"Incendium" is the twenty-sixth and final episode of the
third season of the American animated television series ''
Adventure Time
''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...
''. The episode was written and storyboarded by
Adam Muto and
Rebecca Sugar, from a story by Mark Banker,
Patrick McHale,
Kent Osborne
Kent Matthew Osborne (born August 30, 1969) is an American animator, writer, producer, director, and actor. He has worked for such animated television shows as ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''Camp Lazlo'', ''Phineas and Ferb'', '' The Marvelous Mi ...
, and
Pendleton Ward
Pendleton Ward is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor who has worked for Cartoon Network Studios, Frederator Studios, and Netflix Animation. He created the series ''Adventure Time'', the Internet series ''Brave ...
. It originally aired on Cartoon Network on February 13, 2012. The episode guest stars
Keith David
Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media.
He has starred in such films as '' The Thing'' (1982), ''Pla ...
, and also features
Jessica DiCicco, who would go on to play the recurring role of Flame Princess.
The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by
Jeremy Shada
Jeremy Shada (; born January 21, 1997) is an American actor, musician and singer. He is best known for his work as the voice of Finn the Human from the American animated television franchise ''Adventure Time'' and Lance in '' Voltron: Legendary ...
), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio ( ; born September 4, 1968) is an American actor. His various voice roles include Bender on ''Futurama'', Jake the Dog on ''Adventure Time'', Marcus Fenix in the ''Gears of War'' series, Dr. Drakken on '' Kim Possible'', ...
), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Jake seeks the Flame King's (voiced by David) consent for Finn to date his daughter, Flame Princess (voiced by DiCicco) in order to help a brokenhearted Finn. Jake eventually angers the princess, however, and she chases him back to the tree fort and confronts Finn himself. The episode's plot would be continued in the
season four premiere "
Hot to the Touch".
The impetus for this episode was the writers and producers not wanting to keep writing episodes in which Finn is continuously rejected by Princess Bubblegum. The character of Flame Princess was largely designed by Sugar, based on a rough drawing by storyboard revisionist and character designer
Natasha Allegri
Natasha Allegri (born June 18, 1983) is an American animator, writer, storyboard artist, storyboard revisionist and comic book artist. She is the creator of Cartoon Hangover's and Frederator Studios' '' Bee and PuppyCat'', and is also noted for ...
. The episode received largely positive reviews from critics, with both David's and DiCicco's voice work earning praise.
Plot
After Princess Bubblegum (voiced by
Hynden Walch
Hynden Walch (born February 1, 1971) is an American actress best known for voicing Starfire in the ''Teen Titans'' franchise and Princess Bubblegum in ''Adventure Time''. She also voiced Penny Sanchez in '' ChalkZone'', Elsie in ''Stanley'', ...
) scorns his advances, Finn falls into a serious depression and sings a woeful song about the romantic pain he feels, called "All Gummed Up Inside". Jake, worried about his brother, decides to find Finn a new love interest, and so he journeys to the Fire Kingdom, ruled by the evil Flame King (voiced by
Keith David
Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media.
He has starred in such films as '' The Thing'' (1982), ''Pla ...
).
Jake bluffs that he is an emissary of "Prince Finn", ruler of the Grasslands. Jake attempts to court Flame King's daughter, Flame Princess (voiced by
Jessica DiCicco) on Finn's behalf. After several disastrous attempts, including a performance of a rendition of Finn's song called "All Warmed Up Inside", Jake is told to leave. However, he uses his shape-shifting abilities to morph part of his body and make it look as if Finn has entered the palace. Jake-as-Finn then pretends to strangle Jake, which appeases Flame King. He applauds Finn's supposed butchery, agreeing to give him the hand of his evil daughter.
Jake, distressed that Flame Princess is apparently evil, bluntly rejects her advances as Finn, but this enrages her. Jake regretfully flees back to the Tree Fort, with the princess on his trails, leaving a trail of destruction in her path. Once there, Jake tries to explain what happened to Finn, but a struggle breaks out. In the confusion, Flame Princess is nearly killed by
rain
Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...
