#christopher reccardi

[toonabby]

Q4 2024 anniversary recap

The final recap to end off this wild year, consisting of anniversaries I missed as well as the works that premiered this year.

1964 and earlier

Feline Follies (Felix the Cat's debut) - November 9, 1919

Ed Asner ✝ (voice of Carl Fredricksen) - Born November 15, 1929

Christopher Plummer ✝ (voice of Charles Muntz) - Born December 13, 1929

Judi Dench - Born December 9, 1934

Tina Turner ✝ (American singer) - Born November 26, 1939

Thom Huge (Orginal voice of Jon Arbuckle) - October 8, 1944

Danny DeVito (American actor and comedian) - November 17, 1994

The Three Caballeros - December 21, 1944

Patric Zimmerman (Retired American voice actor) - October 10, 1954

Tony Todd ✝ (Actor behind Candyman and William Bludworth) - Born December 4, 1954

Ray Liotta (voice of Tommy Vercettie) - Born December 18, 1954

Dudley Do-Right, Peabody's Improbable History, and The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show - November 19, 1959

Norm Macdonald (American comedian and actor, voice of Norm the Genie) - Born October 17, 1959

Weird Al Yankovic (American singer and actor, voice of Cheese Sandwich) - Born October 23, 1959

Akio Otsuka (Japanese voice of All For One) - Born November 24, 1959

Tracey Ullman (creator of the Tracey Ullman Show) - Born December 30, 1959

Underdog - October 3, 1964

Keiji Fujiwara ✝ (Japanese voice of Maes Hughes) - Born October 5, 1964

Guillermo del Toro (creator of Guillermo de Toro's Pinocchio) - Born October 9, 1964

Quinton Flynn (voice of Raiden) - Born October 10, 1964

David Kaye (voice of Sesshomaru) - Born October 14, 1964

Kevin Michael Richardson (voice of Maurice and Trigon) - Born October 23, 1964

Daran Norris (voice of Cosmo, Timmy's dad, and Jorgen von Strangle) - Born November 1, 1964

Patrick Warburton (voice of Kronk, Joe Swanson, and Brock Samson) - Born November 14, 1964

Chris Reccardi ✝ (creator of The Modifyers) - Born November 24, 1964

George Newbern (voice of Superman and Sephiroth) - Born December 30, 1964

Michael McDonald (voice of Clone High's Gandhi) - Born December 31, 1964

1969

Moomin, Sazae-san, and The Genie Family - October 5

Nika Futterman (voice of Luna Loud) - Born October 25

Sesame Street - November 10

Janyse Jaud (voice of Lee Kanker, Orange Blossom, and Tae Shimura) - November 26

1974

Space Battleship Yamato - October 6

Alexander Polinsky (voice of Control Freak) - Born October 7

Joaquin Phoenix (actor of Joker) - Born October 28

1979

The Rose of Versailles - October 10

Eric Bauza (voice of Foop, Belly Bag, Master Frown and Buhduce) - Born December 7

1984

Thomas & Friends - October 9

Fist of the North Star - October 11

Scarlett Johansson (actor of Black Widow) - Born November 22

Lucas Grabeel (voice of Pinky Malinky) - Born November 23

America Young (voice of Barbie and Toralei Stripe) and Kira Tozer (voice of Minka Mark, Kagome Higurashi, and Misha) - Born December 6

LeBron James (played himself in Space Jame: A New Legacy) - Born December 30

1989

The Little Mermaid 0 November 14

All Dogs Go to Heaven - November 17

Caitlynne Medrek (voice of Dawn) - Born November 19

Paddington Bear - December 2

Nicholas Hoult (voice of Grosso/Ace and Jon Arbuckle) - Born December 7

Taylor Swift (American singer) - Born December 13

The Simpsons - December 17

1994

Wild Cats - October 1

Pocahontas - October 19

Gargoyles - October 24

Idea Factory (co-creators of the Neptunia franchise) - October 26

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters - October 29

Alejandro Saab (voice of Cyno, Jing Yuan, and Anton) - Born November 14

The Swan Princess - November 18

Spider-Man: The Animated Series - November 19

Sailor Moon S: The Movie - December 4

Kayli Mills (voice of Emilia and Keqing) - Born December 10

Life with Louie - December 18

1999

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost - October 5

Courage the Cowardly Dog, Mike, Lu & Og - November 12

Toy Story 2 - November 13

Duck Amuck - November 16

Little Bill - November 28

Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands - December 4

Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip - December 10

Fantasia 2000 - December 17

Wakko's Wish - December 21

Happy Tree Friends - December 24

2004

The Backyardigans, Maya & Miguel, and Postcards from Buster - October 11

Drawn Together - October 27

The Incredibles - November 5

Ghost is the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - November 6

6teen - November 7

The Polar Express - November 10

Nasim Benelkour (voice of Mini Piccolo and Gulgar) - Born November 20

Howl's Moving Castle - November 20

W.I.T.C.H. - December 18

2009

Fanboy & Chum Chum - October 12

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure - October 27

The Garfield Show - November 2

Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show - November 8

The Princess and the Frog - December 11

2014

Omega Quintet - October 2

Star Wars Rebels - October 3

Blaze and the Monster Machines - October 13

Mike Tyson Mysteries - October 27

Over the Harden Wall - November 3

Sonic Boom - November 8

VeggieTales in the House - November 26

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Century/Generation (JP) - December 18

