Jake the Dog (Adventure Time episode)

"Jake the Dog" is the second episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series Adventure Time. The episode was written and storyboarded by Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar, from a story by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, Pendleton Ward. It originally aired on Cartoon Network on November 12, 2012. The episode guest stars Ron Perlman as the Lich, Kumail Nanjiani as Prismo, M. Emmet Walsh as the Cosmic Owl, and Cloris Leachman as Farmworld Marceline.

The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Finn's alternative timeline goes astray after he wears the magical ice crown and goes crazy with the power imbued within, and Prismo tells Jake that if he can change The Lich's original wish, everything will go back to normal. Jake—with help from Prismo—eventually wishes that the Lich had actually desired for Finn and Jake to return home. Thus, the world is righted again.

"Jake the Dog" was written to conclude the three-episode arc involving the Lich and the multiverse of Ooo that had begun in the fourth season finale "The Lich". Tim Kiefer composed the music for the episode, and created the song "Prismatic" by remixing a previous song he had recorded for the second season episode "Mortal Recoil". "Jake the Dog" was watched by 3.435 million viewers and received critical acclaim, with writers from The A.V. Club and IndieWire applauding the episode for being both an excellent season premiere, as well as a creative challenge, respectively.

Plot

In the fourth season finale "The Lich", Finn and Jake are tricked by the Lich into opening a portal to the multiverse. After the Lich passes through, Finn and Jake give chase in the fifth season premiere "Finn the Human". Finn, Jake, and the Lich discover a mysterious being named Prismo (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) that grants wishes. The Lich wishes for the extinction of human life. Finn, however, wishes that the Lich had never existed, and is transported to his wish-altered reality, in which he is a peasant boy who discovers the Ice King's magic crown. Finn puts on the ice crown and becomes corrupted by its power, going mad. He attacks the Destiny Gang—who his family owed a debt as established in the previous episode—and put out the fires that they started, but his uncontrolled power causes the mutagenic bomb that Simon stopped to explode, destroying the surrounding area. Jake, however, falls into a mutagenic puddle and is mutated into a creature similar to the Lich, which attacks Finn.

In the Time Room, Prismo reveals to Jake that Finn has been transported to a separate, altered world based on his wish that The Lich never existed. Together, they watch the events in Finn's world on Prismo's television, and Prismo asks Jake what he would like to wish for. Jake wishes for a sandwich, but Prismo urges him to use his wish on something important, such as helping Finn. After a conversation, the two decide to hang out; Prismo mutes the TV and the two begin to ignore the events happening in Finn's timeline.

Eventually, the Cosmic Owl joins Prismo and Jake, and the two chat in a hot tub. While reaching for chips, the Cosmic Owl unmutes the TV, and Jake realizes that Finn is in trouble. Prismo explains that Jake can save Finn by wishing, but that his wish must be very specific, as Prismo's wishes have a tendency to have a monkey's paw—an ironic twist—connected to them. After coaching by Prismo, Jake wishes that the Lich's original wish had been for Finn and Jake to return home. Prismo grants the wish, and Finn and Jake are indeed transported back to Ooo. Finn has no recollection of his time in the alternate reality, but Jake does.

Production

The episode guest starred Cloris Leachman (left) and M. Emmet Walsh (right) among others.

"Jake the Dog" was written and storyboarded by Rebecca Sugar and Cole Sanchez, from a story by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, Pendleton Ward. The entry was directed by Larry Leichliter.^[2] Ian Jones-Quartey served as storyboard supervisor, and Natasha Allegri, Robert Ryan Cory, and Aleth Romanillos worked as storyboard revisionists.^[3] The episode guest stars Ron Perlman as the Lich, Kumail Nanjiani as Prismo, M. Emmet Walsh as the Cosmic Owl, and Cloris Leachman as Farmworld Marceline.^[4][5] Perlman had appeared in the previous two episodes, whereas Nanjiani and Leachman had appeared in the prior episode.^[4][6]

Although Sugar and Sanchez were responsible for storyboarding this episode, Jesse Moynihan and Tom Herpich—artists for the show who had storyboarded "Finn the Human—provided input on this episode. The four storyboardists coordinated their ideas so that the resultant two products would work together. This also meant that the four artists assisted each other; for instance, the majority of the scenes with Prismo were crafted by Sanchez and Herpich.^[7] In addition, the dialogue between Jake and Prismo in which they discuss romance was lifted, per Ward's instructions, from the 2011 film Uncle Kent, which starred Osborne as the titular character.^[8]

The music for the episode was composed by Tim Kiefer. To create the song "Prismatic", Kiefer took the song "Lil' Booty Dance", first heard in the second season episode "Mortal Recoil" and remixed it to fit with the theme of "inter-dimensional travel" present in the episode.^[9] Kiefer explained, "I threw my own music from the Season 2 finale 'Mortal Folly / Mortal Recoil' on my turntables and went wild – pitching, reversing, rewinding, scratching and more – transforming Jake’s 'Lil’ Booty Dance' bongo song into a booming, merry-go-round dance celebration."^[9]

Reception

"Jake the Dog" first aired on Cartoon Network on November 12, 2012, along with "Finn the Human". The episode was watched by 3.435 million viewers, and scored a 0.7 percent in the 18–49 demographic Nielsen household rating. Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States, which means that the episode was seen by 0.7 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the airing.^[10] The episode first saw physical release as part of the 2014 Finn the Human DVD, which included 16 episodes from the series' third, fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons.^[11]

Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club awarded the episode—along with "Finn the Human"—an "A–". He noted that, together, both episodes come together to make "a dense première that evokes nearly all aspects of this series."^[4] He was appreciative of the fact that "Jake the Dog" focused "on humor and relationships", and had various "irreverent silly note[s]" that helped balance the episode's more serious story line.^[4] Eric Kohn of IndieWire praised the episode—along with "Finn the Human"—for being "irreverent and narratively engaging".^[12] He called the collective episodes "the ideal testament to animation's glorious pliability in an commercial arena otherwise defined by restrictions."^[12] Kohn felt that the show's exploration of "sad subtext"—such as the series' mysterious Mushroom War and the relationship between Marceline and the Ice King—and the characters' abilities to "deny the bad vibes their surrounding world invites" via "cheery songs and vibrant artwork" were some of the series strongest points.^[12] Finally, he praised the exploration of the multiverse and its impact on the show, noting that it was an "interesting creative challenge".^[12]

References