The Adventure Time Blog

Henry Rollins as Mannish Man from fredseibert on Vimeo.

I’ve been a big fan of voice artist Fred Tatasciore since he played the part of Mr Papier in Niki Yang’s “Victor” short. As usual, he nails it as Mannish Man in “The Enchirdion.” However, I was really fond of Henry Rollins’s original performance, too. Yes, that Henry Rollins was originally cast as MM. Although Henry’s track was ultimately replaced by Fred’s, we still hear him as the episode’s big Cookie Man (”Watch where you’re going!”). You can listen to a clip of Henry’s work in the above animatic, also with lines from Jeremy Shada and John Moschitto Jr.

– Eric

“The Enchiridion” Storyboard V1.0

So here are a pair of storyboards from the first Adventure Time episode to go into production.

After Nickelodeon passed on the show - twice - Cartoon Network said it would gladly take on the series. That is, provided Pen could prove the seven-minute short made for Nick wasn’t a one-hit wonder. Especially as the length would move from seven to eleven minutes, Pen needed to deliver something more substantive (if that’s the word I want). In other words, CN wanted the essence of the short, but expanded for a series. This was in the summer of 2008. The network suggested Pen deliver a script or two, but we recommended he storyboard out an episode. After all, working from an outline to storyboard, not from a script, was the way Pen would want the show to go. A board would give a better sense of what was on Pen’s [Read more…]

First off, don’t forget to watch Cartoon Network tonight at 8:00 p.m. for the premiere of “The Enchiridion!” While it’s the seventh to air, it’s actually the first Adventure Time episode produced. And, as with any initial production, “The Enchiridion!” had its share of bumps and baggage. I’ll post a couple of versions of the storyboard tomorrow, but here’s an abridged glimpse at the process of creating the title card for episode #1 (and thereby setting the tone for those to follow).

You can probably tell by now there’s a deep, hard-boiled pulp feel to the Adventure Time title cards. For “The Enchiridion!,” the art team turned toward this copy of Science Fiction for inspiration. Here, you can also see creator Pendleton Ward’s rough concept for the card.

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Or 28 seconds of it, anyway. That’s Jeremy Shada as Finn, John Di Maggio as Jake, and Dee Bradley Baker as the Giant.

– Eric

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From “The Enchiridion”.

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From the episode “The Enchiridion”. What kind of candy/confection is the green guy at the bottom?

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Character art, in color, from “The Enchiridion”.

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Not only are they responsible for Adventure Time’s character designs, but Phil, Tom, and Natasha have got to come up with the show’s props, from castle cracks to rain puddles. I know I’m being lazy by posting so many here (just a share of the episode’s total), but it’s Friday.

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Character art from Phil Rynda, Natasha Allegri, and Tom Herpich. Turnarounds are generally utilitarian, but these make me laugh.

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