Review: The Animated Adventures Of Jack Decker “Pilot”

Animated adaptations of live-action anything is seldom anything to write home about and the same goes for the other way around. The great thing about The Animated Adventures of Jack Decker, is that we’re getting an animated rendition of a live-action series that is already a parody of a genre of popular TV, as a result, there’s surely a lot less stress in anything being truly screwed up.  For fans of Decker, you’ll be happy to know that the pilot episode of the animated adaptation of the long-running Adult Swim series continues the franchise’s legacy of not taking itself seriously.

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim’s use of the animated medium to translate the constant battery of inside jokes and site gags is definitely here, but I’m not convinced it’s on the same level of finesse that the live-action series offers. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean we don’t get a good pilot. Instead, The Animated Adventures of Jack Decker provides for a rather unique twist on the Jonny Quest trope, but with possibly unintended auspices of other older Adult Swim fare like 12 oz Mouse or Aqua Teen. 

The premise of the pilot episode is simple enough, Jack’s got to put a stop to a potential terrorist plot that could destroy America’s reliance on corn crop. Yes, it’s a ridiculous plot, but it works, and it provides for more than enough substance to provide for the trademark Mel Brooks-esque deliveries that have served the likes of the On Cinema offspring for eons. It definitely helps that you are somewhat familiar with at least some of the prior exploits coming from Tim & Eric, more over, a semblance of an idea of the constant silly battles with Gregg Turkington, but I don’t think it’s required. Fans of series like Mike Tyson Mysteries or The Venture Bros. would have enough to grasp from the show to latch on for more than a few seasons.