2019

Primal - October 7

The Addams Family - October 11

The Casagrandes - October 14

The VeggieTales Show - October 22

Arctic Dogs, Snoopy in Space - November 1

Klaus, Green Eggs and Ham, The Rocketeer - November 8

Disney+ - November 12

Frozen II - November 22

Harley Quinn - November 29

Lupin III: The First, Clifford the Big Red Dog reboot - December 6

Steven Universe Future - December 7

The Adventures of Paddington - December 20

Spies in Disguise - December 25

2024

Barney's World - October 14

Might MonsterWheelies - October 14

Carl the Collector - November 14

Touhou Spell Carnival (US) - November 19

Press Start! and Tokyo Overdrive - November 21

Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School - November 28

Mystery Walk - December 12

[seeksstaronmewni]

When it comes to The Ren & Stimpy Show and the works of John K., it’s all about detail.

Episode: “Ren’s toothache”

Story by: Bob Camp, John K.

Storyboards: Chris Reccardi

Directed BY John K.

[rfsnyder]

Christopher Reccardi

[retro-vgm-revival-hour]

Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits REVISITED

Greetings and Salutations!

Thank you so much for Your continued support for this channel and everything we have done thus far.

Everyone who has taken the time out of their schedules to watch anything and everything we do here at the Nostalgia Road Trip really means a lot to us and there is no better way to reward your continued support but with a Music Video Marathon.

As the title suggest, we revisit the old 90s album (an Cartoon network/TBS television special) Saturday Morning Cartoon's Greatest Hits and give it our own unique spin on the special/tribute album. Gone are the Drew Barrymore hosted segments that were in the beginning, middle and end of the songs and we replaced it with more footage of the cartoons While also including some tracks from other Various Cartoon shows of the 90s. It is something that we have wanted to do for quite some time and hope that it will bring a smile to those that remembered this particular album. For those who don't remember, then we have a treat for you, because we guarantee you the greatest experience for both your eyes and ears as you embark on a tour de force of sights and sounds from the various bands of the 90s with their amazing renditions of classic cartoon theme songs.

So it is because of that, and your support for this channel, that we wanted to do something for you all to lift up your spirits and bring a happy smile to your face with SATURDAY MORNING cartoon's greatest Hits REVISITED!!!! (P.S: Two tracks had to be omitted from the original soundtrack as YouTube Copyright was not allowing us to use them, But we think the replacement tracks we made to take their place will make surely make up for those) with that out of the way LET'S START THE SHOW!!!!!!!!

                              Complete track listing:

1.) Dig "Fat Albert Theme" (from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids) Ricky Sheldon & Edward Fournier 01:14:19

2.) Violent Femmes "Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You)" (from The Jetsons) William Hanna, Joseph Barbera & Hoyt Curtin   05:00:06

3.) The Reverend Horton Heat "Jonny Quest/Stop That Pigeon" (from Jonny Quest/Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines) William Hanna, Joseph Barbera & Hoyt Curtin   08:28:10

4.) Sponge "Go Speed Racer Go" (from Speed Racer) Nobuyoshi Koshibe  11:37:15

5.) Helmet "Gigantor" (from Gigantor) Louis C. Singer & Eugene Raskin  14:44:19

6.) Liz Phair with Material Issue "The Tra La La Song" (from The Banana Splits Adventure Hour) Mark Barkan & Ritchie Adams  18:57:22

7.) Juliana Hatfield & Tanya Donelly "Josie and the Pussycats" (from Josie and the Pussycats) Denby Williams, Joseph Roland & Hoyt Curtin  22:11:15

8.) Tripping Daisy "Friends/Sigmund and the Sea monsters" (from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters) Danny Janssen & Bobby Hart  25:03:14

9.) Mary Lou Lord w/ Semisonic "Sugar, Sugar" (from The Archie Show) Jeff Barry & Andy Kim  29:25:07

10.) Toadies "Goolie Get-Together" (from The Groovie Goolies) Linda Martin & Janis Gwin  33:17:15

11.) Face to Face "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" (from Popeye) Sammy Lerner  37:03:13

12.) The Murmurs "H.R. Pufnstuf" (from H.R. Pufnstuf) Les Szarvas & Paul Simon  39:58:06

13.) Frente! "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sun Shine In" (from The Flintstones) Stuart Hamblen  43:16:09

14.) Wax "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" (from The Ren and Stimpy Show) Charlie Brissette & Christopher Reccardi  46:47:06

15.) The Ramones "Spider-Man" (from Spider-Man) Robert "Bob" Harris & Paul Francis Webster  50:26:01

16.) Butthole Surfers "Underdog" (from Underdog) Chester Stover, Watts Biggers, Treadwell Covington & Joseph Harris  52:32:05

17.) Matthew Sweet "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" (from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!) David Mook & Ben Raleigh ��56:25:02

18.) Osaka Popstar and the American Legends of Punk "Sailor Moon" (from Sailor Moon) Misuzu Takahashi, Mari Nishimoto & Misae Takamatsu  59:36:05

19.) Steve Nelson & Thomas Sharp "Darkwing Duck" (from Darkwing Duck) Philip Giffin  1:00:58:21

20.) The Tender Box "Spectacular Spider-Man" (from The Spectacular Spider-Man)  1:03:50:03

