| "Holly Jolly Secrets" | |
|---|---|
| Adventure Time episodes | |
 The Ice King's old VHS tapes reveal his original self and tragic backstory. Patrick McHale developed the idea to tell the episode's story via videotape. | |
| Episode nos. | Season 3 Episodes 19 & 20 |
| Directed by | |
| Written by | Kent Osborne Somvilay Xayaphone |
| Story by | Mark Banker Kent Osborne Patrick McHale Pendleton Ward |
| Production code | 1008-068 1008-069[1] |
| Original air date | December 5, 2011 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
"Holly Jolly Secrets" is the collective name for the nineteenth and twentieth episodes of the third season of the American animated television series Adventure Time. The episodes were written and storyboarded by Kent Osborne and Somvilay Xayaphone, from a story by Mark Banker, Kent Osborne, Patrick McHale, and series creator Pendleton Ward. It originally aired on Cartoon Network on December 5, 2011.
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 the Ice King’s (voiced by Tom Kenny) video diary and look to uncover his secrets. The Ice King tries to get the video diaries back, but Finn and Jake discover, via the tapes, that the Ice King was formerly a human archaeologist named Simon Petrikov who was cursed with his powers after he put his crown on his head.
"Holly Jolly Secrets" was based on an earlier, aborted Christmas special that would have involved Finn and Jake watching actual Christmas movies, and providing commentary in a style similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000. These plans were later scrapped, and series writer Patrick McHale developed the idea to explore the Ice King's backstory. The episode was watched by 2.513 million people and received largely positive critical reviews, with the novelist Lev Grossman applauding the exploration of the Ice King's past history.
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- ^ "The Beginning Of Wisdom Is To Call Things By Their Right Names". Frederator. April 6, 2011. Archived from the original on August 16, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2012.