Astral Plane (episode)

Synopsis
While asleep on a camping trip with Jake, Finn visits the Astral Plane and discovers the meaning of creativity.

Plot
The episode begins as Finn and Jake are seen camping in an unknown forest. Finn says that he has a weird thought about keeping pets. Jake responds, saying it is natural to have weird thoughts when around campfires, and dismisses it. They keep talking about it when Finn notices a strange star in the sky. He begins to ramble on about the star, asking questions until Jake tells him he's had just a little "too much campfire." The pair fall asleep after Jake extinguishes the fire.

Later in the night, it is shown that the star is actually a comet, which somehow causes Finn to enter his Astral Plane. He notices that he is sleeping now, and fiddles with Jake for a while, but his hands go through Jake's body. Finn's astral body involuntarily starts to move, and Finn blames the candied beans they had for it.

He reaches a building and involuntarily passes through a wall, revealing it to be Mr. Fox's house. Mr. Fox is talking about Boobafina in his sleep. On a nearby couch, he notices that Mr. Fox's astral body is present and can see him. He asks whether he can see him, to which he replies with some weird questions again. Again Finn's body starts to move involuntarily and he bids Mr. Fox goodbye.

As Finn starts ascending to sky, he speaks to himself, saying that the fox looked lonely. Soon, nearby, Bounce House Princess notices the time is 1 A.M and sends the kids inside her outside, telling them that they don't have to go home, but they can't stay there. Finn floats after Bounce House Princess to a cave, which is neatly decorated inside, revealing it to be Bounce House Princess' house. Finn arrives behind the princess, who doesn't notice Finn. Bounce House Princess starts to apply some cream and comb her hair. Soon, a light banging is heard and a porcupine enters nonchalantly during which Bounce House Princess is freaked out by it. The porcupine starts to make itself comfortable and eats some sandwiches. Bounce House Princess starts to get panicked and enters a room labelled the Panic Room. Finn also enters the room.

Inside, Bounce House Princess is trying to calm herself, when she notices that the porcupine is nearing the Panic Room. It accidentally enters the right code and enters the room. Bounce House Princess drops her food out of fright, which the porcupine starts to eat. Bounce House Princess calms herself by reasoning that the porcupine may not be a threat after all. She comes to a conclusion to stay still to avoid contact with the porcupine. A large "pop" can be heard after Finn ascends upwards out of view of Bounce House Princess.

Finn reaches the Cloud Kingdom. The Cloud People are having a party, and Finn notices the Ice King is also there. Ice King is shown giving out ice to the party guests. Ice King is then shown talking to a cloud person named Lauren. He tells her that he has great parties like this one, and that she should come to one of his parties. To coax her, he says that he is friends with Finn, who upon hearing this, becomes visibly angry. Hearing this, Lauren gets excited. Ice King starts a conversation with Lauren, but constantly gets interrupted by the cloud people asking for ice cubes. In the end, he gets angered and freezes everyone, including Lauren. The frozen cloud people begin to fall through the cloud because they are heavier.

Finn again starts to ascend upwards, and as he goes above, he questions the Ice King's (he calls him Simon in this scene) life choices while also chewing over if he should have remorse for the old guy. He then notices Marceline singing to herself alone (Yeah, Girl, It Stinks). Finn notices her, and also sees that she is alone. He further ascends, and wonders if being lonely gives rise to creativity. He ponders on if the greatest creativity comes from sadness and being alone, taking into account that it would give people more fuel to be creative with.

Finn then enters space, and notices some Space Lards encircling him. They can also see Finn. He says that Jake would give anything to get their super rare milk. Suddenly, all eleven of the lards shine a bright light to where Finn is, and it gives to rise to their Mother Lard. Finn sees inside that the mother lard was about to give birth to another space lard.

After this, Finn again starts to ascend towards the comet. He talks to himself, and states that the birth was creative, yet not sad. He comes to a conclusion that birth is the greatest creative statement. Suddenly, the lards, along with Mother Lard arrive. They give a boost to Finn, speeding him along the way. He soon reaches Mars, and is surprised to see everyone leaving. Inside the force field of the city, Grob Gob Glob Grod orders a citizen to fire missiles at the comet. The missiles are launched, but the comet is unaffected by their combined impact. Grob Gob Glob Grod then realizes that those were the last of their missiles. Through a discussion with Star Man, Grob Gob Glob Grod reveals that the comet is meant to arrive every 1000 years, bringing an element of change along with it. However, the comet is way off schedule, and aimed at Mars instead of Earth.

Glob asks Finn what he thinks, to which he is surprised that he can see him. He states that he is the Glob, and can see Finn easily. Glob tells that he is dreaming far away from home, so it must be related to the comet. During this, Finn asks Glob a question, which is if birth is the greatest creation, then what does one do after that.

After this, Glob replies with a sensible answer, and Grob Gob Glob Grod head towards the comet at full speed, appearing to perform a suicide attack. They clash with a huge explosion, and Finn's astral body falls back to his real body, and he wakes up with a scream, waking Jake up. Jake asks what is it, to which Finn replies "Glob is dead."

The martian who evacuated asks the martian who stayed back whether they could again go back. He replies that it is safe to come, as Glob had performed an attack of the comet. He asks him that what happened to Glob, to which the Star Man replies that there is no sign of him. The comet starts heading towards Earth, and it is revealed the comet is actually a malfunctioning space ship piloted by Martin, and he is going to crash land on Earth.

