Cowboy Bebop

[Argent]

So if your are older Cowboy Bebop was one of the main anime that helped Adult Swim interduce a generation of American kids to anime. It was very different from the mainstay Gundam or Dragonball. The music to the choreography dance like fight scenes stand out as unique and well done exmpales other shows try to live up to.

It does a good job of including Western themes along with more having some more serious plot lines that helped a lot with its continued staying power over the last two decades. Overall not only was Cowboy Bebop hit for Adult Swim but has become a classic but a must see for any serious anime fan. So when it was announced I was hopeful for a decent adaption to one of my favorite anime.

Now if you have paid a little attention you know that Netflix is launching their live action version November 19. Which is a good thing snice other Space Western like Mandalorian or older ones like Firefly show that the concept can be made into live action and become hits given the right attention.


Now comes the down sides. Hollywood and American film companies have historically been less then successful at adapting Anime to live action. Most recently the Sliver screen has seen the mess that was the Avatar the Last Airbender movie. Also the Ghost In The Shell movie while getting the aesthetics right butchered the base plot of the series. Netflix itself has a reputation of doing bad adaptions. Frist they have trouble with Woke casting with changes in Witcher and the Last Airbender as prime examples.

The good news is that so far it looks like Cowboy Bebop has escaped that fate. Snice the Anime covers the proper woke level for race the characters where left alone. It remains to be seen if they make someone LGBT or most likely shoehorn in a Trans character like has been recently popular in Netflix shows and other network shows. From the trailer, short and other information dropped nothing has been mention but they have been very quite about ED so we will see what happened.

Netflix has dropped some content including a short session, trailer and cast pics.

Frist up is the cast pic. Unlike Teen Titans or similar shows it looks like Netflix has keep fairly true to the original look of the Anime. Spike and Jet are dead on.

Spoiler: Cast pic for Anime

Spoiler: Cast Pic for live action

The biggest change is Faye.

She is no longer in her classic anime look of Golden mini skit and top. I know that there was complaints about it being done to make her less of a sex object which I think is dumb. But they also cited practical concerns like having action scenes with a outfit that won't fall off. Overall I don't dislike the new look but it is different and what little we see in the previews it seems like Faye is still Faye not some Hear me Roar strong women character that just copies an 80's action hero attuite while spouting the right lines and calling it done. But then again I an also someone that did not dislike the new Tomb Raider look that many hated.

Spoiler: Faye side by side look

Now on to what else we have seen first up is that Netflix dropped short teaser call Lost Session to interduce people to the show. Overall it includes a lot of element of the anime from the banter to calling it a session. It is one of the reasons that I remain interested and hopeful that the live adaption will not suck.



The use of the dividing bars was cleaver the Music is spot on but that is no surprise since they recruited Yoko Kanno the anime's music director. The fight scenes especially Spikes felt like they would have been in the Anime. Even the sitting around the table blaming each other for another failed bounty felt like Cowboy Bebop.

They also have dropped the opening credits which are pretty much just a repeat of the original.



Here is another side by side



There are some changes. The live action includes short clips from the show and shows more the non main characters. But Overall Not a bad adaption of the Opening.

The last major thing dropped was the first trailer.



This expands on some of the plot lines and at least sets up a little of Spike's story. It does include lines and a couple of scene pretty much taken straight out of the anime. Which is a good sign. To many directors that try to do adaptions just take the names of the work along with character's names and try to make a new show. But it at least look like Alex Garcia Lopez and Michael Katleman understand that long time fans was to watch Cowboy Bebop and new fans will be drawn in by the same things old fans where.


We do see a bit with Vicious and Julia which means that at least Spikes major sub plot will show up. I would like to see Jets and Fayes too but so far there is nothing in any of the trailer or other content that shows they will be a focus. We also see one of the crazier villains in Pierrot Le Fou which may means that they are keeping some of the lighter parts of the show instead of making completely serious.


So overall I am planning on watching it when it comes out at the end of November.

 

[Captain X]

I am planning on pretending this doesn't exist. I am leery of live-action adaptations of animated works in general and of anime in particular. Frankly I tend to find it insulting that they even try to make such adaptations, as I feel this only reinforces the idea that animated works cannot be taken seriously. To go along with this, Hollywood just never seems to get the source material and they can't seem to help but make a mess of something that they are trying to adapt, especially in current year, as we now have woke bullshit to put up with along with the things they normally just can't seem to get right. The business with Faye and Jet are examples, and with the response to it, which is typical of what has been seen before, just underlines this - they don't care what the audience that made this show popular to begin with thinks, they are only trying to make a quick buck off of it because they know it was popular. Anyone interested in this show would be better off watching the anime and the "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" movie.