21.) Downstait "Fight As One" (from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes) Bad City  1:06:21:04

22.) Osaka Popstar and the American Legends of Punk "Astro Boy" (From Astro Boy) Donald Rockwell & Tatsuo Takai  1:09:51:04

23.) Memo Aguirre, Nick Carr, & Noam Kaniel "He-Man Main Theme": Spanish Version (from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) Shuki Levy  1:11:22:09

24.) Dj Lee (Youtube) "G0, Gadget! Go!" (from Inspector Gadget) Shuki Levy & Haim Saban  1:13:21:20

25.) The Jets "Rescue Rangers Theme" (from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers) Mark Mueller  1:16:16:22

26.) Dale Schacker "Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs"(from Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs) Charles Bernstein  1:19:53:21

27.) Lion "Transformers" ((from The Transformers) Vince DiCola, Ford Kinder, Anne Bryant, Norman Swan & Douglas Aldrich  1:22:22:10

28.) The Covers Duo (Youtube) "Go Go Power Rangers" (from The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) Ron Wasserman, Haim Saban & Shuki Levy  1:25:58:04

[srmthg]

Christopher Reccardi, an animation industry veteran, has passed away. He was a director on SRMTHG as well as doing art design for Evil Ages (and possibly more - our fandom’s IMDB is a very broken and incomplete place.) 

Some of his other work that I personally hold close to my heart includes character design on Wander Over Yonder and work on several of the LEGO Movies. This barely scratches the surface, and his entire impressive list of contributions to the world of animation can be found here. No matter what shows/movies you’re into, there’s a good chance he was involved in some way. RIP

[seeksstaronmewni]

Pretty space backgrounds from Samurai Jack EPISODE XCIX

Wants anyone @adultswim / @toonami to make official wallpapers of this art?

storyboarded and written by GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY

art director, Background Painter: SCOTT WILLS

Storyboard Layout, Layout Keys: @stephendestefano,

Storyboard Layout: CHRIS RECCARDI

Layout Keys: LOU ROMANO, AMANDA QIAN LI

Background Painters: CHRIS BROCK, @rdaskas

Tweet version here.

[seeksstaronmewni]

Noticed anyone the Chris Reccardi rat in Wander Over Yonder? I noticed him back in 2017, but he is slightly modified to be more alien like, with fly wings and other differences. Chris Reccardi only worked on “The Egg” for character design, I think, but that biker rat is certainly a character of Reccardi’s very own.

That rat, in point of fact [rhyme!], was created by Chris Reccardi for The Powerpuff Girls episode “Girls Gone Mild”, which he wrote & storyboarded. This biker rat is called “Whizzer”, part of the Dooks of Doom, and actually ended up in Chris Reccardi’s Nickelodeon pilot The Modifyers! I made a tweet to compare the model designs.

Episode: “the RIDER”

Written by BEN JOSEPH

Storyboard by RICCARDO DURANTE

Storyboard by, Character Designer: MARK ACKLAND

Character Designers: @happyarnold06 * @benbalistreri * ERIC BRYAN * SHAKEH HAGHNAZARIAN

Character Cleanup: ERIK ELIZAREZZ

Storyboard Revisions: ROB LILLY * RAYMOND MORELLI * @jamessuhr

Tweet version here.

[seeksstaronmewni]

Back and better than ever.

2 years, 4 months and 8 days have passed since Samurai Jack SEASON 5 last reran on [as]. Catch Samurai Jack, Sunday mornings at 3:30A after Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal (3A) on @adultswim... only on @cartoonnetwork!

EPISODE XCII (will they ever give Season 5 episodes a title?) [TV-14-V]

storyboarded and written by BRYAN ANDREWS, GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY

art direction: SCOTT WILLS

character design: CRAIG KELLMAN

directed by GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY

Prop Design: @heydusty, CHRIS RECCARDI

Clean Up: SARA ANDERSON, ALEX CAMPOS, MILLICENT HENSON

Layout Keys: LOU ROMANO

Background Paint: SCOTT WILLS

Color Stylist: LETICIA LACY

Tweet version here.

Sneak (peek) here.

Here’s something else similar-looking that aired on this Sunday...

[seeksstaronmewni]

In case you wondered why a cow flew in the background of The Powerpuff Girls episode “Toast of the Town”: it’s a reference to The Powerpuff Girls Movie.

storyboarded & written by the late and great CHRIS RECCARDI

directed by RANDY MYERS

[seeksstaronmewni]

20 years of @nickelodeon’s @spongebob Squarepants, and within I found THIS.

Source of this gag here.

[seeksstaronmewni]

Wherever they go and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on top of the forest, a big... bear-like creature will always be waiting.

Episode here.

Tweet version here.

[seeksstaronmewni]

Feel refreshed this morning with this beautiful scenery from Samurai Jack EPISODE XVI.

Mornings Tuesday through Saturday at 5:30A on @adultswim/@cartoonnetwork.

Art Directors: SCOTT WILLS, DAN KRALL

(Background) Layout Keys: TODD FREDERIKSEN, PAT AGNASIN

Background Painter: ELLEN SUH

[seeksstaronmewni]

In memorial of the late and great Chris Reccardi.

I celebrate Memorial Day with memorial to more than just war veterans.

