View source for Five Short Graybles

{{good article}}
{{Infobox television episode
| series       = [[Adventure Time]]
| image        = Adventure_Time_Five_Short_Graybles_Title_Card.png
| season       = 4
| episode      = 2
| production   = 1008-079<ref name=prodnumbers>{{cite web|title=Shows A-Z, Adventure Time With Finn and Jake|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/adventure-time-with-finn-and-jake/listings/|website=[[The Futon Critic]]|access-date=February 3, 2013|archive-date=February 16, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216213150/http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/adventure-time-with-finn-and-jake/listings/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| story        = [[Patrick McHale (artist)|Patrick McHale]]<br />[[Kent Osborne]]<br />[[Pendleton Ward]]
| writer       = [[Tom Herpich]]<br>[[Skyler Page]]<br>[[Cole Sanchez]]
| director = {{Plainlist|
* [[Larry Leichliter]]{{efn|name=note1|Director}}
* [[Nate Cash]]{{efn|name=note2|Creative director}}
* [[Nick Jennings (artist)|Nick Jennings]]{{efn|name=note3|Art director}}}}
| airdate      = {{Start date|2012|04|09}}
| music        =
| guests       =
*[[Emo Philips]] as Cuber
| length = 11 minutes
| prev         = [[Hot to the Touch]]
| next         = [[Web Weirdos]]
| season_article = Adventure Time season 4
| episode_list = List of Adventure Time episodes
}}
"'''Five Short Graybles'''" is the second episode of the [[Adventure Time season 4|fourth season]] of the American [[animated television series]] ''[[Adventure Time]]''. The episode was written and storyboarded by [[Tom Herpich]], [[Skyler Page]], and [[Cole Sanchez]], from a story by [[Patrick McHale (cartoonist)|Patrick McHale]], [[Kent Osborne]], and [[Pendleton Ward]]. It originally aired on [[Cartoon Network]] on April 9, 2012. The episode guest stars [[Emo Philips]] as Cuber.
The series follows the adventures of [[Finn the Human|Finn]] (voiced by [[Jeremy Shada]]), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother [[Jake the Dog|Jake]] (voiced by [[John DiMaggio]]), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. This episode is a series of short stories—concerning BMO (voiced by [[Niki Yang]]), Finn and Jake, Princess Bubblegum (voiced by [[Hynden Walch]]), the Ice King (voiced by [[Tom Kenny]]), and Lumpy Space Princess (voiced by [[Pendleton Ward]])—all centered on a common theme of [[the five senses]], hosted by a mysterious man named Cuber from the future.
The episode's premise was conceived when Ward was forced to cut a scene involving a high-five from a previous script. Ward enjoyed the scene so much that he decided to write an entire episode based around high-fives. Originally, it was planned for live action footage of Ward to appear in the episode, introducing each clip. This, however, was later scrapped in favor of the character of Cuber. "Five Short Graybles", along with other episodes of Cartoon Network programming, helped make the network the number one television destination for boys aged 2–11, 6-11, and 9-14 on Monday nights, according to [[Nielsen ratings]], and Oliver Sava of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' applauded the various elements that the show was able to include in only an 11-minute episode.
==Plot==
The episode begins with a futuristic character named Cuber (voiced by [[Emo Philips]]) [[breaking the fourth wall|announcing to the audience]] that they will be watching five short [[Vignette (literature)|vignette]]s that are all unified by one theme. Cuber challenges the audience to then guess the theme.
The first short focuses on BMO (voiced by [[Niki Yang]]), who talks to itself in the mirror, pretending as if it is talking to another character called "Football". BMO insists that it is a real, living boy, and attempts to demonstrate this to Football by brushing its teeth and using the toilet. Unbeknownst to BMO, Finn and Jake are watching the activity from outside a window. The focus then shifts to Finn and Jake, who attempt to experience the ultimate [[high five]]. Eventually, Finn places himself in a catapult, and Jake stretches himself into a slingshot, and the two launch themselves across Ooo.
The next vignette focuses on [[Princess Bubblegum]] (voiced by [[Hynden Walch]]) as she tries to create the perfect sandwich using bizarre science. After exhausting herself going to extreme and ridiculous lengths to produce and combine all the ingredients perfectly, she offers the sandwich to Cinnamon Bun (voiced by [[Dee Bradley Baker]]), who merely shoves it into his pastry body and belches foodstuff onto the princess. The action then shifts to the [[Ice King]] (voiced by [[Tom Kenny]]), who smells a stench in his ice castle. After mistakenly assuming that the smell was being caused by Gunter the penguin's flatulence, the Ice King realizes that his armpits are actually the source of the smell. After taking a shower, he ponders aloud as to how he got so smelly. Gunter then proceeds to flatulate underneath his arms.
