Static Thoughts - Jack of All Trades

This has been a very strange but good year for nerdy comebacks, but none stranger than Ash vs. Evil Dead.  Ash vs. Evil Dead is a TV show sequel to the cult classic film series by movie geek turned blockbuster hit maker Sam Raimi.  The fact that Ash vs. Evil Dead exists at all is a miracle given that it’s a big budget premium show made out of a no-budget 1981 horror flick but the fact that’s it’s actually really good seems like some kind of masterful alchemy or magic.  A big part of its charm definitely lies with Bruce Campbell, lord of sleaze and cheese whose career also started with the original Evil Dead.  What’s impressive and still kind of shows through is that Campbell wasn’t really an actor pre-Evil Dead, just a friend that director Sam Raimi got to star in the movie. 

That friendship has always proved strong and lucrative for both men, so in the ‘90s when Raimi hit it big as a TV producer with shows like Xena and Hercules he decided to give his old friend Bruce another shot with the starring role in a historical comedy called Jack of All Trades.  Now that Bruce Campbell is back in a leading role on our televisions and his place in our collective hearts has been reaffirmed I figure it’s a good time to look back on Jack of All Trades. 

Though Jack of All Trades wears many hats, by far its biggest and most defining one is that of a whacky cartoon comedy.  Set at the dawn of the 19^th century the show revolves around the escapades of American spy Jack Stiles, played by Bruce Campbell, as he’s forced to work alongside the English undercover agent Emilia Rothschild, played by Angela Dotchin, against the expansionist machinations of Napoleon, played by Verne Troyer, on the fictional island of Pulau-Pulau in the East Indies.  In case the fictional setting and the fact the show is set in 1801 even though Napoleon didn’t come to power till 1804 didn’t give it away, Jack of All Trades is not a show about historical accuracy though “history” as a style and genre is very much on its mind.  The setting and time period essentially work as an excuse to slot various historical figures and events into a central plot as an excuse for jokes, hence my earlier supposition that the show is predominately a comedy just one that includes historical and action elements. 

Nearly every episode involves some amusing caricature of a real historical figure showing up such as Katherine the Great, Marquis de Sade, Ben Franklin, and King George III.  It’s tempting to look at this as similar to Black Adder The Third but where that was a farce Jack of All Trades is decidedly more in the vein of a live action cartoon.  A lot of the jokes are visual gags that play pretty fast and loose with the laws of physics and the historical caricatures usually serve as comedic plot points rather than impactful characters.  At the same time, Jack of All Trades’ emphasis on a blend of high flying adventure and slapstick action push it much more in the direction of a cartoon series.

Speaking of action, that’s one of the stranger elements of the show as early on Bruce Campbell’s character adopts the identity of the Daring Dragoon, a costume vigilante who prowls the island and foils the machinations of the French.  Like a lot of Raimi/Campbell projects Jack of All Trades plays like a blend of tropes and genre elements drawn from retro-Hollywood and television.  The basic set-up foiling a different scheme each week, usually with the use of a gadget, feels thoroughly grounded in classic serials in a manner similar to Bruce Campbell’s previous television venture The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., while the set-up of two spies from rival nations being forced to work together would appear to be lifted whole sale from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  The stuff with the Daring Dragoon harkens back to some of the oldest entries in the adventure genre.  The most obvious influence is Zorro, which makes sense given The Mask of Zorro premiered only 2 years prior to Jack of All Trades, but there’s also a lot of the Scarlet Pimpernel in the Dragoons design and activities.

 

All of these elements make Jack of All Trades a fun exercise in historical inaccuracy, comedic bad taste, and retro adventure but what makes it really compelling is the superb chemistry between Bruce Campbell and Angela Dotchin.  Both characters are written as broad strokes stereotypes of their respective nations, Campbell the boisterous American with two fists and a smile while Dotchin is the prim and proper British lady, but there’s a firm sense of friendship and real connection underneath all the layers of caricature.  Mainly this is thanks to the acting and the fact that Campbell and Dotchin seem to have a genuine friendship that actually cuts through the layers of silliness and self-indulgent comedy. 

The show’s main plot and attitude never really approach anything close to seriousness or actual stakes but the relationship between the characters lends things a legitimate sense of risk.  Even if the show isn’t taking anything else that’s going on seriously the fact that they care about each other always gives the proceedings a genuine sense of risk and importance.  The show always tried to play up the romantic tension between the two but they never actually got together which I really like.  No matter how hard the series tried these two characters just never felt like a couple so much as close friends, which is actually a pretty rare relationship for a man and woman to have on TV. 

Finally, I’d be remise not to mention the Emmy nominated intro sequence which is like a little masterpiece that’s been left at the beginning of each episode.  Intro sequences are actually pretty rare nowadays but back when they were a big part of shows at Jack of All Trades has one of the all time best, mainly owing to its incredibly catchy intro song.  The tune, along with some of the lyrics, is actually a reworking of a collection of popular period songs like Marines Hymn and Yankee Doodle that blends the two together perfectly.  The choreography is pretty spot on as well, a dance number choreographed through a raucous pub intercut with clips from the show.  It’s all actually very complex and intricately put together while affecting the illusions of a slap dash jaunty tune.

 

I don’t think Jack of All Trades will change anyone’s life but it’s still super fun and definitely deserved a longer run than the 22 episodes it got.  A big part of the problem was that the show played a lot like a 3^rd draft rather than a finished series concept so the very transparent formula starts to wear thin if you watch more than three episodes in a row, which can make it kind of tedious to watch a lot of the show, especially in a single sitting.  At the same time though there really hasn’t been anything else like it since and the fact that nowadays we’re more willing to embrace this particular brand of historic goofiness on shows like Sleepy Hollow or formula storytelling like on Grimm suggests there’d still be a market for the series if it came back.  Honestly, I think Netflix or Adult Swim would be smart to scoop up the rights for an animated revival, the show was already such a live action cartoon that going all the way would probably be a big step in the right direction. 


if you liked this article please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter