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"Evicted!"

"Evicted!" is the twelfth episode of the first season of the American animated television series Adventure Time. The episode was written and storyboarded by Bert Youn and Sean Jimenez, from a story by Adam Muto. It originally aired on Cartoon Network on March 18, 2010 as a preview for the series; it later officially aired on May 17, 2010. The episode guest stars Erik Estrada as King Worm. The episode marks the first appearance of Marceline the Vampire Queen (voiced by Olivia Olson), who would go on to play a larger role in the series as a friend and companion to Finn and Jake

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 search the land of Ooo for a new home after Marceline claims the duo's treehouse as her own. Finn and Jake search all of Ooo for a new home, before settling temporarily in a cave. After a final confrontation, Marceline relents and gives Finn and Jake their house back because she finds them entertaining.

The character of Marceline was present in the series' pitch bible, but she had not yet appeared in an episode prior to "Evicted!". Olson was cast as the character after she initially read for the part of Princess Bubblegum; she was later pleased with her casting, praising Marceline's varied design. "Evicted!" also features the first song that was produced for the series: "The House Hunting Song". "Evicted!" was watched by 1.88 million people and received largely positive critical attention, with Cam Shea of IGN naming the episode the fourth best episode of Advenure Time's first season, and Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club noting that the episode is an example of the emotional complexity of the series. "Evicted!" also drastically increased Marceline's popularity with fans of the series.

Plot

During a rainy night, Jake tells Finn a story about a supposed vampire that used to live in their tree fort. Finn, scared by the sounds outside the house, goes downstairs to talk to Jake. Suddenly, their window is blown open and the lights go out. Finn and Jake soon discover that Marceline the Vampire Queen has snuck into their house. Both Finn and Jake are terrified that Marceline will kill them and drink their blood, but she reveals that she has no intentions of killing them, noting that she really only eats the color red. However, she explains that the tree house used to belong to her, and she promptly evicts them from their residence.

Finn and Jake then attempt to find new homes. Initially they are unable to find a suitable home until they stumble upon a cave. They clean up the cave and hold a house-warming party, which Marceline crashes. She explains that the cave also belongs to her. Finn, having had enough starts a fight with Marceline, who grows into a huge demonic bat. After she seemingly kills Jake, Finn goes into a rage and violently punches Marceline, who promptly shape-shifts into her regular form and then kisses Finn on the cheek, making him blush. Jake—who was able to use his shape-shifting powers to save himself—runs over to Finn, and Marceline states that the fight they had was fun and that the two of them can have their old house back, as a gift. Once Finn and Jake return to their old abode, they are promptly hypnotized by King Worm (voiced by Erik Estrada).

Production

A woman with black hair is seated at a table.
Marceline is voiced by Olivia Olson.

"Evicted!" was written and storyboarded by Bert Youn and Sean Jimenez, from a story developed by Adam Muto. The entry was directed by Larry Leichliter. The episode marks the first appearance of Marceline, one of the main characters in Adventure Time.[2] Although she did not appear in the series' pilot, the groundwork for her design and character were present in the series pitch book, penned by Pendleton Ward.[3][4] Marceline's name is based on the name of a childhood friend of Ward's friend, named Marie, whose middle name is Marceline. Ward described Marie as someone who likes the horror movie Psycho and wearing dark clothing.[5] Ward purposely set out to make Marceline's character complex, as he explained in an interview that "with the female characters it’s easy to either write them as clichés or write them as the extreme opposite of those clichés […] I just try to make them have faults and strengths just like Finn and Jake have."[6]

Marceline is voiced by Olivia Olson; she had originally auditioned for the role of Princess Bubblegum. After her initial audition, she was asked to read for the role of Marcelline, and was "definitely impressed by the character" after seeing design drawings.[7] Olson is also the character's singing voice.[8] The artistic design for Marceline was created by Ward, with small changes and additions added by Phil Rynda, former lead character designer and prop designer for Adventure Time.[4] Olson later related in an interview that she was impressed by her character because, "she has really cool style […] I love what they come up with [in] every episode."[7] The episode also features the vocal talents of actor Erik Estrada as King Worm; Estrada would reprise the role for the eponymous fourth season episode "King Worm".[9]

