The ninth season of ''

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 ...

'', an American

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

television series created by

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 ...

, premiered on the

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 April 21, 2017, and concluded on July 21, 2017, and was produced by

Frederator Studios Frederator Studios is an American animation television production studio founded by Fred Seibert in January 1997. It is a division of Frederator Networks, Inc., itself a part of Kartoon Studios' Canadian holding company Wow Unlimited Media. T ...

and

Cartoon Network Studios Cartoon Network Studios Inc. (abbreviated as CNS or CN Studios) is an American animation studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The studio is the producti ...

. The season follows the adventures of Finn (a human boy) and his best friend and adoptive brother,

Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach * Jake, a member of the band Enhy ...

, 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 Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum (also called Bonnie or PB, occasionally Peebles or P-bubs) is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''Adventure Time'' and resulting franchise, created by Pendleton Ward. She is voiced by H ...

, The Ice King,

Marceline the Vampire Queen Marceline Abadeer, better known as Marceline the Vampire Queen, is a fictional character in the American animated Cartoon Network television series ''Adventure Time'' and resulting franchise, created by Pendleton Ward. She is voiced by Oliv ...

, Lumpy Space Princess, BMO, and Flame Princess. The season was storyboarded and written by Adam Muto, Sam Alden, Polly Guo, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone, Laura Knetzger, Steve Wolfhard, Tom Herpich,

Graham Falk ''Untalkative Bunny'' is a co-produced animated series about a yellow rabbit and its life in the big city (closely based on Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). The show is aimed for kids 6–7. The series consists of small episodes (about 4–5 minutes lo ...

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 ...

, Hanna K. Nyström, and Aleks Sennwald. During this season the miniseries '' Elements'' aired, which follows Finn, Jake, and BMO after they return home to discover that extreme elemental magic has turned Ooo into a dystopia. Finn and Jake join Ice King (voiced by

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicing SpongeBob SquarePants (character), the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny has voice ...

), Betty (voiced by

Felicia Day Kathryn Felicia Day (born June 28, 1979) is an American actress, singer, writer, and web series creator. She is the creator and star of the web series '' The Guild'' (2007–2013), a show loosely based on her life as a gamer. She also wrote and ...

), and Lumpy Space Princess (voiced by Pendleton Ward) to set things straight. The season also features guest animators Alex and Lindsay Small-Butera, who worked on "

Ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and sour flavor. "Ketchup" now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes for different varieties contained mushrooms, oysters, mussels, egg whites, grapes, or walnuts, amon ...

". It began with " Orb", which was watched by 0.71 million viewers (a decrease from the previous-season finale, "Islands Part 8: The Light Cloud", which was seen by one million viewers). The ninth-season finale, "Three Buckets", was watched by 0.85 million (the lowest-rated ''Adventure Time'' season finale at the time). Critical reception of the season was mainly positive, with the episodes making up ''Elements'' largely well received. For her work on the episode "Ketchup", Lindsay Small-Butera won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation at the

70th Primetime Emmy Awards The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in US prime time television programming from June 1, 2017, until May 31, 2018, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held live on September 17, 2018, at the Peaco ...

. A set containing the entire season was released on September 4, 2018.

Development

Concept

The series follows the adventures of

Finn the Human Finn Mertens, better known as Finn the Human, is a character and one of the two protagonists, alongside Jake the Dog, in the American animated television series ''Adventure Time'' and resulting franchise created by Pendleton Ward. He also appe ...

(a boy) and his best friend,

, a dog with magical powers to change shape, grow, and shrink at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where they interact with the other major characters:

, the Ice King,

, 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 to help others. Multi-episode story arcs for this season include Finn and Jake undoing extreme elemental magic which had transformed Ooo into a dystopia while they were away at sea, and Fern (Finn's grass-based

doppelgänger A doppelgänger ( ), sometimes spelled doppelgaenger or doppelganger, is a ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its own fleshly counterpart. In fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is often portrayed as a ghostly or p ...

) struggling with his identity and eventually succumbing to evil impulses.

Production

This season's episodes were originally ordered as part of the series' eighth season. With the release of the seventh season DVD, Cartoon Network began re-arranging the season divisions; the seventh season now consisted of "Bonnie & Neddy" through "The Thin Yellow Line". "Broke His Crown" through "Reboot" (which had originally been ordered as the last episodes of the seventh season) and the episodes from "Two Swords" through the ''Islands'' miniseries (which had originally been ordered as the beginning of the eighth season) were combined to form the series' eighth season. "Orb" through "Three Buckets" (which had originally been ordered as the end of season eight) were then considered by the network to constitute the series' ninth season. The season's episodes were produced similarly to previous seasons. They began as simple two-to-three-page outlines with necessary plot information. These outlines were then given to storyboard artists, who expanded the rough outline into a full storyboard. The episodes' design and coloring were done at

