Jack the Explorer is a very fun (if often stressful) animated kids show about a blue alien who goes to visit his 2 or 3 Earth friends (Niko and Sam are in every episode, and Yokki occasionally shows up as well) and learns something about science. The show always has high stakes as well, as Jack and his friends must figure out how to solve whatever problem they get into without letting anyone else (especially their parents) find out about Jack's existence.
Jack the Explorer holds a special place in my childhood- I remember I loved when a new episode came out and would tape as many as I could- I must have almost every episode on a VHS I recorded off the TV almost a decade ago now. I specifically remember asking my Dad to record the one about tornados but something went wrong and it didn't get recorded- I was so upset, my Dad contacted the TG program to ask if they could re-broadcast it and they gave a schedule for when it was to air again. Also, I remember the one where Niko and Sam's skin turn blue and after reaching the end, I noticed I forgot to hit record and was similarly devastated. Looking back on these memories, I guess Jack was very much one of my favorite TV Shows of all time.
Rewatching some episodes, I wonder why the show didn't get picked up for more, but I feel that may be because some of the episodes got a little too disturbing for its target audience. There's an episode where Jack gets hit with poison ivy, but because he's an alien, the poison ivy has a very different reaction to him than it would for humans, starting with yellow spots forming on his body, before he becomes jelly like and loses control over his own limbs. I remember as a kid, this terrified me and for a while this was an episode I never touched again.
I feel this would happen a lot in the show. I think most of the conflict was meant to be played off for laughs, but ended up being very stressful to watch. Sometimes the lengths Niko, Sam, or Yokki would go to to keep Jack's existence a secret from their parents were unbelievable, with them being willing to throw themselves into a multitude of unjustly trouble just so that Jack's existence remained hidden. This adds up a lot episode by episode until I grew to hate the character of Jack, who very rarely took anything seriously and only once in a long while would make a sacrafice that was on any level close to what his Earth friends would do for him. (The skunk one sticks out to me as the only direct example I can remember where Jack actively made a unquestionably bold move to help keep himself a secret from Niko and Sam's parents, while also sparing them from getting in further trouble by being caught with a skunk. But then I just think of the episode where he actually got caught and Niko had to impersonate him and get in a huge amount of trouble by his parents just to make it seem like it wasn't real. Even if Jack did take Niko's punishment in secret (having to rake their neighbor's yard for a month), Niko was still undoubtedly scolded by his parents when all he was doing was helping his friend.
The aforementioned episode where Jack turns Niko and Sam's skin blue was another turning point for me when it came to judging Jack's character. Regardless of Jack's intentions with trying to give them a good dose of effective and supposedly harmless alien sunscreen, Jack should at least ask his friends if they even Want such a sunscreen before dosing then with something that would apparently last for 10 years. I don't care if Jack blasted me with something that gave me the power of flight with no negative consequences; I would at least feel annoyed that he went out of his way to force it upon me without asking if I wanted it first.
I've talked for quite a while, and I feel this review has gotten a lot more negative than I intended it to be, but these negative points are mainly just explaining why I'm giving this show a 7/10 instead of anything higher. The fact is, this show is still amazing and easy to invest in. Each episode is only 10 minutes so it's hardly a waste even if you find a boring one which is very rare in my opinion. I'd reccomend giving it a watch!
Jack the Explorer holds a special place in my childhood- I remember I loved when a new episode came out and would tape as many as I could- I must have almost every episode on a VHS I recorded off the TV almost a decade ago now. I specifically remember asking my Dad to record the one about tornados but something went wrong and it didn't get recorded- I was so upset, my Dad contacted the TG program to ask if they could re-broadcast it and they gave a schedule for when it was to air again. Also, I remember the one where Niko and Sam's skin turn blue and after reaching the end, I noticed I forgot to hit record and was similarly devastated. Looking back on these memories, I guess Jack was very much one of my favorite TV Shows of all time.
Rewatching some episodes, I wonder why the show didn't get picked up for more, but I feel that may be because some of the episodes got a little too disturbing for its target audience. There's an episode where Jack gets hit with poison ivy, but because he's an alien, the poison ivy has a very different reaction to him than it would for humans, starting with yellow spots forming on his body, before he becomes jelly like and loses control over his own limbs. I remember as a kid, this terrified me and for a while this was an episode I never touched again.
I feel this would happen a lot in the show. I think most of the conflict was meant to be played off for laughs, but ended up being very stressful to watch. Sometimes the lengths Niko, Sam, or Yokki would go to to keep Jack's existence a secret from their parents were unbelievable, with them being willing to throw themselves into a multitude of unjustly trouble just so that Jack's existence remained hidden. This adds up a lot episode by episode until I grew to hate the character of Jack, who very rarely took anything seriously and only once in a long while would make a sacrafice that was on any level close to what his Earth friends would do for him. (The skunk one sticks out to me as the only direct example I can remember where Jack actively made a unquestionably bold move to help keep himself a secret from Niko and Sam's parents, while also sparing them from getting in further trouble by being caught with a skunk. But then I just think of the episode where he actually got caught and Niko had to impersonate him and get in a huge amount of trouble by his parents just to make it seem like it wasn't real. Even if Jack did take Niko's punishment in secret (having to rake their neighbor's yard for a month), Niko was still undoubtedly scolded by his parents when all he was doing was helping his friend.
The aforementioned episode where Jack turns Niko and Sam's skin blue was another turning point for me when it came to judging Jack's character. Regardless of Jack's intentions with trying to give them a good dose of effective and supposedly harmless alien sunscreen, Jack should at least ask his friends if they even Want such a sunscreen before dosing then with something that would apparently last for 10 years. I don't care if Jack blasted me with something that gave me the power of flight with no negative consequences; I would at least feel annoyed that he went out of his way to force it upon me without asking if I wanted it first.
I've talked for quite a while, and I feel this review has gotten a lot more negative than I intended it to be, but these negative points are mainly just explaining why I'm giving this show a 7/10 instead of anything higher. The fact is, this show is still amazing and easy to invest in. Each episode is only 10 minutes so it's hardly a waste even if you find a boring one which is very rare in my opinion. I'd reccomend giving it a watch!