 

[Aaron Fox]

Let's be serious here, Cowboy Bebop is this blend of seriousness, action, and funny that makes it stand out from the majority of anime in general. If anything, they showed that they're willing to go with the source material than anything. The live-action GitS movie, while decent, was more of a string of GitS action scenes than a GitS show/movie, although it did give us badass!gunplay!Aramaki. Don't send rabbits to hunt a fox indeed.

 

[bintananth]

Outlaw Star would be a better fit than Cowboy Bebop for a live action remake. They were released the same year, are from the same genre, and the kid character isn't mostly an extra (Ed) or an unlikeable writer's pet (Wesley). James Hawking was an integral character right from the start.

 

[Aaron Fox]

Outlaw Star would be a better fit than Cowboy Bebop for a live action remake. They were released the same year, are from the same genre, and the kid character isn't mostly an extra (Ed) or an unlikeable writer's pet (Wesley). James Hawking was an integral character right from the start.

However, fewer people know about Outlaw Star than Cowboy Bebop. Also, Outlaw Star is far goofier/zanier than Cowboy Bebop, which can be far harder to grasp in live-action than the seriousness and action.

 

[bintananth]

However, fewer people know about Outlaw Star than Cowboy Bebop. Also, Outlaw Star is far goofier/zanier than Cowboy Bebop, which can be far harder to grasp in live-action than the seriousness and action.

True, but hand-to-hand starship fights because missiles are useless is a hilarious thing kids would enjoy before you get to why one of my nieces was named after an Outlaw Star character.

 

[Aaron Fox]

True, but hand-to-hand starship fights because missiles are useless is a hilarious thing kids would enjoy before you get to why one of my nieces was named after an Outlaw Star character.

Just remember that this little thing called market share is a dominating factor for mainstream, for better or for worse. Hence all the remakes.

 

[bintananth]

Just remember that this little thing called market share is a dominating factor for mainstream, for better or for worse. Hence all the remakes.

Sadly, most remakes of something mainstream either fail to gain an audience or irritate the fans they were after because of "they changed it, and now it sucks".

 

[Aaron Fox]

Sadly, most remakes of something mainstream either fail to gain an audience or irritate the fans they were after because of "they changed it, and now it sucks".

Please note that the idea of 'the customer is always right' is flawed at best, an outright lie at worst. People, in general, don't know what they want outside the basics (i.e. food, companionship, the like) and even then very vaguely.

One of those open secrets, so to speak.

 

[Captain X]

I would still rather they not made a live-action show out of this. Or any of the anime I actually liked for that matter. Let the woke assholes try to make one out of NGE for all I care.

 

[Simonbob]

I would still rather they not made a live-action show out of this. Or any of the anime I actually liked for that matter. Let the woke assholes try to make one out of NGE for all I care.

...... Trans Eva 1?

Shinji's mom is his dad, who's got it goin' on? (Unless I want to be squished?)


That could be the best comedy I've ever heard of.

 

[Captain X]

I have a gif somewhere of Gendo and his buddy redrawn as women. Shame I forgot what I called it or where I put it. :/

 

[Terthna]

Please note that the idea of 'the customer is always right' is flawed at best, an outright lie at worst. People, in general, don't know what they want outside the basics (i.e. food, companionship, the like) and even then very vaguely.

One of those open secrets, so to speak.

That's why so much money is spent on marketing; it's actually more profitable to manipulate people into wanting something, than to try and make something they actually want. It doesn't always work though; especially not when you've got ideological extremists working for you who actively try to alienate your audience.

 

[bintananth]

That's why so much money is spent on marketing; it's actually more profitable to manipulate people into wanting something, than to try and make something they actually want. It doesn't always work though; especially not when you've got ideological extremists working for you who actively try to alienate your audience.

I'm pretty sure you can't do a line-for-line scene-for-scene live action remake of Cowboy Bebop.

A very hyper ten-ish year old kid capable of typing with their feet while doing a handstand as scripted just ain't happening.

A kid who can do that ain't sitting still long enough to read the script and follow directions. You're going to be wondering "where the fuck did she go?" and "what the hell is she up to?" within a few seconds of not looking at her.

 

[Bear Ribs]

I'm pretty sure you can't do a line-for-line scene-for-scene live action remake of Cowboy Bebop.

A very hyper ten-ish year old kid capable of typing with their feet while doing a handstand as scripted just ain't happening.

A kid who can do that ain't sitting still long enough to read the script and follow directions. You're going to be wondering "where the fuck did she go?" and "what the hell is she up to?" within a few seconds of not looking at her.

