Episode II: The Samurai Called Jack

"Episode II: The Samurai Called Jack" is the second episode in the first season of Samurai Jack. The Prince gains his name and meets a group of talking, canine archaeologists.

Summary
Continuing from The Beginning, the Prince has finally gotten out of the portal Aku has thrown him into, only to find himself falling into the depths of a high-tech city and nearly getting hit by flying cars. After managing to land on one of the vehicles, the Prince is shot at by an APB car. The Prince quickly cuts the car apart and lands safely on the ground below by jumping from car to car.

The Prince soon finds himself facing a massive trash-compacting vehicle heading straight for him. The Prince manages to avoid being crushed by using his acrobatic skills and climbing on the vehicle's underside and leaps onto a walkway, where three young aliens had been watching him. Amazed by his skills, the three continually referred to him as 'Jack'. The Prince asks them where he is and who's in charge. They tell the Prince he's in the Central Hub of Sector D of the city and that Aku is their leader. The Prince looks around and becomes overwhelmed by the fact that Aku is everywhere. The teens then direct him to a bar so he can get a drink and calm his nerves.

At the bar, the Prince is astonished to see that everyone inside is an alien. One of the aliens becomes offended by his staring and starts a fight with him. The Prince tries to apologize, but it doesn't work and he is forced to literally disarm the alien, only for the injured alien's friends to join in the fight. While the Prince is defending himself, three canine archaeologists are speaking with an alien warrior, hoping he will help them fight against Aku. The alien calls them idiots and walks off. Not deterred, the archaeologists then turn their attention to the Prince, who has disarmed all the other aliens. Rothchild, the leader of the archaeologists, invites The Prince to sit with them so they can explain to him where he is and to ask for his help. They introduce themselves as Sir Drifus Alexander (Bulldog),  Sir Angus McDuffy (Scottish Terrier), and Sir Colin Bartholomew Montgomery Rothchild III (Dachsund). They explain to the Prince that Aku has ruled the Earth for thousands of years, while extending his reach towards other galaxies to increase his wealth and power over resources, causing a mirage of lifeforms to inhabit Earth and change it into what it is now. They also discover that the Prince is in fact from the past after he points out the fact that where he came from dogs only barked. After scanning him, they discover that he originates from the time before Aku took over Earth completely. The Prince himself understands and realizes that the question is not where he is, but when, and that Aku must have thrown him into the future. They then ask the Prince for his help to free them and their colleagues from Aku who has enslaved them to work in crystal mines without rest, making them unable to continue their studies about their past. The Prince decides to help them and introduces himself as "Jack", the name the teens called him earlier. As they leave, unbeknownst to them, a spy of Aku's overheard their conversation and went to give the Shogun of Sorrows himself the information. As soon as he heard this, Aku became infuriated and wished to see who would dare to oppose him, only to discover that it was Jack. Aku knew this day would come and proclaims that Jack will now suffer the pain he felt in the past and sends an army of Beetle Drones to attack them.

At the excavation site, Jack and the archaeologists learn that Aku has sent an army of machines to destroy them. Soon, they begin to prepare for their coming arrival.

Credits

 * Written by
 * Paul Rudish
 * Genndy Tartakovsky


 * Directed by
 * Genndy Tartakovsky


 * Storyboards by
 * Paul Rudish
 * Genndy Tartakovsky
 * Chris Reccardi


 * Voices
 * Phil LaMarr as Samurai Jack / Homeslice / Dog #1
 * Mako as Aku
 * Rob Paulsen as Sir Rothchild / Cole Lampkin / Lizor
 * Jeff Bennett as Alien / Sir McDuffy / Sir Dreyfuss / Leader / Dog #2
 * Jennifer Hale as Waitress
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Brobot / Bouncer / Vada 2


 * Casting by
 * Collette Sunderman

Trivia

 * Bits of what appear to be Townsville, a setting featured prominently in The Powerpuff Girls, can be seen in the backgrounds of several scenes at the excavation site.
 * Among the canine archaeologist there are two dogs who bear some resemblances to Little Dog and Big Dog from 2 Stupid Dogs, which involved Genndy Tartakovsky.
 * According to Angus, Jack's arrival in the future would make him at least several thousand years old.