Samurai Jack General

While I'm as excited as everybody else, what's up with Jack's silhouette here? Is he wearing Samurai Armor now? After all this time of just a robe? Why? Maybe something happens and he will no longer consider himself a failure... maybe we'll even learn his true name!

I can't help but shake the feeling that this might be Genndy saying "You know what, Sony? If you won't let me do Popeye, then screw this noise! I'll just head back to Cartoon Network and do a new season of Samurai Jack! You'll be sorry you kicked me out once you see how people will flock over to see the season 5 premiere of Samurai Jack next year! Hmph, 'creative differences' my eye!"

Of course, it's possible that I am ridiculously wrong and CN came to Genndy rather than the other way around. Maybe.

I never knew this show had such a huge following.

Oh, it did. It really did.

So hey, I guess this interview from 3 months ago is kinda Hilarious in Hindsight now, huh?

We have no idea if Genndy is also working on Can You Imagine? at SONY. No official information has been given on that yet.

Man, I think it's been nearly a decade since Adult Swim was actually able to revive a show.

Megas XLR? Failed.

Thundercats 2011? Failed.

Symbionic Titan? Failed.

But I guess AS isn't completely out of juice.

I was never that enthusiastic about Samurai Jack. But I'm happy you're all happy.

While there's not anything new being made for it, they also somehow uncovered the secrets of blood magic and used necromancy to rescue IGPX from the soul-consuming oblivion of legal tax write-offs.

edited 3rd Dec '15 2:14:34 PM by TheAirman

We have no idea if Genndy is also working on Can You Imagine? at SONY. No official information has been given on that yet.

...

So it's possible that he got booted out of that one too?

I sense a disturbance in the Force...

Genndy sounds like the cartoon television version of Don Bluth. Talented guy, but constantly getting kicked around.

edited 3rd Dec '15 4:02:05 PM by Austin

the fact that this is on adult swim now makes me wonder if that means the content in the show will be altered in any way. i trust genndy's judgment enough that he'd use this kind of freedom responsibly, if at all.

Part of me is wondering if he'll be tempted to make it Bloodier and Gorier...

Yes, but Genndy actually has remained consistent in his style and how liked his work is.

Even in the trailer for Hotel Transylvania, which no one would claim is his best, I could immediately tell it was the work of someone who just GOT animation.

Also, everyone is sort of expecting some real blood and grittiness with the move to Adult Swim, but honestly I'd prefer if he still showed some restraint in that department.

I think they'll probably have Jack bleed appropriately when he gets injured, but I don't believe they're going to turn it into a gore fest either.

Adult swim has no problem with intense gore (see: Hellsing Ultimate, Akira) but they also show plenty of action shows without it (see: DBZ Kai, Naruto)

Maybe have fewer Mecha-Mooks. Although I remember at least one episode ended with Jack wasting a bunch of organic mercenaries.

Adult Swim? That means Jack can slice things other than robots!

edited 3rd Dec '15 7:01:20 PM by DS9guy

Adult Swim's DBZ Kai actually does go with blood. They also put in swearing too (I watched an episode over the summer and among other things the word "bastard" is mentioned.

Those words are actually inherent in the original Japanese, however. They're a bit more lax on swearing and violence.

I mean, come on, in Dragon Ball Z alone, we have Piccolo and Tien losing their arms, Goku getting blasted through the chest and leaving a giant gaping hole, Yamcha and Krillin blowing up (and a shot of Yamcha's dead body), Yamcha getting stabbed through the chest by Dr. Gero, and Super Buu committing what is basically genocide, and spilling his body inside of a person to the point that he explodes.

Samurai Jack has always been a "fun for everyone" type of show, and that is the stuff Tartakovsky excels at. His visual and storytelling style is about being intense versus being graphic.

One of the things I always loved when rewatching the series was Tartakovsky's willingness and creativity in putting Jack in situations that might have otherwise been seen as outside his genre or character type.

Jack is a badass warrior Walking the Earth until he can go home and/or slay evil, yes, but he's also a Naïve Newcomer hoping to learn new techniques and experience new things, at times an unwitting antagonist to other people's stories, the subject of evil fairy tales, a mysterious figure hunted by doomed mercenaries, a guy who really loves sushi and friendly competition (and can pull off a pretty good "surfer dude" impression when losing his memory), but can't manage the tact to not accidentally call his best friend's wife fat - and, once, a chicken.

When I was younger I never noticed just how very different every new episode could from the others, while still very distinctly keeping the qualities that tied the show together, but now it's one of my favorite things about it: I hope that kind of thing is kept in the transition.

edited 3rd Dec '15 9:09:36 PM by KnownUnknown

A lot of the episodes had no trouble going a long while without any dialogue too.

Think how rare it is in general to not have characters talking for any sustained length of time. It requires real skill to convey a story purely by visuals and not having the characters do a running commentary on how the story is progressing. Some Samurai Jack episode scripts are probably only 5 pages long, even major action beats are conveyed by "They fight for a while."

I demand at least one episode featuring the Scotsman. Doesn't even have to be a focus episode. It can be a cameo. Whatever. Just make it happen.

If I were Aku, I'd point out to the Scotsman that if Jack completes his quest, it will undo his entire world. Meaning, it's very likely the Scotsman, his beautiful angel of a wife and his whole clan, will cease to be.

Hopefully, this show will bring a little class back to adult swim.