The "Adventure Time Theme Song" and opening title sequence features all of the main characters and also some of the minor characters. The theme is sung and played by series creator Pendleton Ward. It has the same lyrics as the animated short but there are some slight variations.
Summary
Original
The opening title sequence starts with a view of a post-apocalyptic wasteland that features a rat inside of a broken television and several undetonated nuclear bombs. Next, in a snow-covered biome, are shown penguins, including Gunter and two other penguins hugging (with a tiny red heart floating above their heads) that make a few quick quacking sounds, and a Snow Golem sitting on a grassy hill nearby. Then the rest of the Ice Kingdom appears including Ice King flying next to his lair, spinning around to face the screen while activating his Ice Powers with his hands. It shows the Candy Kingdom and a large crowd of Candy People laughing and dancing in the middle of the road. After that, the camera quickly scales Princess Bubblegum's Castle, eventually passing the clouds to where we can see Princess Bubblegum as she smiles and waves while riding on the back of Lady Rainicorn. The camera then pans to the right, and zooms into a mountain range showing Marceline playing her Fender Precision Bass while sitting outside of her cave. She turns and hisses at the audience while showing her pointy teeth. Then outside of Finn and Jake's treehouse is the two-headed duck. The ending shows Finn and Jake's Tree Fort and then the two of them inside. BMO is seen sitting nearby. Finally, they pound their fists together and a loud smashing sound is heard as the theme song begins. This entire ordeal occurs approximately within the span of 12 seconds. When the show's title is seen, Finn (without his green backpack) and Jake float up using feathered wings sticking out from their backs while holding a white piece of cloth that says with Finn and Jake. Then, they are seen going somewhere as the lyrics go "C'mon grab your friends," and then Jake winks when the lyrics "Jake the Dog" come up, and Finn seems to bark and stick his tongue out when the lyrics "Finn the Human" come up. The sequence ends when Finn and Jake reach the top of a rocky mountain that they were climbing. Finn gets to the top and strikes a victorious pose while Jake lies down near Finn holding his leg as the show begins.
Fionna and Cake
The opening title sequence starts with a view of the same two places where the same animals as the original. Then the same Ice Kingdom where the Ice Queen flying next to her lair as turned the same direction as the original. It shows the Candy Kingdom and different versions of the Candy people. After that, the camera quickly scales the castle, and passing the clouds where we can see Prince Gumball as he smiles and waves while riding on the back of Lord Monochromicorn. The camera then pans to the right, and zoom into the same mountain range showing Marshall Lee playing the same instrument sitting the same place. He turns and hisses at the audience while showing his same sharpy teeth. Outside the same treehouse is the same two-headed duck. The ending shows the same Tree Fort and Fionna and Cake inside and also the same BMO is sitting nearby and finally they pound their fists together and the same sound heard as the theme song begins. When the show's title is seen, Fionna (without her green backpack) and Cake float up using feathered wings sticking out from their backs while holding a white piece of cloth that says with Fionna and Cake. Then, they are seen going somewhere as the lyrics go "C'mon grab your friends," and then Cake winks when the lyrics "Cake the Cat" come up, and Fionna seems to bark and stick her tongue out while her head goes up when the lyrics "Fionna the Human" come up. The sequence ends when Fionna and Cake reach the top of a rocky mountain that they were climbing. Fionna gets to the top and strikes a victorious pose while Cake lies down near Fionna holding her hands as the show begins.
Food Chain
The intro is the same as the normal one, but it moves at a fast pace and most of the characters' head are replaced by Finn and Jake's heads. The intro starts with Finn and Jake (with bird beaks and Finn without his backpack) holding a white cloth saying the same thing. The screen then switches to the grassy field with a bird resembling Finn. However, instead of Jake jumping onto Finn, Finn jumps onto Jake, and his legs extend and falls over. Then they switch over to the mountains with Jake riding Finn. Then they are named Jake the Caterpillar and Finn the Flower. The song ends with Finn and Jake riding the rocky mountain and high-fiving as the show begins.