The episode features the "House Hunting Song", the first song produced for "Adventure Time"; while "Baby"—from the earlier episode "The Jiggler"—had aired prior to "Evicted!", this episode was produced first.[1] The song—which was originally called "Oh Marceline"—was written by Patrick McHale and sung by Ward and Olson. McHale later posted the original demo for the song through his official Twitter account.[10] Ashley Dzerigian played all of the bass in the episode. According to series composer Casey James Basichis, she is "is classically trained as a bassist and can do just about anything".[11] Ryan Conner recorded guitar feedback that Basichis later autotuned into melodies.[11]

Reception

"Evicted!" was previewed on Cartoon Network on March 18, 2010.[12] The episode officially aired on May 17, 2010. the episode was watched by 1.88 viewers, and scored a 1.2/2 percent 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 episode was seen by 1.2 percent of all households and 2 percent of all households watching television at the time of the episode's airing.[13] The episode first saw physical release as part of the 2011 Adventure Time: My Two Favorite People DVD, which included 12 episodes from the series' first two seasons.[14] It was later re-leased as part of the complete first season DVD in July of 2012.[15]

Critical reception to "Evicted!" was largely positive. Cam Shea of IGN named Marceline's introduction in "Evicted!" as the fourth best moment in the series' first season. He wrote that "sure, in this episode she evicts Finn and Jake from their home ... but hey, this is the first time we meet her and she's awesome."[16] He later wrote that "Marceline = best".[16] Marceline has gone on to be one of the most popular characters with the Adventure Time fan base, and after the release of "Evicted!" her popularity grew enormously. Ward later noted that he felt "good about that. It's nice".[17] Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club named the episode one of the ten additional installments of the series that illustrates that "emotional complexity" lies "beneath Adventure Time's weirdness".[18]

References

  1. ^ a b Seibert, Fred (August 14, 2009). "Writing Pick-Up". Frederator Studios. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  2. ^ "Character of the Week: Marceline | Character Facts of the Week: Marceline from Adventure Time". CartoonNetwork.co.uk. January 24, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  3. ^ Ward, Pendleton (October 26, 2010). "Adventure Time – Original Bible Pitch". Scribd. Retrieved October 30, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Rynda, Phil (September 9, 2010). "What's your favorite character that you've designed?". Formspring. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  5. ^ Ward, Pendleton (March 12, 2001). "How did you come up with the name Marceline? It's kinda weird sounding". VYou. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  6. ^ "Interview Time: GeekDad Talks With Adventure Time's Pen Ward". Wired. March 12, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Orange, B. Alan (July 25, 2011). "SDCC 2011 EXCLUSIVE: Adventure Time Cast Interviews". MovieWeb.com. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  8. ^ Muto, Adam (June 14, 2012). "Does Olivia Olson play the bass and sing for Marceline?". Formspring. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  9. ^ Stopera, Dave (2012). "25 Actors You Might Not Have Known Did Voices On 'Adventure Time'". BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed Inc. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  10. ^ McHale, Pat (June 15, 2012). "And the demo of 'Oh Marceline' from way back in first season". Twitter. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  11. ^ a b Basichis, Casey James. "Comrades". CaseyJamesBasichis.com. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  12. ^ "Get 'Evicted' Tonight". Frederator Studios. March 18, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
  13. ^ Gorman, Bill (May 18, 2010). "Lakers/Suns Game 1 Tops, Also Nurse Jackie, WWE Raw, Real Housewives, & More". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
  14. ^ Larry Leichliter et al. (2011). Adventure Time: My Two Favorite People (DVD). Warner Home Video. {{cite AV media}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |authors= (help)
  15. ^ Larry Leichliter et al. (2012). Adventure Time: The Complete First Season (DVD). Warner Home Video. {{cite AV media}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |authors= (help)
  16. ^ a b Shea, Cam (October 21, 2012). "Our Top 10 Adventure Time Moments – Season 1". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  17. ^ Ward, Pendleton (June 22, 2010). "How do you feel about the ridiculously massive fanbase Marceline has gained after only one episode with her?". Formspring. Archived from the original on December 25, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  18. ^ Sava, Oliver (October 9, 2013). "Beneath Adventure Time's Weirdness Lies Surprising Emotional Complexity". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
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