really good work!

Since when has Samurai Jack been known to be boring? My nephew (age 6) and my uncle (age 47) have both enjoyed the show, as have I. It is a spectacular cartoon, I’m looking forward to the movie as well!

Wow… yes… amazing… this show had the distinction of being the one-trillionth show to hop on the ‘retro-dry-brush-BG-painting-trend.’

The show never put me to sleep, how could you sleep with all that amazing art work and fun stories?

The “Birth of Evil” was by far the most amazing animated story I’ve ever seen on television.

What an incredibly talented crew of people to work on one show.

I hope that they can pull together the same team “IF” they actually put together a feature through Frederator.

That’s a charge I’m not sure I read right- so I re-read it 3 times, Amid, you really think Samurai Jack has Lunestra-like qualities?

I must respectively say, I find it to be truly an amazing series and have never seen it as a snoozer in any way. To me, the artistry of the backgrounds, layouts, and animation are in a word-Stunning.

Asleep? Are you kidding?! Samurai Jack is great; and sometimes, as in the episodes of the blind archers, the zombie graveyard, and the black ninja, just brilliant.

Some of the art is nice when shown like this … but I’m not actually going to try and endure the show just to see some nice backgrounds. I’ve never quite understood why quite so many people seem to like it so much. (or Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars for that matter … which is saying something given I’m a pretty big Star Wars fan) In a way they really do put me to sleep …

Beautiful work - Bill is definately one of the best all around artists in the biz. I dig Samurai Jack and it didn’t put me to sleep anymore than Unicorn in the Garden did.

Yikes, has Cartoon Brew is always been this negative?

For an animation blog, CB is always surprisingly negative. Why is this?

“Puts viewers to sleep”? That’s never crossed my mind at all. It has a unique sense of timing and there isn’t a lot of dialogue, but that’s what kept me awake! If anything, it would have to be those shows with TOO MUCH dialogue and no change in pace to put me to sleep.

Oh, and yeah, AWESOME BACKGROUNDS!

“For an animation blog, CB is always surprisingly negative. Why is this?”

I’m scratching my head over that one too. Today was an eye-candy fiesta! Thanks, guys!

I think Samurai Jack’s the best-looking cartoon to ever grace a cathode-ray tube. But even so, I confess I’ve nodded off once or twice. No show can be all things to all people. I must not be the target audience.

Bill (and Scott), this stuff is amazing, and your gallery art is excellent too. Give yourselves a plug—where can we buy your paintings?

Finally! Someone who agrees that Samurai Jack is hard to sit through. I’ve never understood the conceptual appeal, but the visual inventiveness cannot be denied. You should all be very glad Amid has a spine. He’s one of the two reasons this blog is so great (the other being Jerry of course).

For an animation blog, CB is always surprisingly negative. Why is this?
Because it’s an animation blog?

At leat Samurai Jack’s lack of dialogue means one thing. Actual animation, not the usual talking heads and cartoons by writers instead of artists (not a broad slight there, I’m sure you all know what I mean).

And my God Amid - why bother replying if you’re going to be so evasive. You can dish it out but you sure can’t take it. Go back and read just about everything you’ve ever posted outside of the hip 50s stuff and tell us how ‘positive’ you are (for the sake of this argument). And even here we’ve got a backhanded compliment. You might as well have said “the show is crap but these backgrounds are like the old stuff I like and at least they weren’t CG”. Are you going through menopause? Is this “overheard in San Diego part 2″? Sorry for the rant, I just feel you’re confusing subjectivity with objectivity these days, so I had my little say.

For the record as to “surprisingly negative”, my vote is Jerry/good cop, Amid/bad cop (how’s THAT for some subjectivity?)! ;)

Hehehehe

I knew when I saw this post this morning, that the first sentence would soon be a topic of debate. :)

Ah well, I liked the show, even though it was very quiet.

>>> The show may put viewers to sleep…

And Amid’s credibility actually goes BELOW zero!

“A link to animation backgrounds? My oh my, how negative.”

It’s your snotty, egotistical comments that are the negative. If you’d get your nose out of the air you’d realize that. I’m done with this snob blog. It’s become a complete joke.

