 Samurai Jack With that in mind, I decided to explore the potential good that could be done by tossing a Potato. I decided to toss Illusion Master something that I truly enjoy in an effort to share it with him, and by extension the rest of the world. (By "world," of course, I mean the thirteen people who actively read the Loud Bassoon.) Unfortunately, my lack of vigilance in monitoring the tosses for the month did me in. Illusion Master had already received his maximum two tosses, resulting in me having to go ahead and review Samurai Jack myself. Better Samurai Jack than Gary The Rat, I suppose. The simple plot is summed up in the opening of each show with an ominous voiceover from the series' main antagonist: "Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future where my evil is law! Now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku!"
That sets the theme of the show, and each episode is a self-contained adventure revolving around Jack's encounters during his travels to try and find a way back home. Many of the adventures involve Jack fighting off hordes of robotic minions dispatched by Aku to defeat him. Jack invariably defeats them with varying degrees of difficulty. Often, he demolishes countless numbers of enemies with ease, while other times he is pushed to the brink of defeat before finding a way to triumph. The series frequently treads completely different terrain, though. In one memorable episode, Jack accidentally bumps into an irritable wizard, who transforms him into a chicken. Chicken Jack is then captured by a Italian Stereotype™ who forces him to fight robotic animals for money. In another episode, Jack doesn't actually appear at all – the episode instead revolves around Aku who tells a series of fairy tales to a group of children featuring himself as the hero and Jack as the villain. Aku fails miserably, of course. The animation is not breathtaking, but it is extremely stylized and extremely effective. Aku is a truly menacing villain, and Jack is a true hero. Every episode seems to feature dozens of new creatures, both friendly and not-so-friendly, that are often baffling in their design. The aforementioned chicken episode, for example, featured what appeared to be a living Christmas tree wearing a basketball jersey. Often long stretches of an episode will pass without a single word of dialogue. The ambient sound and music will expand to fill these times to an extent that you will be surprised to hear a word spoken. Sounds of the minutest significance often catch my ear, such as in a recent episode where the sound of raindrops striking a bamboo shoot upon the ground could be heard clearly. The music is, as far as I can tell, written exclusively for the show, and it is usually fantastic. The theme of the particular episode will often dictate the tone of the music, whether it be fast-paced, calm, cheerful, or what have you. The dialogue that is excellent. The scripts are well-written, and the show is definitely aiming for an age bracket a bit beyond the normal Cartoon Network fare. The voice work is also uniformly excellent. Phil Lamarr – probably best known for getting his head blown off in the back of a car in Pulp Fiction – provides the voice of Jack. Lamarr infuses Jack with the honor and dignity that you would expect from a samurai. Japanese actor Mako provides the voice of Aku, creating a thoroughly menacing and memorable villain. I'll admit I am a bit of a modern animation geek – I own DVD sets of The Simpsons, Futurama, South Park, and Family Guy, and I am a huge fan of Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" lineup – so I admit I may be biased toward this show to begin with. However, I have a severe disdain for much of the crap animation being pushed on American viewers as well, such as the garbage the The New Spike™ TNN™ Network for Men™ has recently vomited across the TV landscape. So, I'd like to think that I'm a pretty discerning toon-liker. That said, I think Samurai Jack is one of the best animated series ever to be aired in this country. All of the elements of the show combine flawlessly to add up to a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The show has reached a run of 40-plus episodes, and I am still enjoying them as much now as when I first discovered it. Genndy Tartakovsky – who also created Dexter's Laboratory and worked on The Powerpuff Girls – has created a true classic of modern animation. I'll patiently await the DVD release of the episodes, and I'll also hold out hope that the rumors of a theatrical film are true. So now go watch some Samurai Jack, turn off that goddamned Stripperella, and get your hands out of your gymshorts, you pervert.
Review by Mario Speedwagon © 2003 |