...
...

Do you think they need a guy who can really pick up a car to play Spider-Man, and somebody only three feet tall to play a hobbit, too?

 

[bintananth]

...
...

Do you think they need a guy who can really pick up a car to play Spider-Man, and somebody only three feet tall to play a hobbit, too?

No. That can be done with special effects and CGI.

Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV (aka.: Françoise Applederry) is an entirely different matter.

 

[Captain X]

Yeah, it's almost like it would be completely pointless to make a live-action version of this show or something.

 

[Bear Ribs]

No. That can be done with special effects and CGI.

Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV (aka.: Françoise Applederry) is an entirely different matter.

The scene you're doing would be ridiculously easy compared to those. Let's presume CG is off the table for some nonsensical reason and you're stuck with practical effects only. Now I'm not a professional producer, but just from my one semester of theatre, I could do it easily.

1: Makeup artist applies hairspray to make the actress's hair stand on end.
2: Produce upside-down set with low ceiling. Green screen the stool she's sitting on along with any other obstructionsand replace with the background in post.
3: Have her put her hands up over her head on the ceiling and type with her toes. Shoot the scene from several angles simultaneously to get more footage than you actually need so you can pick the best.
4: Have her do an actually upside-down scene or two for a few moments for the facial closeups, so that her hair will swirl naturally. In the wider frame you won't need it but the closeup will seal the deal.

Seriously look at this scene, and then realize that the actors are only a few inches different in height and the entire scene is rigged with optical illusions, such as Martin Freeman putting a plate twelve inches wide in front of himself, and a plate four inches wide in front of Ian McKellan. The rest is clever camera angles, a table with no actual right angles to confuse the eye, etc. "A girl doing a handstand and typing" is so absurdly simply compared to that it's unreal, that's the kind of stuff we were able to pull off on a budget of pocket lint in the gym after class.

 

[bintananth]

The scene you're doing would be ridiculously easy compared to those. Let's presume CG is off the table for some nonsensical reason and you're stuck with practical effects only. Now I'm not a professional producer, but just from my one semester of theatre, I could do it easily.

1: Makeup artist applies hairspray to make the actress's hair stand on end.
2: Produce upside-down set with low ceiling. Green screen the stool she's sitting on along with any other obstructionsand replace with the background in post.
3: Have her put her hands up over her head on the ceiling and type with her toes. Shoot the scene from several angles simultaneously to get more footage than you actually need so you can pick the best.
4: Have her do an actually upside-down scene or two for a few moments for the facial closeups, so that her hair will swirl naturally. In the wider frame you won't need it but the closeup will seal the deal.

Seriously look at this scene, and then realize that the actors are only a few inches different in height and the entire scene is rigged with optical illusions, such as Martin Freeman putting a plate twelve inches wide in front of himself, and a plate four inches wide in front of Ian McKellan. The rest is clever camera angles, a table with no actual right angles to confuse the eye, etc. "A girl doing a handstand and typing" is so absurdly simply compared to that it's unreal, that's the kind of stuff we were able to pull off on a budget of pocket lint in the gym after class.

The tricky part about the handstand scene: It's only a few seconds and Ed is bent over backwards while typing with her toes. Most contortionists aren't that flexible or coordinated.

 

[Bear Ribs]

The tricky part about the handstand scene: It's only a few seconds and Ed is bent over backwards while typing with her toes. Most contortionists aren't that flexible or coordinated.

A: Camera angles, you don't actually perfectly recreate what the character is doing, just the illusion of them for the camera.
B: Stunt doubles and models. There's no particular difficulty in buying lunch for the girl in the Gymnastics club to pay her to bend over backwards for two minutes wearing a red wig, then recording the actual main actor's head only in an upside down scene for a closeup and cutting between the two to maintain the illusion that it's the same person. For some scenes you use an actual dummy though this one probably doesn't need that. This is movie-making 101... actually probably 001. I think most people realize this somewhere around the time they start eating solid food.

Seriously, do you not understand how movies work? The stuff you see onscreen isn't actually happening, it's all made up. The Delorean didn't really travel through time, there is no actual moon-sized battlestation called the Death Star, there isn't really an AI with holographic interface responding when Tony Stark is inventing something, and sponges aren't really capable of speech, no matter what you believe when you're watching Spongebob Squarepants.

"This would be hard to do in real life" is no bar to movie magic, if it was there would be precious few movies and most of them would be extremely boring, except the one about Audie Murphy which would become more exciting given he insisted the theater tone down his heroics because he felt the reality would break suspension of disbelief.