Tree Trunks (episode)

"Tree Trunks" is episode number four in season one of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
Tree Trunks joins Finn and Jake on an adventure through the Evil Forest in search for the legendary Crystal Gem Apple.

Plot
Finn and Jake are playing with swords when Tree Trunks the elephant invites them into her house to have some of her apple pie. The first pie is touched by a fly, so Tree Trunks throws it away and makes another pie. As Finn and Jake eat the pie, Tree Trunks asks them what they would do if they could do anything. Finn says that he would go into space to fight space monsters, and Jake would carve his face onto the moon. Tree Trunks says she wants to pick an apple, but it is known as the rare Crystal Gem Apple. It is located in the Evil Forest, and Finn and Jake decide to make her wish come true.

When they reach the Evil Forest, they encounter the Wall of Flesh and try to fight it, but because Tree Trunks is naive, she begins putting stickers on it. The Wall of Flesh flees when Finn cuts off one of its arms, and soon Tree Trunks walks away, following a Skeleton Butterfly. She is attacked by Sign Zombies and begins having a tea party with them, not knowing they want to kill her. Finn and Jake fight off the Sign Zombies and continue their adventure, until they encounter a Brain Beast. Finn goes to fight it, but Tree Trunks' "adventurer's instincts" tell her to put on makeup and seduce the Brain Beast with her womanly charms. Jake has to leap in to save Tree Trunks while Finn attacks the monster's magic gem weak spot.

Finn yells at Tree Trunks for putting herself in danger, and she leaves in tears, only to find the Crystal Gem Apple growing inside a mushroom-shaped tree. Unfortunately, a Crystal Guardian appears and begins copying Finn and Jake's actions, blocking every attempt to fight it physically. As Tree Trunks is picking a mushroom, a Skeleton Butterfly appears with a keytar and plays music. As Tree Trunks dances with the butterfly, the Crystal Guardian begins copying her. Noticing this, Finn and Jake try to fight it while it's distracted, but the Crystal Guardian is able to copy them all simultaneously.

The two adventurers realize that they have to fight the monster "Tree Trunks-style". They put on makeup and trick the monster into letting Tree Trunks take a bite of the Crystal Gem Apple. She bites the apple, pauses for a second, then explodes, leaving Finn, Jake, and the Crystal Guardian shocked, and staring at each other in horror. In a final, enigmatic scene Tree Trunks is seen walking in front of a crystal background. (More answers appear in "Crystals Have Power").

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Tree Trunks

Minor characters

 * Wall of Flesh
 * Crystal Guardian
 * Brain Beast
 * Sign Zombies
 * Butterflies
 * Worms
 * Snail

Trivia

 * Tree Trunks was supposed to explode and end the episode, but Cartoon Network found that "too morbid" for younger viewers, so they added a scene of her walking around in front of a crystal background to show the viewers that Tree Trunks was okay.
 * The My Two Favorite People DVD didn't include the scene where Tree Trunks was walking with the crystal background behind her.
 * When Tree Trunks was putting stickers on the Wall of Flesh, she describes a horse as a unicorn without a horn. This suggests the existence of unicorns.
 * The title card shows Tree Trunks posing on a piano.

Continuity errors

 * There is an inconsistency about how much of the Crystal Gem Apple Tree Trunks eats. In this episode, she eats only a bite, but in "Crystals Have Power," she is shown to eat the apple whole.
 * After Tree Trunks "explodes," when Jake stares at the camera, his eyes are white with black irises.

Episode connections

 * The story of Tree Trunks' disappearance is continued in the season two episode "Crystals Have Power."
 * This episode shows Jake's Sword for the first time, but it is not confirmed it's his until "Conquest of Cuteness."

Censorship

 * This episode was censored on Cartoon Network Australia. See Censorship of Adventure Time in Australia for more information.