I remember this 2000 show as being a half-baked entry in the wacky-historical action-comedy genre from the creators of Hercules and Xena, but what felt forced then suddenly seems like the most outrageous thing I've seen in ages. Has the world gone so far down the road to hell in half a decade that a send-up of idiot politicians and governmental transgressions now seems so much more potent as parody? Yes, the bad accents, terrible puns, and awful character assassinations of historical figures here are wildly funny in a Three Stooges-meet-Daniel Boorstin kind of way. Presenting all 22 episodes in an extra-less three-disc boxed set, Jack of All Trades follows the adventures of cult-favorite Bruce Campbell's American secret agent Jack Stiles, sent by President Jefferson to the French-controlled island of Palau Palau in 1801 (the show assumes some knowledge of history on the part of the viewer in order to catch the jokes about Ben Franklin, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, etc.). And there's mad science on hand, courtesy of the anachronistic doodads "invented" by Jack's cohort Emilia (Angela Dotchin), a British merchant secretly working to bring down the French (Emilia is one cool chick, even if she is inexcusably immune to Jack's charms). A wonderful guilty pleasure tailor-made for our trying times, this is recommended. (M. Johanson)
Jack of All Trades: The Complete Series
Universal, 3 discs, 487 min., not rated, DVD: $39.98 Volume 21, Issue 5
Jack of All Trades: The Complete Series
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