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Culture > Entertainment

Why I Love Adventure Time: Part One- The Songs & Voice Acting

Julianna Holshue
Tanvi Koduru
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Rowan chapter.

I was twelve years old when Adventure Time first aired on Cartoon Network on April 5th, 2010, and it immediately became my favorite show. The characters were entertaining, the script was goofy and charming, and the plot was nothing like I have ever experienced before. It was a hit and pretty soon I became so enraptured by the show that I started to dream about making my own show that was as creative and wonderful as Adventure Time. The show received much praise from fans and had an impressive run of eight years until it sadly had to an end on September 3rd, 2018, what a dark day it was in history. This show has brought me so much joy and it is what inspires me to write stories with magical lands and creatures. There are many aspects of Adventure Time that contribute to why I love it so much, two being the songs and voice acting.

 

The songs are original, catchy and most of the time funny. Some of my favorites include 

“These lumps” sung by the sassy and confident character Lumpy Space Princess, or LSP in Season 4, Episode 2.  Another silly song is, “Puncha Yo Buns” which is sung by a dancing baby Finn in a diaper, adorable. It is also one of the most often sung songs in the series, as it appears in three episodes. One of the more known songs is “Bacon Pancakes” which is first sung by Jake in the “Burning Low” episode as he is combing well, bacon and pancakes. 

 

But not all of the songs from Adventure Time are happy. Some are sad such as the “Fry Song” sung by Marceline in the episode, “It Came From the Nightosphere.” To set the scene, Finn beat-boxed and recorded the song on his Walkman as Marcy gloomily floated around playing her ax bass and singing about her complicated relationship with her father. Finn slowly stops beat-boxing once he hears how much pain Marceline is in over her relationship with her dad, and in this moment the audience also experiences her pain. After hearing this song for the first time, for some reason it kept popping into my head whenever my dad ate all of the cookies in the house. I guess Marceline’s song resonated with my teenage brain. And finally, drumroll please, let’s talk about the last song that played in the final episode, what a tear-jerker! I was tearing up during the whole time “Time Adventure” by Rebecca Sugar, who was playing as I was saying goodbye to characters and a story that we’re so close to my heart. 

 

And of course, who can forget the classic opening theme and ending songs by Ashley Eriksson. Sing the intro along with me, “Adventure Time Come on grab your friends We’ll go to very distant lands With Jake the Dog and Finn the Human The fun will never end, it’s Adventure Time!” And the ending song “Island Song” is so relaxing and is the perfect contrast to the upbeat intro.

Now as for the voice acting, there are some really memorable voices such as BMO, Lady Rainicorn and Earl of Lemongrab. The first two characters are voiced by Niki Yang and the last is voiced by Justin Roiland. These are way more unique voices, but this is what was off the top of my head. One of my favorite characters BMO has an innocence to his voice that is so adorable and child-like, and when he is mad or in charge it is hard to take him seriously with his light voice which just adds to the humor of the show. As for Yang’s other character Lady Rainicorn, she mostly speaks in Korean. I think it is so cool that the creators of the show added a character that speaks a different language. As a kid, I think this was one of the first times I was exposed to a cartoon character that spoke something other than English, so her voice really stood out to me. And finally, the Earl of Lemongrab has a deafening scream and grating voice that is hard to forget. It is always interesting to watch how his emotions influence his voice, and I feel so sorry for Roiland’s vocal cords. 

 

For the other voice roles, there were some big players that were part of the show’s production. For example, John DiMaggio who voiced Jake the Dog is well known for his role as Bender in the show Futurama. There was also Tom Kenny who provided the voice for the Ice King as well as probably his most notable role, SpongeBob. Not to mention, Dee Bradley Baker voiced  Cinnamon Bun and he is huge in the voice acting field and has provided the sounds for many animated animals, including Appa from Avatar: The Last Airbender. And finally, the speaking and singing voice of Marceline the Vampire Queen is performed by Olivia Olson who was in the popular 2003 film Love Actually. 

 

So, that is only part one as to why I love Adventure Time, and in the future I plan on writing more on why I love this show. And finally, here’s a fun fact to impress your friends: the creator of the show, Pendleton Ward, voices one of my favorite characters, Lumpy Space Princess. Such a cool voice! 

 

I highly recommend watching this show, it will change your life for the better, I’m 99% sure! 

Sources: https://adventuretime.fandom.com/wiki/Adventure_Time  

Julianna is a writer, artist, and mental health advocate. She graduated from Rowan University in 2020 with a BA in English and a minor in Creative Writing. She was the Fall 2o2o Media Editor for Glassworks Magazine, a publication of Rowan University's Master of Arts in Writing. In her free time, she enjoys baking desserts for her family, adding to her sticker collection, and listening to spooky stories.
Tanvi is is a sophomore perusing a double major in entrepreneurship. She’s on the executive board of the Rowan University’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization and the President of Period at Rowan University. Tanvi works as the social media marketer for a few startups companies. She loves the artist Frida Kahlo and the T.V. Show New Girl.