Adventure Time: Distant Lands - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Adventure Time: Distant Lands



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

​

Movie
Adventure Time is one of those weird animated shows that I could never TRULY get into. Unlike Rick & Morty I found it entertaining, but ultimately a throw away popcorn show that just never fully vibed with with. However, the series is a massively loved show by fans, and has all sorts of fan theories, and corners of the internet where they sit and discuss the time lines and variations the show has gone through over the years. The series itself ended in 2018, but in 2020 Tom DiMaggio brought back the series in a sort of alternate worlds miniseries of 4 episodes called Distant Lands. Now nearly 2 years later we get the miniseries on Blu-ray, with a great looking and sounding disc, but fairly barebones as it contains the four 45-50 minute extended eps and nothing else.

While there are some loose connections between the 4 episodes, each one is basically a standalone story that is meant to be an ala carte experience. The first episode is labeled BMO and features the lovable robot BMO and his adventures with a mysterious being known as Olive (who sort of looks like an olive, nuff said). Soon they’re on a space station heading towards ultimate doom, and only working together with a magical bunny can they avert said crisis. The episode sounds absolutely BIZARRE from what I just outlined for you, but that’s exactly how it is. Completely insane, gonzo, and utterly bizarre to the core. Even though it tries to bring out the tired old cliche of people of different backgrounds and stories working together for a common goal, it feels a bit stuffy and done already.

Obsidian gives us a glimpse into the domestic partnership of the Vampire Marceline and Princess Bubblegum in their little slice of heaven. Their domestic bliss is interrupted by a creature known as “glassboy” who is looking to research their history of fighting an ages old dragon, thus bringing up the two’s sordid past and how they came to be linked to each other. It’s a fun little jaunt and while it is a bit goofy (seriously, this IS Adventure Time), it’s a sweet little story with a happy ending.

Together Again brings us back to the most well known characters of the show, Finn and Jake. The boy and his “dog” are off on another adventure against the Ice King when they are transported to the dead zone, where they are….well… dead. There they find that Death himself is gone, having been replaced by his reptilian son. Finding out that Jake is in another level of the afterlife than he is, Finn sets out to find his beloved pall and spend eternity with his best bud. Along the way he may just completely upend death itself and open up another multiverse to explore later.

Wizard School is the final and weirdest of the bunch, centering on Peppermint Butler who just so happens to be an intelligent peppermint candy (yes, you read that right), who just so happens to be a princess at the same time. Peppermint is in the middle of having to atone for a lifetime of sins, and her own adventure is one of redemption as well as exploring some of the darker elements of the post apocalyptic show. It’s strange, bizarre, and technically my least favorite of the 4, but also objectively one of the better written (a bit of a juxtaposition there)




Rating:

Rated TV-PG




Video:

Distant Lands “lands” on Blu-ray with a great looking 1.78:1 AVC encode for the Blu-ray. The show isn’t the highest of level of animation detail, but it’s a very clean and bright encode. Colors are deep and richly saturated, and the only real “issue” that I can see is simply your typical banding that is typical of Warner Brothers animated shows. Blacks are solid to the eye, and digital animation is very crisp. It’s good, never truly GREAT, but a very very good transfer despite having over 3 hours of content on the disc.







Audio:

For being a simple show and animated at that I was really expecting such a great sounding audio mix. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is powerful and immersive, really sucking you into the various different multiverses of the show. The dialog is always clean and clear where you would expect it to be, but the surrounds and bass REALLY get a workout in many scenes. I was shocked at some seriously punchy bass moments (such as when the dragon comes out in the 2nd episode, or when Finn and Jake are battling the Lich in the 3rd one). All around great mix.







Extras:

•

Final Score: ​

As I said, I watched a lot of Adventure Time over the years on Cartoon Network, but I never was a real huge FAN of the show. As such, I may be less than qualified to give a great score in favor of the fans. I enjoyed the mini series about as much as I enjoyed the series, which is to say it was cheap escapist entertainment that I never truly sunk my teeth into. The Blu-ray looks and sounds as good as can be expected for a cheaply animated show, and fans of the series SHOULD be quite happy with the mini series. Recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Hynden Walch, John DiMaggio, Tom Kenney, Niki Yang, Jeremy Shade, Charlotte Nicadao
Created by: Miki Brewster
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: TV-PG
Runtime: 186 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: March 8th, 2022

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I also am not a major fan! I only see it if I happen to be switching channels and it just so happens to be on, I will watch it. Never religiously watched it thou..