John DiMaggio
American actor (born 1968)
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", Hak Foo in "Jackie Chan Adventures", The Scotsman on "Samurai Jack", Brother Blood on "Teen Titans" and "Teen Titans Go!", Shnitzel on "Chowder", Fu Dog on ', Hammerhead and Sandman on "The Spectacular Spider-Man", Aquaman on ', King Zøg on "Disenchantment", Jocktopus on "Fish Hooks", Wakka and Kimahri in "Final Fantasy X", Rath in the "Ben 10" franchise, Crosshairs, Leadfoot, Nitro Zeus, Transit and Stratosphere in the "Transformers" film franchise, and Gonza in the English version of "Princess Mononoke".
Early life.
Born and raised in North Plainfield, New Jersey, DiMaggio graduated from North Plainfield High School in 1986. He is of Italian descent, and was raised in the Catholic faith. He attended Rutgers University. One of his schoolmates was political strategist Steve Schmidt.
Career.
DiMaggio is known for his roles as Bender in "Futurama", Marcus Fenix in the "Gears of War" franchise, Dr. Drakken in "Kim Possible", Jake the Dog in "Adventure Time", Wakka and Kimahri in "Final Fantasy X", and Niblet in "Pound Puppies". He is a former comedian, appearing on stage as part of a comic duo named "Red Johnny and the Round Guy" and has several on-screen credits, such as Steve Ballmer in "Pirates of Silicon Valley" (the docudrama about the history of Apple Computer and Microsoft) and as Dr. Sean Underhill, a recurring character in "Chicago Hope".
In 2013, DiMaggio was the executive producer and narrator of "I Know That Voice", a documentary on voice acting, along with producer Tommy Reid and director Lawrence Shapiro.
In 2022, upon news that "Futurama" would be revived for a second time through Disney and Hulu, DiMaggio ran into conflict during negotiations while demanding more money to reprise the role of Bender, which he dubbed "#BenderGate". Fans supported DiMaggio's hold out for better pay, while DiMaggio stated that he felt the entire cast deserved better pay and that it reflected a corporate attempt to take advantage of voice actors. The effort also received support from DiMaggio's colleagues, including veteran voice actors Tara Strong, Kari Wahlgren, and Mark Hamill, while James Adomian noted that a casting call for a sound-alike of DiMaggio had been sent out by the studio. While it was initially reported that DiMaggio would not be returning to the role, he later announced his decision to return. DiMaggio revealed that though he did not succeed in negotiating a pay increase, he felt the attention to the issue of proper compensation in the voice acting industry was worthwhile.
Personal life.
DiMaggio lives in Los Angeles and New York City. He has been married to actress Kate Miller since 2014.

Finn the Human and Jake the Dog
"Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog" are the first and second episodes of the fifth season of the American animated television series "Adventure Time". "Finn the Human" was written and storyboarded by Tom Herpich and Jesse Moynihan, whereas "Jake the Dog" was written and storyboarded by Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar. The stories for both episodes were developed by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, and Pendleton Ward. It originally aired on Cartoon Network on November 12, 2012. The episodes guest star Ron Perlman as the Lich, Kumail Nanjiani as Prismo, Ming-Na as Farmworld Finn's mother, Cloris Leachman as Farmworld Marceline, James Kyson as Big Destiny & Trami, Eric Bauza as Tromo, and Jeff Bennett as Choose Bruce.
The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Finn and Jake chase The Lich through a dimensional portal where they meet Prismo, a wish granter, who tells them that the Lich wished for the extinction of all life. This leads Finn to wish that the Lich had never existed. Finn is then transported to an alternate timeline, where he is a normal human living with his family and his dog, Jake, on a farm. In the alternate reality, Finn discovers a magical ice crown, which he attempts to use to repay his family's debt. After placing it on his head, he is magically imbued with power over ice and snow. Prismo tells Jake that if he can change The Lich's original wish, everything will go back to normal. Jake—with help from Prismo—eventually wishes that the Lich had actually desired for Finn and Jake to return home. Thus, the world is righted again.