Tweet version here

My Chris Reccardi memorial post here

[seeksstaronmewni]

2 years are passed since the end of Samurai Jack...

Yesterday @daronnefcy’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil Season 4 wrapped up--just a day before the date when EPISODE CI aired (SvTFOE Season 4 was announced a day after the date when Samurai Jack Season 5 was announced, and SvTFOE Season 4 began a day before the date of Samurai Jack Season 5′s premiere). As for SvTFOE, that may not be the ultimate end of Star’s story, whereas Samurai Jack (spoiler alert) returned to the past. HBO’s Game of Thrones also ended yesterday--I wish that Samurai Jack was as popular these days.

In the second passing year: 

[adult swim] provided, for free, the entire series online!

Samurai Jack began to re-run (first time in HD on TV) on October 1st, 2018 on the Toonami block (Saturday nights into Sunday morning); it was moved to weeknights at 8PM on [as] since December 31st, 2018. (Support the airings with this post)

A Samurai Jack strategy game (based on Season 5) was released in August 2018.

Phil LaMarr celebrated the 2-year-old date of Season 5′s premiere.

On George Lucas’ 75th birthday, Genndy Tartakovsky’s next project, Primal for [as], was announced. (post here)

On May 2nd, 2019 A.D., major creative Chris Reccardi “died doing what he loved”, and one of his episodes (XXXIII) aired on [as] that night. I celebrated this guy the next day when I found out (post here). I drew a memorial sketch for Chris Reccardi and Memorial Day.

Long-time collaborator of Tartakovsky, @crackmccraigen announced his upcoming Netflix cartoon, Kid Cosmic.

Genndy Tartakovsky began to write and direct more Sony Pictures Animation projects, including Black Knight.

Titans Vinyl Figures announced Cartoon Network: The Classic Collection figures for August 2018, including Samurai Jack and Aku.

This month, I decided that another season of one of Cartoon Network’s greatest series ever was important, as I noticed the future depiction of Jack at the end of an epic battle in EPISODE XXXII. Luckily, @screenrant made an article in which they said that Genndy would "be open to other creators jumping in to explore those story gaps (”50 years of unexplored stories between season 4 and 5”?), but it won’t be him". The next season could turn the Samurai Jack comics into actual episodes, plus we could see the rise of Scaramouche, the predicted battle of Jack (shown in XXXII) and what became of Princess Mira after XLIV. I got a post of IMDb lists I made with which you can help support and lead creatives into the future of Samurai Jack!

Most of the times in my life since March 2018 aren’t as sweet as the times before, but I was satisfied with all that I had and did for Samurai Jack at the end of Season 5. I wasn’t broken to tears with the end of Samurai Jack, but my deep love of Star Butterfly and desire for episodes more like Season 1 of SvTFOE caused me to think hard about the end of Star vs. the Forces of Evil (you can see my lamentation/support post here). In either event, I remember the words of Phil LaMarr (voice of Samurai Jack) to an artist seeking inspiration for her fan art:

"Life is pain; life is hope. Fight the good fight, and know there are no guarantees, but find love and joy where you can."

As always, I hope and pray for any future content and merchandise! Thanks @adultswim / @cartoonnetwork for the coolest, most nostalgic final season that you made and gave to all of us, and to Genndy Tartakovsky and his wonderful team, including Joel Valentine and @stephendestefano, for the show that they made in the first place.

1-year-old celebration post here.

3-year-old celebration post here.

4-year-old celebration post here.

[seeksstaronmewni]

Samurai Jack Season 5 in Review: EPISODE XCII

Here is my absolute favorite Samurai Jack episode, because it’s not the end. It’s only the beginning of the end.

I was on the hype train for the return of @cartoonnetwork​’s Samurai Jack after I saw the Season 5 trailer on February 8th, 2017 A.D. (I made a recent post to celebrate it) One reason was that I became obsessed about The Powerpuff Girls during the nostalgically incorrect Season 7 (the first “reboot” season) due to a liking for the Season 5-6 designs and animation, a part of the "Cartoon Cartoons” I grew up watching... and I was right to expect former PPG creatives on it! This post highlights the events of the episode and why it’s one of the best Samurai Jack episodes ever--and how much I binged on it at first! You can check the episode out here (Season 5 reran Sunday mornings at 3:30A on Adult Swim), and soon on HBO Max. Also, if you’re on Twitter, check the links to my tweets in the underlined text! They’re old tweets and need some love!

If you saw not this episode yet, be aware of SPOILERS!

/!\ SAMURAI JACK This Program is rated TV-14-V. Intense Violence.

X

The day of the season’s premiere, March 11th, 2017 A.D., too late found I that [as] was doing a streaming of Season 1-4 (I came in during EPISODE XXXIII’s “Wild Ride”). Following was a Q&A livestream with Genndy Tartakovsky, during which I tried again and again to call, but the line was always busy. Luckily Season 5′s premiere was going to be for free--online--via the stream at 10:40P! I was so there for it! Of course I watched the televised premiere on @adultswim​, but the stream first!

While I began ceasing from trying to get Genndy on the PPGs again, all of a sudden...

...it began, and I was totally there for it.

A view of a distant town (not Townsville) appeared. All quiet.

That is until an explosion or 2 set off (and not with the stereotypical H-B/Universal “powah-wahh” explosion sounds either). There goes the giant windmill.

