銷魂三明治

Plot

Jake (John DiMaggio) prepares a sandwich he has been anxious to make all day. As soon as he completes it, with Finn (Jeremy Shada) and BMO (Niki Yang) present in the room, Magic Man (Tom Kenny) appears and steals the sandwich. Jake complains, and Magic Man offers him his sandwich back if he is able to solve his riddle. Jake calls his riddle little more than a play on words, prompting Magic Man to leave. He crashes through the wall of their house and activates a time bubble during his fall.
Finn observes that time in the bubble is decelerated, causing Magic Man to descend slowly. He and Jake partially enter the bubble, where five hours elapse in real time. BMO computes a plan that could allow them to retrieve the sandwich from Magic Man. In truth, BMO has them devise a ramp in order to look cool skateboarding in the bubble. Finn calls Princess Bubblegum (Hynden Walch) for help, and Jake tries to make a new sandwich. Bubblegum explains to Finn that the bubble uses room-temperature molasses to "slow down" its contents, and that a "molasses warmer" would revert time back to normal. As the warmer detonates in the bubble, it explodes at the same slow rate.
With no more ideas, Bubblegum calls Marceline the Vampire Queen (Olivia Olson) for help. She assures Jake, unable to make an equivalent sandwich, that they will help retrieve his sandwich but gets stuck with the rest in the bubble. Jake enters the bubble pouting and is able to move at normal speed. The rest figure this to be part of Magic Man's riddle, but Finn has to remind Jake to continue being sad as he runs. Jake thinks of Mr. Cupcake (Dee Bradley Baker) gaining the affections of Lady Rainicorn (Yang), Jake's lover, following his death, making Jake angry. Finn tells him to think of sad thoughts instead; Jake imagines Mr. Cupcake mourning Jake's death and the two reconciling, making Jake cry and allowing him to reach Magic Man in time. Jake punches him and wins back his sandwich, and the bubble bursts.

Production

The thirty-third episode from the fifth season of Adventure Time, "Time Sandwich" was written by Kent Osborne and Cole Sanchez. As part of a team responsible for the creation of storyboards, Osborne and Sanchez adapted the episode from a story Pendleton Ward, Jack Pendarvis, Adam Muto, and Osborne previously devised. The episode was directed by Elizabeth Ito, her seventh credit for the season. The creator of Adventure Time, Ward resigned from his occupation as its runner during production of the same season.
The story for "Time Sandwich" was inspired by a widely circulated video of celebrity chef Paula Deen preparing a sandwich, according to Osborne. The video, which decelerates her preparation, grew popular for enhancing the tension and absurdity of her preoccupation with making the sandwich. Drawn to the show's more comic elements, Osborne contrasted the episode with those that provide a more realistic atmosphere. He called the story for "Time Sandwich" crazy and complex for having nearly all the principal characters but described its resolution as simple. Sanchez expressed his enjoyment at having written the episode, calling Osborne's work consistently hilarious. Kenny, usually the voice of Ice King on Adventure Time, lent Magic Man's vocals.

Broadcast and reception

Cartoon Network originally aired "Time Sandwich" on 9 September 2013. Its premiere earned a Nielsen rating of 1.3 for households, meaning that approximately 1.3 percent of households in the United States owning television sets saw the episode. Based on that rating, nearly two million viewers saw it live on that date. This made it the third most viewed program on the network for the second week of September, starting on Monday.
"Time Sandwich" was critically praised. Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ grade, finding the slowing down from the time bubble ironic given the episode's "incredibly fast" movement. He approved of the episode's silliness as a pleasant shift from the more "emotional and character-heavy" episodes it succeeds. Sava additionally lauded the visuals of the time bubble as the various Ooo inhabitants enter it. Staff writers of TV.com found the comical aspects excellent, as were the visuals. In particular, the writers saw the image of BMO riding the skateboard with Marceline in the back "one of the best things the show's ever done". Nicolas Michaud, in his book Adventure Time and Philosophy, called the episode metaphysical in its contrasting of science and magic. He regarded Bubblegum's role in the episode as corroborating her as the "staunchest proponent and defender of science". John Moe and Open Mike Eagle, in Adventure Time–dedicated podcast Conversation Parade, observed that fans held the episode as the best introduction to the show.