I always prefer Amid’s critical commentary to the slavish adoration of every press-released piece of garbage that passes for information on some other sites. Yes. He has an OPINION. Since when is that a fatal flaw? For those who like to argue that Amid is wrong because they love something he doesn’t, it would be good to defend your thought.

Amazing backgrounds — very Maurice Noble inspired — they used the best sources of inspiration for their style on that show.

It blows my mind that people think this show, or even more bizarrely, the Clone Wars cartoon, was boring. Not sure what’s dull about nonstop action sequences, dueling, and split-screen drama.

Why is it some people have such a hard time accepting other people may not share their opinions on specific subjects ?

I personally see Samurai Jack as a classic example of style over substance. Something I can accept up till a certain point, but Jacky-boy is way, way beyond that point. Instead of saying it’s bad, I simply state that kind of animation (or lack thereof … whoops now I did say it :p) is simply not my cup of tea. Thank goodness not everyone agrees with me, it’d be a very boring world otherwise.

Finally: is there really such a thing as objectivity ? What’s the use of technical perfection if you simply don’t like the end result ?

Yeah, I think Cartoon Brew should act more professional. They are like animation journalists. And just because the real news journalism in America has gone down the crapper, that shouldn’t mean Cartoon Brew’s journalism has to follow. Be objective. Report facts, not opinions. Treat it like journalism, not an editorial comment.

Just to comment on Alan’s post from yesterday — “Wow… yes… amazing… this show had the distinction of being the one-trillionth show to hop on the ‘retro-dry-brush-BG-painting-trend’.”

I, too, am a little tired of the retro-BG trend. However, as Bill and Scott practically reintroduced the technique back into mainstream animation some 15 years ago, and do it better–no lie–than anyone else, I’m happy to see this stuff given special notice.

Amid, I really don’t think you need defending on this, as I said earlier in this thread, I don’t share your thoughts on this, but I certainly like your take on anything animated. I think the snooty accusation from the reader above is really unfair, JUST because you are bored with something that they are not. I, for one, have no problem that someone may have a view I don’t share. Amid, you really are someone I admire and respect, to quote U2-”Don’t let the bastards get you down”.

“Yeah, I think Cartoon Brew should act more professional. Be objective. Report facts, not opinions. Treat it like journalism.”

Why should Amid and Jerry do all the work, just so the rest of us cartoon geeks can opine and have all the fun?
(Cartoon Brew. We report. You deride.)

Bah, what point would there be coming here if Cartoon Brew was just a news site? While I find I disagree with Amid half the time and do think he “occasionally” ventures in to being a rude, dick (LOL), I like the fact that he has an actual opinion and shares it openly. He doesn’t hide. Plus at no point can you deny his (and Jerry’s) love of the medium.

Keep on keepin on. Rarely does a week go by that I don’t learn something new from here.

I agree with Amid. I remember gathering with the entire studio i worked at when CN broadcast the Samurai Jack premier and 25 minutes in no one was even paying attention to it anymore. Every show i have seen since has basically followed suit. you can’t attract a viewer with a simplistic plot rehashed in every episode:

Jack arrives in new town/something amiss/Jack finds problem/Jack solves problem. If this was meant to be the “Fistful Of Dollars” formula, then they got one essential element wrong, there are no secondary characters to give a different perspective than Jack’s.

“show may put viewers to sleep”? Yikes, tough room!

Ya know, I remember talking to a couple of kids back in school, who didn’t like Samurai Jack because they found it boring since there was barely any dialog.

And then there are the people who complain that cartoons these days are too talkative. What’s a cartoonist to do?

I think the snooty accusation from the reader above is really unfair, JUST because you are bored with something that they are not.

What?

Personally, I think that it was justified because he was asked a direct question about the negative tone of this post and tried to turn it into an attack on the content of the link itself. He knew damn well what L was referring to and he chose to ignore it and hope that we were dumb enough to not notice.

I’m with Steve on this one. Between the negativity towards pretty much anything produced from the 1960s on and the constant plugs for new DVDs that the men who run this site were involved in, the blog really isn’t all that appealing anymore.

Oh, if it were just a news site, what would the fun be in that!? : ) Personally, I think everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, as long as it’s justified.