Stakes
TBA
Islands
TBA
Elements
The opeing sequence begins with the camera panning through a pick ocean, as a gummy fish jumps out of the water before falling back in. A cargo ship is seen near the land and the camera pans up to the top of the cliff as a gummy bird flies by. Lemonpink's carrige is seen as well as Cinnamon Bun on his horse. Candy-themed moutains with cherries on thier tops are seen in the distance as the camera quickly pans up to the airborne Patience St. Pim. The camera rotates over to the Ice Kingdom as she shoots a beam of ice at the ice dome and the Snow Golem is seen inside with a still expression. The camera pans out of them dome and we see the Elemental Flame Princess fly by. LSP (seen in her outfit from ¨Slime Central¨) is running towards the Tree Fort, which it (or anything around it) has not yet been transformed by the Elemental Bubblegum. A pink cloud begins to crowd around the Tree Fort, presumably turning it to candy, as well as Fern, seen on the top of it. The camera then pans up to the Cloud Kingdom where we see Betty using a telecope, presumably looking down at Ooo, Ice King is seen sitting, looking at his Skyhooks, and Finn and Jake fist bump, as Jake retains the same facial expression from the ¨Islands¨ intro.
Diamonds and Lemons
The intro begins similar to the original, but it starts scrolling sideways with the Snow Golem hugging someone and the screen goes past a penguin's face. It then switches to Ice King using his ice power and giving the camera a thumbs up. It then switches to Princess Bubblegum's castle with it's residents celebrating. It then scrolls up to see Princess Bubblegum riding Lady Rainicorn with her children riding on. It then moves to a mountain before the camera moves to Marceline showing several characters on it. It then turns to Marceline, who plays the same guitar and floats off down and appears in front of the camera screeching at it as bats fill the screen. It then goes to the Treefort and Finn and Jake fist bump as the screen turns rainbow.
It then shows Finn and Jake (Finn is without his backpack) holding the same white cloth and is singing in a 8-bit like voice. It then switches to Jake jumping onto Finn as the lyrics go "C'mon grab your friends and Finn enters the Jake Suit and shows his muscles as a worm gasps in shock. It then switches to Finn riding Jake through the Ice Kingdom and several characters appear. Then Jake winks at the camera and Finn barks and sticks out his tongue. Finn and Jake then climb the mountain and pose. As the sword latches onto "TIME," all of the main characters appear, commencing the start of the show (Note: Pause the song for a brief second and you can see Fionna and Cake.)
Come Along With Me
The opening title sequence starts with a view of a cave within the Ice Thingdom showing Patience St. Pim, who has still yet to thaw from her ice ball. Exiting the cave, a jail cell window can be seen along with two pink hands gripping the bars (Could be Princess Bubblegum). Past a rope bridge and up some stairs, a humanoid figure with a telescope can be seen riding Giant Duck Considering the red boots, MA initials on the telescope, and proximity to what might be PB, it is probable that this is Marceline. Passing some mountains, the camera reaches the perched Ice Thing, who is missing his left jewel and in his future form. As the camera exits the Ice Thingdom, Ice Thing leaves his perch to fly beside the camera. The dreary overcast sky comes into full view as the camera and Ice Thing reach the Pup Kingdom. Large trucks can be seen moving into the Pup Kingdom and the camera quickly enters the Kingdom to scale the space elevator, only showing a glimpse of a single pup looking out a window. In the sky, a large diamond-shaped platform comes into view adorned with a flag, presumably representing the Pup Kingdom. On top of the platform, Gibbon (in his future form), along with two pups in spacesuits can be seen. As the Ice Thing Passes, Gibbon fires pink lighting bolts (not unlike the bolts fired by classic Ice King) at him, indicating an antagonistic relationship between the two. Entering the grasslands, immense statues of Finn and (maybe) Jake lie in ruin. Atop one of them, X can be seen inside a tank, firing at O. Interestingly, a broken stone engraving on the ground reads FIN on one line, and JER on the next. If this plaque has any correlation to the wrecked statues, then the collapsed, dog-shaped statue could be in memory of Jermaine. Then outside of Marceline's cave is a possible descendant of the two-headed duck, riding a jetpack. Also outside the cave, a pup can be seen using binoculars to spy inside. The ending shows Marceline's house, then Shermy and Beth, who have taken up residence within it. Finally, they pound their fists together and a loud smashing sound is heard as the theme song begins.
When the show's title is seen, Shermy and beth float up using feathered wings sticking out from their backs while holding a white piece of cloth that says with Shermy and Beth. Then, they are seen within an urbanized, yet destroyed, Candy Kingdom as the lyrics go "C'mon grab your friends,". The Future Lumps Anti-Elemental can be seen spying on Shermy and Beth in this part. As the lyrics move to "We'll go to far off, future lands." Shermy and Beth can be seen riding on the head of a future version of Sweet P. As their names are listed, on a blue wall, Shermy and Beth look at the audience through small holes in the wood. Beth's full title is revealed as "Beth the Pup Princess" The sequence ends with Beth laying on her back in a pond as Shermy fishes from her belly. The two-headed duck flies by and the smoke from its jetpack spells out Adventure Time Shermy waves to the camera as the show begins.