Both "Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog" are a continuation of the fourth season finale "The Lich". Because "Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog" were being worked on by four separate storyboardists, they coordinated their ideas so that the resultant two products would work together. The resulting episodes were collectively watched by 3.435 million viewers and received critical acclaim, with writers from "The A.V. Club" and IndieWire applauding the episodes for being both an excellent season premiere, as well as being refreshing and creative.
Plot.
"Finn the Human".
In the fourth season finale "The Lich", Finn and Jake are tricked by the Lich—disguised as their hero Billy—into opening a portal to the multiverse by using the Enchiridion. After the Lich passes through, Finn and Jake give chase. They eventually reach a time room at the center of the multiverse that is inhabited by Prismo, a wish-granter. They arrive just in time to see the Lich vanish after making his wish for the extinction of all life. After a short conversation with Prismo, Finn wishes that the Lich had never existed and is promptly transported into the reality created by his wish.
The scene then shifts to the art style featured in the end of "The Lich", as part of the wish-created reality—known as "Farmworld"—in which Finn is a normal human living with his family and his dog, Jake, on a farm. Picking up from the last scene from "The Lich", Finn is called by his mother and told to sell his beloved mule Bartram to pay off the family's debt to the Destiny Gang. While going to town to the sell the creature, Finn and Jake fall down an opening in the earth and discover the long-dead skeleton of Simon Petrikov. An aged and decrepit Marceline—who never became a vampire—reveals herself and tells Finn that Simon gave his life stopping a mutagenic bomb from exploding by freezing it in ice. She tells them that she has been guarding Simon's body, and the ice crown, ever since his demise so that no one is ever harmed from the crown's power.
Finn manages to steal the crown, hoping to sell it instead of Bartram. In town, however, the Destiny Gang steal the crown as well as Bartram. Finn, furious, riles up the town, who begin to riot, as they are sick of being abused by the Destiny Gang. Finn goes to the Destiny Gang's mansion to confront their leader, Big Destiny. Once there, Big Destiny returns the crown, noting that it is the last possession that he will ever own. Finn looks out the window and sees that the gang is burning the city. Finn races to his home, taking Marceline with him. When he arrives at his house, the gang has already set it on fire with his parents and infant sibling trapped upstairs. Finn asks Marceline if the crown is magic and she tells him it is very dangerous magic. He then puts the crown on his head, and the power begins to flow through him.
"Jake the Dog".
After putting on the crown, Finn becomes corrupted by its power, going mad. He attacks the Destiny Gang—who his family owed a debt as established in the previous episode—and put out the fires that they started, but his uncontrolled power causes the mutagenic bomb that Simon stopped to explode, destroying the surrounding area. Jake, however, falls into a mutagenic puddle and is mutated into a creature similar to the Lich, which attacks Finn.
In the Time Room, Prismo explains to Jake about Finn being transported to a separate and altered world based on his wish. Together, they watch the events in Finn's world on Prismo's television and Prismo asks Jake what he would like to wish for. Jake wishes for a sandwich, but Prismo urges him to consider using his wish on something important, such as helping Finn. Jake tells Prismo he will use it when he knows Finn will be in real danger, and after a conversation, the two decide to hang out; Prismo mutes the TV and the two begin to ignore the events happening in Finn's timeline.
Eventually, the Cosmic Owl joins Prismo and Jake, and the two chat in a hot tub. While reaching for chips, the Cosmic Owl unmutes the TV, and Jake realizes that Finn is in trouble. Prismo explains that Jake can still save Finn by using his wish, but reveals that his wish must be very specific, as Prismo's wishes have a tendency to have a monkey's paw—an ironic twist—connected to them. After coaching by Prismo, Jake wishes that the Lich's original wish had been for Finn and Jake to return home. Prismo grants the wish and Finn and Jake are indeed transported back to Ooo. Finn has no recollection of his time in the alternate reality, but Jake does.
Production.
