The sixth season of Adventure Time, an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward, premiered on Cartoon Network on April 21, 2014 and concluded on June 5, 2015. The season follows the adventures of Finn, a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake, a dog with magical powers to change shape and size at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where they interact with the other main characters of the show: Princess Bubblegum, The Ice King, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Lumpy Space Princess, BMO, and Flame Princess.
The season also featured Masaaki Yuasa and David Ferguson as guest animators for the episodes "Food Chain" and "Water Park Prank", respectively. This season was the last to feature Sanchez and Ristaino as storyboard artists; the former took a directing job on the mini-series Long Live the Royals (although he eventually returned to the series as a supervising director for its eighth season), and the latter became an Adventure Time background designer.
The season premiered with two episodes, "Wake Up" and "Escape from the Citadel", which together were viewed by 3.32 million viewers. This marked a significant increase in ratings from the previous season finale. The season concluded with the two-part finale "Hot Diggity Doom" and "The Comet", which was viewed by 1.55 million viewers. Beginning with this season, Adventure Time moved from its long-held Monday timeslot, with many episodes instead airing on Thursdays. A number of sixth-season episodes also aired internationally before they were broadcast domestically. The season was met with largely positive critical reception. The episode "Food Chain" was nominated for several Annie Awards, as well as an Annecy International Animated Film Festival Award. The episode "Jake the Brick" won a Primetime Emmy Award for Short-format Animation at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, and Tom Herpich won an Emmy for his work on "Walnuts & Rain". Furthermore, "The Diary" and "Walnuts and Rain" were nominated for Annie Awards, and the show itself won a Peabody Award. In addition, several compilation DVDs that contain episodes from the season have been released. The full season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 11, 2016.
Development
Concept The season follows the adventures of Finn the Human, a human boy, and his best friend Jake, a dog with magical powers to change shape, grow, and shrink at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, wherein they interact with the other major characters, including: Princess Bubblegum, The Ice King, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Lumpy Space Princess, BMO, and Flame Princess. Common storylines revolve around Finn and Jake discovering strange creatures, dealing with the antagonistic but misunderstood Ice King, and battling monsters in order to help others. This season's main story arc, however, deals with Finn discovering the true identity of his human father, and his subsequent attempts to reconnect with him.For information concerning this story arc, see the following episodes: The season ends with Princess Bubblegum being deposed by the King of Ooo (voiced by Andy Daly), and Finn fighting the primordial cosmic space demon Orgalorg (the actual identity of Gunter the penguin).For information concerning this story arc, see the following episodes:
Production
On January 28, 2013, during the middle of the show's fifth season, Cartoon Network officially announced that the show had been renewed for a sixth season. In July 2013, storyboard artist Jesse Moynihan revealed that production for the sixth season had begun. This season's episodes were produced in a process similar to those of the previous seasons' episodes. Each episode was outlined in two-to-three pages that contained the necessary plot information. These outlines were then handed to storyboard artists, who created full storyboards. Design and coloring were done at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California, and animation was handled overseas in South Korea by Rough Draft Korea and Saerom Animation. While almost all of the animation for the show is done through these studios, two episodes were written and animated entirely by guest animators. The first, "Food Chain", was helmed by noted Japanese animator Masaaki Yuasa, and was entirely animated by Yuasa's own studio. The second, "Water Park Prank", was directed by David Ferguson.
"The Prince Who Wanted Everything" marked the return of Youn—a storyboarder during the show's first, third, and fourth seasons—to the series. He had left after the first season for mandatory military service in his native South Korea, and returned during the third season.Moynihan, Jesse (Storyboard artist). 2014. "Hitman" [Commentary track], Adventure Time Season Three [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Cartoon Network. He once again left the series after the conclusion of its fourth season to focus his attention on Studio Spiyo in Seoul, South Korea. However, Youn returned to work on "The Prince Who Wanted Everything", although it was a "one-off gig", and he subsequently took a job working on Over the Garden Wall. The sixth season of Adventure Time also marked the final season that both Andy Ristaino and Cole Sanchez worked as storyboard artists. Ristaino revealed in a podcast that, once the season was finished, he was "burnt out". He did, however, return as a background designer for the seventh season. Sanchez, on the other hand, left the series to become a supervising director on Long Live the Royals. He eventually returned to the series as a supervising director for its eighth season.
