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Cowboy Bebop Live-Action Series

ForceStealer

Double Growth
So, if we're assuming I were someone who'd only seen Firefly, is there any reason to watch the original Cowboy Bebop at all, or is it basically just a cartoon version of something I've already seen before?

Well, firstly, the equivalent scenario would be if they made an animated version of Firefly...

I certainly see the comparison, and it's appropriate in more than a couple of places, but you're correct that the presentation of it all differs in significant ways.

Exactly. I didn't say they were identical, but you can't tell me you don't see the comparison, Ite. Often dusty western aesthetic, ensemble cast, often broke, ship is often barely holding together, doing the right thing in the end but rarely profiting from doing so. Frontier loneliness is absolutely exemplified in Bebop as well, even if they're on opposite sides of "the law." Indeed, on more than one occasion the Bebop crew winds up helping the object of the bounty for one reason or another. Other things you list are indeed differences, but how are any of those distinct features of Cowboy Bebop served by making it live action?
 
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Cthulhu

Administrator
AKA
Yop
I see that Netflix has learned nothing from their Death Note adaptation.

I'm curious about that - and other direct-to-netflix stuff - are there any actual figures about its popularity and views? Because while in our bubble it's been scoffed at, I can imagine there's a huge market outside of us that did enjoy it (just like the Bleach adaptation, etc). Netflix is active all over the world and has ~137 million active subscribers. I'd argue they can consider a project a success once a certain percentage of their customers has seen it. For Netflix, it's not even about views - it's about viewer / subscriber growth and retention. High profile movies are the hook which can get them an X amount of new subscribers - the Bleach movie for Bleach fans, for example, or the Bandit King movie for people who are still bitter about Braveheart. The long list of TV series and sorta regular new releases will retain them.

er, where am I going with this? IDK. TL;DR Netflix don't care, Netflix got that dank monies either way.
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
In addition to what Yop said, we know next to nothing about this adaptation except that it's going to be ten episodes instead of a movie. So the one thing we do know about it is something that is different from "Death Note."

In light of that, I'm very confused about your observation, TR.

We don't even have a cast announced yet!
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
Well, firstly, the equivalent scenario would be if they made an animated version of Firefly...

Wait, what? If your argument was that there's no reason to make live-action Cowboy Bebop because Firefly already exists, there'd be no reason to make an animated version of Firefly because Cowboy Bebop already exists (or rather Trigun and Outlaw Star already exist)... so there's no line of inquiry there that answers what I was asking.

But really – you seem to've missed the point I was going for there, so let me reiterate why I asked the question specifically the way that I did:

Does Cowboy Bebop really have nothing unique to offer in terms of its characters, storyline, style, etc. that would make an adaptation worth consuming on its own merit, or is the entire reason that people care about it really intrinsically interlinked to it being an anime? Is there genuinely nothing else that makes Cowboy Bebop worth watching aside from the fact that it's got a loosely Western-in-Space aesthetic like Firefly does? So, assuming that I've seen Firefly already, is there literally nothing else that Cowboy Bebop has to offer me aside from it just, "being an anime like Firefly"?




X :neo:
 

ChipNoir

Pro Adventurer
To be fair about Death Note, Netflix didn't produce that. It was already done, and Netflix just snapped it up because nobody wanted to distribute it to film, and DVD isn't as safe a bet as simply licensing it out to Netflix. Netflix has been scooping up a lot of "Canned" material that would otherwise either have trouble marketing itself, or never see the light of day.
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
Wait, what? If your argument was that there's no reason to make live-action Cowboy Bebop because Firefly already exists, there'd be no reason to make an animated version of Firefly because Cowboy Bebop already exists (or rather Trigun and Outlaw Star already exist)... so there's no line of inquiry there that answers what I was asking.

