James Baxter the Horse
"James Baxter the Horse" | |
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Adventure Time episode | |
![]() James Baxter entertains a group of people. Every instance of the horse was guest-animated by British artist James Baxter. | |
Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 19 |
Directed by | |
Written by | Pendleton Ward Somvilay Xayaphone |
Story by | Patrick McHale Kent Osborne Pendleton Ward |
Production code | 1014-124[1] |
Original air date | May 6, 2013 |
Running time | 11 minutes |
Guest appearance | |
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"James Baxter the Horse" is the nineteenth episode of the
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 stumble across a horse named James Baxter (voiced by Baxter the animator) who has the ability to make sad people feel better. While seeking to emulate James Baxter's style, Finn and Jake accidentally anger the spirit of a deceased being at a funeral and are nearly killed by it; however, James Baxter arrives at the last moment and cheers the spirit up.
The impetus for the episode stemmed from a guest lecture Baxter gave at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) when Ward was a student; during the discussion, someone requested that he animate a horse on a beach ball, a concept which fixed itself into Ward's mind. The episode was viewed by 2.21 million viewers and received a 1.4 household rating. Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club wrote positively of the episode, arguing that it was a metacommentary on the nature of Adventure Time itself. Likewise, Ryan Thomason of WatchPlayRead enjoyed the episode, both for its full embracing of silliness, and also for its darker ending.
Plot
The destruction of an egg causes BMO (voiced by Niki Yang) to start crying. Finn and Jake try to cheer it up, but only make matters worse. Only when James Baxter (voiced by James Baxter), a horse who neighs his name frequently while balancing on a beach ball, arrives on the scene does BMO feel any better. Inspired by the actions of James Baxter, Finn and Jake decide that they want to try to make people feel better. As such, they journey across the magical land of Ooo (wherein Finn and Jake live) and emulate Baxter's brand of humor by saying their names humorously just like James Baxter. However, after interrupting a funeral and accidentally frightening a young Candy Kingdom citizen, they realize that they are merely making people feel worse.
Finn, Jake, and BMO travel to the So-Und Institute of Sound (a research facility that studies the nature of sound), where they attempt to discover the ultimate "feel-good" sound. After much experimentation, Jake eventually decides to morph into and emulate the sound of a trumpet, while Finn feigns playing him. Their plan is a success, and they cheer up a multitude of people across Ooo. However, when they return to the aforementioned funeral, they accidentally anger the ghost of the deceased individual. This spirit overpowers Finn and Jake and attempts to kill them, but before the two meet their demise, James Baxter arrives and calms the ghost by making it laugh. With his job completed, Baxter gallops off into the sunset.
Production
"James Baxter the Horse" was written and storyboarded by series creator
The titular character was named in honor of the animator, James Baxter,
Baxter himself animated all instances of the horse and beach ball.
Reception
"James Baxter the Horse" first aired on
Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club awarded the episode an "A−" and succinctly described it as "an episode all about finding the right combinations of sounds and actions to make a person happy, and it's hard not to see it as a metacommentary on the creation of Adventure Time."[13] Sava praised the "audio/visual combo" that represented James Baxter and felt that he was consistently funny throughout the episode.[13] Later, in a review of the season five episode "Shh!", Sava wrote that "James Baxter the Horse" was an episode that "looked at this show’s musical philosophy".[14] Ryan Thomason of WatchPlayRead wrote that "a horse on a beach ball neighing it's [sic] name to the delight of everyone that is sad ever is a pretty high concept [for] silliness", but that the episode took a dark turn with the introduction of "the creepy skittering skeleton [of the deceased individual] that pops out of the casket [and its] sad evil giant ghost [...] that nearly kills Finn and Jake."[15]
Explanatory notes
References
Footnotes
- official Frederator-affiliated Tumblr account.
- ^ Muto, Adam (supervising director); Nick Jennings (art director); Pendleton Ward & Somvilay Xayaphone (storyboard artists) (May 6, 2013). "James Baxter the Horse". Adventure Time. Season 5. Episode 19. Cartoon Network.
- ^ Ward, Pendleton (Series creator). 2014. "Dream of Love" [Commentary track], Adventure Time Season Four [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Cartoon Network.
- ^ official Frederator-affiliated Tumblr account.
- ^ Adam Muto's verified Spring.me account.
- ^ a b McDonnell (2014), p. 299.
- ^ McDonnell (2014), p. 298.
- The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
- ^ McDonnell (2014), pp. 348–349.
- ^ Pucci, Douglas (May 17, 2013). "Cartoon Network Ratings (May 6-12, 2013)". Son of the Bronx. Blogger. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- ^ Lambert, David (February 27, 2014). "Adventure Time – DVD for 'Volume 6: The Suitor': Date, Cost, Box Art and More!". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
- ASIN B00VSKT1XI. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ^ a b Sava, Oliver (May 6, 2013). "Review: Adventure Time: 'James Baxter the Horse'". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
- ^ Sava, Oliver (May 13, 2013). "Review: Adventure Time: 'Shh!'". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
- ^ Thomason, Ryan (May 9, 2013). "Adventure Time: James Baxter the Horse, TV Review". WatchPlayRead. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
Bibliography
- McDonnell, Chris (2014). The Art of Ooo. ISBN 9781419704505.
External links
- "James Baxter the Horse" at IMDb