"Finn the Human" was written and storyboarded by Jesse Moynihan and Tom Herpich, whereas "Jake the Dog" was written and storyboarded by Rebecca Sugar and Cole Sanchez. The stories for both episodes were developed by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, Pendleton Ward. The two episodes were directed by Larry Leichliter, with Nick Jennings serving as the show's art director. Nate Cash served as the supervising director for "Finn the Human" and Adam Muto served as supervising director for "Jake the Dog". Despite "Finn the Human" being officially storyboarded by Moynihan & Herpich, and "Jake the Dog" being officially storyboarded Cole Sanchez & Rebecca Sugar, the four writers and storyboarders collaborated amongst themselves. For instance, the majority of the scenes with Prismo were created by Sanchez and Herpich, whereas "Finn going insane" was the product of Sugar.
The two episodes guest star Ron Perlman as the Lich, Kumail Nanjiani as Prismo, Ming-Na Wen as Farmworld Finn's mother, Cloris Leachman as Farmworld Marceline, James Kyson as Big Destiny & Trami, Eric Bauza as Tromo, and Jeff Bennett as Choose Bruce. Kyson and Bauza's characters, the Destiny Gang, were designed to not "really fit in the Adventure Time world". Moynihan designed the characters, basing their look at least partially on characters from the Japanese manga series "Fist of the North Star". On his website, he expressed his fear that their appearance would be "a little bit jarring", but he was not dissuaded from trying it.
The music for these episodes was composed by Tim Kiefer. To create the song "Prismatic", Kiefer took the song "Lil' Booty Dance", first heard in the second season episode "Mortal Recoil" and remixed it so that it would fit with the theme of "inter-dimensional travel" present in the episode. Kiefer explained, "I threw my own music from the Season 2 finale 'Mortal Folly / Mortal Recoil' on my turntables and went wild – pitching, reversing, rewinding, scratching and more – transforming Jake’s 'Lil’ Booty Dance' bongo song into a booming, merry-go-round dance celebration."
Reception.
"Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog" first aired on Cartoon Network on November 12, 2012. The episodes were collectively watched by 3.435 million viewers, and scored a 0.7 percent in the 18–49 demographic Nielsen household rating. Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States, which means that the episodes were seen by 0.7 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the airing. The episodes first saw physical release as part of the 2014 " Finn the Human" DVD, which included 16 episodes from the series' third, fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons.
Oliver Sava of "The A.V. Club" awarded the two episodes an "A−". He noted that, together, both episodes come together to make "a dense première that evokes nearly all aspects of this series." He was appreciative of the fact that "Finn the Human" was "an action-packed, mythology-heavy chapter" and a "nice change of pace". Likewise, he wrote that "Jake the Dog" focused "on humor and relationships", and had various "irreverent silly note[s]" that helped balance the episode's more serious story line.
Eric Kohn of IndieWire praised the episodes for being "irreverent and narratively engaging". He called the collective episodes "the ideal testament to animation's glorious pliability in an commercial arena otherwise defined by restrictions." Kohn felt that the show's exploration of "sad subtext"—such as the series' mysterious Mushroom War and the relationship between Marceline and the Ice King—and the characters' abilities to "deny the bad vibes their surrounding world invites" via "cheery songs and vibrant artwork" were some of the series' strongest points. Finally, he praised the exploration of the multiverse and its impact on the show, noting that it was an "interesting creative challenge".
References.
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Adventure Time season 3
The third season of "Adventure Time", an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward, premiered on Cartoon Network on July 11, 2011, and concluded on February 13, 2012, and was produced by Frederator Studios and Cartoon Network Studios. 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, and BMO.
This season saw the series grow and progress, featuring the first of the popular Fionna and Cake episodes, as well as marking the first time that fan-submitted content was canonized. Ward also noted that the storyboard artists affected the overall tone of the show, moving it towards more bizarre and spiritual matters. The season was storyboarded and written by Ako Castuera, Tom Herpich, Adam Muto, Rebecca Sugar, Jesse Moynihan, Bert Youn, Kent Osborne, Somvilay Xayaphone, Pendleton Ward, and Natasha Allegri.
