Adventure Time was one of my absolute favourite TV shows when I was younger. Actually, scratch
that, it went beyond TV. It was one of my favourite pieces of media more widely. I even
had one of those little backpacks with the pull-out Finn hood. So when I fell ill with
The Disease a few days ago, as my productivity fell, and as I started feeling less than amazing,
I thought, hey it might be fun to revisit this show. The early days, the days I remember
best. Because there was an episode back in season 1, called Rainy Day Daydream which
saw our heroes Finn and Jake stuck inside against their will, having to entertain themselves
while they wait. Now the reason they re stuck doing nothing is a bit more exciting than
my reason there s a storm of raining knives, rather than, just, feeling bad from illness
but I thought it d be cool to rewatch it anyway given that I m in a kind of similar situation
myself. And I thought it would be even cooler to try and break it down on this channel afterwards,
give it the ol Pillar of Garbage once over. But this isn t going to be some big, long,
pseudo-intellectual video essay like I sometimes make I don t really feel up to anything that
daunting just yet so instead, why don t you grab a cup of tea, or, like Lemsip, I guess,
and join me for a chilled out, no pressure analysis of what I really like about Rainy
Day Daydream. Because I think this episode is secretly an argument for why cartoons like
Adventure Time matter to the world. In this episode, Finn and Jake are stuck inside.
For Finn, this is a big L because he wants to be in the great outdoors, doing quests
and other cool junk. He s even made a to-do list:
Jake s not so bothered though, because he thinks they can have a great day by just hanging
out and using their imagination an idea Finn is not on board with, for one major and eloquently
described reason The main conflict of this episode arrives
just after this disagreement, because in an effort to demonstrate the appeal of imagination
to Finn, Jake starts imagining things. But these things become real. They re all invisible,
but now everything Jake imagines becomes physically present in the treefort, and physically dangerous
to our characters, starting off with a floor made of lava, and only getting more perilous
thereafter. To try and escape from this situation, Jake imagines an imagination-off-switch but
to get to it, the team have to run a deadly imagined gauntlet, with a whole bunch of dangers
standing in between them and their solution. And it s these conjured imagination constructs
I m interested in here. Because these creatures, and the scenarios they present, are really
silly. Invisible snakes, a family of invisible trolls,
something Jake describes as A big bowl of baby elephants, chainsaws, and
doodoo and maybe best of all, the Bazooka Goblin
Early adventure time has a reputation for being silly. It s a zany show in a zany world
and while, years later, Adventure Time develops into a surprisingly mature show, in terms
of tone, themes, and emotion its early years are renowned for being random and nonsensical.
But even season 1 adventure time isn t, bazooka goblin silly. No, these creatures and features
produced by Jake s imagination are clearly super wacky and zany, EVEN for this world.
In a sense, then, the products of Jake s imagination we see in this episode can be understood as
parallels for the show itself. Both early Adventure Time and Jake s realised imagination
stand out from their respective worlds, by virtue of their immense silliness.
Adventure Time s pastel-coloured madcap insanity made a real splash back in 2010, bearing the
torch for a whole new wave of adorkable, so random cartoons. And I think that on some
level, Rainy Day Daydreams is commenting on Adventure time itself and this wacky reputation,
through the way it creates a little mini-world of new extra crazy, imagined characters within
the world of the show. I think Jake becomes a stand-in for Pendleton Ward, Adventure Time
s creator a figure of wild imagination, who instinctively creates not only characters
and scenarios, but narratives. Jake can t simply imagine his imagination off, he has
to create a machine, guarded by traps and enemies to be struggled against and ultimately
triumphed over. This isn t a detailed metaphor by any means it would struggle to be, in this
10 minute runtime - but I do think this episode is interested in this realised imagination
idea in a metatextual way. If this is the case, what is this Adventure
Time saying about itself here, and about similar projects which embrace imagination and fun
with similar gusto? Well the episode ends with the status quo resumed. The knife storm
is passed, imagination has stopped bleeding over into reality, and Finn and Jake are back
to normal. Well, almost back to normal, because there is one change Finn s reversed his earlier
opposition to imagination. The resolution here is that both characters now accept that
the way they passed their time while stuck inside or at least, the way they set out to
pass their time, before things started getting life-threatening -was a valid way to spend
an afternoon. It was worthwhile. That sense, of imagination s affirmation, seems like the
obvious idea to end on here. Reality isn t always fantastic, and escaping into unreal
worlds is a valid response. That s a conclusion we could draw, but honestly, I don t think
it s the right one. Instead, I d like to suggest an alternative.
I think Rainy Day Daydream introduces the dichotomy of reality and imagination and then
collapses it intentionally. Much of this episode takes place in the situation we discussed
earlier where whatever Jake imagines is physically real but what s causing this is never explained.
We even see later in the episode that Finn is able to similarly manifest reality-altering
imagination powers. The nature of these imagination constructs is never fully revealed, but in
some ways, they are unequivocally real. They touch our heroes, they hurt them, and at the
end of the episode, Finn s imagination device saves Jake. By the end of the episode the
idea that imagination is somehow separate from reality, at least in the world of Rainy
Day Daydream, is rejected. Imagination as envisaged by this episode isn t pure escapism,
it s linked firmly to reality. It impacts the real, and as we see in Finn s new outlook
at the episode s end, it changes the real. So if we return to the idea of Rainy Day Daydream
s wild imagination as Adventure Time itself, as silly storytelling, as cartoons more widely
then what is the message? What conclusion should we draw? I think it s about rejecting
the idea that shows like early Adventure Time are only valuable as escapism. The idea that
imaginative fiction s worth is somehow separate from a real world . Sure, maybe using cartoons
to distract yourself from the downsides of life is A valid way to engage with them, but
it isn t THE ONLY valid way. Because in Rainy Day Daydream we see an imagined world touch
Finn and Jake, hurt them, and then eventually heal them. And I think that all of that can
be said for imaginative fiction, too. Shows like this touch us, affect us, inform us,
even hurt or heal us. Imagination can touch the real in our world too it just makes that
contact through us, through the viewer. I think that s the point Rainy Day Daydream
was trying to make, or, one of them, at least. Despite its silly reputation, Adventure Time
was a worthwhile show, even back in season 1. Animation and imagination are both worthwhile,
beyond their potential for distraction and escapism. They can affect our lives, and our
world, even if they re doing so indirectly. I think that s where we should stop, and that
s the conclusion we should draw. And I d love to know what you think about where we ve ended
up down below. Personally, I m pretty pleased with how this turned out, and honestly I think
I ve kinda proved the truth of my argument to myself, because rewatching this episode,
and thinking about what it s saying has made me feel a little better. So, that s neat.
And I think that s the video. So big thanks to all my Patrons onscreen now, especially
Kevin Douglas and Ian Fyfield.