Sam & Max, Freelance Police: making the world safe for bigfoots

June 30, 2018 3:13 PM

Sam & Max is a multi-media empire focused on the exploits of the Freelance Police: Sam, the laid-back but enthusiastic, brown-coated anthropomorphic Irish Wolfhound, and Max, the hyperkinetic, three-foot tall rabbity thing that is prone to violence. Their adventures were first published as a comic in 1987, which lead to a video game [trailer], a short-lived animated series [intro], and then a second game [trailer] (which was cancelled*), and finally three more games [3 trailers].

It all started with a brotherly rivalry [via Archive.org] --

This particular tale starts way back in the disco era,when budding artist Dave Purcell invented a comic about a dog and rabbit team of detectives, Sam and Max. Dave would often leave unfinished comics lying around the house. To torture him in the way that only siblings can, older brother Steve would finish the comics as parodies of the stories Dave was trying to tell, with Sam & Max messing up each other's names, shooting at each other, and making fun of how they had been drawn.
...
Ultimately Dave relinquished the characters, and one birthday he signed them over to Steve in a handwritten contract, giving Steve the freedom to develop the Freelance Police into the duo we know today.

In 1980, Purcell began to produce Sam & Max comic strips for the weekly newsletter of the California College of Arts and Crafts, further evolving its style. Seven years later, he published Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple [medium resolution images of the comic, with links to other Sam & Max comics]. The next year, Steve joined LucasArts as an artist and game designer. While there, he contributed to The Adventurer [Wookipedia summaries; LucasArts Museum with some scans as PDF], comics that promoted upcoming LucasArts titles, and included some Sam & Max adventures and parodies.

With the success of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion and positive fan review of the Sam & Max comics, LucasArts offered to make Purcell's characters into a new adventure game, which was Sam & Max Hit the Road [DOS demo and link to game on GOG; Macintosh disc image on Archive.org, plus Scumm VM How-To for Mac games; playthrough on YouTube; LucasArts' Secret History: Sam & Max Hit the Road from The International House of Mojo]

* Wikipedia actually documents three games that were planned to some level before being cancelled or canned, including

1. Another SCUMM-based game; this sequel's highlight as "a giant spaceship shaped like Max's head"
2. Some Ex-LucasArts folks founded a new studio, Infinite Machine, and brainstormed a more action-packed game, titled Sam & Max Plunge Through Space [via Archive.org], but the company folded before the game was made
3. The bigger let-down was Sam & Max: Freelance Police, which LucasArts started after Infinite Machine closed shop [via Archive.org]; they even had an announcement at E3 in 2002 ... but then LucasArts shut it down in 2004, which lead to a Save Sam and Max petition and website [Archive.org]; more information: The Kinda, Sorta, But Not Really Secret History of Sam & Max: Freelance Police [The International House of Mojo]

But luckily Sam and Max were saved in 2006, this time by Telltale Games, which, like Infinite Machine, featured former LucasArts staff, including people who had worked on Freelance Police. Telltale produced three "series" of five of six episodic adventures [Sam and Max Wikia] for PC, Wii, and Xbox Live Arcade, including the episode "Abe Lincoln Must Die!" [Windows Freeware from Archive.org; Season 1 - Behind the Scenes, Making-of Video on YouTube]

If you'd like to watch someone else play the games, without commentary and with the dedication to click on most things in the point-and-click game, here you go! Oh, and for a few slices of bonus cheese, I've included the three machinima shorts that Telltale made to go between the individual episodes in the first season!

Season 1 -- Sam & Max Save the World:

1. Culture Shock
   1. Short #1: Frank Discussion
   2. Short #2: Trainspotting
   3. Short #3: A Painstaking Search


2. Situation Comedy
   1. Short #4: Reality Blights
   2. Short #5: Egregious Philosophy Platter
   3. Short #6: Kitchen Consequential


3. The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball
   1. Short #7: Interrogation
   2. Short #8: Coffee
   3. Short #9: The Blank Blank Blank


4. Abe Lincoln Must Die!
   1. Short #10: War Games
   2. Short #11: The Teapot Drone Scandal
   3. Short #12: Saving the Economy


5. Reality 2.0
   1. Short #13: Artichoke
   2. Short #14: Bosco
   3. Short #15: A Fireside Chat


6. Bright Side of the Moon [different YouTuber, providing closed captions -- we'll stick with this user going forward]

Season 2 -- Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space:

1. Ice Station Santa
2. Maoi Better Blues
3. Night of the Raving Dead
4. Chariots of the Dogs
5. What's New, Beelzebub?

Season 3 -- Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse:

1. The Penal Zone
2. The Tomb of Sammun-Mak
3. They Stole Max's Brain!
4. Beyond the Alley of the Dolls
5. The City that Dares Not Sleep

Wait, we gotta reverse! Go back, go back! We missed the TV series! Produced By Nelvana Limited and aimed at children and aired on FOX television network, so it's pretty tuned down from the usual Sam & Max hijinks. Also, to expand the cast and representation, with Darla "The Geek" Gugenheek, an addition that Steve Purcell understood but didn't support [2010 interview, Sam and Max dot Co dot UK]

The Geek was the answer to the TV Network wanting a female character on the animated show. I don’t mind her as a character but I tried to keep her in the background as much as possible. I actually think it’s unwise to add a character to an established duo. There’s a rhythm to the two that you don’t want to have to interrupt.

