Superjail! is an American animated television series produced by Augenblick Studios in its first season, and by Titmouse, Inc. in its second, third, and fourth seasons. A fourth season was confirmed on the Twitter page of David Wain, who voices the character of the Warden. The series follows the events that take place in an unusual prison. The pilot episode aired on television on May 13, 2007, and its first season began on September 28, 2008. Superjail! is characterized by its psychedelic shifts in setting and plot and extreme graphic violence, which give the series a TV-MA-V (for graphic violence, including scenes of bloodshed, dismemberment, torture, and extreme cruelty) rating. These elements are depicted through highly elaborate animated sequences, which have been described as "Baroque and complicated and hard to take in at a single viewing". On October 30, 2015, Titmouse confirmed at their panel at Comikaze Expo that Superjail! had been cancelled by drawing it along with previously cancelled shows like Motorcity, Tron: Uprising, and Metalocalypse. The series was the creation of Christy Karacas, who was a member of the band Cheeseburger, and also directed Robotomy for Cartoon Network, Stephen Warbrick, who was originally a digital artist on MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch and was also an animatic artist at Blue Sky Studios, and Ben Gruber, who would also later write for shows like Teen Titans Go!, Breadwinners, and SpongeBob SquarePants.
The majority of Superjail! is set inside the eponymous prison, located in an alternate dimension identified as "5612". Externally, Superjail is built underneath a volcano which is itself located inside of a larger volcano. Internally, it seems to constitute its own reality, where the fabric of time and space is extremely fluid and changes at the whim of the Warden. It has been indicated that the prison itself has a degree of sentience, and that the nature of the prison is fluid according to the perceptions of the individual. Superjail's inmate population is stated by Jared to be in excess of 70,000, although the show's creators mention that the jail processes "billions of inmates". Superjail is overseen by an individual known only as "The Warden," an amiable psychopath with apparently magical powers who uses the prison (and prisoners) to satisfy his numerous whims.
In the first season, each episode begins with a linear story revolving around an irresponsible scheme concocted by the Warden to satisfy some personal desire. The episode builds up in both violence and surrealism into a climactic, psychedelic blood bath during which dozens of inmates are brutally or gruesomely murdered, either by one another or some external force. Some episode plots have no resolutions at all, with the story simply stopping when events have reached their most chaotic. Regardless, the status quo is always restored by the next episode unless the episode is a multi-part one.
Beginning with the second season, the creators modified the format of the series to focus more on character development and story, as imagined by a revised writing staff. The second-season premiere "Best Friends Forever" demonstrated an immediate break from the first season's template, focusing the episode on Jailbot and Jacknife as opposed to the Warden, setting half of the episode outside of the prison, and lacking an extended murder sequence in the climax.
The third season of the show attempted to meld the formats of the first two seasons, continuing a focus on character development and ongoing storylines while reviving the technique of ending each episode with a complex murder sequence.
Theme song
The theme song for the show is "Comin' Home" sung by the group Cheeseburger. An acoustic version (also sung by Cheeseburger) can be heard as the opening to the episode "Time Police Part 2", when, after the shutdown of Superjail, Jacknife is sent to a real-world prison after attempting to rob a bank (this scene could also be a flashback, as Jacknife already had been in a real-life prison at the beginning of the pilot episode, "Bunny Love"). The song is used in every episode except for two: "Bunny Love" and "The Budding of the Warbuxx". "Bunny Love" opens with "Rubber Bullets" by 10cc (which was supposed to be the show's theme song originally, but was changed, as the song's rights were too expensive for the show to use), and "The Budding of the Warbuxx" has no opening song.
Starting from Season four, the episodes' pre-opening sequences no longer feature the "Comin' Home" theme.
Influences
In an interview, creator Christy Karacas said influences for the show include Tex Avery, child art, Bob Clampett, John Kricfalusi, Vince Collins (Malice in Wonderland), Sally Cruikshank, Nick Cross, Dave and Max Fleischer, The Itchy & Scratchy Show, Looney Tunes, Mad, The Muppets, Yellow Submarine, outsider art, Gary Panter, Pee-wee's Playhouse, Schoolhouse Rock!, Earthworm Jim, Dr. Seuss, and underground comix.