This was the last season of Adventure Time to feature Nick Jennings as the series' art director; he had originally been brought on at the start of the first season at the behest of Cartoon Network, and had served as the sole art director for five and a half seasons.* Following the show's sixth season, he left to work on the 2016 reboot of the Powerpuff Girls. Alt URL He was replaced by Sandra Lee—also known as Sandra Calleros—who had previously been the series' background paint supervisor. Both Jennings and Lee were credited as art co-directors starting with the thirty-third episode, "Jermaine".
Cast
The voice actors for the season include: Jeremy Shada (Finn the Human), John DiMaggio (Jake the Dog), Tom Kenny (The Ice King), Hynden Walch (Princess Bubblegum), and Olivia Olson (Marceline the Vampire Queen). Ward himself provides the voice for several minor characters, including Lumpy Space Princess. Former storyboard artist Niki Yang voices the sentient video game console BMO in English, as well as Jake's girlfriend Lady Rainicorn in Korean. Note: To reveal who voiced what character, one must click on the various characters under "Guest Stars" to reveal their voice actor or actress. Polly Lou Livingston, a friend of Pendleton Ward's mother, Bettie Ward, plays the voice of the small elephant Tree Trunks.Livingston, Polly Lou (Actress). 2012. "Tree Trunks" [Commentary track], Adventure Time Season One [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Cartoon Network.Ward, Bettie (Artist). 2012. "Tree Trunks" [Commentary track], Adventure Time Season One [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Cartoon Network. Justin Roiland provides the voice of the Earl of Lemongrab. Jessica DiCicco voices Flame Princess, Finn's former romantic interest. Several episodes also feature The Lich, the series' principal antagonist. The Lich is portrayed by Ron Perlman in his demonic form, and by Ethan Maher as a large baby after the events of the season premiere. Finn's father, Martin, first introduced in "Escape from the Citadel", is voiced by Stephen Root. The Adventure Time cast records their lines together as opposed to doing it individually. This is to capture more natural sounding dialogue among the characters. Hynden Walch has described these group session as akin to "doing a play reading—a really, really out there play."
In addition to the regular cast members, episodes feature guest voices from many ranges of professions, including actors, musicians, and artists. The season openers, "Wake Up" and "Escape from the Citadel", feature the return of Kumail Nanjiani as Prismo, M. Emmet Walsh as the Cosmic Owl, and Miguel Ferrer as Death and one of the heads of Grob Gob Glob Grod. Nanjiani would return again in the episodes "Is That You?" and "Hoots"; Walsh would reappear in "Hoots". "James II" features Andy Merrill reprising his role as James. The A.V. Club columnist Cameron Esposito lends her voice to Carroll the cloud woman. "Sad Face" features both Andy Milonakis reprising his role as the Never-Ending Pie Throwing Robot (N.E.P.T.R.)., and Brett Gelman as the bug ringleader. Milonakis would also return in "Furniture & Meat". Comedian Melinda Hill reprises her role as Doctor Princess in the episode "Breezy", which also features the vocal talents of Ashly Burch as the titular character. Burch would also voice a blacksmith in "Little Brother", and the Super Porp spokesperson Cheryl in "Dark Purple". Regular Show writer and voice actor Minty Lewis voices Erin the caterpillar in "Food Chain". "The Prince Who Wanted Everything" features both Madeleine Martin as Fionna and Roz Ryan as Cake, as well as Peter Serafinowicz, who voices Lumpy Space Prince, the gender-switched version of Lumpy Space Princess. Prolific voice actor Alan Oppenheimer also voices Darren and the Sun in "Something Big", and actress Jill Talley also reprises her role as Maja. "Something Big" also sees the return of Keith Ferguson as Colonel Candy Corn; he would also reprise this role in several other season six episodes. James Urbaniak plays both Leafbeard and the Rat King in "Little Brother", and Thurop Van Orman, a former supervising producer and writer for the series during its second season, also appears in the aforementioned episode, playing the part of Kent. Kristen Schaal and Dan Mintz reprise their roles as Jake Jr. and T.V., respectively, in "Ocarina", and the episode also sees the introduction of Marc Evan Jackson and Paget Brewster as Kim Kil Whan and Viola, respectively. Duncan Trussell, Steve Little, Dana Snyder, and series storyboard artist Cole Sanchez, return in "Thanks for the Crabapples, Giuseppe!", playing the roles of Ron James, Abracadaniel, the Ancient Sleeping Magi of Life Giving, and Little Dude, respectively.