Ranking Adventure Time Seasons

…………………………………………………

Ranking Adventure Time Seasons

Throughout 283 episodes and ten seasons, Adventure Time went through a lot. This is a show that changed quite a bit throughout its run, and I would contend that the original seasons were the best of the bunch. Here is my admittedly rather different ranking of all ten seasons of Adventure Time.

10. Season 6

The worst season of Adventure Time is the sixth one. This is where the side one-off characters got most episodes all for themselves, which ended with lot of filler. Too many episodes were boring and insignificant. On the flip side, some canon episodes were superb with Finn’s father installments being important and psychologically layered.

Best Moment – Speaking of his father, the very first moment when Finn meets his biological father is the highlight of the season. Eventually, he turned out to be an absolute douchebag and a terrible excuse for a father, but that first scene where the two met was crucial and brilliant how unexpected it was.

9. Season 7

While certainly better than the last season, the seventh season is still among the weakest in the show’s run. It has its terrific episodes that are imaginative and admirably darker in tone, but the problem here was once again an overemphasis on insignificant side characters and a definite lack of humor throughout. This was easily the darkest period for Adventure Time, though I do realize that I am in the minority on this.

Best Moment – Hall of Egress is the best episode of this entire season hands down. It saw Finn trying to break away from a certain trap. It’s an eerie and ominous story that functions as a metaphor for midlife crisis while being just so riveting throughout. The terrific horror moments made this episode so intriguing.

8. Season 8

Adventure Time Season 8 ended with a great storyline in the form of a miniseries. This structure was different and unique and more seasons of this show should have adopted this approach. The other episodes are mostly only serviceable, but at least the mini-series was something more ambitious and authentic.

Best Moment – Islands was a superb miniseries that finally saw the gang leave the land of Ooo to amazingly adventurous results. This batch of episodes is excellent throughout, but it is the moment when we finally realized Susan Strong’s backstory that was the highlight of the entire season.

7. Season 9

The ninth season of Adventure Time consisted of regular episodes mixed in with Elementals, which is this miniseries within this season that mostly really worked. Other episodes ranged from weak to pretty good. It’s not a great season by any means, but the parts of it that worked were actually quite great.

Best Moment – While the miniseries had its memorable scenes for sure, the best moment for me came during the finale, where Finn faces off against Fern. That moment when he tricked and betrayed him was genuinely suspenseful while the episode itself was the highlight of this particular season.

6. Season 10

The tenth and final season of Adventure Time was a mess. It started off quite poorly with episodes that ranged from solid to truly lackluster. Thankfully, it ended with a banger as the finale was absolutely incredible and a great way to end the entire show. It was both an emotional and satisfying goodbye.

Best Moment – Clearly the highlight of the entire season is the final episode, but the very best moment was the last one that closed not just the season, but the entire show. Seeing these two characters in the distant future recreate Finn and Jake’s poses in the opening theme was emotionally rewarding and just perfect.

5. Season 5

The season where the show jumped the shark for me personally, this is where Adventure Time became too ambitious for its own sake. It was still pretty good overall with some terrific episodes, but it also introduced way too many characters and ideas to handle properly, resulting in a messy season. It is also the longest season with a whopping 52 episode count.

Best Moment – Simon & Marcy is an incredible Season 5 episode that is a fantastic origin story for Ice King. His relationship with Marceline is well explored and his character was significantly deepened here. The moment when we learned all about their shared history was an all-time iconic one.

4. Season 2

The second season of Adventure Time is inferior to the first one. The show is great at its diverse tone, unique animation style and inventive concepts, but this season was sillier and more childish than the first. It’s still a stellar season that is among the best ones, but it failed to compare with the above three entries.

Best Moment – It Came from the Nightosphere is an iconic episode of this show. It developed Marceline wonderfully by deepening her fraught relationship with her terrible father. The highlight of the episode and the entire season itself came when she sang a hilariously, but also movingly angsty song about their complicated relationship.

3. Season 4

The fourth season is where the series was still continuing to improve while not becoming overly ambitious for its own sake. This was the last season that I thoroughly enjoyed myself, thus it had to rank high on this list. The many episodes where Finn and Jake had to shine were the best of the bunch.

Best Moment – There is so much to choose from here. Hug Wolf was surprisingly mature while Card Wars was hugely entertaining. But at the end of the day I have to go with the Nightosphere dual episode that featured a sequence with the outstanding world building and breathtaking panoramic animation that had to be seen to be believed.

2. Season 3

While better than the second season and being inferior to the first one, Adventure Time Season 3 was overall among the best seasons of the show. It had its clunkers, but those episodes that worked were incredible. The darker and more inventive episodes were the name of the game in this season.

Best Moment – A Firewolf strikes a friendship with a Snow Golem in Thank You, the most unique episode of this season that doesn’t feature the show’s protagonists for a nice change in pace. I usually dislike these one-off character episodes that are too offbeat, but this one was so unique and so deep that it was the highlight of the season.

1. Season 1

The first season of Adventure Time is terrific. It started the show on a really strong note, introducing us to its memorable characters and surreal world very successfully. Most of the episodes are creative in concepts and quite strong in humor and characterization, resulting in an absolute blast to watch and by far the best season of the entire series. It’s a shame that the show would never again reach this level of excellence as it peaked way too soon.

Best Moment – Wizard is by far the quintessential episode of this season. It features such an original storyline that is perfectly written, twisty and smart. The conclusion was brilliant and the imagery and mythology on display here was quite intricate. It’s the definition of surreal, authentic SF storytelling that can only be found in animation. It’s a shame that the series would never again tackle the science fiction genre so potently.