Samurai Jack (Revival)

Samurai Jack Season 5 Trailer (From Adult Swim Youtube Channel)
Article Headed by Video Clip from Season Premier
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This past Saturday (March 11th), Cartoon Network's Toonami block was kicked off by the return of the series, Samurai Jack, which originally aired on Cartoon Network from 2001-2004.

Back in that time frame, it was one of those shows that I watched, but didn't exactly "follow" (in the sense that I really never invested much emotion into). I kind of took it for granted, as, at that point in time, I was more invested in other shows (that was pretty much when Dragon Ball Z, among other titles, was in its US stride). So, Jack, unfortunately, fell a bit off to my wayside during that time frame, and I don't think I ever completely gave it the credit it might have deserved.

Nonetheless, the show certainly left its posthumous impression on me; enough so that I piqued my interest when I saw that it would be returning.

Become's First Impression
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All too often, it seems like older TV shows (particularly the ones from the 1990s and early 2000s, are brought back from the 'dead' only to be remade in a way that, at least marginally, distances them from their original incarnations. In the case of animated shows, the frequent and evident culprit is in the drawing/animating, which, if I'm being honest with my own thoughts, is almost never quite as good as the previous examples of the same shows; perhaps this is just a by-product of the devaluing of artistic talent in today's society... but that's a discussion for another thread entirely. Other times, the new version of a show simply loses touch with elements that gave the original any semblance of quality and/or greatness.

Of course, the difference between these cases and the revival of Samurai Jack comes down to what I see as a noteworthy difference: Reboot vs. Continuation. Whereas many of the old Cartoon Network shows that have been resurrected in the past few years have been the result of rebooting and adapting the program for today's kids, Samurai Jack has been brought back in the venture of simply picking up the story, for the most part, where it left off; definitely a move meant to appeal to people that had already followed the series before, such that fans can finally see some closure.

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In that vein, little about the show's stylistic elements have changed. The character design and drawing styles remain pretty much untouched and unaltered. It seems that voice actors from the original run of the series have returned, in particular the voice of Phil LaMarr once again giving voice to Jack, which is definitely one of the ones that counts for the most. Overall, the show seems to be staying very close to origins in these design terms, which really makes the most sense when looking at a continuation; it would certainly make for quite the upheaval if all of that suddenly changed... you know, like that sequel to the Mortal Kombat movie where they had to bring in all new actors for about 98% of the cast. Oops.

Beyond that... well, I can't quite recall how 'dark' or 'edgy' the original run was, though I do remember for certain that it was certainly more mature than other shows that aired in the same programming block(s) at its time. This season definitely seems like it's poised to take that to the next level.

DISCLAIMER: Evidently, this season is, in fact, meant to bring the long retained conclusion to the Samurai's journey. While one could certainly gripe and groan about why they waited so long just to bring us one more season... I think I'll forego that behavior, for now. Based on the first episode, I think it'll have been worth the wait. Tentatively, I hold the hope that this won't simply be the end of the series, but rather the conclusion of Jack's story in his current point in time, and that, perhaps, the series could become open to more material.

I'll let this serve as our (potential) discussion thread, provided that anyone else has watched, or will intend to watch.

PS - I've intentionally evaded pointing bringing up plot spoilers. I don't feel I need to justify this choice. The trailer material does much of that for me anyways.

 

I know. I would bet there'd have been a lot of people out there complaining that the episode was too slow/not enough action. But I'd disagree with that. The fight scene between the Jack and Scaramouche was pretty badass; I hope it sets the tone for the battles to come.

I honestly can't believe how younger me couldn't appreciate the show during its original run though. Looking at it now, the setting is quite inspiring.

 

Same. Along with everything else I need to binge watch. So much binge watching. So little time! I think SJ is probably 3rd on my list right now. Maybe I'll bump it to first though, since it's not as long a runtime as the other things on that list.

 

I can't remember... was the original series as inclined towards comedic moments with Aku? I recall him always being a more 'serious' villain, save for when he taunted Jack.

Other than that, that episode certainly escalated to a point that I didn't think it would. I thought the 'Daughters of Aku' would have come out of their first encounter better for the wear than they did. And the look on Jack's face... just his whole psyche right now. I really hope they play this out a bit.

 

I won't lie. For a moment, when he was in that temple, I somehow got the thought that he'd stumble on his old sword. But then I came to my senses and realized that he probably won't get it back in hand (let's be real, he's probably gonna find it), until later on in the season, like, maybe the within the last three episodes. Although maybe he'll find it sooner, to really lay into the remaining Daughters, however many there are left at that point.

Correct me if I'm wrong, the one that killed this last episode was the one that was kinda 'eh' (comparatively speaking)/hesitant during their training, right?

 

I was actually thinking the same thing about her during those montage moments. She's my top pick for the one to go rogue, if any.

 

Yeah. I wasn't expecting the battle to escalate as quickly as it did.

But, it did.

Yet, now I can't help but scratch my head over what's supposed to come next.