The final vignette focuses on Lumpy Space Princess (voiced by [[Pendleton Ward]]) as she attempts to win a talent show by singing a song entitled "These Lumps". Before she can perform, however, a group of candy citizens steal her song. Lumpy Space Princess becomes enraged and throws a basketball into the audience, which hits an audience member and accidentally makes a basket in the process. Due to the impressiveness of this action, Peppermint Butler (voiced by [[Steve Little (actor)|Steve Little]]) names her the winner. Just then, Finn and Jake collide in mid-air, producing a high five that reverberates across Ooo. The duo are named the winner, much to Lumpy Space Princess' chagrin.
The episode comes to a close with Cuber revealing that the theme was the [[five senses]]: BMO saw Football in the mirror, Finn and Jake touched each other's hands, Princess Bubblegum made a tasty sandwich, Ice King smelled something foul, and Lumpy Space Princess heard music.
==Production==
[[File:Emo Philips 2002 cropped.jpg|thumb|right|The episode guest stars [[Emo Philips]] as Cuber.]]
"Five Short Graybles" was written and storyboarded by [[Tom Herpich]], [[Skyler Page]], and [[Cole Sanchez]], from a story developed by series creator [[Pendleton Ward]], [[Patrick McHale (cartoonist)|Patrick McHale]], and [[Kent Osborne]]. The episode was directed by [[Larry Leichliter]].<ref name=episodecreditsgraybles>{{cite episode| title=Five Short Graybles|series=Adventure Time|credits = Leichliter, Larry (director); Nate Cash (creative director); Nick Jennings (art director); Tom Herpich, Skyler Page, & Cole Sanchez (storyboard artists) | network = [[Cartoon Network]] |airdate=April 9, 2012| season = 4 | number = 2}}</ref> This was the first episode that Page worked on for the series; he was so excited to be working on the series that after he finished the storyboard, he traveled to Hawaii as a personal reward.<ref name=skylergraybles>{{cite interview |last=Page |first=Skyler |title=Five Short Graybles |type=DVD commentary track |publisher=[[Cartoon Network]] |location=[[Los Angeles]] |date=2014 |work=Adventure Time: The Complete Fourth Season}}</ref> Sanchez storyboarded the scenes with Ice King, as well as the scenes with Lumpy Space Princess{{em dash}}sections, he argued, that are thematically united because the characters are "being a little bit mean" to others.<ref name=colegraybles>{{cite interview |last=Sanchez|first=Cole |title=Five Short Graybles |type=DVD commentary track |publisher=[[Cartoon Network]] |location=[[Los Angeles]] |date=2014 |work=Adventure Time: The Complete Fourth Season}}</ref>
The episode can trace its genesis to a short, but humorous scene involving a high five that Ward had been forced to cut from an episode. Ward was unhappy about the edit, and later jokingly said via his [[Twitter]] that he would make an episode entirely about high-fives. Although Ward was being facetious at the time, the idea of using a high five as an overarching plot point was subsequently used in "Five Short Graybles".<ref name=wardgraybles>{{cite interview |last=Ward|first=Pendleton |title=Five Short Graybles |type=DVD commentary track |publisher=[[Cartoon Network]] |location=[[Los Angeles]] |date=2014 |work=Adventure Time: The Complete Fourth Season}}</ref> Originally, it was planned for live action footage of Ward to appear in the episode; he would have introduced each clip, serving as a framing device. This idea, however, was eventually vetoed. Herpich came up with the idea to replace Ward with a futuristic character named Cuber, whose dialogue would be mixed with odd and nonsensical words, implying that he was speaking a "dialect from thousand of years in the future".<ref name=herpichgraybles/> According to Herpich, the word "graybles" is a supposed distortion of the word "fables".<ref name=herpichgraybles>{{cite interview |last=Herpich |first=Tom |title=Five Short Graybles |type=DVD commentary track |publisher=[[Cartoon Network]] |location=[[Los Angeles]] |date=2014 |work=Adventure Time: The Complete Fourth Season}}</ref>
Cuber was voiced by Emo Philips,<ref name=resumephilips>{{cite web|last1=Philips|first1=Emo|title=Emo Philips – Industry|url=http://www.emophilips.com/writings/industry/146|publisher=EmoPhilips.com|access-date=October 7, 2014|archive-date=October 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013083335/http://www.emophilips.com/writings/industry/146|url-status=live}}</ref> a comedian known for his "offbeat [vocal] cadence and high-pitched conversational tone".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/comedy/ct-ent-emo-philips-comedy-review-0818-story,amp.html|title=At Zanies, a still hysterical Emo Philips shows why he's Emo Philips|author=Freeman, Zach|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=August 17, 2017|access-date=May 30, 2018|archive-date=April 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430203326/https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/comedy/ct-ent-emo-philips-comedy-review-0818-story,amp.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Philips would later reprise his role for the [[Adventure Time season 5|fifth season]] episodes "Five More Short Graybles", "Another Five More Short Graybles", and the [[Adventure Time season 6|sixth season]] episode "Graybles 1000+".