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

, and Rough Draft Korea or

Saerom Animation Saerom Animation, Inc. () is an animation studio located in Seoul, South Korea founded in 1987 by Gilhwan Kim. While it mainly animates shows from American animation studios, the company started making its own cartoons in 2003. Productions TV se ...

created the animation in South Korea. Continuing a tradition which began with the fifth-season episode " A Glitch Is a Glitch", this season also featured guest animators. "

s animation is by Alex and Lindsay Small-Butera, a husband-and-wife team known for their web series ''Baman Piderman''. The Small-Buteras had previously contributed animation to the eighth-season episode, "Beyond the Grotto". The season's main storyline writers included Jack Pendarvis, Adam Muto,

Ashly Burch Ashly Burch (born June 19, 1990) is an American actress, writer, director, and singer. She is known for her roles as Aloy in the ''Horizon (video game series), Horizon'' series, Chloe Price in the ''Life Is Strange (video game), Life Is Strange ...

, Osborne, and Julia Pott. According to Pendarvis, after Burch left following the eighth season "Julia parachuted in at perhaps the most mind-boggling moment in the sweeping arc of the series just totally undaunted, and showed incredible spirit and ingeniousness that encouraged us to press forward." Storyboard artists who worked on this season included Adam Muto, Sam Alden, Polly Guo, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone, Laura Knetzger, Steve Wolfhard, Tom Herpich,

, Kent Osborne, Hanna K. Nyström, and Aleks Sennwald. Ghostshrimp, the series' former lead background designer, returned to work on background pieces for "Abstract", "Fionna and Cake and Fionna", and "Whispers". Ghostshrimp left the show after the fourth season, but returned to draw backgrounds for the seventh-season miniseries '' Stakes''.

Miniseries

A miniseries, '' Elements'', aired during late April 2017 as part of season nine. It was first announced on March 31, 2017, by Cartoon Network during the unveiling of their 2017–18 program lineup. ''Elements'' follows Finn, Jake, and BMO after they return home to discover that

elemental An elemental is a mythic supernatural being that is described in occult and alchemy, alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, and particularly elaborated in the 16th century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsu ...

magic has turned Ooo into a

dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...

. Finn and Jake join the Ice King (voiced by

), Betty (voiced by

), and Lumpy Space Princess (voiced by Pendleton Ward) to set things straight.

Cast

The season's voice actors included

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 ...

(Finn the Human),

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'', ...

(Jake the Dog),

(the Ice King),

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'', ...

(Princess Bubblegum), and

Olivia Olson Olivia Olson (born May 21, 1992) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and writer, largely known for her voice roles as Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in ''Phineas and Ferb'' and Marceline the Vampire Queen in ''Adventure Time''. She also played ...

(Marceline the Vampire Queen). Ward voiced several minor characters, including Lumpy Space Princess. Former storyboard artist

Niki Yang Niki Hyun Yang (born in Seoul, South Korea as Hyun Jeong Yang; , June 8, 1985) is a South Korean animator, writer, storyboard artist, and voice actress. After graduating from Hongik University and then CalArts, she became one of the storyboard ...

voiced the sentient video-game console BMO in English and 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, voiced the small elephant Tree Trunks.Livingston, Polly Lou (Actress). 2012. "Tree Trunks" ommentary track ''Adventure Time'' Season One VD Los Angeles, CA:

.Ward, Bettie (Artist). 2012. "Tree Trunks" ommentary track ''Adventure Time'' Season One VD Los Angeles, CA:

. Jessica DiCicco voiced Flame Princess, Finn's ex-girlfriend and ruler of the Fire Kingdom. Andy Milonakis voices N.E.P.T.R., a sentient robot who makes (and throws) pies. The Lich, ''Adventure Time'' principal antagonist, was voiced by

Ron Perlman Ronald N. Perlman (born April 13, 1950) is an American actor. His credits include the roles of Amoukar in ''Quest for Fire (film), Quest for Fire'' (1981), Salvatore in ''The Name of the Rose (film), The Name of the Rose'' (1986), Vincent in th ...

in his demonic form and Ethan Maher in his Sweet P form. The cast records their lines together (rather than separately) for more natural-sounding dialogue. Hynden Walch described the group sessions as akin to "doing a play reading—a really, really out-there play." In addition to the regular cast members, episodes have guest voices by individuals from a range of professions, including actors, musicians, and artists.

Tom Scharpling Thomas John Giuliano II (born February 9, 1969), known professionally as Tom Scharpling, is an American comedian, television writer, producer, music video director, voice actor, and radio host. He is best known for hosting the weekly Internet r ...

reprised his role as Jake's brother, Jermaine, and Thu Tran returned as AMO in "Orb". Felicia Day voiced the Ice King's fiancée, Betty Grof, in the ''Elements'' miniseries; in previous episodes, Betty was played by

Lena Dunham Lena Dunham (; born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series '' Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two G ...