Main characters
The Warden (voiced by David Wain) – The proprietor and warden of Superjail and the main character of the series. A tall and thin man clad in a purpletailcoat and top hat, gloves, redcummerbund, and yellow-tinted glasses, the Warden has been described as a "sadistic version of both the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland and Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Although he possesses an ever-cheerful and optimistic demeanor, he is a severely deranged and violent individual due to his upbringing by a strict father who was also a warden. The Warden devised Superjail as a means for expressing himself and regularly endangers the lives of Superjail prisoners and staff, often intentionally, to satisfy some unusual whim. He has very little respect for human life, and one day wishes to incarcerate all of humanity within the Superjail, according to one episode depicting an alternate future where he conquers the entire world and transforms it into a single prison state. Rather than handling any actual administrative tasks, he spends most of his time lusting after chief guard Alice or indulging his own bizarre fantasies. The Warden also possesses magical abilities, such as the ability to shapeshift into virtually anything he can imagine, and the ability to control the laws of reality within Superjail.
Jared (voiced by Teddy Cohn) – Superjail's large-headed, long-moustached, uptight/high-strung accountant and the Warden's primary assistant. Jared handles most of Superjail's administrative duties as well as extracurricular activities, such as the Superjail Newspaper. He was first taken to Superjail as a prisoner for unknowingly working for the mafia and got his job when he impressed the Warden with his intelligence and financial skills (An allusion to The Shawshank Redemption). He is in recovery for, according to the show's creators, every addiction possible, including alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, sex addiction, and compulsive eating. Periodically, Jared suffers relapses into his addictions, especially when he is stressed out or temptation proves to be too much for him.
Alice (voiced by Christy Karacas) – The hulking, muscular head prison guard of Superjail who is transgender and regularly engages in sadomasochistic rituals with the prisoners (often without their consent), though she rebuffs the Warden's constant advances. She was originally a male guard at a normal prison who got a sex change when she fell in love with that prison's warden. However, she was fired as a result of the prison's warden ultimately turning out to be homosexual and deeming her a monster. Alice was later hired by the Warden shortly after. While Alice is apparently taking hormone therapy (to the point that she has grown breasts), she becomes angered when anyone refers to her as male, and publicly considers herself a woman. The season two finale directly states that she has not yet undergone genital reconstruction surgery. The show also makes a point of constantly showing off Alice's still-present male genitalia as a running gag, artistically portrayed as a prominent bulge under her clothing.
Jailbot – A tombstone-shaped levitating robot that the Warden created to perform tasks in and around Superjail. Within his simplistic-looking body seems to be a limitless storage space, from which he can produce a vast arsenal of deadly weaponry and tools, as well as numerous telescoping arms. At the beginning of every episode Jailbot is tasked with capturing (and beating up) a criminal named Jackknife and bringing him to Superjail, often maiming or killing many innocent bystanders in the process. In the episode "Jailbot 2.0", the Warden claims that Jailbot single-handedly built the vast prison, but flashbacks suggest that Jailbot is really the latest in a series of similar robots. He is mute, with a dot matrix screen that displays a simple expressive face. Despite his ruthlessness, Jailbot also possesses a childlike personality, protecting the Warden from any harm and watching out for the welfare of young children who come across his path, however, he can be cold and ruthless to children who are mean to him; Christy Karacas described him as a "red headed stepchild... seeking approval." He has even shown compassion for Jacknife, such as releasing him in "Best Friends Forever".
The Doctor (voiced by Christopher McCulloch) – The resident physician of Superjail. He regularly experiments on the inmates in grotesque ways, and has a German accent, but at times says words in French. It was revealed in "Vacation" that he fought in World War II and was at one point a POW.
The Twins (voiced by Richard Mather) – Two green-blooded, blond, identical twin aliens with European-sounding accents who inhabit a laboratory underneath Superjail and wear outfits resembling those worn by the Sandmen in Logan's Run. They took a year abroad trip to Earth and then decided to stay much to their father's chagrin. Their on-screen appearances are accompanied by techno music. The Twins use their alien powers—including teleportation, shrinking, and materializing various items to interfere with the Warden's plans for their amusement. Although their plots often result in mass death and destruction, the Twins do not appear to harbor any malice towards either the Warden or the prisoners.
