the official ''Adventure Time''
Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
on April 3; at this time, the site noted: "Once again, we were lucky enough to feature a new intro animated by Science SARU for the upcoming Elements miniseries;" Nyström later called it "a treat" to storyboard the intro. Unlike the usual sequence that normally begins episodes of ''Adventure Time'', the ''Elements'' intro features imagery reflecting the four primary elements in the ''Adventure Time'' universe. The theme itself is sung by Hynden Walch, the voice actress for Princess Bubblegum. Head writer Kent Osborne, series showrunner Adam Muto, Jack Pendarvis, and Julia Pott contributed to every episodes' story; this miniseries marked Pott's first time writing for the series, and according to Pendarvis, she "parachuted in
o the writer's room O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...
at perhaps the most mind boggling moment in the sweeping arc of the series just totally undaunted, and showed incredible spirit and ingeniousness that encouraged us to press forward." Former creative director
Patrick McHale Patrick McHale VC ( ga, Pádraig Mac Céile; 1826 – 26 October 1866) was born in Killala, County Mayo and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that ca ...
also contributed to the story for the episode "Cloudy", as the plot for this episode was based on an unused first season episode (at that point known as "Cloud Story"), for which he had drawn a few rough storyboard panels. Storyboard artists who worked on this miniseries include Sam Alden, Polly Guo, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone,
Steve Wolfhard Steve Wolfhard is a Canadian artist who is best known for being a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series ''Adventure Time''. History Steve Wolfhard grew up in Kitchener and then Midland, Ontario and graduated from Sheri ...
,
Graham Falk ''Untalkative Bunny'' is a co-produced animated series about a yellow anthropomorphic rabbit and its life in the big city (closely based on Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.). The show is aimed for kids 6-17. The series consists of small episodes (about ...
, Hanna K. Nyström, Aleks Sennwald, Kent Osborne, and Laura Knetzger.
Cole Sanchez Cole Phillip Sanchez (born March 1, 1985) is an American artist, voice actor, writer, storyboard artist, director, and producer who is best known for being a writer, storyboard artist and director on the animated television series ''Adventure Time ...
and Elizabeth Ito served as the miniseries' supervising directors, and Sandra Lee served as art director.


Cast

The miniseries features vocal performances from the show's regular crew: Jeremy Shada (who voices Finn the Human), John DiMaggio (who portrays Jake the Dog), Olivia Olson (who portrays Marceline), Tom Kenny (who lends his voice to Ice King), Hynden Walch (who voices Princess Bubblegum), Ward (who voices Lumpy Space Princess), and Niki Yang (who voices the sentient video game console BMO in English, as well as Jake's girlfriend Lady Rainicorn in Korean). Note: To reveal who voiced what character, one must click on the various characters under "Guest Stars" to reveal their voice actor or actress.
Polly Lou Livingston Polly Lou Livingston (May 6, 1929 – January 24, 2021) was an American voice actress known for her role as Tree Trunks in the animated series, ''Adventure Time''. Early life and education Polly Lou was born to M.O. and Pauline Simon in Victori ...
, a friend of Pendleton Ward's mother, Bettie Ward, plays the voice of the small elephant Tree Trunks.Livingston, Polly Lou (Actress). 2012. "Tree Trunks" ommentary track ''Adventure Time'' Season One VD Los Angeles, CA: Cartoon Network.Ward, Bettie (Artist). 2012. "Tree Trunks" ommentary track ''Adventure Time'' Season One VD Los Angeles, CA: Cartoon Network. Jessica DiCicco voices Flame Princess, Finn's ex-girlfriend and the sovereign of the Fire Kingdom. Andy Milonakis voices N.E.P.T.R., a sentient robot who makes and throws pies. Justin Roiland provides the voice of the Earl of Lemongrab. Felicia Day also has a starring role in this miniseries, playing Ice King's fiancée, Betty Grof (in previous episodes, this role had been played by
Lena Dunham Lena Dunham (, born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is known as the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series ''Girls (TV series), Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy ...
). The ''Adventure Time'' cast records their lines together as opposed to doing it individually. This is to capture more natural sounding dialogue among the characters. Hynden Walch has described these group session as akin to "doing a play reading—a really, really out there play." The miniseries also features several guest actors lending their voices to various characters. Hayden Ezzy plays Fern, Ethan Maher voices Sweet P, Ron Lynch returns as Mr. Pig, Lauren Lapkus reprises her role as Patience St. Pim,
Dana Snyder Dana Snyder is an American actor. He is known for his voice roles of Master Shake in '' Aqua Teen Hunger Force'', Granny Cuyler in '' Squidbillies'', Baby Ball on '' Ballmastrz: 9009'', and other roles in various Adult Swim television shows. Hi ...
lends his voice to the Life-Giving Magus, Cameron Esposito appears as Carroll the cloud woman, storyboard artist
Tom Herpich Thomas Herpich (born October 4, 1979) is an American artist who is best known for being a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series ''Adventure Time''. History Herpich graduated from the School of Visual Arts (SVA), and was k ...
voices Mr. Fox, Jeff Bennett plays Choose Goose,
John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as '' The Areas of My Expertise'', ''More Information Than You Require'', and '' That Is All'', he is known for ...
reprises his role as Elder Plops,
Andy Samberg Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2005 ...
returns to voice Party Pat, and Andrew Daly voices Wyatt. Additionally, American singer and songwriter
Kelly Hogan Kelly Hogan (born January 11, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, often known for her work as a member of Neko Case's backing band, as well as for her solo work. Early and personal life Hogan was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of ...
lends her voice to the song "Blue Magic", which plays in the episode "Winter Light". Throughout the miniseries, background voices are provided by
Grey Griffin Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress, comedian and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On Sept ...
, Maria Bamford, Steve Little, and Dee Bradley Baker.