, but Finn saves her. When she regains her powers, she slaps him, warning him never to mess with her. The episode concludes with Finn noting that he now has a crush on Flame Princess.
Production

"Incendium" was written and storyboarded by Adam Muto and
Rebecca Sugar from a story developed by Mark Banker,
Patrick McHale, Osborne, and series creator
Pendleton Ward
Pendleton Ward is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor who has worked for Cartoon Network Studios, Frederator Studios, and Netflix Animation. He created the series ''Adventure Time'', the Internet series ''Brave ...
. This was both the last episode to have been boarded by Sugar and Muto as a team, as well as the last to credit Muto as a storyboard artist; he was later promoted to creative director for the entirety of
season four, as well as the first half of
season five.
The impetus for this episode was the writers and producers not wanting to keep writing episodes in which Finn is continuously rejected by Princess Bubblegum.
[ Because of the thematic undertones of romance and unrequited love, the episode had several emotional beats. Sugar later explained that, since she had first started on the show, she had attempted to storyboard a situation causing Finn to cry. Ward and the producers had vetoed this idea several times, because they felt it did not fit his personality. However, with "Incendium", Sugar noted that "the dam finally broke" and she was allowed to make Finn cry over his unreciprocated love of Princess Bubblegum.][ Sugar put as much "gut-wrenching imagery" at the start of the episode in order to emphasize the installment's ]pathos
Pathos appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. ''Pathos'' is a term most often used in rhetoric (in which it is considered one of the three modes of persuasion, alongside ethos and ...
.[ Similarly, she "wanted to make Finn lose it" near the end to show how much his love of Princess Bubblegum was hurting him. As such, the fact that Finn chooses to save Flame Princess over the lock bubblegum's hair was used as a metaphor by the writers to show that Finn was getting over his fixation with Bubblegum.][
The episode introduced Flame Princess, who would become a more important character in the following seasons; the character is voiced by Jessica DiCicco.] Flame Princess was written to be "clueless", in that she was emotionally more immature than any of the other characters. This allowed other, usually immature characters like Finn to play off of her in a different and unique way. The design for the character was based on a rough drawing by Natasha Allegri
Natasha Allegri (born June 18, 1983) is an American animator, writer, storyboard artist, storyboard revisionist and comic book artist. She is the creator of Cartoon Hangover's and Frederator Studios' '' Bee and PuppyCat'', and is also noted for ...
. This drawing was later cleaned-up by Sugar; originally, she envisioned Flame Princess as being similar in coloring to a match, with "dark skin and fire for hair". Her sketches were later redesigned for the show by Andy Ristaino. When Sugar was redesigning the character, she added a gem in the middle of her forehead, which she claimed was inspired by the rudimentary designs for the characters in her series ''Steven Universe
''Steven Universe'' is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who lives with the Crys ...
'', which would air several years later.[
]
Reception
"Incendium" first aired on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
on February 13, 2012. The episode first saw physical release as part of the 2013 ''Fionna and Cake'' DVD, which included 16 episodes from the series' first four seasons. It was later re-released as part of the complete third season DVD on February 25, 2014.
Dean Childers of TV Geek Army gave the episode a largely positive review, noting that it was "particularly well done."[ He noted that the twist that Flames Princess was evil was "great comedy" even though it "comes out of nowhere", and he also felt that the ending allowed for the episode to reach a higher level of excitement and interest.][ He also applauded the voice acting in the episode, writing, " eith David'sregal voice works wonderfully as a king in the world of Oo and his daughter iCiccoisn't lacking in the voice over department either."]
Explanatory notes
References
External links
*
{{Adventure Time episodes, 3
2012 American television episodes
Adventure Time season 3 episodes
Fiction about fire
Fiction about interracial romance