Cowboy Bebop live-action series

[payn]

Spoiler: Pilot thoughts

The Good.
Hyper Space, costumes, spaceships/vehicles all look fantastic. Really a feast for the eyes. Yoko Kanno soundtrack kept (wish we got some more new tracks from Kanno, but hey its still classic Seatbelt powered soundtrack!) Fight scenes are fun and fresh. Actor playing Julia is hawt.

The Bad.
They said this would be an original story that fits within the timeline of the anime. Second half of the pilot was a near copy (damn well done but still?) of an anime episode. Both direction/writing and acting seems to slip in and out of feel of the bebop characters at times. Potty mouth Faye dropping f bombs constantly (who thought this was a good choice?).

The Ugly
Vicious. Just Vicious and everything about him. Cosplay looking costume with a bad wig. Actor seems poorly chosen. Felt cartoonish even by anime standards.

 

[Haiku Elvis]

I binged the first 6 episodes last night. Its alright/good but not great. I think the issue is it falls into the uncanny valley that the closer it gets to the anime the more you notice it isn't. That fades a bit over time although occasionally I did catch myself being suprised it was real actors.
I didn't know until I saw the opening that it would tread so close to the original but that just means whenever it doesn't it threw me off a bit. (I'm not saying it was a bad decision and I like the fact it incorporates things from the anime. It's just an unavoidable consequence for people familiar with the original series. Like watching a series where they have recast an actor and you can't escape the feeling something is off)
The only thing I really didn't like was some of the dialogue seemed to have been padded out with macho crime action movie offcuts. Vicious suffers from this the most and comes across like any generic 80s psycho crime lord villian.
In comparison the inter character banter I thought was well done.

 

[Ryujin]

Am I the only one who gets the feeling that they were shooting for "Sin city" but ended up with "The Spirit" instead? I'm hoping that they get into the groove for their characters, however, I've seen a last episode spoiler that.... isn't good.

 

[payn]

Am I the only one who gets the feeling that they were shooting for "Sin city" but ended up with "The Spirit" instead? I'm hoping that they get into the groove for their characters, however, I've seen a last episode spoiler that.... isn't good.

Haha, thats a good comparison. Though, I don't think its quite that bad.

 

[MarkB]

It took me awhile to get through the series, but I wound up rather enjoying it. The characters were pretty good when they weren't trying to be their anime counterparts (aside from Vicious, who was just horribly miscast), and the show did wind up taking on a life of its own.

I'd happily watch a second season, though the Radical Edward cameo at the end was just awful. Please re-cast.

 

[Ryujin]

It took me awhile to get through the series, but I wound up rather enjoying it. The characters were pretty good when they weren't trying to be their anime counterparts (aside from Vicious, who was just horribly miscast), and the show did wind up taking on a life of its own.

I'd happily watch a second season, though the Radical Edward cameo at the end was just awful. Please re-cast.

Agreed. The cast progressively moved more and more from trying to replicate the Anime "acting", which helped to make the show better. Presumably the director started to find his feet. Then..... what you commented upon. I can only assume it was shot very early on.

 

[payn]

So, the second half of the first season is turning out to be much better than the first half. Still hate the portrayal of vicious and Julia, but I'm really enjoying the core crew now. Pierre Pierrot was great.

 

[wicked cool]

Cancelled. They clearly didn’t get what they wanted for money spent

 

[Ryujin]

Cancelled. They clearly didn’t get what they wanted for money spent

And that's a real pity. Other than the very last scene, which read to me very much like it was shot very early on in the process rather than later, they had actually hit their stride.

 

[Aeson]

And that's a real pity. Other than the very last scene, which read to me very much like it was shot very early on in the process rather than later, they had actually hit their stride.

I've heard of some films filming the final scenes first or at least early on for a number of reasons. One is if they happen to lose an actor Brandon Lee, Heath Ledger, and Oliver Reed being good examples. If something gives that feeling it's probably because was filmed early.


I'm really disappointed that it was canceled. I was getting into it and looking forward to more. Ed looked like a real ball of energy. Could have been fun.