The first episode of the season, "Conquest of Cuteness" was watched by 2.686 million viewers; this marked an increase in viewers watching Cartoon Network when compared to the previous season's debut. The season ended with the cliffhanger "Incendium", which was resolved at the start of season four. The season was met with largely positive critical reception. In addition, several episodes and writers were nominated for awards; the episode "Thank You" was nominated for an Annie Award as well as an award at the Sundance Film Festival. "Too Young" was nominated for an Emmy Award. Storyboard artist Rebecca Sugar was also nominated for an Annie Award. Several compilation DVDs that contained episodes from the season were released after the season finished airing. The full season set was released on February 25, 2014, on DVD and Blu-ray.
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 and 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, and BMO. Common storylines revolve around: Finn and Jake discovering strange creatures, battling the Ice King, and battling monsters in order to help others. This season expands upon the backstories of Marceline and Ice King, and concludes with Finn attempting to understand his attraction towards Bubblegum and developing a crush on newly introduced Flame Princess.
Production.
After the increasing success of the series, on November 29, 2010 "Deadline Hollywood" announced that Cartoon Network had renewed the series for a third season. The episode titles were released on April 6, 2011, by Frederator Studios, while the show was nearing the end of its second season. Based on production numbers, "Conquest of Cuteness" was the first episode that underwent production, which was also the first episode aired. In April 2011, the storyboards for season three were nearing completion, and much of the production staff shifted its focus to the show's fourth season.
The ninth episode, entitled "Fionna and Cake" takes place in a gender bent version of Ooo. The premise of this episode is that the Ice King has created a fan fiction wherein all the main characters of "Adventure Time" appear in the opposite gender. For instance, Finn the Human has become Fionna the Human, and Jake the Dog is now Cake the Cat. The genesis for the episode were drawings that storyboard artist Natasha Allegri posted onto the internet during her free time. Her creations were eventually canonized by the show's producers. Allegri even re-rerecorded the show's theme—which had originally been sung by series creator Pendleton Ward—for the episode. The episode had a sequel during the fifth season, focusing on Marceline's male counterpart, Marshall Lee, who is voiced by Donald Glover.
Before the third season, Ward cautioned fans that, for legal reasons, he was unable to accept fan creations for characters and stories. However, the sixteenth episode, "Jake vs. Me-Mow" features the titular character Me-Mow, which was drawn by Gunnar Gilmore, aged 14. Gilmore had sketched the character and showed his mother, who forwarded it to Cartoon Network. Ward decided to include the character solely because the character was "so cute". Gilmore's original drawing was used for the episode's title card. So far, this appears to be the only fan-created character that Ward has allowed on the show.
This season's episodes were produced in a process similar to those of the previous seasons. 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. The season was storyboarded and written by Ako Castuera, Tom Herpich, Adam Muto, Rebecca Sugar, Jesse Moynihan, Bert Youn, Osborne, Somvilay Xayaphone, Ward, and Allegri. Pendleton Ward referred to many of the writers during the third season as "really smart, smartypants people" who were responsible for inserting weirder and more spiritual ideas into the series. He attributed much of this to the background of the writers, many of whom were formerly involved in indie comics.
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, as well as Lumpy Space Princess. Former storyboard artist Niki Yang voices the sentient video game console BMO, as well as Jake's girlfriend Lady Rainicorn in Korean. Polly Lou Livingston, a friend of Pendleton Ward's mother, Bettie Ward, plays the voice of the small elephant Tree Trunks. Season three would also introduce Flame Princess, voiced by Jessica DiCicco; Flame Princess would go on to have a larger role in the fourth and fifth seasons of the show, as well as become Finn's new romantic interest. 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."