In my own opinion, I not only thought Samurai Jack had some excellent artwork, but was a nice breather in-between much of the rest of Cartoon Network’s lineup, which usually was nonstop chatter (although dialog can play an important factor, too much? …Yikes).

Like it or not, it was a show that cared to take some risks, and should be given some credit for that. And so should these wonderful artists, who made these gorgeous backgrounds.

i agree there is far too much empty chatter in cartoons today, but i didn’t like SJ and it had absolutely nothing to do with there being no dialogue. It had to do with there being roughly ONE character that the audience was familiar with every single episode.

any way you slice it, that formula gets mighty old real quick. it was a blunder to think that such a show could maintain any momentum like that. every episode we were introduced to entirely new scenery and entirely new characters only to bid them adieu at the end credits. plus, its not like Jack was a very developed character to begin with.

add that up and what you have is a bunch of anime fight scenes with scrolling BGs… every episode.

I respectfully disagree with the comments about SJ being a snoozefest. Popeye, IIRC, has similiar elements to being repetitive in almost every episode and the creator of this blog helped to make the DVD of it. Every episode has Popeye eating spinach with Olive Oyl in danger. Every episode of SJ has Jack using his sword. So what - what’s wrong with that? I love both - it’s animation. Genndy Tartovsky rules!

“I think the snooty accusation from the reader above is really unfair, JUST because you are bored with something that they are not.”

What?

Personally, I think that it was justified because he was asked a direct question about the negative tone of this post and tried to turn it into an attack on the content of the link itself. He knew damn well what L was referring to and he chose to ignore it and hope that we were dumb enough to not notice. -PAUL

Paul, since you quote me, I feel I should respond- You really think Amid thinks we are all Lemmings to lead off a cliff if he so desires?

You don’t point out that, while taking exception to Steve’s disrespect, I disagree with Amid’s comment, but you chose to take my comments out of context– and you must’ve thought that I was, in your own words “dumb enough not to notice”? How do you know Amid’s motives? You say he “damn well knew”– to use your example-

YOU damn well DON”T know. What’s worse, JUST stating an opinion, which is exactly what a comment thread is for, or stating that an opinion is a solid fact, as you are Paul.
Steve was as hostile as you-

“It’s your snotty, egotistical comments that are the negative. If you’d get your nose out of the air you’d realize that. I’m done with this snob blog. It’s become a complete joke.”-Let’s see if that’s true, and Steve never comments again, I won’t miss his rhetoric, it’s just plain hateful.

We should show a modicum of respect and maturity, even if we don’t share a particular view– You wouldn’t read Cartoon Brew in the first place if it didn’t have good content and allow you a voice– and THAT only happens because Amid and Jerry put A LOT of time and effort into it. But you don’t seem to give a damn. I think you and Steve are biting the hand that feeds your minds.

I’d love to read intelligent critiques from Amid about titles he doesn’t like. However if he’s simply going to insult shows (or people, with racial implications, as he did earlier) what’s the point? The commentary isn’t mature enough to be worth reading, and whatever is left on the site–product reviews and advertisements, etc.–is easy to find elsewhere.

Nobody here’s offended over a difference of opinion. Amid wasn’t writing a negative review of Samurai Jack. If he was, a negative comment like that wouldn’t seem weird or out of place at all.

If you feel you have to insult something in a post you wrote for the purpose of saying something nice, it’s better to not say anything about it at all.

Personally, I thought it was kind of funny the way the post summed up the bad side of Cartoon Brew. It was a very succinct way of saying “I declare this beloved show worthless on behalf of all viewers but will not explain my outrageous claim and will pretend to think everyone will agree and that I am surprised and confused when someone points out what I wrote, here are some gorgeous backgrounds.”

As far as I can tell, Amid loves a lot of things: animation blogs, other animation blogs, his book, animation blogs, and sometimes commercials directed by people he knows, but not always. The trouble is when he writes about modern animated movies or TV shows, then he can get pretty grumpy.

