Dad's Dungeon

"Dad's Dungeon" is the twenty-fifth episode in season three of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
Jake feels conflicted when his father forces him to try and hold Finn back in a dungeon meant to toughen Finn up.

Plot
Finn, Beemo and Jake are at the boat of the tree fort, telling Jake what they want him to turn into. Finn suggests a cheetah and a fart, Beemo suggests a cookie and an external hard drive. Jake then transforms into a farting cheetah. Sparkles suddenly appear on the side of the house's roof. Finn and Jake try to squish them. The sparkles then lead them to a Holo-Message Player. They turn it on to see that it is a message left from their father, Joshua, who built a dungeon for them as babies.The Demon appears and demands Joshua to give his blood back. Joshua casts the demon away with a chant. Joshua secretly tells Jake that it's to toughen Finn up, while Finn covers his ears. Joshua explained how to get there, and also said that it would be really hard to finish the dungeon. They go to an unknown place where the Dumb Rock was, as explained in the video. They move the rock out of the way of the entrance. When they enter they're attacked by a Hot Dog Monster and a Hamburger Monster, after defeating them, they come to another prerecorded message where Joshua tells Jake to call Finn a whiny baby. They come across 2 paths, where one is a Flower Path and a disgusting monster path. They take the flower path because Jake says that the monster is "super gross". The monster is saddened by this but Finn kindly reassures the monster, telling that they just said that because they are his bro's, and that bro's are real with each other. Finn adds "You're gross, brother. Take a bath." to "amplify" their truthfulness.

In the Flower Path, Finn asks Jake what their dad said. Jake tells that Joshua is surprised that a whiny baby like Finn made it that far. Finn is then puzzled; asking Jake why Joshua keeps saying things like that. Jake is forced to tell Finn that it's because Finn cries like a baby and that he's whiny. The Fruit Witches then appear and try to get Finn to eat an apple, and Finn almost does, but Jake knocks the apple out of his hand and feeds it to one of the fruit witches. The cursed apple causes the Fruit Witch to have vines crawl out of her mouth and eyes, wrap around her, and turn into a giant apple. The two other Fruit Witches begin to eat the Fruit Witch, while Finn and Jake escape. The Fruit Witches begin to chase them up a stone wall, but Jake farts, knocking them out.

Jake tells Finn what is really happening when they go into the final passage. They watch the tape as Joshua explains that he is finishing the last chamber of the dungeon. He explains that he is trying to fit a monster into a pit he dug. In the middle of what he is saying, two, long fingers with huge claws slowly sneak out of the entrance to the chamber and grab him. Joshua then gets pulled in the chamber, then Finn and Jake run into the room. While Finn attempts to get the sword, Jake discovers more Holo-Message tapes. He plays the final one informing him to play it for Finn when he finishes the dungeon. Behind Finn, two giant hands reach from the darkness, and Finn is slapped by the left hand. Finn is flown across the room, and the Evil Monster crawls out of the darkness, revealing himself. When Finn expresses the doubt within himself because of their father's words, Jake plays the tape to Finn revealing Joshua telling Finn he made the dungeon for him as well as expressing his pride for him. Having the confidence in himself restored, he rips the sword from its place and slays the monster. They leave the Dungeon with Joshua's sword when the demon appears. Jake replays the message where Joshua cast the demon away with the spell "Kee Oth Rama Pancake." The episodes ends with the two saying their dad was "cool".

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Joshua

Minor characters

 * Beemo
 * Dumb Rock
 * Blood Demon
 * Ugly Monster
 * Fruit Witches
 * Evil Monster
 * Hot Dog Monster
 * Hamburger Monster
 * Lady Rainicorn (cameo, Jake's imagination)
 * Snail

Songs

 * Joshua's Final Message Remix

Trivia

 * The fruit witches resemble the girls on the title card of "Slumber Party Panic."
 * This episode shows that Finn and Jake lived in the treehouse since they were babies, pushing back the time Marceline lived there a tiny fraction of her time stalking the nights of Ooo.
 * The Monster guarding the demon blood sword resembles a large Lub Glub.
 * The chant Joshua says to banish the demon is "Kee Oth Rama Pancake."
 * Thief Wizard in "City of Thieves" also chants "Pancake" three times as an incantation to turn himself into a cat, suggesting "pancake" may be a magic word. It's also a reference to Natasha Allegri's cat named Pancake.
 * When the Giant Monster slaps Finn away from the sword, the key on wrist disappears and reappears in the next scene.
 * When Finn and Jake exit the dungeon Jake is messing with the tapes to say weird things. (Jake's edited speech dots indicate a rewind or fast-forward)I made you guys something it's....babies....full of....babies... the family sword,it's made out of....babies
 * When Joshua found Finn as a baby in "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain", he was already big, but in the hologram he was small.
 * This episode has been refused to be emitted in Australia.

Production notes

 * This episode was originally called "Dungeon," sharing its name with the season one episode, but it was changed to be "Dad's Dungeon".
 * Originally, this episode was going to be story-boarded by Pen alone, but Adam Muto and Natasha Allegri helped out when he didn't have enough time.
 * Originally, this episode included the song "A Boy Named Sue" from Jonny Cash.

Storyline analysis

 * Jake and Finn are seen as babies at the same time even though Jake's age has been said to be twenty-eight in "magical dog years."
 * It is possible that Joshua died in the dungeon, as suggested by his final prerecorded message where the monster pulls him into the last chamber. Within the chamber is a video camera and pile of holo-message cartridges, which are presumably what Joshua used to record his messages.
 * However, Joshua's might not have died here, because the first flashback in "Crystals Have Power" seemed to show that Joshua was alive when Jake was older than a baby. (An explanation around this could be that it took a long period of time for Joshua to make the dungeon, and during this time Finn remained a "whiny baby" while Jake grew up faster because he was a dog.)
 * The last holo-message shows the sword missing from the mantel, possibly indicating that Joshua finished the dungeon, made it out alive, and simply bought a new camera.
 * The key to the lock around the sword was on the Giant Monster's wrist. Finn actually broke the lock instead of taking the key from defeating the monster.
 * The reason Joshua made the dungeon was because as a baby, Finn was too "soft," and cried when squeezed. Note his disapproval of baby Finn's whining in the first hologram, where he squeezes both Jake and Finn (Jake merely giggles).
 * In the last hologram before the last chamber, Joshua messages could only make sense if he knew ahead of time that Jake and Finn would have chosen the flower path. That or the other (gross) path would not lead them to the end of the chamber.

Videos
Video:"Dad's Dungeon" Animatic|Animatic Video:Adventure Time - Dad's Dungeon (shorter preview)|The short preview Video:Adventure Time - Dad's Dungeon (extended preview)|Dad's Dungeon - Extended Preview