At the end, Finn says Jake that Bounce House Princess needs their help. The duo agree and the episode ends.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Grob Gob Glob Grod (death)

Minor characters

 * Jake
 * Ice King
 * Cloud People
 * Lauren
 * Bounce House Princess
 * Mr. Fox
 * Marceline
 * Martin
 * Martians
 * Snail
 * Space Lards
 * Star Man

Mentioned

 * Boobafina

Songs

 * "Yeah, Girl, It Stinks"

Trivia

 * Ice King appears to use his ice powers without wearing his crown.
 * It is possible that the Ice King has learned how to control ice magic without the use of his crown, similar to how Finn and Jake learned how to control ice magic through the Fridjitsu manuals.
 * It is also possible that his powers are connected to his emotional state, as he can use, though not perfectly control, ice magic when enraged. The crown merely serves to focus his concentration.

Episode connections

 * Finn refers to Ice King as "Simon." He also did this in the season four episode "Beyond this Earthly Realm" and the season five episodes "Love Games" and "Play Date."
 * This episodes features a comet that strikes Earth every 1,000 years. This same comet was also featured in the previous episode Evergreen. However, in Evergreen the comet was said to be abnormal (and was green).
 * Although it was later revealed to be Martin piloting a malfunctioning spaceship.


 * Mr. Fox's subconscious self from "Another Five More Short Graybles" reappears in this episode.
 * Mr. Fox's crush on Boobafina from "Storytelling" is mentioned in this episode.
 * This is the second time Finn goes to Mars. The first time was in "Sons of Mars." However, it would be Finn's third time if counting the Animated short.
 * In the promotional art for the episode, the backside of GOLB from the episode "Puhoy" can be seen.
 * The porcupine is shown eating from a box of sandwiches with the Snow Golem from "Thank You" on the packaging.

Production notes

 * This episode first aired in Brazil, followed by Russia.

Storyline analysis

 * As Finn tours through the astral plane, he witnesses several events all of which cause him to contemplate the meaning of life. At first, Finn encounters Mr. Fox's astral form. Instead of exploring the night using his astral form like Finn, Mr. Fox stays idle in his room playing Sudoku by himself. Finn even notes Mr. Fox's loneliness as he floats away. Mr. Fox's appearance suggests how one can choose to lead a life of idleness and loneliness rather than a life of fulfillment. Finn floats away and finds Bounce House Princess terribly frightened by a porcupine. Right before she is about to have a nervous breakdown, Bounce House Princess reprimands herself for closing off to other people and not putting in the effort to get to know them. In the end, Bounce House Princess gets deflated by the porcupine; a representation of the anxiety one faces when meeting new people and the realistic suffering that may happen when the meeting does not work out. Although meeting new people is an uncomfortable situation, Bounce House Princess points out how letting an opportunity to get to know a person pass by is equivalent to the loneliness of never getting to know the person at all. Next, Finn sees the Ice King struggling to fit in at a cloud kingdom party. In a sense, Ice King also feels loneliness as he is incapable of conforming to his surroundings and peers. Finn floats away sympathizing Simon's alienation but also reasons that Simon himself causes his own isolation by not really wanting to conform in the first place. Finn ponders why anyone would choose not to fit in. Simon's scene exhibits how one can choose to lead a life of nonconformity, despite it being a lonely life, because that is simply part of one's identity. Then Finn sees Marceline singing a sad song high up in the sky to herself. Finn wonders if creativity comes from loneliness and suffering. Shortly after, he witnesses the birth of a space lard. Finn wonders again if the greatest creative force is in fact the birth of new life. This culminates in Finn's discussion with Grob Gob Glob Grod. During their discussion, Finn asks Glob if birth is the greatest creative force of all then is everything after that "a disappointment, slowly entropying into a deflating pile of mush"? Glob responds that "it's not enough to have created something amazing"; similarly how his Martian super society should not go to waste after it has been built. Finn remarks what is the point of building the Martian society in the first place if it is about to be destroyed by the comet in a few moments. In response to this, Grob Gob Glob Grod fling themselves at the comet, resulting in a huge explosion and the diversion of the comet toward Earth. This could be construed that how one chooses to lead his or her life, be that it may be idleness, loneliness, nonconformity, sadness/anxiousness, or suffering, is an equally important part of creation and creativity as birth. Alternatively, it may be that the preservation of creation, in this case Mars, is as important as the moment of creation itself.
 * Finn questions the sympathy he feels for Ice King, wondering if he maybe wants to be crazy, or if there is an incentive to being so weird.
 * This episode confirms that Martin did not die after going into space and saying "What about air?" in "Escape from the Citadel."
 * It is unknown how he survived.

Cultural references

 * When Bounce House Princess tells the kids to go home, she quotes the general bar phrase "You don't have to go home, but ya' can't stay here."
 * After Finn returns from the Astral Plane and wakes up, he soon says "Glob is Dead" which is a reference by a quote said by German philosopher,, who is best known for quoting: "God is Dead."
 * The seat Star Man is sat in resembles the device that the Engineers sit in from the films Alien and Prometheus.

Errors

 * As Bounce House Princess was typing the security code for her room, she said "6432" but typed '3980'.

Screenshots
Plano Astral (Episodio)