Jack of All Trades (TV series)
| Jack of All Trades | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre |
Action-comedy Steampunk |
| Created by | Eric A. Morris |
| Starring |
Bruce Campbell Angela Dotchin Stuart Devenie Chris Easley |
| Theme music composer | Joseph Loduca |
| Country of origin | United States New Zealand |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Rob Tapert Sam Raimi Bruce Campbell |
| Location(s) | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Running time | 22 Minutes |
| Production company(s) | Renaissance Pictures |
| Distributor | Studios USA |
| Release | |
| Original network | Syndication |
| Original release | January 17 – December 2, 2000 |
Jack of All Trades is a half-hour-long syndicated action-comedy television series which ran for two seasons in 2000. With Cleopatra 2525, it formed the Back2Back Action Hour and both shows were notable for being the first American non-animated action series to be produced in the half-hour format since the 1970s. The show was canceled in the middle of its second season.
The program is set at the turn of the 19th century on the fictional French-controlled island of Pulau-Pulau in the East Indies. Jack Stiles is an American secret agent sent there by President Jefferson. While there, he meets his British contact and love interest, English spy Emilia Rothschild. Together, the two work to stop Napoleon and various other threats to the United States. To the public, Jack is seen as Emilia's attaché (she sometimes serves as his), and in order to protect his identity as a secret agent, while acting against the enemies of America, Jack often adopts the identity of a legendary (though otherwise fictional) masked hero: "the Daring Dragoon".
The show contained many on-going gags, such as deliberate historical inaccuracies (such as Canada being a French territory rather than part of the British Empire), Jack being responsible for many important historical events but not receiving credit, Emilia inventing a miraculous invention in an obvious deus ex machina, sexual puns and innuendos, and Jack and Emilia's ongoing romantic tension.
The premise of a masked swashbuckler thwarting the endless machinations of a corrupt governor, his cravenly servile captain, and their bumbling retinue of soldiers is borrowed rather unabashedly from that of Zorro, particularly the youth-oriented film serials and TV series. In many ways, the show was meant to be a historical fantasy in the vein of Campbell's 1993–1994 western series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and the 1965–1969 adventure show The Wild Wild West. The Jack Stiles character also resembles the flamboyant Autolycus ("the King of Thieves"), a recurring role Campbell played on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.
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