The series also regularly employs guest voices for various characters. For instance, Jackie Buscarino appears as the Cute King in "Conquest of Cuteness". Steve Agee voices Ash, Marceline's ex-boyfriend, and Ava Acres as young Marceline in "Memory of a Memory". Isabella Acres reprises her role as a young Princess Bubblegum, and Justin Roiland makes his debut as Lemongrab in the episode "Too Young". Lemongrab would soon becoming a recurring character. Steve Little voices the character Abracadaniel, and Maurice LaMarche appears as the Grand Master Wizard in the episode "Wizard Battle". For the gender-bent episode "Fionna and Cake", Madeleine Martin voiced Fionna, Roz Ryan played the part of Cake the Cat, Grey DeLisle appeared as the Ice Queen, and Neil Patrick Harris voiced Prince Gumball. Rich Fulcher appears as Jaybird and Ron Lynch voices the character Pig in "Apple Thief". Jackie Buscarino reprises her role as Susan Strong in the episode "Beautopia". Kyla Rae Kowalewski voices the character Me-Mow in the episode "Jake vs. Me-Mow". Musical parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic appears as the Banana Man in the episode "The New Frontier"; the character was originally supposed to be voiced by Jonathan Katz before Yankovic was chosen after Katz was unable to. Peter Browngardt voices the eponymous character in "Paper Pete". Gregg Turkington appears as the Talking Shrub in "Another Way". Sam Marin voices Clarence in "Ghost Princess". In the episode "Incendium", Keith David makes his debut as Flame King.
Various other characters are voiced by Tom Kenny, Dee Bradley Baker, Maria Bamford, Little, and Kent Osborne.
Broadcast and reception.
Ratings.
The season debuted on July 11, 2011, with the episode "Conquest of Cuteness". The episode was watched by 2.686 million viewers. This marked an increase from the second-season premiere, which had been viewed by 2.001 million viewers, and it marked a drastic increase from the second-season finale, which was watched by only 1.975 million viewers. "Conquest of Cuteness" also marked gains when compared to the same timeslot a year prior; growth in kids and boys aged 6–11, 2–11 and 9–14 ranged between 13 and 40 percent. The season hit a high with its ninth episode, "Fionna and Cake", which was watched by 3.315 million viewers. This made the episode, at the time, the highest-rated entry in the series in its three-season run. The season finale, "Incendium", aired on February 13, 2012, ranked as the number one telecast of the week among boys aged 6–11 on all of television. This season remained at the same timeslot as the first two seasons, Mondays at 8:00 pm.
Reviews and accolades.
Mike LeChevallier of "Slant" magazine awarded the third season three and a half stars out of four. In his review, LeChevallier wrote that the series "scores relatively high marks for storytelling, artwork, music, voice acting, and realization with its neatly wrapped, 11-minute packages of multicolored awesomeness." He further complimented the show because he felt that "it scarcely appears to be trying too hard to attract attention, yet it does just that". He did note that "the short-form format leaves some emotional substance to be desired", although he noted this was inevitable for a series with such short episodes.
"Fionna and Cake" was particularly successful with the fans of the series; according to "Entertainment Examiner", after the episode aired, "fans of the series loved the new interpretation and clamored for more Fionna and Cake". Ward has revealed that he is particularly pleased with the episode "Thank You"; he elaborated, "I think it's awesome that with a show called "Adventure Time with Finn and Jake", we can just forget about Finn and Jake for a little bit and the network will just let us follow this creature around".
The series was nominated for two separate Annie Awards: one for Best Animated Special Production for "Thank You", and another for Best Storyboarding in a Television Production for Rebecca Sugar. The series, however, failed to win either. The episode "Too Young" was nominated for a 2012 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-format Animated Program, although the episode did not win. The episode "Thank You" was also purposely screened in a movie theatre so that it could qualify for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Although it made the award's short list, it did not make the final list of ten nominees. "Thank You" was later in the running for the Animated Short Film award at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2013, although it did not win the award.
Episodes.
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Home media.
Warner Home Video released multiple DVD volumes, such as "It Came from the Nightosphere", "Jake vs. Me-Mow", "Fionna and Cake", "The Suitor", "Princess Day", "Finn the Human", "Frost & Fire", and "The Enchiridion" which contain episodes from the third season. All DVD releases can be purchased on the Cartoon Network Shop, and the individual episodes can be downloaded from both the iTunes Store and Amazon.com.
Full season release.
The full season set was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 25, 2014. By March 9, 2014, the DVD release had sold 32,056 copies, and the Blu-ray set had sold 8,577 copies.