Lyrics
Original and Fionna and Cake versions
The lyrics with ukulele chords to the theme song are as follows:
| G | Adventure Time, |
| D | C'mon grab your friends, |
| C | We're going to very |
| D | distant lands. With |
| G | Jake the Dog and |
| D | Finn the Human, |
| C | The fun will never |
| D | end, it's Adventure |
| G |
Time! |
| G | Adventure Time, |
| D | C'mon grab your friends, |
| C | We're going to very |
| D | distant lands. With |
| G | Cake the Cat and |
| D | Fionna the Human, |
| C | The fun will never |
| D | end, it's Adventure |
| G |
Time! |
Stakes
The lyrics with electric guitar chords to the theme song are as follows:
| G | Adventure Time, |
| D | C'mon grab your friends, |
| C | We're going to very |
| D | distant lands. With |
| G | Finn and Jake and |
| D | Marceline, |
| C | and Princess |
| D | Bubblegum, it's Adventure |
| G |
Time! |
Islands
The lyrics with harmonica chords (possibly) to the theme song are as follows;
| G | Adventure Time, |
| D | C'mon grab your friends, |
| C | We're going to very |
| D | distant lands. With |
| G | Finn and Jake, and |
| D | Susan Strong, |
| C | And possibly |
| D | BMO, it's Adventure |
| G |
Time! |
Elements
The lyrics with unknown chords to the theme song are as follows:
| G | Adventure Time, |
| D | C'mon grab your friends, |
| C | We're going to very |
| D | messed up lands. With |
| G | Finn and Jake, |
| D | Ice King, and Betty |
| C | Who knows how it will |
| D | end? It's Adventure |
| G |
Time! |
BMO
Characters
The following characters can be seen in the opening sequence:
- Rat
- Snow Golem
- Penguins
- Gunter
- Ice King
- Candy People
- Lady Rainicorn
- Marceline
- Two-Headed Duck
- Finn
- Jake
- BMO
- Tree Trunks
- Bats
Fionna and Cake
- Fionna
- Cake
- Ice Queen
- Prince Gumball
- Lord Monochromicorn
- Marshall Lee
- Tree Trunks (male)
- Lollipop Guy
- Penguins
- Snow Golem
- Kenneth
- Rat
- Root Beer Girl
- Mrs. Cupcake
- Mrs. Candy Cane
- Raisin
- Chocoberry (male)
- Starchy (female)
Stakes
- Finn
- Jake
- Cloud Dance
- Cows
- Ice King
- Banana Guards
- King of Ooo
- Crunchy
- Toronto
- Vampire Essence Creature
- Marceline
- Bonnie
- Peppermint Butler
- Bats
Islands
- Princess Bubblegum
- Marceline
- Fern
- Pirates
- Alva
- Albert
- Dolphin People
- Mechanical Dolphins
- Guardian
- Giant Parrot
- Whipple
- Susan Strong
- BMO
- Jake
- Finn
Elements
- Candy Fish
- Candy Bird
- Lemon Camel
- Cinnamon Bun
- Fire Wolf
- Patience St. Pim
- Snow Golem
- Flame Princess
- Lumpy Space Princess
- Fern
- Betty
- Ice King
- Jake
- Finn
Come Along with Me
- Patience St. Pim
- Unnamed Future Candy Elemental
- Giant Duck
- Ice Thing
- Pups
- Gibbon
- X
- O
- Two-Headed Duck
- Shermy
- Beth
- Sweet P
Early versions
There are many early versions of the title sequence that didn't get used. Many recognizable faces appear, including a worm, Ice King, Iceclops, Marceline, Princess Bubblegum, Lady Rainicorn, Phil, Tree Trunks, Gork, Wendy, and even the Snail.
Alternate versions
The episodes "Fionna and Cake", "Bad Little Boy" and "The Prince Who Wanted Everything", all of which feature Fionna and Cake, use an alternate version of the opening theme performed by Natasha Allegri. The lyrics are the same except that Cake and Fionna are named instead of Jake and Finn.
The episode "Food Chain" uses a different alternate theme song, created and performed by Masaaki Yuasa. It replaces "Jake the Dog and Finn the Human" with "Jake the Caterpillar and Finn the Flower".