<ref name=resumephilips/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Sava|first1=Oliver|title=Review: Adventure Time: 'Five More Short Graybles'|url=http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/adventure-time-five-more-short-graybles-88635|website=[[The A.V. Club]]|publisher=[[The Onion]]|access-date=October 7, 2014|date=November 19, 2012|archive-date=October 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007115445/http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/adventure-time-five-more-short-graybles-88635|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Sava|first1=Oliver|title=Review: Adventure Time: 'Another Five More Short Graybles'|url=http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/adventure-time-another-five-more-short-graybles-98980|website=[[The A.V. Club]]|publisher=[[The Onion]]|access-date=October 7, 2014|date=June 17, 2013|archive-date=October 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013171755/http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/adventure-time-another-five-more-short-graybles-98980|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=graybles1000>{{cite web|last1=Muto|first1=Adam|title=[Adam Muto confirms the guest cast for 'Graybles 1000+']|url=https://twitter.com/MrMuto/status/596338435792572416|publisher=[[Twitter]]|access-date=May 8, 2015|date=May 7, 2015|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305203450/https://twitter.com/MrMuto/status/596338435792572416|url-status=live}}</ref> Every one of Philips's voice recording takes was so different that Nate Cash, one of the series' creative directors, was forced to piece together disparate recordings to make the final composition.<ref name=cashgraybles>{{cite interview |last=Cash |first=Nate |title=Five Short Graybles |type=DVD commentary track |publisher=[[Cartoon Network]] |location=[[Los Angeles]] |date=2014 |work=Adventure Time: The Complete Fourth Season}}</ref>
The episode also contains the short song "These Lumps", sung by Lumpy Space Princess. Ward himself had a difficult time singing this song was because he was trying to both sing the song on pitch and retain Lumpy Space Princess's accent.<ref name=wardgraybles/>
==Reception==
"Five Short Graybles" first aired on [[Cartoon Network]] on April 9, 2012. Together with other episodes of Cartoon Network programming, the episodes helped make the network the number one television destination for boys aged 2–11, 6-11, and 9-14 on Monday nights, according to [[Nielsen ratings]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Bibel|first=Sara|title=Ratings Notes for Adult Swim, TBS, Cartoon Network, TNT, NBA Playoffs, 'Eagleheart', 'Hardcore Pawn' & More|url=http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/05/01/ratings-notes-for-adult-swim-tbs-cartoon-network-tnt-nba-playoffs-eagleheart-hardcore-pawn-more/131834/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517010729/http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/05/01/ratings-notes-for-adult-swim-tbs-cartoon-network-tnt-nba-playoffs-eagleheart-hardcore-pawn-more/131834/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 17, 2012|work=[[TV by the Numbers]]|publisher=[[Zap2it]]|access-date=February 9, 2014|date=May 1, 2012}}</ref> The episode first saw physical release as part of the eponymous 2012 DVD, ''Jake vs. Me-Mow'', which included 16 episodes from the series' first four seasons.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008OTTU2S |title=Adventure Time: Jake Vs Me-Mow |asin=B008OTTU2S |access-date=June 27, 2013}}</ref> It was later re-released as part of the complete fourth season DVD in October 2014.<ref name=seasonfour>{{cite web|title=Cartoon Network-Adventure Time-Complete 4th Season|website=Amazon|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KH57UXS|access-date=June 27, 2014|date=June 27, 2014|archive-date=August 6, 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140806114023/http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KH57UXS|url-status=live}}</ref>
Oliver Sava of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' awarded the episode an "A", describing it as "very weird" and "bizarre".<ref name=avclub5/> Sava wrote that it is "unbelievable that all of [the activity in the episode] happens in 10 minutes, which goes to show just how much material is packed into every episode of this series."<ref name=avclub5/> He also noted that Cuber revealing the uniting theme was "a reminder to all the adults in the audience that the show that’s making them laugh so hard is targeted to kids in grade school".<ref name=avclub5>{{cite web|last1=Sava|first1=Oliver|title=Adventure Time: 'Five Short Graybles'|url=http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/adventure-time-five-short-graybles-72108|website=[[The A.V. Club]]|publisher=[[The Onion]]|access-date=August 20, 2014|date=April 9, 2012|archive-date=September 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915030253/http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/adventure-time-five-short-graybles-72108|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist|30em}}
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==External links==
* {{IMDb episode|2357553}}
{{Adventure Time episodes|4}}
[[Category:2012 American television episodes]]
[[Category:Adventure Time season 4 episodes]]
[[Category:2012 short stories]]
[[Category:Television episodes about robots]]
[[Category:Television episodes set in the future]]