). Hayden Ezzy voiced Fern, Ethan Maher voiced Sweet P, Ron Lynch returned as Mr. Pig,

Lauren Lapkus Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus (born September 6, 1985) is an American actress and comedian, known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2014, 2019) and Jess in the HBO comedy-drama se ...

reprised her role as Patience St. Pim,

Dana Snyder Dana Snyder (born ) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his voice roles of Master Shake in ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'', Granny Cuyler in '' Squidbillies'', Baby Ball on '' Ballmastrz: 9009'', and other roles in various Adult Swim ...

voiced the Life-Giving Magus, Cameron Esposito appears as Carroll the cloud woman, storyboard artist Tom Herpich voices Mr. Fox,

Jeff Bennett Jeff Bennett (born October 2, 1962) is an American voice actor. He voiced the titular character of ''Johnny Bravo'', Dexter and Dee Dee's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory'', List of The Powerpuff Girls characters#Ace, Ace, List of The Powerpuff Gi ...

voiced Choose Goose,

John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as his satirical trilogy '' The Areas of My Expertise'', '' More Information Than You Require'', and '' That Is ...

reprised his role as Elder Plops,

Andy Samberg Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American comedian, actor, musician, writer and producer. He is a member of the comedy music group the Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. ...

returned to voice Party Pat, and Andrew Daly voiced Wyatt in the miniseries. Andy Merrill reprised his role as James, and Scharpling returned in "Abstract". In "Ketchup",

J. G. Quintel James Garland Quintel is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, writer, producer, and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the Cartoon Network series ''Regular Show'' (2010–2017), in which he voiced Mordecai and High ...

voices an unnamed blue bird. "Fionna and Cake and Fionna" saw the return of Madeleine Martin as Fionna and Roz Ryan as Cake. Chelsea Peretti voiced the Queen of Ooo and Charlotte Newhouse voiced a fake Fionna. In "Three Buckets",

Fred Melamed Fred Melamed (born May 13, 1956) is an American actor. After spending most of his early career primarily as a renowned voice over artist, and occasionally playing small roles in films, notably in seven films directed by Woody Allen, he establish ...

voices Uncle Gumbald. Other characters were voiced by

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...

Maria Bamford Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depression, anxiety, suicide and mental illness. Her first comedy alb ...

, Steve Little, and

Melissa Villaseñor Melissa Anne Villaseñor ( ; born October 9, 1987) is an American comedian, actress, musician, and illustrator. First garnering attention for her stand-up shows and impressions, Villaseñor found wider success when she was hired to join the cast ...

Broadcast and reception

Broadcast

Much like the sixth, seventh, and eighth seasons, the ninth season of ''Adventure Time'' had several episode "bombs" in which a number of episodes premiered in a relatively-short time. The first string of new episodes (including ''Elements'') aired between January 30 and February 2, 2017. The second began on July 17, 2017, with "Abstract", and concluded on July 21 with "Three Buckets".

Ratings

The ninth season premiered on television on April 21, 2017, with "Orb", although the episode had been released on the Cartoon Network phone app a week earlier. Seen by 0.71 million viewers, it had a 0.19 Nielsen rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic (

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

are

audience measurement Audience measurement calculates how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic. The term is someti ...

systems for audience size and composition of

television programming Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters use broadcast automatio ...

in the United States; the episode was seen by 0.19 percent of all households aged 18 to 49). This was a decrease from "Islands Part 8: The Light Cloud" (the season-eight finale, seen by one million viewers) and the previous season's premiere, "Broke His Crown" (seen by 1.13 million). ''Elements'' had a slight uptick in viewers, with each episode watched by just under one million people. However, season 9 was the first season to fail to hit the one-million viewer mark for any episode, which was a dramatic decrease from the often over two-million viewers the show regularly enjoyed up until season 6. The season finale, "Three Buckets", was watched by 0.85 million viewers and had a 0.23 Nielsen rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic (making it the series' lowest-rated season finale).

Reviews and accolades

The season was praised by critics. Oliver Sava of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' reviewed and graded each episode with a

letter grade Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

; the ''Elements'' miniseries received a B, and the rest of the season received three Bs and three As. ''Elements'' was particularly praised. According to Sava, the miniseries helped return the viewers to the land of Ooo and re-center and reconfigure the characters' central relationships. Smith said that the miniseries format permitted "a stronger sense of focus ... with every episode giving the sense that the story is building to a larger conclusion". '' Paste'' magazine's Zack Blumenfeld praised the miniseries, writing that ''Elements'' "is superior to and more cohesive than both ''Stakes'' and ''Islands'', simultaneously a return to Adventure Time's surrealist roots and an emotional step forward". For her work on the episode "Ketchup", Lindsay Small-Butera won an "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation"

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

at the 70th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, making it the show's sixth win in this category.

Episodes

Home media

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

released ''Elements'', a DVD set which includes the miniseries, in Australia on July 3, 2018. A DVD set which includes seasons eight, nine and ten was released on September 4, 2018.

US release

Australian release

On December 19, 2018, the season was released by itself on DVD and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in Australia.

Notes

References

{{Adventure Time episodes Adventure Time seasons 2017 American animated television seasons