Partially and slowly revealed is that some aliens are on the run from the town...

...from those “beetle bots”. GIANT beetle bots, I might add.

There is this precious little moment where, being surrounded by the giant beetle bots, the mother and daughter visually--not by speech--exchange “I love you!” to each other with hearts in place of “love”. Oh, and there’s a baby too.

As the beetle bots come to a stop, the sound grows quiet. A motorcycle is heard approaching. When the motorcycle is revealed close-up, Tyler Bates’ bass-filled music is sparked: a warrior with a serious, menacing face is riding on these hot wheels...

...and he aims his machine gun out... only to launch a projectile at these familiar foes...

...resulting in the first explosion Jack caused in this glorious 5th season.

He slowly circles around with his gun. Is he a threat to the aliens?

Nope. Just pwning more evil scrap metal.

Once I heard the Looney Tunes-esq “pshhh...” of smoke from his guns, I became more certain that Joel Valentine was back on the show... unlike the PPG “reboot”.

As the Season 5 sneak revealed late in February 2017 shows, the warrior’s motorcycle is packed with punk tires that can scrap these pests up! All of his guns are just as lethal... with all of those cool action shots and poses and all.

The warrior then reveals another weapon: not a sword, exactly, but some manner of pitchfork on one tip and a taser on the other. Graphically, he destroys one beetle bot by twisting the wires inside, and proceeds to scrap the rest until one of them knocks... the mask off?

That warrior is none other than the samurai called...

“...?”

Just another day in the life of the samurai! Shouting a charging yell, Jack continues smashing the wires out of the beetle bots with a front scruff that fits perfectly with the mane... a look that is very appropriate, new and fitting for Jack.

The daughter gives a symbol of either “Is it dead?” or disgust. Because of the emoticons that are a major part of their visual language, I suppose that these aliens should be called... emoji-fawns?

“50 years have passed, but I do not age.”

As the samurai continues onward into the sunset, a new intro is revealed for Jack to explain how much worse things are become. The former intro started with Aku’s prologue before the theme song, but Season 5′s intro is pretty much a prologue. This feels true to the nature of of The Powerpuff Girls’ former intro which also started with a prologue, but PPG Season 7-9 has a shorter, different intro (although the extended version has an updated version of the prologue with most of its original Tom Kenny narration, “DJ Avalanche” score, and few of Joel’s SFX).

Regarding Jack’s opening statement, creator Genndy Tartakovsky said that 50 years were passed apparently between the events of EPISODE LII, “Jack and the Baby”, and EPISODE XCII. I think, however, that Jack meant that 50 year passed since he ended up in the future in EPISODE II, “The Samurai Called Jack”. There could be more seasons of this show to explore more adventures of Jack, regardless of the time that passed; if anything, turn those comic books into episodes!

Anyway, for some reason, the rip in time Aku created to send Jack into the future caused Jack’s body to supposedly not grow old, though I believe that, slowly, he still aged to a point. Aku’s still the bad guy (with a new voice, but I talk about this in XCIII’s post), and hope seems lost unless Jack can return to the past.

The intro ends with a slow reveal of the shows title, burning red in the dark, sporting an epic, exciting, modernly cinematic feel to the show. What follows, of course, is a scene just as cinematic...

A quiet, eerie chant of the name “Aku” subtly fills the dark, fire-lit room. This reveals the worship of a great evil which reminds us of how dangerous and powerful Aku truly is... given that “Jack vs. Aku” is the previous episode where Aku has a speaking role (you know... “EXTRA THICK!”), though he vocalizes in a following episode “Seasons of Death”.

The episode’s opening credits reveal that Bryan Andrews and Genndy Tartakovsky are the main board artists for this season, still directed by Tartakovsky himself with art direction by Scott Wills. Apparently, character design was very crucial to this season, so the main character designer of the season, Craig Kellman, is listed at the beginning on all of these episodes. This’s rare for cartoon shows, but this isn’t much different from old CN shows of the 1990′s like Dexter’s Laboratory crediting the model/character designers on the episode’s opening credits.

“They will succeed where so many others have failed, and we will find favor in your glory.”

Seven daughters?! Is that kind of physical labor even possible?! That explains all of Grey Delisle-Griffin’s screams, but she’s soon back on her feet... to raise her children to serve pure evil.

BTW, it’s a good thing that the baby vocals that Joel used are not the common Sound Ideas Series 6000 cries, since that recording is far more annoying. Anyway, I find the scene very intriguing and exciting because it’s all really dark, and that’s something that “kids” shows often weren’t in the past. It all just feels so epic that it sucks you in; am I right?

Back to Jack: the score revs up quickly in this montage of Jack riding around the country, wherever he is, as if he’s on some epic quest. Is he looking for a time portal or Aku’s place?

It’s Fall at this point and Jack’s in a pretty forest. The lighting is beautiful, cinematic and very realistic in this shot--one of my favorites from this episode. The paintings are still by art director Scott Wills; they’re just digital.

Such scenes as this are long periods of no dialogue, where music and sound can help to set the mood--sometimes, a very peaceful mood...

...until, slowly but surely, Jack’s mind is hauntingly messed up. This’s where Tyler Bates’ music hits on the slow, hardcore, eerie, electronic percussion that subtly drives the intense situation that’s not like what kid’s action shows used to be. This would be frightening to younger children, but the sheer terror of this scene is awesome, and the music is hardcore hot!

