- Title: Samurai Jack – Episode I: The Beginning
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Genndy Tartakovsky‘s vision of a time-displaced samurai warrior lost in a dystopian future ruled over by an all-powerful evil shape-shifting demon might be both the most unlikely and ingenious animated series ever to air on Cartoon Network. Episode I, which ends with Samurai Jack (Phil LaMarr) being sent into the future, is the only episode of the series to take place completely in the warrior’s own timeline. Introducing us to the evil that is Aku (Mako) and the young warrior who will grow into his greatest nemesis, “The Beginning” offers us glimpses of the samurai’s training around the globe following Aku’s return to power and enslavement over Jack’s home. To refer to these sequences as a montage would not do them justice as Tartakovsky transforms the young boy into the warrior fans will come to know and love with a collection visuals without the need for narration or a single word of dialogue.
Visually stunning, Tartakovsky merged a variety of influences to create the show’s trademark style which includes close-ups of our hero’s eyes, unexpected humor mixed with the cartoon violence, and split-screen sequences cut from different angles. Although he gets limited dialogue in the opening episode, LaMarr lends an air of nobility to Jack and Mako is so deliciously evil that it’s hard not to root a little for the pair’s battle to never conclude. The episode ends with Jack being reunited with his family, earning the magical blade, and the samurai’s first battle with Aku which ends in the demon’s near-defeat and Jack being transported into the future where our hero will spend the remainder of the series in a search to return home.