When I first started reading Cartoon Brew it seemed like a breath of fresh air to see an animation site that was opinionated and would not mince words. But after a couple years of reading it the attitude seems toxic. I realize that I don’t have all that much in common with the Cartoon Brew “everything sucks except for these old Woody Woodpecker sketches I found” view of animation. I mean how do you relate to a guy who loves animation but hates and looks down on both The Simpsons and Samurai Jack? And doesn’t take the time to explain it? And yet writes a book about friggin’ Robots? I guess I still haven’t figured out how the rules work here.

I don’t agree that Amid and Jerry should be “journalists” or not be opinionated. And they shouldn’t change their opinions, obviously. What I’m saying is they should continue to do the site the way they do, but I should probably stop reading it to avoid pulling my hair out.

Ooh those Jack backgrounds got me all nostalgic. I miss that show so much. Yes, I’m young enough to have it be one of my childhood memories. When I learned that there would be no proper ending of the series, I was so disappointed. (I think the only episode that I never really liked was the one where Aku told children stories about how evil Jack was. I forget why I didn’t like though.) But yea, I loved all those slow still moments, that felt like small meditations. I wasn’t quite old enough to appreciate the art further than, “man that looks so cool!”

Amid said what he said -and that’s all that he said. He needs no interpreters, nor translators. MA, he made no racist remark. Bryan T., you take an entire paragraph explaining what Amid REALLY meant. Then, another paragraph calling him a grump on any cartoon that isn’t mentioned in Cartoon Modern. After that, yet one more paragraph explaining that he has no credibility if he doesn’t like the Simpsons and Samurai Jack. I do agree with you on one point, you not reading Cartoon Brew WILL help your hair retention. as well as help the rest of us retain something too, our sanity.

Actually, even though I stand by what I said previously, I just re-read Amid’s post and it DID say “put viewers to sleep”, not “put me to sleep”. So if that’s actually what you meant to say and by extension means you actually do like the show, then I apologise. If it was sloppy and disingenuous writing (like your recent replies), then disregard this post.

GEORGE LUCAS RAPED MY CHILDHOOD! Oh wait… I thought I was at Ain’t It Cool for a second.

You guys are such babies. God forbid if Amid has an opinion… that’s why I love his posts! So someone’s opinion is different than yours… deal with it. Start your own site if you don’t like it.

Bill - I didn’t say he had no credibility. I said I couldn’t relate to his views. I was sincere in saying that Cartoon Brew is what it is, and not asking them to change. I just need to stay away. And I apologize if my presence damaged your sanity. Thanks.

Well wasn’t Samurai Jack based on samurai movies/westerns (including Kurosawa’s stuff) and other material, many which, when shown to today’s ADD inflicted audience, results in the audience falling asleep?

So please refer to cartoon here:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/stahler1.jpg

Bryan T.- I was kidding, my sanity was breached years ago from my Adult Attention Deficit Disorder-(I am AADD, but, more or less sane. A LOT of cartoonists ARE AADD, by the way)- which, actually attracted me to Samurai Jack, not putting me to sleep as Dave remarked. It does come across to me that your’e questioning Amid’s credibility, but I take your word that it’s not what you intended. Amid doesn’t need my defense, I just think MA’s comments about racial remarks are wayyyy off base- and needed to be addressed. Let’s appreciate our differences and grow from them, not run from them!

I like the back and forth opinionwise. But yeah I can believe kids found SJ boring because of the lack of dialog (which is odd because anime has plenty of long stretches with nary a word spoken). It reminds me of reading a letter from someone complaining about an issue of the comic book Bone that had little dialog. All that beautiful artwork right in front of his face … and he was going on about paying $3 for a few dozen words.

Believeable, but UNbelieveable. I hope Genndy gets another crack at a regular series soon. His Clone Wars was great, and better than its source material.

Wow. Beautiful backgrounds. What I love about Samurai Jack is how each episode had it’s own visual style and gave homage to some earlier work of animation or comic book. There are so many wonderful tips of the hat to Mary Blair, Maurice Noble, Hanna-Barbera and the like. Combined with Genndy’s ‘Hitchcockian’ sense of timing, minimalist dialogue, humor and great soundtrack, it was truly a joy to watch and a treasure for animation lovers.

