48 Fun Facts About Samurai Jack

Samurai Jack's fast-talking robot assassin Scaramouche was modelled on which Rat Pack entertainer?

Scaramouche, modelled on Sammy Davis Jr., spent season five trying to tell Aku that Jack had lost his sword, and Aku destroyed him on finding Jack armed again.

Which 1970s TV drama inspired Samurai Jack?

Executive Mike Lazzo said 'Remember David Carradine in Kung Fu? Wasn't that cool?' was literally the whole pitch.

Which Frank Miller comic provided the premise of a nameless samurai in a dystopian future?

Miller's 300 separately inspired the episode 'Jack and the Spartans'.

Jack's father received his magic katana from which trinity of gods?

Ra, Rama and Odin return Jack's lost sword in season five, but only once he lets go of the anger that had kept him from finding it.

How does the samurai come to be called 'Jack'?

Locals call him that as slang, so the prince first introduces himself as Jack to three dog archaeologists he vows to protect.

Who voices Samurai Jack?

Phil LaMarr voices Jack, who in the 2017 season argues with a hallucination of himself over whether to keep fighting.

Who voiced Aku in Samurai Jack's first four seasons?

Mako died in 2006, yet his recorded narration returns in the 2017 finale, when Aku reprises it on a global television broadcast.

Greg Baldwin, Samurai Jack's season-five Aku, had earlier taken over which Avatar: The Last Airbender role?

Iroh was already Baldwin's role, and Tartakovsky first wanted a completely different voice for Aku before auditions won Baldwin the part.

What does Samurai Jack's Scotsman use as a prosthetic leg?

A submachine gun served as his leg in the original run, and the Scotsman first meets Jack as a rival on an endless bridge before bounty hunters force them to team up.

Who voices the Scotsman in Samurai Jack?

John DiMaggio returned in 2017, when Aku kills the elderly Scotsman, only for Celtic runes on his sword to bring him back as a young ghost.

Who voices Ashi in Samurai Jack's fifth season?

Tara Strong voices Ashi, who turns the powers she inherited from Aku against him, using them to carry Jack back to the past.

What set Samurai Jack apart from most cartoons?

Sparse dialogue was Tartakovsky's deliberate bet that a cartoon told with less talk would grip viewers more.

On April Fools' Day 2017, which show's surprise premiere aired on Adult Swim instead of a new Samurai Jack episode?

Rick and Morty's surprise premiere was a one-off, and fans had to wait until that summer for the rest of its third season.

In Samurai Jack's 'The Scotsman Saves Jack', which mythical creatures wipe out Jack's memory?

Sirens' song erases Jack's memory, but loyalty to his wife lets the Scotsman resist it, and he drowns them out with his bagpipes.

In Samurai Jack's 'Tale of X-49', what does Aku kidnap to force the retired robot hitman back into action?

His pet dog, Lulu, was taken, so X-49 hunted Jack anyway, and as he shut down he asked Jack to take care of her.

In Samurai Jack's 'Aku's Fairy Tales', who keeps poking holes in Aku's self-flattering stories?

The children keep pointing out the faults, and after Aku storms off in defeat they make up their own story in which Jack slays him.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack and the Dragon', what does Jack find causing a dragon's village-choking stench?

A hatchling, a baby dragon breathing fire from its half-hatched egg, was the cause; Jack cut it loose, and though it set the village alight, the villagers cheered the end of the smell.

A season-five Samurai Jack chase honours which Sergio Leone western?

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and its 'Ecstasy of Gold' inspired the sequence, which ends with Jack blowing up the temple walls and escaping downriver.

Which Japanese manga was among the inspirations for Samurai Jack?

Lone Wolf and Cub, about a disgraced executioner roaming with his toddler son, is cited as the origin of the violent-man-protects-a-child journey story.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack and the Three Blind Archers', what does Jack destroy even though it could send him home?

A wishing well had granted the archers' wish to be the greatest warriors, then took their sight and enslaved them as its guards, so Jack wished its spirit destroyed.

Which Tartakovsky project did the burnt-out Samurai Jack crew take on instead of rushing out an ending?

Star Wars: Clone Wars came next for the crew, and Jack's story waited more than twelve years for its ending in a fifth season.

Which director was hired for the abandoned live-action Samurai Jack film around 2002?

Brett Ratner was attached through New Line Cinema, but Tartakovsky later said 'the best thing happened to it — it died', because Hollywood wanted to change Jack.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack Is Naked', who turns out to have stolen Jack's clothes?

An orphaned girl took them to sell for food, and Jack answered by giving her the tusks of a robot slug he had beaten, which she could sell instead.

On which programming block did Samurai Jack's fifth season premiere in March 2017?

Toonami carried the revival after Adult Swim's Mike Lazzo asked Tartakovsky only what it would cost and when he could have it, and the deal was done within two weeks.

