Up a Tree

Synopsis
The guys' game of catch goes awry when their throwing disc is lodged in a large tree.

Plot
The episode starts off with Lady Rainicorn walking in the grasslands towards Finn and Jake who are setting up a picnic. As they start to take things out of the basket, Finn finds a frisbee and calls it a "throwing catching disc." He and Jake interact as if he was a regular boy with his regular dog. When Finn does his perfect throw, the wind carries it to the top of a tall tree. Jake offers to grab the disc for Finn, but he refuses and trys to get it himself.

Finn tries to climb up the tree with his bare hands but fails and meets a porcupine. It offers for Finn to sit on him and the shock would jump him up to the top. Finn refuses and the porcupine does it by force. Finn takes the needles stuck to him and uses them to climb up the tree until he gets tired and rests on a branch. A squirrel then offers him an apple to energize Finn. Finn refuses and the squirrel stuffs in the apple by force. The apple was cursed and shrinks Finn.

Finn continues to climb up the tree with the porcupine needles that eventually break and he takes another break. Jake meets him at the break point and notices that Finn has shrunk and says that he is taking Lady Rainicorn home. Finn encounters the squirrel again and follows him into the tree after being ignored. He then hears the whispers of the animals. He sneaks in to see the animals discussing on getting rid of him and also seeing a large pile of objects, on top being his frisbee. In shock Finn shouts and exposes him self and is then taken to a cell in the tree.

Finn wakes up in the cell with the squirrel guarding the cage and talking about the good and bad of living in the tree and living with the rules. He then says that he wishes to fly away but the other animals say he is not a flying squirrel, and he would run away but he has no one to run away with. Finn easily escapes the cell and teams up with the squirrel to escape. The squirrel lowers Finn to his frisbee as the animals chase them out. Finn throws the disc planning to ride on it but flys upward again. As the animals catch up he pushes the squirrel down the tree and jumps on his back. As they are falling it is revealed that he is a  regular squirrel and cannot fly and as they reach the ground they're caught on the frisbee to ride across the grasslands and over Lady's house and waves to Jake.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Squirrel

Minor characters

 * Jake
 * Lady Rainicorn
 * The Porcupine
 * The Owl
 * Snail

Trivia

 * Finn was interacting with Snail, as seen when he waved back as he flew through the air. Finn had previously interacted with the snail in "Storytelling."
 * At the same time, it is confirmed that Snail is no longer possessed by the Lich.
 * Finn's scream from "Burning Low" returns in this episode.

Cultural references

 * In the long preview for this episode, the opening segment of the song "Invincible," created by the music production company, Two Steps From Hell, was used in the first 13 seconds of the preview. The introduction of such a piece marks a break in the background song style used for almost all of the past episode previews.
 * When the animals chant "In the tree, part of the tree." is a possible reference to the Pirates of the Caribbean series where the Flying Dutchman crew chant "Part of the crew, part of the ship."
 * When Finn eats a cursed apple to shrink him, it is a close reference to Alice in Wonderland's 'Drink Me' Potion.
 * When the Porcupine said to Finn to sit on him  for the shock of the pain make him "fly up in the air", is a reference to general cartoons (such as "The Looney Tunes" or "Tom and Jerry") that when a character feels pain, he/she literally goes high up in the air.

Episode connections

 * Lady Rainicorn's baby bump can be seen, just as it was in "Five More Short Graybles." Her pregnancy was first revealed in "Lady & Peebles."

Errors

 * When Jake and Lady Rainicorn leave the area where they were picnicing on, they left the basket. However, in the next shot, when Finn is climbing the tree, it disappears.
 * The size of the porcupine needles changed when Finn shrunk.

Production notes

 * The title card was made by Michelle Xin, Martin Ansolabehere, and Nick Jennings.
 * This is another episode that has been leaked before its intended airdate, after "Jake the Dog," "Finn the Human," "Hot to the Touch," and "Fionna and Cake."

Videos
Adventure Time - Up a Tree (short preview)|Short preview. Adventure Time - Up a Tree (long preview)|Long preview. Adventure Time "Up a Tree" Animatic|Animatic Comics Continuum - Adventure Time