Jack and the Spartans
Episode numeral: XV
Original air date: 10/4/02
While travelling through a mountain pass, Jack comes across a valley leading to a very narrow gorge. On one end of the valley is a seemingly endless horde of robotic minotaurs, and on the other is a phalanx of Spartan warriors hellbent on defending the gorge with their lives. Rather than let his fellow humans fall to the robots, Jack jumps in to aid the defense, helping to turn the tide of battle in favor of the Spartans.
When the battle is finished and as the Spartans treat their wounded, Jack is brought to the Spartan King and welcomed as a guest. The king says that he and his 300 men are the last defenders of the last kingdom in this region, as all others had been wiped out by an AI that had gone mad and started sending its minotaur hordes to pillage the countryside and feed it more resources. The gorge they have been fighting over is the only way through the mountains to the Spartan's kingdom, and if they fall there then all is lost. The war has gone on for several generations, with the minotaurs unable to break the phalanx and the Spartans lacking the numbers and access to the AI's core to end the threat. But there might be some hope, as Jack's presence indicates there's another route through the mountains the AI doesn't know about, one the Spartans might be able to take to launch a counter attack and win the war.
Their plan agreed upon, Jack and the king lead a hand-picked strike force through the mountains while the king's son commands the defense against the minotaur horde. The strike force sneaks through the pass without issue and attacks the factory the evil AI calls home, Jack and the king cutting through the defenses until they reach the core. The core proves to be a much tougher opponent than any the Spartans have faced before, and only Jack's sword is able to cause any lasting damage. After a long battle, the Spartan King lobs Jack's katana through the AI's head, causing it to explode. The king escapes, but Jack seemingly perishes when he throws himself between the king and the explosion, using two Spartan shields to deflect the blast.
Years later, when the king is old and on his deathbed, he finishes retelling the story of their kingdom's triumph and the unknown warrior that came to their aid to his son and loved ones. He muses that he thinks the warrior survived the final blast, as someone that powerful and skilled would not die to a mere explosion. Sure enough, the final scene shows the smoking crater of the factory, Jack silhouetted against the smoke as he grips his katana in victory.
This episode provides examples of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Monster of the Week is an AI that went rogue and started razing the countryside with its armies, and the Spartans are the last kingdom to stand against it.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: The Spartan King is the most powerful and skilled of the humans present (after Jack, of course).
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Jack and the Spartan King against the AI core, with the king wielding Jack's katana while Jack carries two shields to deflect incoming attacks.
- Distant Finale: The episode ends with the Spartan King, now an old man in his death bed, telling the story of the battle to his descendants.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Jack throws himself between the Spartan King and the exploding AI, seemingly perishing while the king escapes. The king, though, is convinced Jack survived the blast, as a warrior that tough and skilled wouldn't die to a mere explosion.
- Hold the Line: There is only one way into the Spartan kingdom, a narrow path through the mountains on the other side of a shallow stream. The Spartans fight tooth and nail to keep the machines from crossing that stream, as they have for generations before.
- Hopeless War: The war against the machines for the Spartans, before Jack came along. It had already been going on for generations before, and while the phalanx had not broken yet the machines could easily replenish their numbers and would eventually wear them down through sheer attrition.
- Never Found the Body: Jack is seemingly killed when the factory explodes, with only the shield he was using remaining. The Spartan King doesn't buy it and thinks Jack survived, as someone as great as him would not die to a mere explosion.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: How the Spartan King kills the AI, throwing Jack's sword through the machine's head.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The plot of this episode was inspired from 300, a 1998 comic series by Frank Miller which would also inspire a movie that's more well known. The comic and the film in turn were based on the historical Battle of Thermopylae
. - Wrecked Weapon: The Spartan King breaks his sword trying to chop off one of the AI core's limbs. Jack tosses him his katana as a replacement and the King does much better.
