Samurai Jack

The retro-futuristic world is inhabited by a variety of denizens such as robots, extraterrestrials, talking animals, monsters, magical beings, deities, and even a Scotsman who wields an enchanted sword. Areas may have advanced technology like flying cars, while others resemble ancient times or industrial conditions. What's more, Aku has brought aliens from other planets to inhabit Earth, while destroying the habitability of the alien planets. Criminals and fugitives of all kinds and/or forms are very common on Aku's Earth. Mythological and supernatural creatures make regular appearances and coexist among the technologically-advanced inhabitants.

However, the planet has hardly been urbanized, and there are a number of episodes that take place in uninhabited areas of the world, such as forests, jungles and mountains, which have remained largely untouched even as Aku began his conquest and reign over every sentient being.[16][17][18] There are even a few communities that have not been affected by Aku's dominance, such as the Shaolin monks, who have managed to hide and maintain their numbers in a secret place beyond the reach of Aku's seemingly omniscient vision.[19]

Samurai Jack was created by Genndy Tartakovsky as a follow-up to his successful series Dexter's Laboratory. Cartoon Network executive Mike Lazzo recalled Tartakovsky pitching him the series: "He said, 'Hey, remember David Carradine in Kung Fu? Wasn't that cool?' and I was like, 'Yeah, that's really cool.' That was literally the pitch."[20] Cartoon Network billed it as a series "that is cinematic in scope and that incorporates action, humor, and intricate artistry."[21]

The basic premise of Samurai Jack comes from Tartakovsky's childhood fascination with samurai culture and the bushido code,[22]^(42:56) as well as a recurring dream where he wandered a post-apocalyptic Earth with a samurai sword and traveled the world fighting mutants with his crush.[23] The show is meant to evoke 1970s cinematography, as well as classic Hollywood films such as Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia[22]^(46:44) and Spartacus.[24] Thematic and visual inspirations come from Frank Miller's comic book series Rōnin, including the premise of a master-less samurai warrior thrown into a dystopic future in order to battle a shape-shifting demon. Similarly, the episode "Jack and the Spartans" was specifically inspired by Miller's graphic novel 300 that retold the Battle of Thermopylae.[24] The Japanese comic Lone Wolf and Cub and films by Akira Kurosawa were also an inspiration.[25]

The network announced the series' launch at a press conference on February 21, 2001.[26][27] Weeks leading up to the series were accompanied by a sweepstakes giveaway sponsored by AOL in which the grand prize was a trip for four to Japan. AOL subscribers were also offered sneak peeks of Samurai Jack as well as a look at samurai traditions, future toys, behind-the-scenes model sheets, and exclusive Cartoon Orbit cToons.[28][29] Samurai Jack debuted on Cartoon Network on August 10, 2001, with the three-part special "The Beginning".[30] The premiere received high praise and four award nominations,[31][32] and was released as a standalone VHS and DVD on March 19, 2002.[20] As production of the fourth season was ending, with four seasons of 13 episodes each or 52 episodes of Samurai Jack in total, Tartakovsky and the crew moved on to other projects.[33] The show ended with the airing of the four final episodes as a marathon on September 25, 2004.[34]

In Canada, Samurai Jack previously aired on YTV,[35] and currently airs on the Canadian version of Adult Swim.[36][37]

The original series was left open-ended after the conclusion of the fourth season.[38] Tartakovsky said, "coming close to [the end of] the fourth season, we're like, 'are we gonna finish it?' And I didn't know... The network didn't know, they were going through a lot of transitions also. So I decided, you know, I don't want to rush and finish the whole story, and so we just left it like there is no conclusion and then [the final episode is] just like another episode". Art director Scott Wills added, "We didn't have time to think about it, because we went right into Clone Wars. They even overlapped, I think. There was no time to even think about it."[33]

A film intended to conclude the story of Samurai Jack had been in development at different times by four different studios.[39]^(2:50) As early as 2002, Cartoon Network was producing a Samurai Jack live action feature film,[1] in association with New Line Cinema.[40] Tartakovsky said in a 2006 interview that the live action version of Samurai Jack was thankfully abandoned, and that "we will finish the story, and there will be an animated film."[41] Fred Seibert announced in 2007 that the newly-formed Frederator Films was developing a Samurai Jack movie,[42] which was planned to be in stereoscopic 2D[43] with a budget of 20 million dollars.[44] Seibert said in 2009 the film was being co-produced with J. J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions.[40] Sony Pictures Entertainment expressed interest in developing a Samurai Jack film in 2012. Genndy Tartakovsky said in an interview with IGN the Samurai Jack movie is in pre-production: "I've been trying so hard every year, and the one amazing thing about Jack is that I did it in 2001, you know, and it still survived. There's something about it that's connected with people. And I want it, it's number 1 on my list, and now Bob Osher, the president, is like 'Hey, let's talk about Jack. Let's see what we can do.' And I go, 'You're going to do a 2D feature animated movie?' and he's like, 'Yeah. Maybe. Let's do some research and let's see.' So it's not dead for sure by any means, and it's still on the top of my list, and I'm trying as hard as I can." Tartakovsky said the loss of Mako Iwamatsu (Aku's voice actor) would also need to be addressed.[45] The feature film project never materialized, and eventually the series concluded with a fifth television season.[46]

