| "Adventure Time (short film)" | |||
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| Adventure Time andRandom! Cartoons episode | |||
 Pen has an inspirational talk withAbraham Lincoln onMars.Cartoon Network, who later turned the short into aseries, enjoyed the short's atypical humor, highlighting this scene in particular. | |||
| Directed by |
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| Written by | Pendleton Ward | ||
| Original air date | January 11, 2007 (2007-01-11) | ||
| Running time | 7 minutes | ||
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"Adventure Time" is an animated short film created byPendleton Ward, as well as the pilot to theCartoon Networkseries of the same name. The short follows the adventures ofPen (Zack Shada), a human boy, and his best friendJake (John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Pen and Jake have to rescuePrincess Bubblegum (Paige Moss) from the antagonisticIce King (John Kassir).
"Adventure Time" first aired onNicktoons on January 11, 2007, and later was shown inFred Seibert'sRandom! Cartoons series showcase on December 7, 2008, subsequently leading to the creation of the animated series. It was nominated for anAnnie Award forBest Animated Short Subject.
The short focuses on a boy named Pen (later renamedFinn in the television series) and his best friend, a shapeshifting dog namedJake. One day, Lady Rainicorn, a unicorn-like creature, flies past them in tears; Pen and Jake follow her to an icy domain, where they discover that the Ice King has kidnapped Lady Rainicorn's owner,Princess Bubblegum, in the hope of marrying her. Declaring that it's "Adventure Time", Pen and Jake set off to the Ice King's mountain lair, fighting an "iceclops" and other large monsters in the process. In the Ice King's lair, Pen and the Ice King fight while Jake ignores the battle to flirt with Lady Rainicorn. Just when Pen seems to be gaining the upper hand, the Ice King uses his powers to freeze Pen in a block of ice. Pen sees himself transported back in time, and toMars, where he has a short motivational conversation withAbraham Lincoln, who encourages Pen to believe in himself. Pen's mind returns to the present and he breaks out of the ice just as the Ice King flies away with Princess Bubblegum. Chasing after him using Jake's extendable legs, Pen rescues the princess from the Ice King's grasp. Jake pushes the magical crown off the Ice King's head, removing his powers. The Ice King then plummets off screen, vowing to exact revenge. Princess Bubblegum thanks Pen by giving him a kiss, to Pen's delight and embarrassment. As he sheepishly leads Jake away, Pen spots some nearby ninjas stealing an old man's diamonds, and the two bid farewell to Princess Bubblegum as they run off towards their next adventure.
"Adventure Time" was created byPendleton Ward. The short's style was influenced by his time atCalifornia Institute of the Arts (CalArts).[7] "Adventure Time" was Ward's first job in animation after he graduated from CalArts. Ward had been contacted by Eric Homan, the vice president of Development atFrederator Studios, after Homan saw one of Ward's films at a CalArts animation screening calledThe Producer's Show. Homan told Ward that he should consider pitching an idea to Frederator. Ward spent around two weeks storyboarding the outline for "Adventure Time", a process that he later called "exciting" because he was "jumping into it not knowing whether [he] would sink or swim."[1]
During the initial storyboard pitch to Frederator Studios, Ward brought a guitar and played the episode's theme song.[1] Frederator'sCEOFred Seibert was initially disinclined to make the short, feeling it was too much of a "student film" and without much commercial appeal. Longtime colleagues, development executive Homan and production executive Kevin Kolde convinced him otherwise, arguing that Seibert had actually laughed in the presentation, something that he did not often do.[8] Frederator approved the pitch, and "Adventure Time" soon went into production.[8]
Ward hired several of his recently graduated CalArts friends to work on the short with him. Neil Graf was tasked with coloring, Julian Narino was the background designer, andAdam Muto drew the props. Graf and Narino later got jobs with other series and studios—King of the Hill andLaika, respectively—but Muto continued working with Ward and eventually becameAdventure Time's co-executive producer andshowrunner.[1] The finished short ran for seven minutes, and production wrapped up in the spring of 2006.[9]
"Adventure Time" first aired as a stand-alone 7-minute short onNicktoons on January 11, 2007. It later aired as part of Frederator Studios'Random! Cartoons on December 7, 2008.[10][11] In between airings, it leaked onto the internet and wentviral.[10] According to Frederator Studios producer and founderFred Seibert the short, "between all of its distribution points," had been viewed almost 3,000,000 times by April 2008.[12] The feature was later nominated for anAnnie Award forBest Animated Short Subject, although it did not win.[13]
After its release and success, Frederator Studios then pitched anAdventure Time series toNickelodeon, but the network passed on it twice.[7][14] The studio then approachedCartoon Network. The network said they would be willing to produce the series if Ward could prove that "the seven-minute short made for Nick wasn't a one-hit wonder".[14] Ward quickly retooled the concept of the pilot; he wanted a potential series to be "fully realized", rather than feature the "pre-school vibe" that he believed defined the original pilot.[7] Initially, Ward submitted a rough storyboard that featured Finn and an "oblivious" Princess Bubblegum going on a spaghetti-supper date.[14] However, the network was not happy with this story, and specifically asked for an episode that contained the same things that had "made the short so special, like the crazy opening dance, the 'Abe Lincoln moment,' funny catchwords, and the awkward princess/kiss moment at the end."[14] Ward then created an early storyboard for the episode "The Enchiridion!", which was his attempt to emulate the style of the original short. Eventually, Cartoon Network approved the first season in September 2008, and "The Enchiridion!" became the first episode to enter into production.[14][15][16][17]
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