James Baxter the Horse

"James Baxter the Horse" is the nineteenth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series Adventure Time. The episode was written and storyboarded by series creator Pendleton Ward and Somvilay Xayaphone, from a story by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, and Ward. It originally aired on Cartoon Network on May 6, 2013. The episode guest stars animator James Baxter as the titular horse.

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, Finn and Jake stumble across a horse named James Baxter (voiced by Baxter the animator) who has the ability to make sad people feel better. While seeking to emulate James Baxter's style, Finn and Jake accidentally anger the spirit of a deceased being at a funeral and are nearly killed by it; however, James Baxter arrives at the last moment and cheers the spirit up.

The impetus for the episode stemmed from a guest lecture Baxter gave at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) when Ward was a student; during the discussion, someone requested that he animate a horse on a beach ball, a concept which fixed itself into Ward's mind. The episode was viewed by 2.21 million viewers and received a 1.4 household rating. Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club wrote positively of the episode, arguing that it was a metacommentary on the nature of Adventure Time itself. Likewise, Ryan Thomason of WatchPlayRead enjoyed the episode, both for its full embracing of silliness, and also for its darker ending.