Samurai Jack returned to television over twelve years after its fourth season concluded, with the first episode of its fifth season airing on Adult Swim on March 11, 2017. Produced at Cartoon Network Studios and Williams Street with Tartakovsky as executive producer,[47] the fifth and final season features more mature elements and a cohesive narrative that concludes Jack's journey. The story takes place fifty years after Jack was cast into the future. In despair from the years of fighting Aku and from Aku's destruction of the remaining time portals, Jack—who has not aged as a side effect of the time travel—is haunted by warped visions of himself, of his family, and of an enigmatic, deathly warrior on horseback.[48] Phil LaMarr reprises his role as Jack; Greg Baldwin provides the voice of Aku. Mako, who voiced Aku in the show's first four seasons, died ten years before the revival was produced.

In 2004, British broadcaster Channel 4 ran a poll of the 100 greatest cartoons, in which Samurai Jack achieved the 42nd position.[49] The show was ranked 11th by IGN for its "Top 25 Primetime Animated Series of All Time" list in 2006.[50] IGN also ranked the show 43rd in its Top 100 Animated Series list in 2009.[51] The series has also received an approval rating of 93% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[52] The first season received an approval rating of 80% while the fourth and fifth seasons received an approval rating of 100%.[53][54][55] The fifth season's consensus reads, "An increasing intensity and maturity are evident in Samurai Jack's beautifully animated, action-packed, and overall compelling fifth season."[55]

Matt Zoller Seitz, a film critic for RogerEbert.com and television critic for Vulture, considers Samurai Jack, along with Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars, to be a masterwork and one of the greatest American animated shows on television, mainly for its visual style:[56]

[A]lthough Tartakovsky is a good storyteller, in a silent-movie sort of way—expressing what’s happening moment-to-moment through picture and sound rather than in dialogue—I never watched either of these programs for their plots, and I don’t re-watch them for narrative, either. I re-watch them for the same reason that I visit art museums, attend live concerts, and pause during journeys from point A to point B in New York to watch dancers, acrobats, or street musicians: because I appreciate virtuosity for its own sake. And that’s what Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars and Samurai Jack give you, scene for scene and shot for shot .... [T]he plot was never the point. It was always about the visual music that Tartakovsky, his designers, and his animators created onscreen.

Samurai Jack would later be included in Seitz and Alan Sepinwall's 2016 book TV (The Book) as an honorable mention following the 100 greatest television series.[57]

Reviewers of the 3D animated feature film Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation) have noted that the stylized 2D opening sequence is either inspired by, or a homage to Samurai Jack.[65][66]

A year after the series was concluded, a board game adaptation covering all five seasons was released, titled Samurai Jack: Back to the Past. Players work together to complete tasks to help Jack return to the past while competing to earn honor for their actions.[67]

In February 2013, IDW Publishing announced a partnership with Cartoon Network to produce comics based on its properties. Samurai Jack was one of the titles announced to be published. It was further announced at WonderCon 2013 that the first issue of Samurai Jack would debut in October 2013.[68] The first comic in the series was released October 23, 2013.[69] The final issue came out in May 2015. On October 25, 2016, IDW re-released all of the issues in a compilation entitled "Tales of a Wandering Warrior".[70] Tartakovsky does not consider the comics part of the story of Jack.[39]^(4:58)

Jack also appeared in multiple issues of DC Comics' anthology comic series Cartoon Network Action Pack, which ran from July 2006 to April 2012.

Like other previous Cartoon Network shows, Samurai Jack DVDs were released by Warner Home Video between 2002 and 2007. The DVDs include episode numbers in Roman numerals as they appear at the end of each episode but remain untitled. Season 1 was released on Netflix streaming service in 2013.[71] Samurai Jack: The Complete Series was released on Blu-ray and Digital HD on October 17, 2017, and contains remastered versions of the first four seasons of the series, courtesy of ACMEworks Digital Film, Inc.[72] The series is also available on HBO Max since May 27, 2020.[73]

The Samurai Jack world has been seen in the video games Samurai Jack: The Amulet of Time for the Game Boy Advance in 2003 and Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in 2004.[90][91] Three years after the series was completed, a third game, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, was released on August 21, 2020, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch[92] and Apple Arcade.[93] It is the first Samurai Jack game to be available on Microsoft and Apple platforms and serves as an alternative scenario of the series finale.

Several elements of the Samurai Jack concept were reused in several video games: the MMORPG Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall features Jack, the Scotsman and Demongo as non-playable characters, while Aku is a Nano. The online game Project Exonaut features Jack only as a playable character for the Banzai Squadron. The brawler game Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion for Nintendo 3DS, Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 features Jack and the Scotsman as playable characters while Aku is an assist character, a boss and a playable character.

Samurai Jack is voiced by Phil LaMarr once more for most games, and by Keith Ferguson for Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion. The Scotsman and Demongo are voiced by John DiMaggio and by Kevin Michael Richardson respectively in Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall. Due to Mako Iwamatsu's death in 2006, Aku is voiced by Greg Baldwin in Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall and by Fred Tatasciore in Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion.