Customer Reviews

Samurai Jack - Season 1

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The announced release of the first season of the brilliant animated series, Samurai Jack, is a genuine cause to rejoice! Finally, a studio understands the value of an animated series in a timely manner. One can only hope that other studios will get the message that animated properties can and are just as popular as live-action series and movies.

Samurai Jack was created by the multi-talented and truly gifted Genndy Tartakovsky, who also created the fantastic Dexter's Laboratory. Samurai Jack combines innovative and imaginative storytelling with a captivating animated style that is at once simple and evocative. The series tells the story of a Japanese samurai who has embarked on an epic mission to fight evil and save his world.

In the distant past, the samurai, who calls himself "Jack," is the son of an emperor captured by the evil Aku, a shape-shifting wizard. The young Jack is sent away not only to survive but to train his mind and body in all forms of martial arts so that he will eventually be capable of vanquishing Aku.

Jack returns as an adult and reunites with his mother who gives him the sacred sword of the samurai to defeat Aku and rescue his father.

Armed with the sword, Jack is on the verge of a final confrontation with Aku when Jack is literally ripped from his own time by the evil wizard and hurtled thousands of years into the future -- a future where Aku has already become the all-powerful evil lord who controls the world and all living beings.

Jack begins anew, working not only to right the wrongs Aku has visited on the population of this future world, but ultimately to return to his own time and stop Aku before the nightmarish future he has seen can even be realized.

Mature themes including the true meaning of courage, morality, responsibility, faith, despair, good and evil are explored as Jack struggles, and risks his life time and again to overcome what at first appears to be a force that is all-powerful and unstoppable. However, through Jack's insights and pure heart, viewers come to realize there is hope, not just for Jack, but for any society in which just one individual risks it all against tyranny and evil.

I absolutely love this show. Samurai Jack explodes with a level of style rarely seen. The action, animation and stories are all fantastic. This is an extremely well done TV series.

The character of Jack is an immensely charismatic hero. His courage, resourcefulness and ethical code serves as a breath of fresh air in today's sea of common, immoral TV characters. This samurai actually inspires me to better myself in the real world. Not many shows have that effect and even fewer cartoons do!

The only special features in this set I liked was getting to see what some of the voice actors looked like.

The chance to own the whole first season must not be missed by Samurai Jack fans. I await the next season on DVD eagerly. Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in the following: samurais, clever plots, style.

SAMURAI JACK-Season 1
2 DVD's-300 minutes

Samurai Jack is a very cool show and I'm glad it was released on DVD. It's a two-disc collector set with special features and 13 season 1 episodes. Anyone that's a fan of Cartoon Network cartoons will like this. It's definitely worth $20.

THE EPISODES IN THIS SEASON 1 SET:
I (The Beginning)
II (The Samurai called Jack)
III (The First Fight)
IV (Jack, the Woolies, and the Chritchellites)
VII (Jack and the Three Blind Archers)
V (Jack in Space)
IX (Jack Under the Sea)
VIII (Jack vs. Mad Jack)
XI (Jack and the Scotsman)
X (Jack and the Lava Monster)
VI (Jack and the Warrior Woman)
XII (Jack and the Gangsters)
XIII (Aku's Fairy Tales)

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Making of Samurai Jack
Original Artwork
Never Before Seen Footage
Creator Commentary

It's easy to knock American animation. Compared to the robust competition across the Pacific it seems uninspired and shallow, barely able to hold a coherent thought that isn't about produt placement. And, it's for kids. Any animation on these shores that would earn the qualification "adult" has much more to do with content than style - no one has accused South Park of groundbreaking animation.

Ah, but then there's Samurai Jack. It's a cartoon to be sure, but one that doesn't try to dumb things down. It has adult style, not content, and in some ways that's much more difficult. It's a heady, atmospheric broth - easily the most purely cinematic cartoon in a good long while. Jack walks a remote road to the music from Yojimbo, a cabaret dancer twirls to the theme of Austin Powers, shots are framed and cropped with eye of Kurosawa, the lush background art (easily the most underutilized facet of popular animation) shimmers straight out of the stark backdrops of a spaghetti western.

Some episodes are better than others (how could they not?), but most series, particularly animated ones, have a steep learning curve - you can see the confidence the creators possess increase with each episode. The only reason it seems a disappointment is that you know the next set is going to be so much better.

A point about other reviews - I'm finding it irritating when a DVD is somehow found lacking for having less "special" features. I have just as many DVD's as anyone else and I can't say I've ever learned anything interesting from the numerous outtakes, second takes, commentaries, auditions, makings of and spotlights on performers. If anything I'm finding more and more that it takes away from the core of the DVD, diluting the magic of special performances by breaking them down into minute and very human detail. All it comes down to is a tool to sell. The proof should be in the pudding.

