John Cho is perfect as a bounty hunter.
Jet Black is the captain of the Bebop.
Daniella Pineda is the shot-for-shot girl.
Two Welsh corgis named Charlie and Harry are playing Ein.
Alex Hassell glows as Vicious.
There's always a female killer. Julia is married to Vicious.
It's difficult to create a live action series out of a series that has been influential for 25 years. Cowboy Bebop was a stylish, genre-busting neo-noir space western that earned universal praise when it was released in 1998. Count yours among its admirers. I had some reservations about the live-action adaptation of the original.
The new series is a different beast, so diehard fans won't be happy. I found that Cowboy Bebop mostly struck a balance between preserving the most beloved elements of the show and making them fresh, intriguing ways for a new dramatic format. Is it flawless? Hardly. It's still entertaining.
The 1998 series isSPOILERS. There are some details for the live-action series, but no major reveals. We will give you a heads-up when we get there.
A group of bounty hunters are on a spaceship called the Bebop. People have colonized the various rocky planets and moons of our solar system. The Inter Solar System Police rely on bounty hunters called "cowboys" to keep criminal activity in check.
The main character is Spike Spiegel, a bounty hunter born on Mars with a history of violent gang activity and a penchant for fisticuffs, not to mention a tragic romance in his past. Jet Black is the captain of the Bebop and a former police officer. Over the course of the series, their crew expands. After a space shuttle accident, con artist and bounty hunter, Faye Valentine, spent over 50 years in suspended animation and suffers from amnesia. Ein is a genetically engineered Welsh corgi. Edward Wong, also known as Radical Ed, is a teenaged girl who is skilled at computer hacking and provides a lot of the show's comic relief.
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Ana is the proprietor of an underground jazz club on Mars and she knows Spike from his days with the Syndicate.
Each member of the Bebop's crew had their own backstories to explore, as well as their weekly adventures. Spike had tense encounters with archnemesis Vicious, a member of the Syndicate. Spike had an affair with Vicious's girlfriend, Julia. The two were going to run away, but nobody left the syndicate. Spike faked his own death and joined Jet Black on the Bebop. The series' tragic climax was made up of a final confrontation between Spike and Vicious. The show ran for a single glorious season and helped redefine what people thought was possible in the medium.
Cowboy Bebop was a cult hit thanks in part to its striking visual style and strong themes, and it's incredible, eclectic soundtrack, courtesy of Yoko Kanno, who inspired the character of Ed. The term "masterpiece" doesn't get thrown around a lot, but Cowboy Bebop deserves it. Since I hadn't seen it in a while, I re watched it recently and it was as enjoyable as it was the first time.
The level of adulation facing the team when they were tasked with creating a live-action adaptation was very high. Nemec worked as a writer and producer on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
Spike, Jet, Faye, and Ein take a stroll. Edward was absent this season.
He told the Los Angeles Times that he and his writers needed to approach the task with equal parts reverence and willingness to depart from canon. The original half-hour format is not the same as a streaming series. "Let's not f--- this up" is their motto. It was thanks to Watanabe and Kanno that the soundtrack for the new show was composed.
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Spike and Jet try to foil a robbery at a space casino in the series' opening set piece. They were trapped for cash and next found a bounty on the head of the Solensan family. A couple is trying to sell a drug that they stole from the Syndicate. This is the same as the pilot episode, with just a few changes, including the presence of a rival bounty hunter.
Vicious and Spike work out their differences.
In a later episode, Maria Murdock shows up, except that the gas she releases turns people into trees rather than monkeys. Also getting screen time are the face-shifting thief Abdul Hakim, who originally stole Ein before the corgi ends up joining the Bebop; the madman Pierrot Le Fou, who joined the crew of the Bebop; and the notorious Teddy Bomber. The show Big Shot is a fictional show about bounties and those who hunt them. It's a public service.
The cast is perfect, the tone is neo-noir, and Kanno's new score is wonderful. John Cho's nihilism to Spike keeps him vulnerable, with just enough of the naive, hopeless romantic to keep him happy. Alex Hassell, Daniella Pineda, and Mustafa Shakir bring out Jet Black's decency and strong moral code, not just his exterior.