References.
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Islands (miniseries)
2017 television miniseries
"Islands" is an American animated miniseries comprising eight episodes from the television show "Adventure Time", created by Pendleton Ward. It aired as part of the show's eighth season on Cartoon Network from January 30, 2017, to February 2, 2017. "Adventure Time" follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape, grow and shrink at will. In this limited event series, Finn, Jake, BMO (voiced by Niki Yang) and Susan Strong (voiced by Jackie Buscarino) leave Ooo and voyage across the ocean to learn about Finn's origin. During their trip, they encounter various creatures, new friends, and several interesting islands. The trip culminates with a visit to Founder's Island, where Finn meets his biological mother, Minerva Campbell (voiced by Sharon Horgan), and discovers what happened to the remainder of the human race.
"Islands" is the second "Adventure Time" miniseries to have been produced, following "Stakes", which aired in November 2015. "Islands" was preceded by the release of a graphic novel, which tied into the story and served as a prequel. The miniseries' story was developed by head writer Kent Osborne, series showrunner Adam Muto, story editor Jack Pendarvis, and staff writer Ashly Burch. Storyboard artists who worked on this miniseries include Sam Alden, Polly Guo, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone, Tom Herpich, Steve Wolfhard, Graham Falk, Pendleton Ward, Hanna K. Nyström, Aleks Sennwald, Kent Osborne, and Adam Muto. Cole Sanchez and Elizabeth Ito served as the miniseries' supervising directors, and Sandra Lee served as art director.
"Islands" was met with critical acclaim, with many critics applauding how the miniseries further developed the show's characters. Additionally, the episode "Imaginary Resources" won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2017. "Islands" was released on DVD on January 24, 2017.
Plot.
A large robotic craft arrives searching for Susan Strong (voiced by Jackie Buscarino), but the craft is dispatched by Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio). Princess Bubblegum (voiced by Hynden Walch) examines the wreckage and discovers that it is of human origin, which engenders in Finn the Human (voiced by Jeremy Shada) a desire to travel across the sea from whence the craft came and meet others of his kind; Susan, Jake, and BMO accompany Finn on his voyage. Initially, the journey is easy and uneventful, but after a series of mishaps, the group's boat is destroyed by a mysterious colossus, throwing everyone overboard. Finn subsequently wakes up on an island where the weather drastically fluctuates. After meandering around for awhile, he eventually encounters an old lady named Alva (voiced by Helena Mattsson) who does not speak English. Alva invites Finn to her home and shows her home movies of other humans who have since presumably died. Later, Finn and Alva encounter Jake, who informs the group that he does not know the whereabouts of either BMO and Susan. Finn and Jake eventually head to a futuristic island where all of society has hooked themselves up to a virtual reality simulator. BMO is revealed to have become the heroic leader of the VR people. Jake decides to go and destroy the generator powering the VR after BMO refuses to leave. Feeling bad for BMO, as well as the emaciated humans who emerge from the virtual reality simulator, Finn asks Jake to fix the generator, but BMO fixes it himself. BMO recognizes that if he remains behind, he will lose his friends, and so he, Finn, and Jake take a pod to the next island. It is on this stop that Finn, Jake and BMO find Susan, who begins to recall her long-forgotten past.
An extended flashback reveals Finn's origin, and what happened to the other humans. Roughly a thousand years prior to the main events of the series, a group of humans fled Ooo on a container ship (as seen in "Stakes"). They eventually settled on a secluded island chain far from the mainland. Over the next thousand years, the community grew into a veritable utopia. With that said, there were those few who occasionally grew dissatisfied with their rigidly structured lives and attempted to flee the island; these "hiders" were in turn hunted down and returned by specially trained "seekers". It is revealed that Susan's real name is Kara, and that she was once a seeker in training. Kara was friends with a fellow human, Frieda (voiced by Jasika Nicole), who began expressing a desire to flee the island. This revelation causes Kara some discomfort, so she approaches Dr. Gross (voiced by Lennon Parham), the cybernetic human in charge of training seekers, asking if the humans can live off the island. Dr. Gross convinces her that the outside is dangerous and, to prevent her from fleeing, she controls Kara with a remote control. Now fully under Dr. Gross's control, Kara stops Frieda from leaving and drags her away crying. Back in the present, Susan tells Finn her real name and decides to take Finn to Founders Island so that he can be reunited with his mother, Minerva Campbell (voiced by Sharon Horgan).