Some days later, we go to another sequence that occurs at night, where we focus first on a cute little owl hooting (and not the cliche, classic H-B/Valentino SFX Library owl hoot that many cartoons use, including past episodes of Samurai Jack). This goes to show just how realistic Joel’s sound design can be, and I admire him greatly for that attention to detail.

Jack endured another vision that night, where his father claims that he never came back, though Jack revealed that “Aku destroyed the way home!”

The way? How many time portals or such were there?

“He destroyed everything! Everything is burning!”

Woah. Was it something that Jack ate? It may be that that rat was under-cooked...

Anyway, every time Jack was haunted by the visions, a mysterious figure appeared afterward. Now Jack was motivated to find the village that he previously noticed was under attack. Time for a commercial break... and a breather for us fans of this nostalgic series!

As we return from commercial, we see the progression of the 7 daughters in training. They kind of remind me of Pokey Oaks Kindergarten’s students... but taller.

Training is tough on these little munchkins, though--but Ashi is distracted by a light that comes from the outdoors... to which her mother slowly objects. Her strength endures some real testing over time with her mother’s harsh treatment!

“Are you weak?!”

I mean... I felt like it was almost all over for Ashi at this point.

Luckily for her, “Aku’s fire stirs inside”. The art direction on the following scene is very interesting in terms of lighting: black, white and some red. It helps for the simply-detailed designs to stand out more. Since I saw very little of Sym-Bionic Titan at this point, Ashi’s hairstyle reminded me somewhat of Ilana (who has the same hairstyle and same voice actress, Tara Strong).

Meanwhile, Jack walked through the village to find whoever caused the destruction. He comes to a shady figure in the smoke, revealed to be a hot-shot assassin robot who goes by many names...

“Scaramouch the merciless! The Pied Piper of Ruination! The Crooner of Carnage! The Ambassador of Annihilation! The Eradicator of All, baby!”

The chipper, upbeat, overly positive attitude of “Aku’s most favorite assassin” made him instantly lovable. I loved this tin man from pretty much the very beginning. I immediately tweeted about this guy during the online premiere. I took a little while to know who voiced this guy (kind of sounded like Jimmy Gourd to me for some reason), but it was certainly familiar. Tom Kenny is the groovin’ voice of Scaramouche--another iconic voice from the man who narrated The Powerpuff Girls and voiced the Mayor of Townsville, Spongebob, Bon Bon the Birthday Clown and so many other great voices!

“Wait. Back off, beardsly. Where... is... your sword?”

You were probably wondering about that... so was I.

“You... lost... your sword!”

Well, the coloring on the handle of the sword is reversed in this shot, and it was just brown for the previous shot of the sword, but... yeah. Flashback to an episode that appeared not in Season 4. Destined to become an episode in the next season if CN makes any to explore the pre-Season 5 events.

Jack’s new pitchfork/taser thingy still makes the same “ching” sounds that his sword makes (and not the cliche Hollywood Edge recordings), though.

Anyway, Scaramouch was about to tell Aku the news (Aku apparently forgot about Scaramouch ‘cause he’s all like “Who is this?” First line since “Jack vs. Aku”!) when Jack and Scaramouch dance in a duel of musical magic.

“Ooh, nice choreography, baby!” Scaramouch replied. In a tweet I made of that line, I was thinking of cinematography instead and noted this to art director Scott Wills. I probably meant to note this to board artists Bryan Andrews & Genndy Tartakovsky.

Oh I just LOVE that “fffwwwhOOMP!” sound there on the ease-in. Joel Valentine packs the perfect punch into the sound of an object’s weight with those big whoosh sounds.

More important, perhaps: how can Scaramouch play the flute when he’s just a robot? He hasn’t any lungs or lips... that I know of... though he apparently has teeth and a tongue, and I can hear breath sounds during his lines... and his voice sounds not at all robotic!

Jack can really throw some real weight around as he battles against a monster made by music and of building parts...

“That samurai has gone beaucoup cuckoo!”

...but his haunting visions distract him from his heroic efforts...

...once again seemingly attributed to that shadowy figure. This is a “CinemaScope” ratio for this shot, while the show is in standard widescreen (1.78:1 “matted”/”flat”). Those ratios can change a lot, kind of like IMAX (in movies in IMAX, one often sees certain shots of a 2.39:1 movie turning into 1.78:1 on a large screen, and the ratio goes back and forth). Still, ultimately the show is not in “letterbox” widescreen / “scope” format, like most Cartoon Network DVDs say; perhaps Warner Bros. Home Entertainment says this because Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the Dave Filoni series, only produced for Turner networks) was in 2.39:1; this caught on to some [as] shows like Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal and Tigtone (the logos are 1.78:1, however), but most CN shows are just in 1.78:1.

Anyway, knocked out of his mentally overwhelmed state, Jack was back into the fight, but, even though he sliced the flute in half, Scaramouch was the real “musical magic”. He just goes all “Scatman John” on Jack and can control wherever his sword goes, striking it right at Jack!

This is definitely one of my favorite shots from the episode... a slow-mo shot.

Jack seems to be fighting the sword itself until he comes closer to Scaramouch, who soon pulls another cold blade out...

“Dig that beautiful sound, baby!”

...a split blade whose very tone of ring when clashed against an object can cause the clashed object to explode!