I can’t agree that Samurai Jack was boring, but everyone has their own tastes. I for one, enjoyed the zen-like moments of quiet before the storm of action, but I can see some being impatient for the plot to progress.

Amid, I enjoy your site. Even though I disagree with some of your comments, I find more often than not I agree with you on most points. Keep up the good work.

Hey all, I’ve also done 6 posts with tons of Sam Jack bgs. Mine were captured off DVD at decent res and stitched together, so not the same quality Bill posted, but worth a look!

http://pumml.blogspot.com/search?q=scott+wills

Hey Amid,

First, I want to thanks you for linking my blog, ( I think! ;-)

Second, make no mistake the background style and art direction belongs to first Scott Wills, Dan Krall and Genndy. I was in on a short time in development, then passed the torch to Scott because I got a pilot and had to choose. Believe me it would have be a lesser show under me. I was a little bored with backgrounds and wanted to do my own show. Scott was prime to pull out all the stops artistically and when above and beyond and won well deserved art direction awards. I came back later and freelanced a few shows during downtime.

Third, Your comment was definitely a back handed compliment, but not totally without merit. I suggested to Genndy in the beginning that SJ needed propinquity (someone to talk to) but he was adamant he wanted to do the lone wolf action adventure. He hated kids cartoons when he grew up that spent time talking, talking, talking when he was dying for some action. He was sure he could eliminate that yakking and still be entertaining. I suggested a sidekick, a talking sword, a girlfriend who works for the villain or always teaming up with someone for a common foe. Some of these suggestions were touched on a bit and in my opinion those were the most entertaining shows. (Scotsman) being a good example.

Clint Eastwood’s best westerns movies had The bumbling Mexican gunslinger. The Rat in the new Pixar movie talks to a ghost, Moses talks to God, what ever. It’s a formula that works, but can be an irritant and heavy handed when done badly and it’s done badly a LOT. So I can’t blame Genndy for wanting to break that mold and I think he did a fabulous job working without what most consider an seminal tool for exposition and character development. Great filmmakers CAN tell a story with action, facial expressions, body language, and the overall metaphor that unfolds in a plot/ story. How ever that really hard to do, and even harder to do in animation, and even harder to do with TV schedules and budgets. Again, it’s a huge achievement Genndy pulled it off a beautifully as he did. As someone who doesn’t have the balls/ confidence to break the “rules,” I think using all forms of storytelling in a balanced way and facing the limitations of your media/ time is the best way to go, but that’s me.

Fourth, you have the right to you opinion, but tossing it of so casually can sound bit dismissively arrogant or at the least baiting SJ fans to get mad at you. It’s not Genndy fault that this business doesn’t produce the kinds of cartoons you like. Tempering your dismissive comments with insightful opinion would go a long why to informing the public rather that polarizing it.

In response to Stephen DeStefano…

While I see your point and agree with you, I simply can’t coax myself into marvelling at someone ‘reinventing’ something.

I’m more impressed by people who actually invent things or create new styles as opposed to regurgitating trendy retro stuff.

Wow Alan, I’m surprised at your lack of taste here, but you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. Are you saying you prefer backgrounds like the Simpsons uses to these hand-painted masterpieces?

And I’m afraid you may be a bit confused about something… drybrushing is not a ’style’ but a technique. When done properly can add texture and depth to a painting. I challenge you to point out a cartoon that has done it this well in the past 30(+?) years (not including Ren & Stimpy). I would say not since the days of Art Lozzi…

The technical aspects of these backgrounds alone are enough to ooh and ah about, let alone the beautiful artistry and moods created by them. It’s funny that you’re complaining about something of the highest quality because you’re tired of a painting technique, but I guess you’ll get your wish. The likes of these backgrounds will probably not be seen again due to budget and time contraints, and digital production methods.

You can keep your Simpsons backgrounds, I’ll take these any day.

And to those others who think this cartoon is a snooze-fest, have you ever seen Kurosawa films (Yojimbo, etc)? The timing is different for a reason, but perhaps you can’t appreciate it here because it’s a cartoon. Sam Jack definitely has a more Japanese filmic sense of timing in that regard. The reason being as Genndy himself stated, was for the slow parts to seem very quiet and still to create greater contrast to the action sequences. In my opinion, this was used to great effect.

