See Inside Finn’s Head with Adventure Time: Season One DVD

Adventure Time: Season One has finally come out in one DVD pack, and I couldn’t have been happier when it arrived. I say FINALLY because, lets be real–the show is already on season four and this is the first complete season we’re getting on DVD. There are plenty of other episodes available on DVD, but none are a complete season, which has been mildly obnoxious. But now that season one is here, it’s pretty mathematical.

Before we even get into the content on the two discs (and there’s way more than I expected), we have to look at the packaging. I’m not sure whether it’s a good or bad thing that the packaging is my favorite part of this DVD. It keeps things simple while still being incredibly clever.

Adventure Time, Season One: Complete

Finn’s Backpack

With the slipcover off, you get to see Finn’s luscious hair.

Finn’s face is on the cover, his backpack is on the back, and the discs are where they should be: inside his head, like so–

The Episode guide is the inside of his face. Disc one is his skull, and disc two is his brain! If I were to go ahead and over-analyze this design, I would probably say that it somehow indicates all the events of the episodes are happening inside Finn’s mind, as though it were all a dream and never really happened at all. But I’d never go that far.

The only disappointing part of the DVD is that commentary is only featured on four of the episodes: “Trouble in Lumpy Space”, “Prisoners of Love”, “Tree Trunks” and “Ricardio the Heart Guy”. The commentary is done, largely, by Pendleton Ward (The show’s creator), John Dimaggio (the voice of Jake, but also Bender on Futurama), Jeremy Shada (Finn) and Tom Kenny (The Ice King, Spongebob and many others). George Takei joins them on “Ricardio”, an episode in which he also guest-starred as the titular character. You can see why it’s disappointing that there are only four episodes with commentary.

The other features are hit or miss, with the Animatics, which are early story-board versions of four other episodes, being my favorite. These, too, come complete with commentary, and it’s hard to miss how much fun the creative team has working on this show. If you still need more convincing, the Featurette takes you behind the scenes, and then the behind the scenes of the Featurette takes you…behind the scenes of behind the scenes. Finally, the extra titled “Finndemonium” is a short compendium of fanart, cosplayers and convention appearances that all end in a thank you to the fans of Adventure Time. 

While this may not be the most comprehensive, end-all-be-all of television on DVD, it’s more than most cartoons get when they’re finally granted a collectible season–at least more than I’ve seen. I like that you can tell these guys are not only grateful that we’re watching their crazy show, but that they love creating it as much as we love watching it. Unless they’re actually Finn’s creations and this is their way of admitting that season one was all a dream.

Here’s to hoping Season Two doesn’t take as long to hit the shelves.