Release and reception


Broadcast

''Elements'' aired as part of the show's ninth season on Cartoon Network from April 24 to April 27, 2017. The miniseries premiered on
Cartoon Network Australia Cartoon Network Australia & New Zealand is an Australian pay television channel launched on October 3, 1995 and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific. It primarily shows animated programming. The channel began broadcasting as a part o ...
on June 19, 2017 and concluded on June 23, 2017. ''Elements'' premiered on
Cartoon Network UK Cartoon Network (commonly abbreviated as CN) is a British pay television channel aimed at children which airs animated programming targeting children and young aged 6 to 12.
on December 4, 2017 and concluded on December 7, 2017.


Ratings

The premiere episodes, "Skyhooks"/"Bespoken For", were collectively watched by 0.826 million viewers and they both scored a 0.2 in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic according to Nielsen (Nielsen ratings are
audience measurement Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Sometim ...
systems that determine the audience size and composition of
television programming Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters use broadcast automation ...
in the United States); this means that 0.2 percent of all households with viewers aged 18 to 49 years old who were watching television at the time of the episodes' airing. In terms of viewership numbers, the miniseries hit a high with the second and third episodes, both of which were watched by 0.98 million individuals. The miniseries' final two episodes, "Hero Heart" and "Skyhooks II", were collectively viewed by 0.9 million viewers, and they both scored a 0.21 in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic.


Critical reception

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 miniseries a "B" letter grade. He contended that the episodes helped to return the viewers to the land of Ooo and also to resituate and reconfigure the characters' central relationships. Despite writing positively of the plot and the first half of the miniseries, Sava contended that "the back half of the miniseries switches into a generic plot where the heroes have to collect assorted items in order to stop the Elementals, and it starts to get more repetitive with each chapter." With all of this said, Sava wrote that the miniseries "does great work reinforcing how important Finn and Jake’s friendship is for both of them"; he argued that this was best on display in "Cloudy", which he called "the simplest, quietest, and most affecting chapter of the entire miniseries." Zack Smith of
Newsarama Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS. History ...
awarded the miniseries an 8 out of 10 and wrote positively of the show's use of the event series format, noting that it allows for "a stronger sense of focus ..with every episode giving the sense that the story is building to a larger conclusion". Smith also wrote that the miniseries was a "visual treat", and he applauded how it provided the show with an excuse to redesign almost all of its characters. With that said, he also wrote that the miniseries was somewhat of a "
victory lap A victory lap (also lap of honor) is a term used in motorsports to describe an extra lap of the race track after the conclusion of a race. This lap, driven at reduced speed, allows the winning driver to celebrate their victory and gives the s ...
" because "there’s not a lot of forward momentum in the overall mythology of the show". Zack Blumenfeld of '' Paste'' magazine praised the miniseries, declaring that ''Elements'' "is superior to and more cohesive than both ''Stakes'' and ''Islands'', simultaneously a return to ''Adventure Time''s surrealist roots and an emotional step forward." Blumenfeld highlighted "Cloudy" as the miniseries' strongest episode, noting that it "give us flashes of the show’s old innocence ndit also opens up a window into Jake’s inner life that we rarely see." Ultimately, he wrote that "the quality of the eries' previousminiseries comes down to their emotional content, and ''Elements'' has that in spades. It’s a welcome sign of continuous vitality from Cartoon Network’s flagship show, and its urgency serves to remind us that we won’t have ''Adventure Time'' forever".


Episodes


Home media

The entire miniseries was released through iTunes on April 17, 2017. This marked the third time that ''Adventure Time'' episodes had been officially released before officially airing on Cartoon Network (the first instance being the release of the episode "Princess Day" on the DVD of the same name on July 29, 2014, and the second being the release of the ''Islands'' miniseries on January 24, 2017).


DVD release

''Elements'' was released on DVD exclusively in Australia.


See also

* " Orb", which functions as a prequel to ''Elements'' * "
Ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among o ...
", which features an allegorical recollection of ''Elements''


Notes

Directing clarifications Explanatory notes


References

{{Cartoon Network pilots, films and specials 2010s American animated television miniseries 2017 American television episodes Adventure Time (season 9) episodes Science Saru