Live-Action Cowboy Bebop

[Dave McFly]

 

[Slick]

Ok I just finished the first episode and I really liked it. I like even love the anime but not a hardcore fan so maybe that’s why I’m not to judgmental.

I’m loving the tone tho for me it’s a mix of Scott Pilgrim and Sin City mix with a dash of Star Wars as far as the space aspect is concerned but that’s just my opinion but so far so good.

 

[Slick]

Also the actress that plays Judy is hot lol.

 

[Dave McFly]

some may hate this but I thought John and Daniella were awesome as Spike and Faye

 

[TheVileOne]

some may hate this but I thought Frank and Daniella were awesome as Spike and Faye

Who is Frank?

 

[CadeSkywalker28]

Scott Pilgrim and Sin City? Ok.

 

[Dave McFly]

Who is Frank?

I meant John, I accidentally confused him with cartoonist Frank Cho lol

 

[emc5466]

I thought this was pretty good. You see the lack of budget in certain scenes and episodes but I think the cast, particularly John Cho and Mustafa Shakir, carry the show. The Vicious and Julia subplot did not work at all. Hopefully season two will move away from those two awful characters and focus on Vincent Volaju instead.

 

[TheVileOne]

From the clips I'm seeing online, everything looks horrendously off. Like it looks like amateur hour Quentin Tarantino ripoff nonsense, which...isn't Cowboy Bebop. Like it doesn't look like they are emulating Cowboy Bebop, but they are trying to emulate Quentin Tarantino but in a sci-fi setting.

Now personally, the scrutiny people have been putting Daniella Pineda bothers me a bit because a lot of people have talked about her body or her wardrobe. I don't really think that's my issue though with Faye. It's the attitude and her dialogue which seems very not Faye. And Jet Black thinks a bidet is a foot cleaner? WTF?

The characters look similar to the original, but this is really not faithful to the show at all. Those who are saying that, I wonder how many reviewers truly watched the entirety of the original series.



Everything is different now.

Meanwhile in the anime:

 

[Mellie]

One of writers is a Marvel writer and wrote Thor 2, so that should give some insight on script..

 

[TheVileOne]

Chris Yost, who has done some excellent work in the past. Yost was also the co-creator of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes with Josh Fine. co-wrote many other Marvel animated projects. Also worked on the newer X-Force comic series with Craig Kyle.

Hard to say how much of this show was his. He wasn't the showrunner.

 

[emc5466]

Yost also worked on the first season of the Mandalorian. He also wrote Thor Ragnarok.

 

[Sithborg]

Okay, 4 episodes in, and I kind of like it? Its been forever since I've seen the anime and I don't have much emotional connection to it, so that probably helps. I really enjoy the main cast when they are together. Episode 2 was rough for me because the first half had Spike and Jet apart.

And dear god, the Viscious and Julia stuff absolutely drags the show down so far. I've seen bits where it looks like they are going to allow Viscious to match the tone of the rest of the show, but then stop. I blame them being here on the current demands on hour long shows have a serialized element.

From the clips I'm seeing online, everything looks horrendously off. Like it looks like amateur hour Quentin Tarantino ripoff nonsense, which...isn't Cowboy Bebop. Like it doesn't look like they are emulating Cowboy Bebop, but they are trying to emulate Quentin Tarantino but in a sci-fi setting.

See, I don't go to Tarantino. I go to things like Farscape and Vagrant Queen. Cheap sets, cheap costumes, and doesn't take itself too seriously. Good old campy sci fi.

 

[TheVileOne]

Well, to know true power sometimes you just have to...

 

[chintai80]

Okay, 4 episodes in, and I kind of like it? Its been forever since I've seen the anime and I don't have much emotional connection to it, so that probably helps. I really enjoy the main cast when they are together. Episode 2 was rough for me because the first half had Spike and Jet apart.

And dear god, the Viscious and Julia stuff absolutely drags the show down so far. I've seen bits where it looks like they are going to allow Viscious to match the tone of the rest of the show, but then stop. I blame them being here on the current demands on hour long shows have a serialized element.



See, I don't go to Tarantino. I go to things like Farscape and Vagrant Queen. Cheap sets, cheap costumes, and doesn't take itself too seriously. Good old campy sci fi.

i'm four episodes in myself.
i'm enjoying it for now - it's fun and i like the 3 main leads and their performances so far.

but at the same time, the stories they adapted are definitely inferior versions of the anime's.

like they try to make it more edgy and weird, but the story ends up being more convoluted.
and the antagonist schemes and motivation aren't as good as the anime.

julia and vicious aren't as likable in this well - i know vicious is a sadistic bastard in the anime, but he had this badassness to him. here, he just comes across as more pathetic, i guess?
i appreciate they're trying to flesh out julia and vicious here more compared to the anime, but i gotta watch more episodes to see how it pans out.

while i overall more positive about what i see so far, i can imagine i'd probably like this adaption more if i've never seen the anime.

for a limited budget, i think the sets and the world building isn't bad for what it is. that's one other positive thing i dig.