Jackknife (voiced by Christy Karacas) – A low-level criminal who appears in the openings of most episodes committing crimes before getting captured (and beaten up) by Jailbot, where his subsequent journey back to Superjail makes up the opening credits sequence. He is often depicted escaping the jail during the murder sequences in the first season and periodically throughout seasons two and three. He never speaks and communicates only by way of animalistic grunts and shrieks. He is labeled by Jared to be Superjail's most vile inmate due to his upbringing and near lack of any form of morality. Jacknife is depicted as being short-tempered, violent, and misogynistic. During the events of Oedipus Mess, Jacknife is revealed to have sired a son with one of Ultra-Prison's inmates. Having recognized the child as his, Jacknife escaped while the Warden created 1,000 clones of Jacknife that run amok worldwide until all but the original are killed off. In the Season 3 premiere a female version of Jacknife causes chaos at a male strip club, and is later sent to UltraPrison, suggesting that Jacknife either has a sister or a wife.
Lord Stingray (voiced by Eric Bauza) – A stereotypical supervillain character, akin to Cobra Commander, and the main antagonist of the show. After being defeated by his army-themed enemies, he crash-landed on Superjail Island and tried to take it over, but ended up being imprisoned. He has been a thorn in the Warden's side ever since by trying to either escape or take over Superjail. Lord Stingray first appears in the second season.
Recurring characters
Gary and Bird – Gary is a silent, bespectacled man obviously based on Robert Franklin Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. However, Gary is mostly a servant to Bird, a small female canary, who appears to be the unofficial "boss" of all of the prisoners in Superjail until Lord Stingray got imprisoned. In the episode Uh Oh, It's Magic, Gary uses his ventriloquism to throw his voice into the Warden's puppet Prison Peedee to stage a break-out. But the plan is foiled prior to Gary's vocal cords being surgically removed and discarded.
Paul Guaye and Jean Baptiste Le Ghei (portrayed by Christopher McCulloch, Stephen Warbrick) – Two homosexual inmates that can be seen in nearly every episode. They were the leaders of the rival "Purple Pythons" (Jean) and "Double Rainbow" (Paul) prison gangs in Superjail, which parodies the 1961 musical West Side Story. They fell in love as a result and eventually got married. Paul is depicted as being the more feminine of the couple and is somewhat controlling of Jean. Jean is more of the stereotypical male. Despite being violent criminals, the two of them are actually somewhat kind and caring towards others and are respected by the other inmates.
Ash (voiced by Christopher McCulloch) – A severely burned pyrokinetic pyromaniac prisoner. His burns come from a fire caused by his father, a drunk, dropping a cigarette in a movie theater. Ash's personality is almost childlike.
Fatty (voiced by Stephen Warbrick) – A bald, middle-aged, overweight inmate with a high-pitched voice and giggly/creepy personality, with an affinity for trying to show off his genitals, usually towards Gary. It is revealed in the episode "Superjail Grand Prix" that Fatty is a pedophile. Fatty is often killed during the murder scene or at some point in any episode he appears in, only to be inexplicably revived for the next episode.
Peedee (voiced by Dana Snyder) – A live ventriloquist's dummy possessed by Gary's voice box. Originally, he was controlled by Gary and Bird, but his character has been somewhat changed to a foul-mouthed ghostly criminal with a mobster accent and a standard criminal inmate status. He shares a rivalry with Lord Stingray, but the two occasionally work together against the Warden and the other inmates.
The Mistress (voiced by Sally Donovan) – The female warden of Ultra-Prison (a women's prison). She had a brief one-night stand with the Warden while under the effects of Spanish fly. In the season 2 finale, she takes control of Superjail. She engaged in a relationship with Lord Stingray in the season 3 episode "Stingstress". But after a night of intercourse with Alice, the Mistress returns Superjail to the Warden while she begins a new life-style as a hippie.
