Ever since Adventure Time debuted on Cartoon Network in 2010, the franchise has become a monolith for the cable network. Garnering over two hundred and eighty episodes in its original run, the Land of Oooo refused to die as multiple side stories were created. Distant Lands and Fionna & Cake wove wild new stories that further expanded on Adventure Time’s world, but arguably, Side Quests is the series that has taken things back to basics. If you’re a fan of Finn and Jake, the latest prequel series hits a home run while still staying true to what worked so well with the beloved franchise’s first series.
One of the biggest positives for Side Quests, much like Regular Show: The Lost Tapes, is that nearly the full cast has returned to reprise their roles. While Finn’s voice actor changed, thanks to the original VA aging out of the role, every other character sounds exactly as we left them. Considering Side Quests takes place only a few short years before Adventure Time first started, this fact is an important one. Since Adventure Time ended in 2018, the spin-off series has mostly focused on brand new parts of Oooo, whether that be the afterlife and/or the multiverse. What Side Quests does so well is take viewers back to what the original perfected, but there is one major change that the spin-off has perfected from its source.
Even from looking at Side Quests’ images, viewers can immediately notice that this prequel looks quite different from the original Adventure Time. While the first Cartoon Network series used 2-D animation for the Land of Oooo, this follow-up goes with a more CG approach, and it shockingly works quite well. Without the outlines on characters and the more fluid approach, Oooo pops quite a bit more than what fans first witnessed. Surprisingly enough, this also helps hammer home the impact of both the hilarity and the action that both Finn and Jake have been known for. If you were “put off” by the switch in animation from the original trailers, don’t be, as this definitely feels like a case of “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
One major element that Side Quests trails behind the original Adventure Time is its overall episode count. As mentioned at the start of this write-up, the first series had over two hundred and eighty episodes, with only forty in total confirmed for the prequel so far. With other spin-offs already confirmed, like Heyo BMO! and a feature-length film in the works, Side Quests will be in good company, even if it only totals forty installments when all is said and done.
