After all these years, âI Remember Youâ is still one of the great highlights of Adventure Time Storytelling. And not just in the basic âwhat???? Silly childrenâs cartoon does something SAD??? HOLY SHIT MIND BLOWNâ way. But with the execution of that Something Sad. How it manages to pack so many Complex Emotions into just 11-minutes of television. And especially the way it utilizes the basic Adventure Time format for that purpose.
So Adventure Time is a Board-based show. Each episode has an outline pitched and written down by the writerâs room, and then this outline goes to a team of (usually) two Storyboard Artists who develop that simple outline into a full story. And with the showâs art-style deliberately eschewing staying perfectly âon-modelâ in favor of having the animators take direct reference from how the different storyboarders draw the characters
And the show being generally extremely versatile in terms of themes and tone - AT has allowed a lot of their Storyboarders to really express themselves and their unique artistic vision as part of the Big Collaborative Narrative that is Adventure Time.Â
Now, the Boarders who worked on âI Remember Youâ are Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar. These two were a Storyboarding Duo from the start of S4 and until Sugar left the AT Crew during S5, and they always struck me as a curious combination. I think really from all of the individual boarders working on AT during that time, these two really are the closest to having like⊠Totally Opposite Artistic Sensibilities as boarders.Â
With Sugar favoring a style that is very loose and sketchy and also very rounded. Focusing on expressions and subtle body language and lighting. And being famous for going deep in depth into Big Moments of Emotional Catharsis
And Sanchez having a very clear art style that emphasizes strong silhouettes and clear lines that suggest flatness. Focusing more on major poses and the characterâs positions in the space. And having just a really great eye for ATâs brand of silly humor.
Like, I almost kinda suspect these two were paired together so they can each cover for the otherâs âweakspotsâ in writing âAdventure Timeâ.Â
And there were a few episodes that did some really interesting stuff with this very contrasting pair - âJake the Dogâ is another example. Giving most of the Farmworld scenes to Sugar and most of the Time Room scenes to Sanchez both plays to their personal strengths as storyboarders and helps to emphasize the strong emotional contrast between these two scenarios.Â
And âI Remember Youâ is actually kinda unique among Adventure Time episodes cause⊠Most episodes will have the two boarders alternate between working on the episode throughout it. Like youâd have Boarder A draw a bit and then Boarder B and then Boarder A again⊠But âI Remember Youâ is divided between Sanchez and Sugar⊠basically perfectly in the middle.
So the entirety of the first half of the episode was boarded by Sanchez
Until Ice King pushes Marceline and then leaves the room in shame.
And then, Sugar takes over.
And, like, even if you donât know anything about the Behind the Scenes of Adventure Time or who Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar even are - the Shift is noticeable. The shift in tone, in narrative focus, in the subtleties in which the characters are drawn.Â
The entire first half of the episode has this thin veneer of just being a Silly Goofy Ice King Episode. Sanchezâs talent for Adventure Timeâs brand of comedy is on full display⊠but there is also this underlying feeling that Something is Happening just under the surface. And these hints of the Big Emotions of âIRYâ expressed via Sanchezâs kinda goofy style really create this balance between putting the audience into a false sense of security that this is just a Very Normal Episode about two characters hanging out and the Tension constantly brewing in the subtext.Â
And then it all comes to a blow.
And then the Shift happens. And now we are in Sugarâs court.
And this subtle shift in the artstyle and storytelling also coincide with Marceline finally openly expressing her feelings and the Reveal of Simon and Marcy's shared past. The episode changes focus from Ice King's silly antics to Marceline's feelings. Everything changes, everything in the first part of the episode gets recontextualized and... even on the most basic level, the episode is now Noticeably Different.
I would almost say that Sanchezâs half of the episode has Ice King define the tone, while Sugarâs half of the episode has Marceline define the tone. But more than anything itâs the catharsis. The reveal and release of those emotions that were building up so expertly through the Sanchez half of the episode. All of the Sugar-boarded scenes in this episode are really heartbreaking on their own, just through the tragedy of the story and Sugarâs expert knowledge of howto convey emotion in the visual medium - but itâs so enchanted by what came before it.
âI Remember Youâ is truly a great testament to how âAdventure Timeâ could use every aspect of its medium to tell a great story in such a short time.
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