Set 50 years on, Samurai Jack's fifth season shows which time-travel side effect?

No ageing, yet 50 years on Jack is broken, haunted by visions of the family he left behind.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack in Space', what does Jack give up to protect scientists fleeing Earth?

A chance to return home rode on the ship's lightspeed jump, but Jack left his escape pod to stop Aku's insect drones so the scientists could get away.

In Samurai Jack's 'Samurai vs. Samurai', what does Jack use to duel the braggart Da' Samurai?

Bamboo sticks were all Da' Samurai earned, and after that lesson he gave up his blade and top knot to become a bartender at the tavern where they met.

In Samurai Jack's 'The Aku Infection', how does Jack become infected with Aku's evil?

Aku's cold spreads to him and starts turning him into Aku, until lizard monks help him remember everyone he has saved and he overcomes it.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack and the Gangsters', what stops Jack from finishing off Aku?

His companions knock him out, the gangsters believing Aku would kill him, then claim they are going straight so Jack lets them keep the jewel.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack vs. Aku', how does Jack beat Aku's cheating in their no-magic duel?

He hides fake swords all over, so the blade Aku's minion snatches and Aku tries to break is a fake, and Jack drives Aku off with the real one.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack vs. the Five Hunters', why do the alien Imakandi set Jack free?

He gave them a great chase: having refused Aku's treasure because the hunt was reward enough, the Imakandi judged such prey deserved to run free.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack Under the Sea', what is the underwater city's rumoured time portal really?

A trap to capture him: the city's people handed Jack to Aku in a deal to win back their home, but Aku broke the pact, and Jack fought to save them.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack's Shoes', whom does Jack follow into a jet engine repair shop to get new footwear?

A sandal-wearing boy led him to his family's hideaway there, and the boy's father made Jack new sandals after robot bikers wrecked his own.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack and the Ultra-Robots', who unexpectedly helps Jack fight Aku's new robot assassins?

Their inventor, Extor, joined Jack because Aku had betrayed him by sending the robots to destroy his own village as a test.

In Samurai Jack's finale, why does Ashi fade away on her wedding day?

Destroying Aku erased her existence, and Tartakovsky said a happy ending 'would be cheating' given the show's theme of sacrifice.

What lands on Jack's hand in Samurai Jack's closing scene?

A ladybug, like the one Jack gently freed when Ashi first dropped her weapon and spared him, lands on his hand and flies off among the blossoming trees.

How did Ashi come to be literally Aku's daughter?

The High Priestess drank his essence from a goblet, and when Aku senses it in Ashi he seizes control of her to attack Jack.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack and the Monks', what do the three monks seek atop the mountain?

Truth was their goal, and Jack nearly quit, muttering that it was impossible, until visions of his enslaved family drove him on to the summit.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack and the Zombies', why can't Aku harm Jack with the sword?

It cannot be used for evil, so after a witch-hag stole it and Aku tried to stab Jack, the blade could not harm him, and Jack took it back.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack and the Traveling Creatures', what does the portal show when its guardian spares Jack?

A much older Jack appears, and the guardian, who beat Jack in combat, prophesies that the samurai is not yet ready to use the portal.

In Samurai Jack's 'Jack and the Scotsman II', how does the Scotsman's wife answer being called fat?

She beats the demons herself, even though Jack and the Scotsman had stormed the Castle of Boon to save her from being cooked into a stew.

In Samurai Jack, what does Jack take control of to defeat Mondo-bot in the ruined city of Andromeda?

A stone samurai lay underwater beneath Andromeda, a city built atop an ancient city of stone giants, and it merged with Jack through a beam so he could steer it.

In Samurai Jack's 'The Four Seasons of Death', what does Jack do to a snowbound tribe's elemental sword?

Breaks it with one strike: the tribe's champion had won a gladiator-style battle to claim the new sword and hunt Jack down.

In Samurai Jack, how does Aku's servant Stylbator control a town's youths?

With hypnotic music, until Stylbator merged his sound equipment into a robot suit, which Jack wrecked.

In Samurai Jack's fifth season, what do Jack and Ashi fight inside a crashed spaceship?

A swarm of leech creatures, Lazarus-92, overwhelmed them until Jack worked out the ship's special weapon, which electrocuted every leech at once.

In season five, whose words does Jack echo when he warns the Daughters of Aku to leave or face their destiny?

His father's: as a boy Jack watched the Emperor give ambushing assassins the same choice, and when they attacked he killed them, as Jack then does to three sisters.

In Samurai Jack's 'The Princess and the Bounty Hunters', why does Princess Mira want Jack's bounty?

To free her enslaved people, Mira talked five rival hunters into one plan, but Jack beat them all, and she gave up rather than face him alone.

Samurai Jack's premise partly came from a recurring dream in which Tartakovsky wandered where?

A post-apocalyptic Earth sparked a show in which Aku flings Jack into the future during their very first showdown.