50 Fun Facts About Samurai Jack

Who created Samurai Jack?

He made it as a follow-up to his first Cartoon Network series, Dexter's Laboratory.

Which 1970s TV drama starring David Carradine 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 magic katana was forged by a trinity of which gods?

It is the only weapon that can harm Aku, who was born from an ancient cosmic black mass.

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

His given name is never revealed in the series.

Who voices Samurai Jack?

He returned for the 2017 revival alongside John DiMaggio as the Scotsman.

Who voiced Aku in the first four seasons?

After his death, Greg Baldwin mimicked the voice for season five, as he had done for Iroh in Avatar.

Greg Baldwin, Aku's season-five voice, had earlier replaced Mako as which Avatar character?

He voiced Iroh in Avatar's final season and in The Legend of Korra.

What does the Scotsman use as a prosthetic leg?

He fights with an enchanted claymore and becomes Jack's closest ally.

Who voices the Scotsman?

The Futurama Bender actor returned for the revival's elderly Scotsman.

Who voices Ashi in season five?

Tom Kenny, another earlier guest star, voiced the assassin Scaramouche.

The Daughters of Aku raise how many septuplet sisters to kill Jack?

Jack kills six; the eldest, Ashi, becomes his ally and then his love.

Samurai Jack premiered on Cartoon Network in which year?

It debuted on 10 August with the three-part special 'The Beginning'.

How many episodes were in each of the first four seasons?

The original run totalled 52 episodes, all numbered in Roman numerals.

What was the title of the three-part 2001 premiere special?

It was later released on its own as a VHS and DVD in March 2002.

How many episodes was Samurai Jack greenlit for before its pilot was even produced?

Then-president Betty Cohen credited Tartakovsky's success with Dexter's Laboratory.

Which company sponsored the launch sweepstakes whose prize was a trip for four to Japan?

A countdown CD-ROM shipped with AOL 6.0.

Which two studios handled animation services on the original series?

Both were Korean studios used across many Cartoon Network shows.

The episode 'Jack and the Spartans' was inspired by which Frank Miller graphic novel?

It retold the Battle of Thermopylae, as Miller's book did.

Which Japanese manga was among the inspirations for Samurai Jack?

Films by Akira Kurosawa and Hollywood epics like Ben-Hur and Spartacus also fed the look.

On what date did the original run end, with four final episodes aired as a marathon?

Tartakovsky chose to leave it open rather than rush an ending, then moved straight into Clone Wars.

Which Tartakovsky project overlapped with Samurai Jack's end, leaving no time for a finale?

Art director Scott Wills said the two productions even overlapped.

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

Tartakovsky later said he was thankful it was abandoned.

Frederator's planned 2007 Samurai Jack movie had what budget?

Fred Seibert said in 2009 it was being co-produced with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot; it never materialised.

On which programming block did season five premiere in March 2017?

Reruns on Toonami from 2014 had led to a deal for ten more episodes within two weeks of Tartakovsky's first call.

Season five is set roughly how many years after the original four seasons?

Jack has not aged, a side effect of time travel, but has lost his sword.

Original episodes ended with 'LII'; with which Roman numeral does season five open?

The jump signifies the elapsed time since season four.

How many Primetime Emmy Awards did Samurai Jack win?

It also took six Annie Awards and an OIAF Award.

Where did Samurai Jack place in Channel 4's 2004 poll of the 100 greatest cartoons?

IGN later ranked it eleventh among primetime animated series in 2006.

What approval rating does the series as a whole hold on Rotten Tomatoes?

Seasons four and five each scored 100%.

Where did Entertainment Weekly rank Samurai Jack on its 2012 list of best Cartoon Network shows?

Matt Zoller Seitz calls it and Clone Wars masterworks of American animation.

Which publisher produced the Samurai Jack comic book from 2013 to 2015?

The run was collected as 'Tales of a Wandering Warrior'; Tartakovsky does not count it as canon.

Samurai Jack: The Amulet of Time (2003) was released for which console?

The Shadow of Aku followed on GameCube and PS2 in 2004.

Who developed the 2020 game Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time?

Adult Swim Games published it as an alternative scenario to the finale, and Tartakovsky declared it canon.

In Battle Through Time, Aku diverts Jack into what kind of place?

Collecting all of his father's corrupted kamons unlocks an ending where Jack and Ashi live happily.

How many difficulty levels does Battle Through Time offer?

They are named Jack, Samurai, Master Samurai and Master of Masters.

In the finale, why does Ashi fade away on her wedding day?

Tartakovsky said a happy ending 'would be cheating' given the show's theme of sacrifice.

What lands on Jack's hand in the series' closing scene?

It flies off into a grove of blossoming sakura trees.

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

Sensing his essence in her, Aku seizes control of Ashi to attack Jack.

Where were the first three episodes of season five screened before the TV premiere?

Adult Swim had announced the 11 March date in a bumper that January.

Which company assisted Cartoon Network Studios in producing season five?

It is Adult Swim's in-house production arm.

On which Canadian channel did Samurai Jack initially air?

In the UK it was later streamed on All 4.

Season five scored what on Metacritic?

Rotten Tomatoes gave it 100% from 23 reviews with a 9.1 average.

Which MMORPG features Jack, the Scotsman and Demongo as non-playable characters?

Aku appears in the game as a Nano.

What was the title of the cooperative board game released after the series concluded?

Players cooperate on tasks while competing for honour.

Which head writer of season five did Tartakovsky enlist to keep the 2020 game's writing authentic?

Tartakovsky initially wanted nothing to do with what he feared was a cash-grab game.

The original series' DVDs, released 2002–2007, came from which distributor?

A remastered Blu-ray of the complete series followed on 17 October 2017.

Tartakovsky was born in which city?

He came to the US as a child and made Dexter's Laboratory before Samurai Jack.

Where did Jack first fight alongside the Scotsman, according to Battle Through Time?

In the game the Scotsman wears a mind-controlling pendant bearing Aku's face.

The premise partly came from a recurring dream Tartakovsky had — wandering where?

In the dream he fought mutants alongside his crush.