In addition to its initial run on Fox, the series was aired on (the now defunct) Gametap TV, streaming for free in advance of Telltale Games' Sam & Max game episodes, and Shout! Factory released the show on DVD with bonus material, including the Original Series Bible, as promoted by Telltale Games [new trailer on YouTube]. To wet your appetite, here's the show in glorious low resolution on YouTube, from YTV Direct, an official Nelvana channel:

Season 1 [playlist of the 13 full episodes only]

1. The Thing That Wouldn't Stop It
2. The Second Show Ever / Max's Big Day
3. Bad Day on the Moon / They Came From Down There
4. The Friend for Life / The Dysfunction of the Gods
5. Big Trouble at the Earth's Core / A Glitch in Time
6. That Darn Gator / We Drop at Dawn
7. Christmas Bloody Christmas / It's Dangly Deever Time
8. Aaiiieee Robot / The Glazed McGuffin Affair
9. The Tell Tale Tail / The Trouble with Gary
10. Tonight We Love / The Invaders
11. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang / Little Bigfoot
12. Fools Die on Friday / Sam & Max vs. the Uglions
13. The Final Episode
14. Vice Squad (short)
15. Our Bewildering Universe! 'Chock Full O Guts' (two shorts)
16. Artsy Craftsy Bit Of Time-Wasting Nonsense (short)

How are your eyeballs? Still intact and functioning? Close enough! Telltale presents three parts of Gamepro's four-part feature on the history of Sam & Max! Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. (Where's part 4? We may never know!)

What, you're still here? Fine, here are some more treats: Sam and Max dot Co dot UK has interviews with notable folks, and downloads, specifically wallpaper images and avatar pics, and they were featured previously for hosting the Sam and Max Hit the Road design document. Steve Purcell has a Sam and Max-focused blog, but it's dormant, though that's not to say there are some gems in the archives, like a link out to backgrounds from Sam and Max Hit the Road, shared by Imgur user Neurotech, who has other video game background galleries [previously]. Let's get really retro with Sam and Max Freelance Police sounds, a collection of .WAV files, on a Tripod.com fansite, no less! Now scram!

posted by filthy light thief (16 comments total)

I maintain that the Telltale Sam & Max games are massively underrated and, more importantly, under-enjoyed. This is a fantastic post.
posted by parm at 3:47 PM on June 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

Man I always loved Salmon Axe.
posted by evilDoug at 3:47 PM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

a collection of .WAV files, on a Tripod.com fansite

I can’t use these things together!
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:05 PM on June 30, 2018 [15 favorites]

Every telltale series I've played (Sam & Max x3, SBCGFAP, and Tales of Monkey Island) all had kind of funny pacing and took an episode or two to find their groove, but were really quite good. Not as good as the LucasArts games though.
posted by aubilenon at 4:16 PM on June 30, 2018

I was a publisher assistant producer for the first Telltale game, and as a longtime fan of the original LucasArts version, I can't tell you how excited I was to hear that we were funding a revival. The final product was not exactly the same as I might have expected, but I agree that it was underrated.

It does seem like Telltale has largely given up on comedy games lately, but I will always be proud that we helped get them off the ground.
posted by tau_ceti at 5:40 PM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

That is awesomely compendious, good work! You missed one thing though-- a slim volume called The Age of S & M, with a black cover with handcuffs on the front. It's a sketchbook of Sam & Max stuff by Steve Purcell. I can't even find it on Amazon, though I cherish my copy.

Oh! And there's Poker Night at the Inventory, also from Telltale. Max is a player in the first game, and Sam in the second. You can find plenty of quotes from both of them on YouTube.

In a better world, there is like three times as much Sam & Max. You crack me up, little buddies!
posted by zompist at 6:36 PM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]

Didn't we do this already? I remember saying "I did storyboards for the terrible TV show".
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:08 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

yes to all of this forever. Sam & Max was one of my favorite shows, and I would torture my friends by forcing them to watch the weird weird episodes. The comic was one of my first comic book discoveries as well. I never played the game, but Maniac Mansion and the rest of at style of game was something I was entirely into at the time. I just love everything about Sam and Max. Good Lord, that hidden Sam-head map in Dark Forces was a wonderful discovery I have all on my own.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 8:21 PM on June 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

jfc my braaaaiiinnnnn hurts



thank you
posted by Theta States at 9:39 PM on June 30, 2018

Funny story, I wanted to name my twins Sam and Max, but chickened out. That would’ve been the best.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 10:54 PM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

And now, Brock Samson, Ash Williams, GLaDOS, CLAPTRAP, and Reginald Van Winslow sing the theme to Sam and Max Hit The Road (from Poker Night 2 from Telltale Games).
posted by dannyboybell at 4:23 AM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

This. This is why I donate to metafilter every. damn. month.

But I had other plans for the rest of the week...
posted by skippyhacker at 7:04 AM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

The only thing better than this post is SHONEYS!
posted by phearlez at 8:59 AM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

"Hit the Road" sorely needs a re-master. I always felt Max's v/o in the newer iterations felt flat.

Also, whenever I go to a Stuckey's or equivalent roadside rest stop, I will click repeat "I gotta go to the bathroom" in my best Max voice.
posted by BigBrooklyn at 2:38 PM on July 1, 2018

Hit the Road is the last good thing LucasArts ever did.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:37 PM on July 1, 2018

Full Throttle, Curse of Monkey Island, and Grim Fandango may want to have words.
posted by ersatz at 11:21 AM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]