I cut the cord a few years ago, and, to be honest, I haven’t really looked back. There are shows I miss, but, between Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, I manage to keep (reasonably) current on most of them. Still, there are some extra-special series, and those are the ones that inevitably end up on my media shelf.
With all the recent talk about Steven Universe and Clarence–which are, I must repeat, awesome–it’s important that we not forget Cartoon Network’s other groundbreaking original animated series, Adventure Time. Over the past five years, Finn and Jake and company have taken us on a really fantastic journey, and things only seem to be getting better. With the recent release of season five on Blu-ray and DVD, you can bring some of the franchise’s strongest (and weirdest) episodes into your lives once again.
For those of you keeping score at home, season five kicked off multiverse-spanning episodes “Finn the Human” and “Jake the Dog,” which managed to right the wrongs the evil Lich visited upon Ooo in the season four finale. In addition to that, the fifth season also gave us “Jake the Dad,” a stern statement against helicopter parenting (and possibly also a warning against the dangers of dog-rainicorn interbreeding), amazing guest stars like Marc Maron and Levar Burton–as a squirrel and a bubble, respectively–and even proper origin stories for fan favorites BMO, Marceline, and the Ice King.
Featuring all 52 episodes, Adventure Time: The Complete Fifth Season offers a bounty of entertainment in an unassuming, Jake-colored package. There are also the requisite bonus features. Strangely, it eschews commentary tracks in favor of animatic sequences, but these are numerous and offer their own unique alternate views of much-loved episodes.
This set also includes a great “Adventure Time Forever” featurette, wherein the crew members share their experiences as part of the AT family and expound upon the series’ continued cultural relevance. All this plus sandwiches, Jake Suits, and James Baxter–which I think we can agree makes for a compelling collection.
Adventure Time: The Complete Fifth Season is available now on DVD, Blu-ray, and even (the oft maligned) Ultraviolet digital copy online and in stores. Pick it up today and be reminded that the series is certainly still going strong.
Review materials provided by: Cartoon Network