The audience is then presented with a series of flashbacks detailing how Minerva, a doctor, met Finn's father Martin Mertens (voiced by Stephen Root) when he was hospitalized after it was mistakenly believed he was attempting to leave the island with a group of escapees. Martin and Minerva eventually fell in love and had Finn. However, when the group of attempted escapees sought revenge on Martin for a previous betrayal, he fled on a boat with Finn. His escape is thwarted by the colossus—revealed to be a security device that was created to protect Founders Island from outside threats—which attacks the craft. In the chaos, the pair are separated, leaving Finn to drift away. The group is arrested and Minerva is heartbroken over Martin and Finn's disappearance.
Back in the present, the group make it to Founders Island where humans have been living in relative peace. While Kara seeks to make amends with Frieda, Finn and Jake discover that Minerva had digitized her consciousness in the past and now exists only in virtual reality. Minerva reveals that she had Dr. Gross send Kara to retrieve Finn, but years had passed and Dr. Gross had accidentally released a deadly virus that was killing humans. Minerva had her essence uploaded into a computer, and then created the helpers to assist the human race. Now that she is with Finn, she expresses her desire that he stay permanently. Finn tries to convince Minerva that life off the island is not all bad, but Minerva thinks off-island life is dangerous. Finn then tries to convince the humans to leave, and they all rally alongside him. This causes Minerva to attempt to upload the consciousnesses of all the islands' inhabitants. To prevent this, Finn shares with her his memories of helping people, causing her to back down; she realizes that Ooo is not nearly a threat as she before believed. The humans all change their minds about leaving, except for Frieda, who announces to Finn, Jake, and BMO that she and Susan have made amends and are leaving to have their own adventures. While setting sail on a new boat bound for Ooo, Finn has one final talk with Minerva through the VR headset, where the two embrace in the digital realm.
Production.
In February 2015 at an upfront regarding Cartoon Network's programming for the 2015 to 2016 television season, the network announced that "Adventure Time" would air a special miniseries entitled "Stakes" during the show's seventh season. Comprising 8 episodes and airing in November 2015, this miniseries was a "phenomenal success, ranking as the #1 program in its time period with all key kids and boys audiences." Prior to the airing of "Stakes", head story writer Kent Osborne revealed that the show would likely produce several more miniseries, and when it was announced that the series would end in 2018, the network's official press release stated that prior to the show's conclusion there would be "new episodes, mini-series, specials and more".
According to "TheSlanted", Cartoon Network took to "teas[ing]" information about the "Islands" miniseries immediately prior to its release. For instance, in early November 2016, ComiXology announced that the graphic novel "Islands" would tie "into the huge "Adventure Time: Islands" television event, the mini-series airing on Cartoon Network this winter where Finn meets other humans and an important member of his family for the first time", and later that month, an Amazon.com page for a pre-order of the "Islands" DVD was made available. Similarly, on December 9, the official "Adventure Time" Tumblr account revealed that the miniseries would have a unique title sequence. The announcements concerning the intro sequence, however, did not specifically explain what "Islands" was or when it would air. Official announcements detailing the miniseries were finally released on December 12, 2016 via a press release distributed to various media outlets.
Much like "Stakes", "Islands" has a unique title sequence that was designed just for the miniseries. The new intro was storyboarded by Sam Alden and, much like the "Stakes" intro, was animated by Masaaki Yuasa's company Science SARU. The sequence was previewed via Cartoon Network's Facebook page and the official "Adventure Time" Tumblr on December 12; at this time, the latter noted: "We were incredibly fortunate to have the fantastic staff of Science SARU animate [the] intro for [the] "Islands" miniseries. [Science SARU is] so good it's breathtaking." Unlike the