Normal Man

"Normal Man" is the thirty-third episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series Adventure Time. The episode was written and storyboarded by Sam Alden and Jesse Moynihan, from an outline by Ashly Burch, Moynihan, showrunner Adam Muto, Jack Pendarvis, and head writer Kent Osborne. The episode, which debuted on May 12, 2016 on Cartoon Network, guest stars Melissa Villaseñor as Grob

The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Normal Man (voiced by Tom Kenny) asks for Finn and Jake's help in order to save his brother, Glob (voiced by Kenny). Eventually, Glob and Normal Man are able to make amends, and Normal Man returns to Mars to ascend the Martian throne.

"Normal Man" was the final episode of Adventure Time to have been storyboarded by Moynihan. Initially, he contemplated working on the episode alone, but Muto convinced him otherwise. The original story that Moynihan developed was much darker, but eventually a lighter plot was agreed upon. Upon its airing, the episode was seen by 1.38 million viewers and received largely positive reviews from critics, with Oliver Save of The A.V. Club applauding the episode's look at forgiveness.

Plot

Background

Hundreds of years before the events of the series, Magic Man (voiced by Tom Kenny) was a brilliant magician and scientist from Mars. However, after a magical accident, he lost his mind and developed the nihilistic tendency to spread chaos. As such, he was banished to Earth by his four-headed brother, Grob Gob Glob Grod (whose heads are voiced respectively by Melissa Villaseñor, Tom Gammill, Kenny, and Miguel Ferrer).^[1][2][3] In the sixth season episode "Astral Plane", Grob Gob Glob Grod sacrifice their body to stop a comet from destroying Mars, leaving the planet rulerless.^[4] Later, in the episode, "You Forgot Your Floaties", another magical accident removed the magic, madness, and sadness from Magic Man's warped brain, reverting him to his original self. However, since he can no longer do magic, he takes on the moniker Normal Man.^[3]

Events

Normal Man is determined to make amends with his brother Glob, whose head is currently in orbit around Earth, so sends Tiny Manticore (voiced by Kenny) to retrieve his brother from space. Upon successfully retrieving Glob, Tiny Manticore reveals to Normal Man that he is going to steal the head away to a dangerous mountain so as to make Normal Man suffer for all the pain he inflicted in the past. Normal Man is despondent, and calls on the aid of Finn and Jake.

The trio brave the terrors of the mountain, and successfully reach its summit, only for Tiny Manticore to drop Glob. Normal Man dives after his brother and grabs him; as they free-fall, the two make amends. Tiny Manticore sees that Normal Man has indeed changed, and so he saves the two. Normal Man, grasping the head of Glob, use a Martian transporter to beam themselves to Mars. En route, Glob bites Normal Man's hand, causing him to drop the head. Glob says that the days of Mars being ruled by Grob Gob Glob Grod are over, and that it is time for Normal Man to rule the planet.

Once on Mars, Normal Man attempts to woo the citizens of the planet with brownies. They do not trust him at first, but it is suggested that they embrace him as their leader.

Production

This was the final episode of Adventure Time to have been storyboarded by Jesse Moynihan.

"Normal Man" was storyboarded by Sam Alden and Jesse Moynihan, from a story by Ashly Burch, Moynihan, Adam Muto, Jack Pendarvis, and Kent Osborne. Supervising direction for the episode was carried out by Andres Salaff, whereas Sandra Lee handled the episode's art direction.^[5] This was the final episode of Adventure Time that Moynihan worked on. Moynihan, who had been a storyboard artist on the show since the second season episode "Crystals Have Power", left the show in order to finish his web comic Forming.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Alden noted that the episode was "a thematically appropriate cap to [Moynihan's] run on" the series, and that the two of them "were both happy with how it turned out."^[11] Moynihan had originally thought about storyboarding the episode by himself, but Muto convinced him otherwsie, for near the conclusion of season six, Moynihan had specifically asked Muto to persuade him against pursuing solo storyboards in the future. Ultimately, Moynihan felt that storyboarding the episode with Alden was a good choice, and on his personal website, he mused that "Normal Man" was the best episode that he and Alden worked on.^[12]

Because this was going to be his last episode, Moynihan desired to help come up with the story. Originally, he wanted it to be much darker, and focus on Magic Man, Margles, and Betty. Hoping to distance himself from the darkness that characterized season six, however, he chose to pursue a different story about Magic Man being forced to live as a "normie" and eventually having to reclaim the Martian throne.^[12]

In this episode, Tom Kenny plays the roles of Normal Man, Tiny Manticore, and Glob. Series creator Pendleton Ward also voices Abraham Lincoln in a flashback. Finally, the episode guest stars Melissa Villaseñor as Grob.^[5]

Reception

"Normal Man" aired on May 12, 2016. It was seen by 1.38 million viewers and scored a 0.4 Nielsen rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic (Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States), which means that the episode was seen by 0.4 percent of all individuals aged 18 to 49 years old who were watching television at the time of the episode's airing.^[13]

Oliver Sava of ‘’The A.V. Club’’ compared this episode favorably to the preceding seventh season episode “Bun Bun”, pointing out that the two installments deal with characters making amends for past wrongs. This in turn led him to note, “People’s capacity for change has been a recurring theme of Adventure Time’s seventh season, and it’s a big reason why the show has maintained such a high standard of quality.”^[14] Sava was also complimentary towards the scenes that take place on the mountain, likening them to “one long platformer [video game] with a bunch of really cool opponents.”^[14]

References