It's hard to believe Adventure Time has lasted this long. I know how that sounds but what I mean is we're slowly getting used to not having the things we like. The show may not be for everyone but watching over the episodes from the fifth season again just reminds me how much I do enjoy the show. Despite the simple and somewhat loose premise, the show continues and has even been renewed for an eighth season.
The fifth season begins with episode 105. The season actually began with a two-part episode, "Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog." It's a pretty weird way to start off the season as we see the familiar characters slightly warped into different versions of themselves. That is part of the charm of the show.
At this point, with four seasons behind them, the show creators showed no hesitation to keep on delivering strange and bizarre episodes. The eleven-minute running time per episode sometimes feels like it's not enough. It does allow for some zany and sometimes abrupt endings that really catch you off guard.
With these sort of shows, it's easy to accept that some things simply will never change. The status quo of the main characters has to remain the same so past episodes can be viewed in pretty much any order. Except, that's not a plan the show sticks to. We do see developments and changes occur such as Jake and Lady Rainicorn have kids (in "Jake the Dad"). We also see more of characters like Marceline and Ice King fleshed out in the "Simon and Marcy" flashback episode. It's refreshing to see a long-running show be allowed and unafraid to shake things up rather than stick to the same old thing that's working.
This release includes all 52 episodes from the season. That gives you a running time of 572 minutes (over nine and a half hours) of wacky viewing. Rather than list them all out here, you can see which episodes are in the season on the series page HERE.
What I discover when normally watching the show is I tend to lose track of what season we're currently on. It is interesting to watch them in a contained collection. I've mentioned the occasional bizarre and abrupt endings but you almost appreciate what's being done when you see how the season begins and ends.
What about SPECIAL FEATURES?
There are a couple features. The first is a featurette featuring the crew, directors, producers, etc talking about when the show first started. They knew it was something different. It’s explained how they had to wait after it was green lit and never really knew what to expect. There was some confusion and reluctance with the network in trying to understand what was going on.
They even talk about the possibility of how long the show could go on. 1000 episodes?
The disc also includes animatic clips for almost all the episodes. You can see how the episodes were developed and some different approaches that were changed when it was completed.
Episodes are sometimes released in different DVD collections. I prefer the complete seasons collected as well as watching the on Blu-ray. The visuals and colors look amazing. I find myself easily watching and re-watching episodes when popping a disc in. Even if it's one you've seen several times, it almost feels wrong to skip over to the next one.
The Complete Fifth Season was released on July 14 (I know it was last week but I tried taking a couple days off after Comic-Con). The suggested retail price for the DVD is $29.97 and the Blu-ray is $39.99. Keep in mind that's close to ten hours of content.
Now how long do we have to wait until season six is released on Blu-ray?