Luckily, Jack has good aim for his sword... so good, that it just blows Scaramouch away.

“Looks like you’re the headliner now; huh?”

Was...

...is...

...and always will be.

Before the end of the episode, we see the last of the 7 daughters’ training. The music here just rocks. Its long, harsh percussion and bass-blowing beats really drive all of the action in this sequence.

This shot has great animation and angles, where Ashi shows an opponent who’s boss as she grabs the 3rd arrow shot and kills her with it.

For more sensitive viewers, first note that this and the following shot are violent/bloody enough to earn the episode its “TV-14-V” rating “for some intense violence” (I’d think that “TV-PG-V” might fit it, since it’s not as strong as it could be). However, CN aired some “TV-14-V” rated movies on their “Action Flicks” block back in early 2009 (i.e. Batman: Gotham Night). That’s right: CN, not [adult swim]! Since, like, 2007 or 2008, they aired a lot of TV-PG rated cartoons like Teletoon’s edgy Total Drama franchise, Regular Show, MAD, Teen Titans Go!, and even The Tom and Jerry Show (though that one seems overrated). I can understand why they often rated certain programs TV-PG-V: even a kick or punch could be a bad influence if a kid was prone to imitating action (The G-rated Garfield’s Pet Force strangely earned this rating too). The point is that CN needs to air Samurai Jack Season 5 on, even if some of the episodes are bloody (only few deserve the TV-14-V rating IMHO). They might be able to cut EPISODE XCII down to a TV-Y7-FV, perhaps.

It’s nice to see that Darrick Bachman from Paul Rudish’s Mickey Mouse still served on this lovely season. He’s the head writer for the 5th season... and the upcoming video game Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time.

As a devote fan of “Cartoon Cartoons”, I personally point the sheet timers out since CN’s traditionally animated shows have lesser animation these days, namely SMIP-animated shows. I mean, that Robert Alvarez and Randy Myers did the “Sheet Timing” on this episode of Samurai Jack (animated by Digital eMation) and animation direction on Seasons 7-9 of The Powerpuff Girls (the “reboot” episodes, animated by SMIP). Compare the action sequences of both shows, and the animation/timing will stand out; unlike Samurai Jack, the 2016-2019 PPG episodes (like SMIP’s work on Infinity Train & Ben 10) usually lack weight in their rather gentle, slow-paced animation. Those PPG episodes animate not at all like The Powerpuff Girls Movie or any PPG episode where Genndy Tartakovsky directed.

Here’re some of the new people on Genndy’s team for Season 5: Susy Campos, Andy Flexner, Jackie Sheng and Dick Grunert. Production Assistants (or, in this case, maybe production coordinators) can turn into major creatives for the story or art of the show, so watch for those names in future CN Studios projects! Team Cartoon Network Studios rules!

This season’s prop design is in the hands of @heydusty​, who also contributed effects design and some character design / design clean-up. Dustin D’Arnault and others are new talent that live up to the work of Genndy Tartakovsky! The late and great Chris Reccardi returned, starting off with some prop designs as well. The design clean-up artists were also new to the team; these people clean the character, props and effects designs up after the respective designers did their designs, so they’re just as much designers as the designers listed. These “Clean Up” people are not to be confused for animation clean-up, however.

Next up are the background artists: “Layout Keys”/background designer Lou Romano (The Powerpuff Girls, Cats Don’t Dance, Ratatouille) and art director/Background Painter Scott Wills (The Ren & Stimpy Show, Quest for Camelot) bring the beautiful, colorful locations to life. Leticia Lacy, a former Spümcø member like Wills and Reccardi (and many other Cartoon Network Studios creatives), returned as a color stylist, who chooses the specific colors for the character, props and effects designed.

The voice credits are a bit lacking, since lesser characters are only listed as “ADDITIONAL VOICES”, compared to Seasons 1-4. This happened on Seasons 7-9 of The Powerpuff Girls too; i.e. Ms. Keane play supportive or minor roles in an episode, but Jennifer Hale is just credited as “ADDITIONAL VOICES”, though Keane is an important character to that series. Tara Strong is uncredited for voicing young Ashi since she only vocalizes--no lines. Greg Baldwin is in place of Mako as Mako passed away years before Season 5′s dialogue was recorded. Ultimately, though, Jack and his parents are still their respective voices, and it certainly is Phil LaMarr’s best.

Unlike Seasons 1-4, Genndy Tartakovsky himself served as the voice director; previously Colette Sunderman handled the voice direction. Aku may no longer be voiced by Mako, but Genndy was able to direct Greg Baldwin’s “Aku” voice himself. Robert Serda still served for engineering the dialogue recording equipment at CN Studios.

The score composers score with their super awesome hardcore score. Tyler Bates composed music for Genndy’s Sym-Bionic Titan (I can’t believe that I never watched that show when it aired). Joanne Higginbottom co-composes with Tyler on Primal. Dieter Hartman also contributed score on Samurai Jack Season 5. For this episode, no score mixer is listed. Music Editors are uncredited in this season.

The animation company on most episodes of Season 5 is Digital eMation, which looks much smoother than the designs in the digital animation of Rough Draft Studios (lines looks slightly blobby on close-ups). The animation directors credited on the series are generally the overseas animation directors; in Season 5 they’re listed on the end credits since they relate to the animation studio.

