BD, DVD | CERT: PG | CREATED BY: PENDLETON WARD | STARRING: JEREMY SHADA, JOHN DIMAGGIO, HYNDEN WALCH, TOM KENNY | RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 21ST

Adventure Time is like no other animated series. Not quite made for kids but not quite made for adults either, the show treads a wafer-thin line of inappropriate content blended with teen emotions, surreal imagery, and adult philosophy. The result is a weird, insightful and intoxicating experience featuring iconic music, memorable multi-dimensional characters and huge heart that sits in the midst of it all.

The first four seasons are included here, the first of which goes a long way towards the world-building, introducing the characters one by one (it’s insane to think that BMO doesn’t even show up until practically the end. Season 2 and 3 pushes their adventures more while focussing on Finn’s confusion over his emotional relationships, while Season 4 begins to properly lay the groundwork for the mythology that begins to unfold.

All episodes (with the exception of Season 1 which only has five) come with an optional commentary track from the creator and various cast members. While the excess of voice cast doing their characters can make it pretty hard to follow occasionally, their energy and genuine love for the show is compelling and just as insane as the show itself.  

Season 1 also provides featurettes including Behind the Scenes (from creator Pendleton Ward which manages to be just as wacko as the show), Behind the Behind the Scenes (which is even more hilariously stupid), and Adventure Time Music with Casey + Tim, exploring the creative symbiotic relationship of the two composers. Animatics are available for four episodes, featuring a plethora of creatives talking us through the crudely animated storyboards. Finally a Music Video featuring a weird real-life Adventure Time battle, Finndemonium feature (looking at the devoted fan base), and the two-minute mini-episode The Wand wrap things up. 

Season 2 adds The Crew of Adventure Time, interviewed by Pendleton Ward during which he films their reactions to an unseen video clip. That we never see what they see is infuriating, but then that’s kind of the point. 

Season 3 gives us an Alternate Adventure Time Intro by Screen Novelties created entirely in LEGO which is pretty cool, along with the fascinating How an Idea Becomes Adventure Time which explores the creators’ creative process. 

Finally, Season 4 gives us a look at Distant Bands: The Music of Adventure Time which is a glorious 20-minute journey into the show’s best music and how it came about. 

While it would have been great to have had more insight into the show’s beginnings, this is still well above and beyond what most fans would be expecting and really speaks to the maturity of the audience that Adventure Time enjoys. This box set is so Math it’s practically Algebraic!