Adventure Time Food Chain Alternate Intro (Masaaki Yuasa) HD
Trivia
- During the post-apocalyptic wasteland scene, you can see a gray arm with purple spots and a bite mark coming out of the tree that has axe and arrows in it. It has been confirmed to be a zombie arm.[citation needed]
The arm is in red
- In Issue 1 of the Adventure Time comic, it can be seen that Jake was actually filming the opening sequence.
- Before Marceline opens her mouth, her fangs are blunt. This is also seen in the episode "Daddy's Little Monster."
- In both versions, (Fionna and Cake and Finn and Jake) a two headed duck can be seen right in front of the tree fort.
- When reversed, you can hear it say "watch for snails in every episode".
- In the Spanish (Latino) version, when the singer says Jake's name it sounds as if she is rushing. This might be because the song and pictures were going in a fast pace.
- Only nine different versions of the intro are seen so far, the first is in "Fionna and Cake" (and "Bad Little Boy," "The Prince Who Wanted Everything," and "Five Short Tables"), the second is in "A Glitch is a Glitch," the third is in "Food Chain," the fourth is in "Bad Jubies," the fifth in the Adventure Time Mini-Series: "Stakes", the sixth is in the Adventure Time Mini-Series: "Islands", the seventh is in the Adventure Time Mini-Series: "Elements", the eighth is in Diamonds and Lemons and the ninth is in Come Along With Me.
- The Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, Hindi, Japanese, Russian, Spanish (Latino) and Swedish versions of the intro use more than one voice when singing the theme song.
- In Russia, both the original and gender-bent versions of the theme song are sung by the same voice actor (also the voice of Lumpy Space Princess and other background characters).
- Starting with the episode "Bonnie and Neddy," the subtitle "A Cartoon Network Original" appears on top of the title.
Production notes
- A character peeping over the balcony of the Candy Castle can be seen briefly. According to Pendleton Ward, this is a cameo by Gingerbread Muto, the Candy Person version of storyboard artist Adam Muto. Pen says he puts Adam in most of his films because it "riles him up."[1]
- The final shot with Finn and Jake posed on a mountain was inspired by the fantasy art of Frank Frazetta.[2]
- The beginning of the sequence, with the rising musical tone and flying over the landscape was inspired by the opening sequences of The Simpsons and Pee-wee's Playhouse.[2]
- Pen states: "If you listen carefully to the recording, you can actually hear Derek Drymon typing on a keyboard in the bit when Jake is walking... a little clickity clack in that wide shot when his legs are stretched out. I recorded the lyrics for the opening title in the animatics room where we have this little crummy microphone JUST so that we could add it to the titles and submit it to the network. Later, we tried re-recording it and I didn't like it... I only liked the temp one."[2]
Differences between the two intros (Original and sex-swapped)
- When Fionna is holding a leaf on a stick, Cake jumped in Fionna's face, while Jake just jumped in Finn's face without Finn holding anything.
- At the end of the "Fionna and Cake" version there are no skulls on the ground.
- Cake curls up and falls asleep instead of grabbing Fionna's leg and smiling, as Jake did to Finn.
- The sky doesn't change color as it does in the original; it is instead a bright shade of bluish-green (a color not used for the sky in the original).
- The sky is less cloudy in the "Fionna and Cake" version.
- The sword sticking out of the mountain to the right of the characters is different.
- The mountains in the background are different.
- When Fionna is riding Cake in the Ice Kingdom, a xylophone can be heard instead of a keyboard.
- Marceline's eyes are outlined, while Marshall Lee's aren't.
- When Fionna opens her mouth near the end, no teeth are shown. Finn's are in the normal version.
- Finn's mouth is open while riding on Jake in the Ice Kingdom, while Fionna's isn't. Fionna is also looking downward while Finn is looking forward.
- When Finn and Jake fist bump, Jake's eyes are focused on the fists, but Cake's eyes are focused on Fionna.
- Marceline's tongue is shown shaped as a snake's tongue but Marshall Lee's tongue is more of a human tongue.
- Pendleton Ward's name doesn't have a glow effect in the Fionna and Cake version at the end of the opening sequence, but in the Finn and Jake version, it does have a glow effect.
Storyboards
Version 1.0
| See Full Storyboard |
Version 2.0
| See Full Storyboard |
Videos
External links
- An article about the development of the title sequence with early animatics, an interview with Pen Ward and high definition video of the title sequence.
- In the Season One DVD Release, a rock version of the theme song is played.