This cartoon, more than any other cartoon, challenged my notion of what a cartoon could be. My hat is off to Scott, Bill, Dan, Genndy and all the other tremendous talents that made this show so amazing.

I think the point isn’t that someone reinvented anything. It’s that they do it very WELL.

Hey! This show never put me to sleep!

How could a show that looks like Samurai Jack does put me to sleep?

Drake: I never said I liked ‘Simpsons’ backgrounds. You said that. I said I’m sick of ‘retro-style’. You’re right that dry brush is a technique, but ‘retro’ is a style.I also didn’t say it was ‘evil’… I’m just not impressed by it. I’m impressed by innovation. A trait sorely lacking even among the industry’s ‘geniuses’.

Point taken, Alan. I agree with you that industry leaders should be innovators. For this show, the innovations for me, were the convergence of different influences in a way that hadn’t been done before, with elements like limited dialog and no character outlines that were used against industry standards (and advice). The backgrounds to me are innovative because they are a mixture of stylized design and amazing technique that hasn’t been used since the 50’s, mainly because it takes so much skill (and time) to pull off. These techniques have since then been traded in for more streamlined and visually less appealing practices, unfortunately.

When you refer to ‘retro-style’, which cartoons do you mean? Backgrounds like those seen in Huckleberry Hound, the Flintstones, Looney Toons, etc? If so, it’s true that many of the same techniques were used in creating these, but when I look at Bill’s and Scott’s bgs, I don’t see ‘retro’. I see a mixture of various looks that were dependent on the focus, setting, and time period of each episode. Some are vibrant stylizations of nature, others are urban, grungy, futuristic and so on.

Are these too retro for you? Because they knock my socks off.
029_122B.jpg
049_005.jpg
050_341.jpg

It’s not that they’re not pretty to look at, they just don’t do anything for me.
You’re entitled to like what you like… I’d never take that away from anybody.
As for me, they draw too much attention to themselves. They scream “Look at me! I’m a pretty background!”

I do believe that was the point. They were designed not to merely blend in with the scene, but to really make a bold statement because Jack is almost entirely white. That gave them the chance to go bolder with the background colors to make him “pop”.

At any rate, the majority of other posters here and I will continue to be awestruck by them. I would be interested to see examples of backgrounds that you prefer.

That’s probably not going to happen for a long time since it seems as though no one is interested in experimentation or innovation these days.
I mean, I could cite examples from old Warner/Disney/Fleischer cartoons - but I’m waiting for some MODERN innovators to surface.

that show was amazing.. its just that people’s tastes in animation is pretty low brow, always has and probably always will be. people who dig really good film will cherish their dvds. 4th/Final one just dropped(if not, soon) by the way :D

Sleep? SLEEP??
Who sleeps during Samurai Jack???

I realize i’m way behind on the discussion, but hell, i was seeking backgrounds, and many thanks for the awesome link :)

nice work! but the cartoon was the best no one in the right mind would sleep through it. samurai jack was probably the best cartoon that was on cartoon network during its time

Samurai Jack boring? You must be kidding! I think it’s one of the best (if not the better) animated series of CN

Unfortunately, a bunch of readers/commenters on Cartoon Brew and a few other sites seem to judge soley on the basis that if something isn’t from the 50’s or 60’s, then it must be rubbish in one way or another (a view not shared by the site authors themselves… it’s as if the readers don’t actually read!). This unfortunate, hobbled way of looking at modern cartoon output is typified by the sad, bitter John Kricfalusi (of Ren and Stimpy fame), and his knee-jerk retro-reactionary responses have been picked up by a herd of fanboy bleaters. I am an animation director and layout supe on animated shows, and have been fortunate to find talented, enthusiastic people to work with who arent chained to some weird fable based loosely on the past.
I showed one director an orgasmic Kricfalusi blog about the handpainted details and nuanced bkgs on a clasic Huckleberry Hound cartoon. This director had worked on the show, and reminisced ‘Yeah, those backgrounds are great, but i wonder if Kricfalusi’d be so enamoured if he coulda seen ‘em being painted with foam rollers….’.