[7.4/10] Man, I thought the first part of the “Scotsman Saves Jack” duology was a bit of a Star Wars riff. This one was just going whole hog! You have ersatz versions of Luke and Leia, a prissy accompanying droid, sneaking around the bad guy’s uber-base, pretending to be one of the guards, and even direct line call outs like “sensed a presence” “aren’t you a little short for...” and, of course, “I have a bad feeling about this.”
That both helps and hurts the proceedings. I appreciate the homage to A New Hope, but just seeing it translated into Samurai Jack terms doesn't do that much for me. The titular Prince and Princess aren’t especially interesting characters, and most of what they do here is pretty standard.
Still, it has its moments. I like the worldbuilding detail that they think of Earth as kind of a backwater berg. There’s a cool fight scene when they figure out how to make the low gravity bubble and help Jack in the fray. And little details like Jack not being able to pilot a speeder are pretty darn funny. There’s not much to it, but it’s all enjoyable enough.
The thing I really loved though is Jack feeling a connection to these two kids because their story mirrors his own, to where he feels particularly compelled to help them as kindred spirits. Amid all the more blatant homages, I like that more thematic one, that this is a universal story and binds Tarakovsky’s work with George Lucas’s in a way that’s deeper beyond badasses wielding magic sword. In that vein, the closing image of a statue of Jack on an alien world is a really nice way to pay tribute both to our hero and to the franchise this show is plainly influenced by.
Overall, this is a fun one for Star Wars fans, but missing some of the zing and epicness of the usual Samurai Jack episode thanks to the familiar beats.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-04-09T17:35:35Z
[7.4/10] Man, I thought the first part of the “Scotsman Saves Jack” duology was a bit of a Star Wars riff. This one was just going whole hog! You have ersatz versions of Luke and Leia, a prissy accompanying droid, sneaking around the bad guy’s uber-base, pretending to be one of the guards, and even direct line call outs like “sensed a presence” “aren’t you a little short for...” and, of course, “I have a bad feeling about this.”
That both helps and hurts the proceedings. I appreciate the homage to A New Hope, but just seeing it translated into Samurai Jack terms doesn't do that much for me. The titular Prince and Princess aren’t especially interesting characters, and most of what they do here is pretty standard.
Still, it has its moments. I like the worldbuilding detail that they think of Earth as kind of a backwater berg. There’s a cool fight scene when they figure out how to make the low gravity bubble and help Jack in the fray. And little details like Jack not being able to pilot a speeder are pretty darn funny. There’s not much to it, but it’s all enjoyable enough.
The thing I really loved though is Jack feeling a connection to these two kids because their story mirrors his own, to where he feels particularly compelled to help them as kindred spirits. Amid all the more blatant homages, I like that more thematic one, that this is a universal story and binds Tarakovsky’s work with George Lucas’s in a way that’s deeper beyond badasses wielding magic sword. In that vein, the closing image of a statue of Jack on an alien world is a really nice way to pay tribute both to our hero and to the franchise this show is plainly influenced by.
Overall, this is a fun one for Star Wars fans, but missing some of the zing and epicness of the usual Samurai Jack episode thanks to the familiar beats.