"It always seems bad at first, but then I find a way" ... Samurai Jack

February 6, 2017 7:50 PM

"50 years have passed but I do not age. Time has lost its effect on me, yet the suffering continues." It may feel like that long, but Samurai Jack will return for a fifth and final season, airing first on March 11, 2017, 12 years, 5 months and 14 days since Season 4 ended, leaving fans wondering how it all would end.

More to chew on before the season starts: behind the scenes (7:57), where Genndy Tartakovsky talks a bit about why he's finishing the series after more than a decade, and he says you don't have to watch the last episode of the 4th season to jump into the 5th season.

And if you really want to geek out, here's 39 minute San Diego Comic Con panel, where "questions were answered and answers were questioned."

posted by filthy light thief (18 comments total)

The return of Jack was announced over a year ago (previously).
posted by filthy light thief at 7:52 PM on February 6, 2017

From wikipedia:

Due to the passing of Mako Iwamatsu in 2006, who originally voiced the series' lead villain Aku, Tartakovsky at first considered using a completely different voice for the character. However, considering how Mako's voice was an important element of the character, Tartakovsky stated that he has hired "a guy who does a pretty good imitation; I'll be upfront about it—nobody can replace Mako."

posted by Catblack at 8:33 PM on February 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

Samurai Jack was such a breathtaking show, sometimes it was set in a pseudo-Mos-Eisley, sometimes it was an old castle, or a forest, or whatever. The format was such they could go anywhere and chop up all the robots Aku could summon.

Good luck in finally putting an end to the evil that is Aku. (I always felt like Mako was having the time of his life voicing that character.)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:00 PM on February 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

I was very, very excited about the announcement. Seeing the teaser, and Jack carrying guns, and shooting things... I mean... I get the idea of dark and gritty, and that Jack is supposedly despondent over his ongoing inability to get back to the past (to undo the evil that is Aku...). I'm just sort of wary of "all new-ultraviolent" versions of characters I love.* On the other hand, Tartakovsky is someone I just sort of trust to do an amazing job, so, well, I'm still very, very excited.

*This condition, known by some as Liefield-itis, is more properly known by it's clinical name, excessofpouchaphobia, and it's attendant tiny-feet-syndrome.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:01 PM on February 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

In preparation, they're marathon streaming all the episodes.
posted by zabuni at 9:07 PM on February 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

sometimes it was set in a pseudo-Mos-Eisley,

Which is why he got the gig doing the bridge series between the 2nd and 3rd Prequel films.

Which was incredible.

Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 TV series)
posted by mikelieman at 9:30 PM on February 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

His Clone Wars series was, in its two and three minute chunks, better than any of the prequels. It set up General Grievous as a terrifying figure, and explained the annoying cough (Mace Windu force crushed his chest). It made Mace Windu an absolute badass (destroying a droid army largely without his lightsaber). It gave Anakin a story, and made his descent into Darthness understandable. And it showed what lightsabers look like underwater. All good things. No death sticks.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:21 PM on February 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

Ghidorah,

I will *never* forgive Lucas for the way he fucked up Grievous after Shaak-Ti's **incredible** intro to the character.

Well, that's one of the reasons. However the thing I learned from Legends of Tomorrow does make me a little more sympathetic towards him.

BTW Shaak-Ti. Best Jedi Ever.
posted by mikelieman at 10:39 PM on February 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

And it showed what lightsabers look like underwater.

And in the rain...
posted by mikelieman at 10:40 PM on February 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

mikelieman, I was just looking at the clip you posted, and I don't think I'd ever noticed the way the shadows fall on Anakin's face while his hood is still up. The way the light falls on his nose and cheeks looks very much like the triangle of Vader's mask/mouthpiece. I've seen it dozens of times, but somehow never picked that up.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:58 PM on February 6, 2017

Ghidorah: "I was very, very excited about the announcement. Seeing the teaser, and Jack carrying guns, and shooting things... I mean... I get the idea of dark and gritty, and that Jack is supposedly despondent over his ongoing inability to get back to the past (to undo the evil that is Aku...). I'm just sort of wary of "all new-ultraviolent" versions of characters I love.* On the other hand, Tartakovsky is someone I just sort of trust to do an amazing job, so, well, I'm still very, very excited.

*This condition, known by some as Liefield-itis, is more properly known by it's clinical name, excessofpouchaphobia, and it's attendant tiny-feet-syndrome."

If we are talking Liefeld, what feet?
posted by Samizdata at 2:44 AM on February 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

The art of Rob Liefeld doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Samurai Jack.

The two music tracks used in this trailer are "Hang'Em All" and "Division Ruine", both by Carpenter Brut.
posted by qntm at 2:57 AM on February 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

On one hand, yes, some closure.. But on the other hand, the series played out as impossible -- that Jack would never get back, he was doomed to wander through time/space. He was a modern Sisyphus, and there was no happy ending, there could be no happy ending.
posted by k5.user at 6:34 AM on February 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

My headcanon ending has Jack cast as a more successful Abraham and/or more merciful God, as his discovery of the proverbial ten righteous men forestalls his own destruction of the otherwise wicked world. Jack comes to understand that if he succeeds in returning to the past and defeating Aku, he will commit a great crime - worse even than Aku's evils - by dooming the people of the 'future' to non-existence. Confronted with the consequences of undoing the timeline that led to many good people, people who have often made real sacrifices to aid him in his quest, Jack sets to destroy Aku's reign of evil and create a better world for the people who exist in the present time.
posted by palindromic at 7:03 AM on February 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

BTW, it looks like Hulu has seasons 1-4 up and ready to stream, so if you're like me and never got around to watching Samurai Jack because it ended without narrative closure, now is the time to binge.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:22 AM on February 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

This show was so bad ass...
posted by xammerboy at 9:25 AM on February 7, 2017

I just started watching this a few months ago. I have 7 episodes left and will be done in time for the new season! :)
posted by luckynerd at 12:00 PM on February 7, 2017

I'm also trying to watch all the episodes before the final season starts, but if you don't have the time or inclination to do so, here are some short lists of episodes to watch:
- 10 Samurai Jack Episodes You Need to Rewatch During Its Massive Online Marathon (io9, Feb. 7, 2017)
- The 10 Best Episodes of 'Samurai Jack' (Inverse, July 25, 2016)
- My Top 10 Favorite Samurai Jack Episodes (10-6), (5-1), and My 5 Least Favorite Samurai Jack Episodes (Braelstrom, The Brain Maelstrom, Sept. 2015)
- 10* episodes that show off the range of Samurai Jack’s blade (A.V. Club, March 11, 2015)
- The 11* Greatest Episodes of Samurai Jack (The Robot's Voice, August 12, 2010)

*These lists include the first three episodes as one, because they're grouped together as "The Premiere Movie," FWIW.

There's a good bit of overlap, but not completely. I'll put together a "scored matrix" list later, with links to those episodes, for ease of (re)watching.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:11 AM on February 9, 2017