Samurai Jack is great because it combines fantastic writting with a somewhat unique, stylized look and feel. It's nice to see that Cartoon Network is beginning to release series such as Jack on DVD. I don't know will there be any special features but I can give you a basic synopsis of the episodes included. The set will probably skip the 2 hour movie (episode I-III) since that has already been release seperately. Here are the other episodes

IV-Jack, the Woolies, and the Chritchellites-Jack helps a group of supposedly savage beasts called "Woolies" who have been enslaved.
V-Jack in Space-Jack helps a group of scientists who want to escape into space.
VI-Jack and the Warrior Woman-Jack seeks a strange jewel in the desert, accompanied by a mysterious woman.
VII-Jack and the Three Blind Archers-Jack hears of a mysterious island which possess a well that can grant any one wish.
VIII-Jack vs. Mad Jack- Jack must face an evil version of himself.
IX-Jack Under the Sea-Jack seeks a race of amphibians living in an underwater city who have a time machine.
X-Jack and the Lava Monster-Jack is summoned by a Lava creature under the earth.
XI-Jack and the Scotsman-Jack makes a new freind.
XII-Jack and the Gangsters- Jack joins some gangsters.
XIII-Aku's Fairy Tales-Aku tries his hand at propoganda.
XIV-Jack Learns to 'Jump Good'-Jack befriends a group of high jumping creatures.
XV-Jack Tales- Three Tales of the Samurai.
XVI-Jack and the Smackback-Jack is forced to be a gladiator slave.
XVII-Jack and the Scotsman, Part 2-Jack and the Scotsman must rescue the Scotsman's wife.
XVIII-Jack and the Ultra-robots-Jack must fight a group of robots, each with a special weapon.
XIX-Jack Remembers the Past-Jack sadly remembers his childhood days.
XX-Jack and the Monks-Jack climbs the Mountain of Fatoom in search of truth.

In ALL cases... there is more to these episodes than the sum of there parts. Samurai Jack is probably one of the greatest TV shows of all time.

The first time i saw this cartoon i was instantly hooked. The dvd was a great refresher for me. It is the story of a samurai that is trying to defeat a great evil name 'Aku'. His home town is raided by this evil and he must protect his family, just as he's about to defeat Aku, he is cast into the future, and now he's on a quest to get back home and defeat Aku. Anyone would love this dvd. I just can't wait for more Samurai Jack.

Just a heads up - although Amazon suggests to buy this with the premiere movie, don't. The premiere movie DVD is just the first three episodes of this collection.

My only grievance with this so-called "Season 1" of Samurai Jack is that I feel kind of ripped off. For the price, i was expecting more episodes. It isn't technically the complete first season...it is just the first year's episodes - the 13 episodes that came out in 2001. There are still 6 more episodes in Season 1 that are not on this collection. Now i am worried that they are going to have to cut season 2 short when and if they decide to make it available for us. because there were 17 episodes that came out in 2002. At any rate, i'm sure they will eventually collect them all, they are probably balancing it out so there are close to equal amounts of episodes per collection.

One last grievance. The introduction sequence is on eveerryyyyyyyy episode. it would be nice if you could start the episodes without having to watch it every time.

I wish Sam-Jack would have been around when I was a kid. Compared with nearly every other cartoon available at 3:30 in the afternoon after school, this trumps them all. Great action (but without gratuitous violence), complex stories, playful jokes, and a grand artistic vision, this is a masterpiece of a series. Only two of the 13 episodes were anything less than excellent (and they were merely nominal).

This show is absolutely beautiful. It possesses a cinematic aspect that few other animated shows (other than anime) have.

To be clear, this is not anime. It is a highly syltized fusion of modern cartooning and traditional Japanese art. The show has a visual strength that allows for long, captivating sequences without dialogue.

When there is dialogue, the voice acting is excellent, as you would expect with the talented Phil LaMarr and Mako behind the mics, playing Jack and Aku, respectively.

As this was the first season, a couple of the episodes miss the mark ever so slightly, but the sheer brilliance of the best episodes easily overshadows the minor flaws that some of the weaker episodes possess. I would have rated this 4.5 stars, if possible, but in the final analysis, it is much closer to 5 stars than it is to 4.

Above all, Samurai Jack is an groundbreaking animated show created by people who have an excellent sense of action and visual storytelling.

Drawing its influences from classic science fiction and Japanese animation, Samurai Jack has set the standard for animated series in America. Equal care is given to creating engaging, complex story lines and superb visuals. The writing is brilliant.

Unlike other cartoons, Samurai Jack is anything but predictable. Jack's journey into the distant future from his native ancient Japan is heart-wrenching, hilarious and thrilling. Mako (who played the wizard in Conan the Barbarian) is wonderfully outrageous as the voice of Aku -- the "Shogun of Sorrow" who is Jack's nemesis. Nerds such as myself will appreciate references ranging from Star Wars, to Conan to Shogun Assassin.