If you’ve missed it, Adventure Time was featured this year at the (virtual) San Diego Comic-Con. The video is right here:
If you do not have the opportunity to watch the panel, I’ve jotted down some highlights. Read on for more (but be warned, as there are spoilers):
Distant Lands was an “older idea” that
has its origins during the final season of AT.
The BMO space story and Bubbline story, in particular,
were envisioned as miniseries “to fill out the back-half of a longer season.”
The writers didn’t want to focus on Finn and
Jake because their story was “mostly done—and that was the series.”
When envisioning miniseries during the final
season, many proposed miniseries revolved around characters that the writers
played.
The producers chose to start with a BMO episode
because it is an “easy access point.” Adam also argued that, due to BMO’s
kid-like perspective, “the episode [would] feel younger by default.”
“Baby Finn and Jake… I love the look of baby
Finn and Jake.”—Niki Yang
According to Niki, “BMO always bounces back!” is
her favorite line because “we live in such a strange time,” and that line
suggests that “we will bounce back together.”
Curda believes that after BMO departs Y5′s satellite world, she was able to reorganize her world and make significant social and political change.
“Obsidian” will touch on pre-series events and post-finale events.
In regard to the previous point, Olson said: “It was really cool to be able to see some of the things in the past that happened between them and how it will affect their, future moving forward.”
Oslon was “really excited” when she read the script for “Obsidian,” and she thinks that fans will be able to “tick off a lot of questions.”
The name ‘Obsidian’ is “a metaphor” and the “most powerful fusion” (SU joke, haha), but it has mostly to do with the location of this episode, which takes place in the Glass Kingdom. Adam explains that the name was chosen because obsidian can be protective, but it can also be weaponized (just like Marcy and PB’s characterizations); he also notes that obsidian can be a “cleansing” material, and this episode will explore some of their “older conflicts” while also considering what their relationship would be like “down the road” after the finale.
Olivia Olson argues that, prior to the 2014 panel in which she dropped the Bubbline bomb, she was being “highly speculative” and investigating for her book.
“Obsidian” is going to give us a chance to see “so many sides of Marceline.” Much of the episode is focused on her “getting over some of the barriers that she’s put in place for herself.”
“Obsidian” features several new songs, composed by a number of “amazing songwriters.” Many of these songwriters were working hard to replicate Rebecca Sugar’s signature style; they also try to show how Marceline has grown as a songwriter over the years (including from when she was a kid, when she was an “angry punk,” and now as an adult who still has some issues to focus on).
All of the songs were composed before the episode was storyboarded.
Adam and the writers wanted a song in the episode because otherwise, it would be a “missed opportunity.”
It was “an emotional day” for Olivia when she recorded a specific song, and it caused everyone in the recording studio to tear up. She “hopes we get a similar reaction” from the fans.
There are new characters in “Obsidian,” including characters who show up in the beginning as analogs for Finn and Jake. One of them is called “Glass Boy,” and he is a Finn-esque “instigator” who gets PB and Marcy to talk about their past. Also, Glass Boy is voiced by Michaela Dietz, who played Amethyst on Steven Universe!
The final two specials focus on topics/characters that weren’t explored that well, or might have been explored if the show had gone on for longer.
Adam notes that the writers didn’t want to go “so far a-field” and focus on D-list characters. The main characters in the final two specials will be major (duh).
One of the songs is called “Monster.” It seems to be one of the ‘big’ ones, and of course focuses on Marceline and Bubblegum’s relationship… but who wrote it? That’s a mystery…
Those are the big ones that jumped out to me! Let me know if there were some other cool facts and tidbits that I should’ve added!