text: it came from the nightosphere " it came from the nightosphere " is the first episode of the second season of the american animated television series adventure time . the episode was written and storyboarded by adam muto and rebecca sugar , from a story by merriwether williams , steve little , patrick mchale , pendleton ward , and thurop van orman . it originally aired on cartoon network on october 11 , 2010 . the episode guest stars martin olson as marceline the vampire queen 's father hunson abadeer . olson would reprise his role in the series ' third and fourth seasons . 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 releases marceline 's dad from the nightosphere after marceline ( voiced by olivia olson ) sings a song about the relationship between her and her estranged father . however , finn — who is begrudgingly aided by an emotionally enraged marceline — is forced to stop him from stealing all the souls in ooo . " it came from the nightosphere " was the first episode written and storyboarded by sugar ; she would go on to be highly praised for her work on the series . the episode was watched by 2 . 001 million people and received largely positive critical attention . in addition , the episode was nominated for a 2011 primetime emmy award for outstanding short - format animated program , although the episode did not win . plot after finn agrees to help marceline record one of her musical compositions , she begins to sing a song — " the fry song " — about the rift between herself and her father , hunson abadeer . finn , feeling sorry for her , decides to summon her father from the hellish nightosphere , failing to realize that her father is the domain 's dark leader and that he consumes souls . he materializes before marceline and finn , attempts to kill finn , and successfully steals marceline 's axe bass . finn and marceline give chase . marceline 's father moves throughout ooo , consuming the souls of all living creatures that he can find . finn and marceline first try to crush him with a rock , but the resulting skirmish between father and daughter merely infuriates hunson abadeer . he assumes that marceline is trying to kill him to take over the nightosphere , but she merely wants her bass guitar back . finn and marceline attempt one last time to stop hunson abadeer , who has now grown huge . due to his size , finn is easily defeated . marceline , infuriated by her father 's lack of understanding , storms off . finn , in a last - ditch effort to save the day , plays back the recording of " the fry song " . suddenly , marceline 's father understands why she is upset , and the two reconnect . finn uses this beat as an opportunity to cut all of the souls free from hunson abadeer 's " soul sack " , and banishes him back to the nightosphere . production " it came from the nightosphere " was written and storyboarded by adam muto and rebecca sugar , from a story by merriwether williams , steve little , patrick mchale , pendleton ward , and thurop van orman . the episode was the first episode storyboarded by sugar ; according to her , she " did all the monster stuff at the end " , whereas muto " did all the meat in the middle " . she later joked that " anything that is actually witty was done by adam . i ’ m usually responsible for sex jokes and violence . " during the storyboarding process , sugar and muto were running low on time , as such , muto asked fellow series artist jesse moynihan if he could help storyboard the initial fight between marceline and her father . the final scene with abadeer , which featured finn cutting open his " soul sack " was added by sugar based on a drawing by ward that featured finn flying through the air with two swords . however , she was not sure if the scene would make it into the final product due to its graphic nature . a scene that features marceline 's dad confronting gunter the penguin inspired the writers to pen the fourth season episode " reign of " . the song features " the fry song " , co - written by ward and sugar . this was her first song written for the series , and would go on to become popular with the fanbase of adventure time . sugar 's original version was inspired by broadway theatre and was more sombre . ward helped sugar add more jokes to the final version . during the network pitch of the episode , ward beatboxed and sugar played ukulele and the two performed " the fry song " . sugar later called the experience " super terrifying " , although the network did green - light the episode . the episode was the third episode of the season produced , but was chosen to be the first aired . when the network announced the start of season two , the episode was not finished . on his personal website , executive producer fred seibert noted that he would " prefer [ that the series ] stock up on a few episodes before jumping into season two , but it ain ’ t my network " . seibert also felt that the episode was rather frightening and warned potential watchers that it might not be suitable for younger children . martin olson , the father of olivia olson who voices marceline , provides the voice for marceline 's demonic father hunson abadeer . a year after the series had been cast , ward approached olson and asked him if he wanted to voice a character on the show . olson was apprehensive at first , arguing that he was not an actor but a writer , instead . ward insisted and olson eventually relented . olson later joked that he was " in heaven " during the recording of the dialogue because the episode featured him " fighting to the death with [ his ] daughter . " olson later noted that the opportunity to voice act with her father was " pretty cool ” . olson would make a cameo in the third season episode " memory of a memory " , and would be featured in a major role in the fourth season two - part episode " return to the nightosphere " / " daddy 's little monster " . the design for abadeer 's monster form caused issues with the series ' standards and practices department . the initial designs were deemed " too vagina - like " , and the network made the show redesign the character again . however , during the second submission , the network felt that it looked " too much like a penis " . ward later said , " we were just like , ' what is happening ? this is a monster , with just a crazy , weird face . ' " " it came from the nightosphere " does not reveal abadeer 's name , with characters merely referring to him as " marceline 's dad " . his full name would not be revealed until in the two - part fourth season episode . according to moynihan , the name was inspired by the name that his brother had given their family 's car when they were growing up . the two later used it for a band that only recorded one song . reception " it came from the nightosphere " first aired on cartoon network on october 11 , 2010 . the episode was viewed by 2 . 001 million viewers and scored a nielsen rating of 1 . 3 / 2 percent . this means it was seen by 1 . 3 percent of all households and 2 percent of all households watching television at the time of the episode 's airing . this marked a decline from the first season premiere , which had been viewed by 2 . 5 million viewers , but it marked an increase from the first season finale , which was watched by only 1 . 77 million viewers . " it came from the nightosphere " also marked gains when compared to the same timeslot a year prior ; for instance , 732 , 000 kids aged 6 – 11 watched the episode , an increase by 35 percent when compared to the previous year . " it came from the nightosphere " was highly praised by critics . tyler foster of dvd talk called it " a pretty decent example of all the notes the show can hit . " he was particularly pleased with the way " the rift between marceline and her dad is handled with a nice seriousness that fits right in alongside absurd gags about penguins " . he also noted that " any episode that includes a song is a plus in my book . " it was also called the " real highlight " of the eponymous dvd release by charles webb of mtv geek . ign writer matt fowler later referred to the episode as a " classic " . in a separate review , he later wrote that the episode " has come to represent the best of adventure time , and marceline 's [ sic ] , with her angst - y anti - daddy song and her freddy krueger - esque sweater has launched a thousand cosplays . " writers of spin ranked " the fry song " as the forty - fourth best original song performed by fictional characters in any medium . james grebey called its subject matter deep and from a place of uncontrolled emotion , mature but also eccentric . ward was very happy with the episode . he complimented storyboard artists muto and sugar , saying that the former " has a hilarious slapstick set - up - the - punchline kind of style of comedy " and the latter " is amazing at executing these super romantic , emotional goosebump - kind of feelings " . he was particularly pleased with the ending , noting that " i love that goose - bumps feeling in a climactic scene with music rising . in that episode you 're talking about , there is that rising action toward the end , and then [ … ] cuts in and says ' drama bomb ! ' in the middle of it to sort of , like , cut its legs out . which i think is a lot of fun . " the episode was later nominated for a 2011 primetime emmy award for outstanding short - format animated program , although it did not win . media release the episode first saw physical release as part of the eponymous 2012 it came from the nightosphere dvd , which included 16 episodes from the series ' first three seasons . it was later re - released as part of the complete second season dvd in june 2013 . in addition , the 2015 limited edition 12 " vinyl record release marceline the vampire queen – rock the nightosphere included " the fry song " alongside other songs sung by marceline .