 

[Dave McFly]

I am really looking forward to season 2

 

[chintai80]

ok, finally finished watching all episodes of this.
i have alot of thoughts about it.

what i can say?
overall, i enjoyed this...it captured the spirit of the original show, at least for me it did.
it still doesn't touch the greatness of the anime but i never expected it too.
the plotting is convoluted compared to the anime, though it improved as it went on.

i really liked the 3 main leads, and thought their performances got better along the way too.
i especially thought mustafa shakir was really good as jet black.
the team had good chemistry going and really solidified around the bottom half of the episodes.

at first i didn't like them threading in vicious' and julia's story into each episode, but near the end i found myself engaged with their side of the story - hassell's and satine's performances got better close to the end as well.
i've sort of come to accept by fleshing these two out here, they've made their characterizations vastly different from their original anime conceptions.

now for some things i'm sort of iffy or meh about that gets spoilerish:

Spoiler

not sure how i feel yet about them having julia become head of the syndicate now.
will she be a main antagonist for season 2 then?
this can turn out interesting or not.
either way, it looks like the series is heading into a very different direction than the anime from now on.

and now bout that infamous radical ed scene:

let's get this out of the way - i thought the actress did a superb job in capturing the character straight out of the anime.
the thing is the scene feels jarring because of the way it's filmed -- and how it was inserted in...when what just transpired in the episode was very heavy and bleak.
i think the character of ed is just very hard to pull off in live action - she feels like she belongs in a different show.
also, i hope they give her a new wig cuz it looked like a cheapy cosplay wig here. or tone down the red so it looks more natural.

and per what she says, looks like season 2 is going into the movie's storyline now with the hunt for vincent volaju.

the original show is the canon.
this netflix adaption is a sort of "what if?" / elseworlds take on it.
more violent, more off the wall and irreverent, with some of the character arcs and motivations vastly changed.
so i certainly get why this might've turned off a lot of the fans.

but for me, i really do hope they make a season 2 because i want to see where they are taking the story.

also want to see spike pilot his swordfish II more, he hardly flew it this season - probably due to budget limitations.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Detective Conan]

Watch when Netflix inevitably does the same thing to live action One Piece and ATLA after it’s first seasons.

 

[TheWiseGuy487]

Honestly, not too heartbroken about this decision, as much as I didn’t completely hate the series. Netflix probably figured it wasn’t worth investing in something that audiences wouldn’t tune in for as much for a season 2 or constantly s**t on because of bad reciews and word of mouth, so they just decide to take it out to pasture and put it out of its misery.

All in all, definitely the right call. I don’t think this show coming out the way it did is a complete mark against all live action anime adaptations. It’s just that this particular one was given to the wrong people to handle it and bring it to life, and they fumbled it. In much, much better hands, I think this definitely could’ve been great.

Imagine if a Vince Gilligan or someone else of that caliber had headed this up. It could’ve really been something.

Watch when Netflix inevitably does the same thing to live action One Piece and ATLA after it’s first seasons.

Maybe One Piece, since that’s also a Tomorrow Studios production, but the live-action Avatar series is kind of its own thing, so I’m a bit more cautiously optimistic about that one.

 

[Sithborg]

bummer

Oh well, there are other shows I hope they fund, though.

 

[NotNickFury]

Netflix execs watched the Ed scene and said "Nah, we're good."

I'm a bit surprised this happened so soon, because it seemed like Netflix was banking a lot on this one. As if they had a lot of faith that it would find an audience. But...we saw what happened.

 

[Detective Conan]

Maybe One Piece, since that’s also a Tomorrow Studios production, but the live-action Avatar series is kind of its own thing, so I’m a bit more cautiously optimistic about that one.

I can definitely see Airbender lasting more than one season. That’s a way bigger property in the States than either Airbender and Cowboy Bebop, and it’s comparatively less expensive to realize than One Piece, and it’s also shorter and already has an ending.

One Piece strikes me as a failure waiting to happen. There’s just no way that show lasts more than one season. Given the fact One Piece isn’t that big a property in the West, and the fact it would be too expensive to realize the later over-the-top elements. When they explore the grand line(which would theoretically be season 2) the crew is encountering stuff like huge whales and giants. Ain’t no way Netflix is throwing that much money on this thing. One Piece will almost certainly be canned after its first season.

 

[Punisher_MAX]

L
O
L

 

[NotNickFury]

I can see it now: the finale of Netflix One Piece: the Straw Hats arrive at Drum Island and we get a glimpse of Chopper from a distance.

Two weeks later: Netflix Cancels One Piece