Regarding post-production, I was very happy to see Joel Valentine credited for “Sound Editing” (He used to prefer being credited by the name of his company “TWENTY FIRST CENTURY ENTERTAINMENT, INC.” AKA 21st CENTURY SOUND DESIGN CORP.). I was afraid that it would be like Dexter’s Laboratory Seasons 3-4 (or 5-6) and The Powerpuff Girls Seasons 7-9, where mixing studio Hacienda Post/Sabre Media would do the sound design, but luckily Joel was on it. This time, former Supervising Re-Recording Mixer Timothy J. Borquez, CAS is just a Re-Recording Mixer with Alex Borquez (former Hacienda mixer Eric Freeman moved to mixing and editing sound at Disney Television Animation in 2014); both Tim & Alex were Supervising Sound Editors and mixers on PPG’s reboot era. Also credited for the final mix is Taylor Pierce, then a Mix Assistant. Currently, Genndy’s shows credit Hacienda Post’s facility, Sabre Media Studios, Inc., as the “Audio Mixing Facility”, rather than referring to Hacienda/Sabre as Post-Production Sound Services (Joel Valentine/21st Century Entertainment is just as much a sound service, NOT just editing!). I’m not sure if any other editors are involved at Sabre/Hacienda, but someone was recording and performing foley for this show, and, due to time, they get no credit, which is a crime in my opinion since that brings the show to aural life. Paul Douglas remains as the Supervising Editor and Jim Hearn as the Dialogue Editor for CN.

The Cartoon Network Studios logo for this season was visually simple, as it was just the face reveal scene show inside the logo (CN tends to use episode clips more often than animatics these days). Joel Valentine fit the sound effects to this well, though, with the sounds of a sword (not the ones Joel tends to use) and an anime-like accent. As for the “reboot” PPG episodes, they just did something weird... (couldn’t they show, like, the Hanna-Barbera swirling star inside the CN Studios logo instead?! at least for nostalgia?)

The Williams Street logo ([adult swim]’s production company), complete with the Mark VII jingle, follows since it was produced for that often junky block of CN...

...but, on the digital copy prints, the 2016 Cartoon Network ID follows! Nostalgically, though, I prefer the 1999 “Cartoon Cartoons” ripple ID, which Samurai Jack and even PPG Seasons 7-8 used to show. I mind the 2016 ID on the PPG “reboot” episodes, but I mind it not on Samurai Jack because it proves that, while considered “Adult Swim”, the amazing Season 5 still remains a part of the “new new new new” era of Cartoon Network.

Any viewer of Samurai Jack could start with this episode as Jack’s adventures are just beetle bots here and Scaramouch there, occurring over few days. The other side of the episode, the youth of Ashi, occurs over probably years; this only sets the main events of Season 5 into action with the next episode.

As for me, I did all that I could with the streaming marathon of EPISODE XCII. It went on from, like, 10:48P or something until, like, 7:30A that morning. I couldn’t help but observe the episode again and again and again... I binged on it. I update the credits on IMDb. I tweet much about this episode and its team. By the end of over 8 hours of the episode’s stream, I felt that this was an appropriate response:

Before the end of this post, here’re reasons why EPISODE XCII is one of the best Samurai Jack episodes ever:

This “Cartoon Cartoon” returned after 12 years, 14 months and 5 days. According to Genndy’s forward on the Season 4 DVD, “The big question as we neared the end of production was, ‘Should we end the story and send Jack home?’ At the time, I felt that the proper way to end it would be to do a full-length movie - and still do. Hopefully, that movie is somewhere in the near future...” CN Asia-Pacific did this “Sayonara Samurai Jack” marathon for Season 4, but they were hasty, since the return came a dozen of years later, and Season 4 wasn’t the true end of the story. I feel the same about Disney Channel calling Star vs. the Forces of Evil Season 4′s finale “Cleaved!” the “series finale”, and both Daron Nefcy and fans look forward to more episodes in the future.

The nostalgic design and animation of Genndy’s Cartoon Network Studios team was something that the then-current Powerpuff Girls episodes were certainly lacking.

The action is just as intense and detailed as ever, with the right amount and style of music too. Perhaps even more wicked than before, though I miss “DJ Avalanche” James L. Venable, who wasn’t on it because he was busy with Clarence. Paul Rudish wasn’t on this season either, probably due to his hilarious vision of Mickey Mouse of course. Still, the stakes are high and handled well.

The precious moments of our little emoji-fawn family and the haunting fears of Samurai Jack are draaamaaa

The wonderful Scaramouch is our comic relief for the episode. Thanks, Tom Kenny!

“WATCH OUT!” There’s that classic closing to most of the episodes, just like we remembered it. The credits look just as simple as they looked before, too.

Next Episode’s Review

Tweet version here.

Tweet version as a shoutout to Tom Kenny & Greg Baldwin here.

[seeksstaronmewni]

The way Mario looks like he’s doing a shrug when he dies reminds me of Charlie Bean in The Powerpuff Girls episode “A Made Up Story”, so this meme makes some sense...

Based on @crackmccraigen’s The Powerpuff Girls: “A Made Up Story”

storyboarded & written by CHRIS RECCARDI

Character Supervisor: @andybialk (as ANDREW BIALK)

Character Designer: Stephanie Choi (as STEF CHOI)

Tweet version here.