Episode 1 of season 2 of Adventure Time, "It Came From the Nightosphere," is- other than a pleasant blend of Satan-conjuring and daddy issues- ultimately a new way to encourage a child's wonder and facilitate his imagination. It's style combines an "Uncle Grandpa" level of absurdity with Warner Bros.' dry sense of humor when it comes to tackling normal storytelling. Warner Bros. has the highest level of influence here with it's ability to take a normal idea (the character of Marcilene is in a fight with her dad) and turns it into a completely insane adventure (she and her friend Fynn end up chasing her dad everywhere in an attempt to stop him from stealing everyone's souls).
Embracing this new style of complete absurdity to tell simple stories is a form many shows now employ. "Regular Show," for example, has that same buddy comedy dynamic where the two main characters, a lot like Fynn and Jake, find themselves constantly getting into extreme situations. "Uncle Grandpa" of course is also a classic follower of this format. The intended audience for this show and the others like it is the same audience the majority of cartoons have always target: children. the evolutionary aspect of these current shows however is that it caters to a more grown-up demographic as well with its subtlety and originality.
The gags for this particular episode used extremely weird situations and juxtaposed them with normal issues to create humor. The main girl of this episode is having trouble with her dad, which is an inherently not funny concept until we find out that the reason she is upset with him is trivial and silly (he stole her fries) intentionally contrasted to his insane and dark occupation (ruler of the underworld).
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