The La Torre Story (so far...): HalfAChicken.com - 10/3/14

Originally published on 10/3/14 at HalfAChicken.com
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/103

If you’ve never heard of Adventure Time before, just know that it’s the closest thing to an acid trip that the FCC will allow on a child-focused television network. It is generally described as a “surreal post-apocalyptic animated saga” as well as “the trippiest show on TV” (Strauss 2014), but really, words don’t do it justice. The bright color palettes, quirky and memorable characters, and juvenile-level antics and adventures can make you almost overlook the copious amounts of erratic and nonsensical shit that takes place. Almost.

Think of Adventure Time as a G-rated version of Ren & Stimpy…I use the term “G-rated” loosely here.

There’s really no way to properly describe Adventure Time to someone who has never seen the show. Everything from dimensional travel, parallel realities, convoluted plotlines, and the cast of characters’ deep-seated origin stories are explored the series’ 176 episodes, each of which is only 11 minutes long. It is the sort of sensory ass-kicking that needs to be experienced in order to be understood. It’s not like there’s any drugs or sex in the program, mind you. This is a show focused towards kids, after all. But with that in mind, the content can get pretty outlandish and downright disturbing at times.

…seriously, what the fuck is wrong with that bird?

In fact, the show delivers such a strong, well-written subliminal mindfuck that you would think its creator Pendleton Ward, who recently left the show, would have been forcibly checked into the nearest mental hospital due to a severe schizophrenic breakdown before he would leave (calm and collected) of his own accord.

But alas, none of that actually happened. The story is much simpler (and far less exciting) than that. Ward, who is mellow and introverted and just about the farthest thing from a psychopath as you can get, cited stress and exhaustion from trying to keep up with the growing magnitude of the show’s popularity as his cause for departure.

And who can blame him? Adventure Time is HUGE right now. “It’s a beast of a show,” Ward told Rolling Stone. “And the more popular it gets, the more the ancillary things – like the merchandise and games and everything – keeps getting bigger.” (Strauss 2014).

Sometimes merchandising can be a good thing though…=3

Tom Kenny, who voices the bubbly titular character on Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants and the misguided and narcissistic Ice King in Adventure Time, noted Ward’s weariness, which is particularly reflected in the character of the Ice King. “The way the Ice King feels [is] like he’s going mad and things are spinning out of his control,” Kenny tells Rolling Stone. “I’m sure Pen [Ward] has felt like he’s losing his grip on reality because he’s the arbiter of everything.” (Strauss 2014).

Ward himself seems to echo these sentiments. “[Like the Ice King, I have] a craving to be social and hang out with nice people and have them think I’m nice, which doesn’t make any sense to me.” (Strauss 2014).

A chest kick from Finn still doesn’t hurt as much as a chest kick from life.

However, fans of Ward’s work need not fret, for the ambitious animator still has plenty of projects up his sleeve, including writing an Adventure Time movie and creating an original video game, as well as dabbling in some cooperative projects with his friends in the form of a short called Animation Pals. Above all, though, Ward looks to do something that he will enjoy and get excited about without exceeding “the confines of what [his] brain can handle.” (Strauss 2014).

After overseeing the birth of nearly 200 episodes of kid-friendly, over-the-top mindfuckery, his brain has definitely earned a break.