What you said there is closer to my "argument," but that's not what you asked me. You inferred that my point was that one need only watch either Firefly or Cowboy Bebop because they're the same or something, which is not what I said. I said that watching Firefly could show you most of what you might want to see out of a live action version of Cowboy Bebop anyway. And thus, sure, the reverse would be true - making an animated version of Firefly I don't think could bring much to the table that Cowboy Bebop hadn't already.

But neither of those are the same as, "you only need to watch one of them because they're the same thing," which is what you said.
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
What you said there is closer to my "argument," but that's not what you asked me. You inferred that my point was that one need only watch either Firefly or Cowboy Bebop because they're the same or something, which is not what I said. I said that watching Firefly could show you most of what you might want to see out of a live action version of Cowboy Bebop anyway. And thus, sure, the reverse would be true - making an animated version of Firefly I don't think could bring much to the table that Cowboy Bebop hadn't already.

But neither of those are the same as, "you only need to watch one of them because they're the same thing," which is what you said.

So, by the argument you just presented – the only functionally unique things Firefly & Cowboy Bebop have from one another is that one's animated & one's live action. This is apparently true enough such that transposing one into the format of the other feels redundant because, "anything that you might want to see" has already been done.

Thus my question of: If the draw of it being "anime" or "live-action" doesn't matter to someone – and they've already seen one of them – is there possible thing unique to each story that might draw them to watching the other one, or would they feel redundant?

Or to phrase it differently: If I'm blind and I consume all of my video media with audio captions – will I feel like Cowboy Bebop and Firefly have anything unique to offer from one another, if so: what?



X:neo:
 

ChipNoir

Pro Adventurer
There's always the artistic merit. There are very few adaptations that attempt to be 1:1 in terms of how a product looks. Sometimes that's aggrivating, other times it's fascinating. I watched The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for the first time since it came out in 2005. I found it was actually pretty delightful, even though it looks absolutely nothing like the original TV adaptation that had influenced my initial headcanon, and even deviates away from the book in favor of the director/screenwriter's vision. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. But it had it's own merit just for the small left turns it took away from what was canonical to the book. The entire trip to vogsphere was fantastic, even if as far as I know, it's not a thing that happens in any of the books.

So, they can take the core concepts of Cowboy Beebop and run wild with it. Look at how fantastic Haunting of Hill House was, and that's been a big hit with our crew here so far.

So the franchise can work, but it really does need to try to balance itself between mirroring the original, and trying to do it's own thing. Since CBB is a mishmash of episodic and a storyarc folded together (And IIRC, it paradoxically has a Bad End right in the middle that's alternate canon), there's enough room for this series to make up its own episodes as long as it hits each character's arc moment and generally stays true to the spirit if it.

I'm also reminded of the Supernatural anime series. That took the framework of the live action series but reconfigured the plotlines to better suit a 20 minute framework, and added some Japanese style monster/ghost types IIRC. It also outright changes a few iconic episodes so that seasoned fans of the franchise would still enjoy some surprises.

Shame that the art quality was kinda cheap, and it ultimately ended before it could go anywhere with itself.
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
"I'm telling you, don't tense up. It's not about strength or power, you gotta be fluid. You have to be like water. You see what I'm sayin'? ... That's what I thought. All right, come at me with a knife. Just do it... You're tense. I'm calm. You apply excessive force. I control that force through fluid motion. That means relaxing the whole body so it can react instantly without resistance. Now, without thought. Do you see now? It means becoming like clear water. Water can take any form. It drifts without effort one moment, then pounds down in a torrent the very n----AAAAHHHH CHRIST MY KNEE!!!!"

Sorry, couldn't resist.
 

Wol

None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
AKA
Rosarian Shield
This could go wrong, but apparently Kanno is in charge of the music?

If so, its at least 40-50% guaranteed to be good already. If they nail the characters, even if other aspects change a bit, its a winner.
 

Prism

Pro Adventurer
AKA
pikpixelart
All live action adaptations seem to be missing an "x factor" of the understanding the originals' appeal. They always seem to cut important characters that work in the original for no justifiable reason (What is getting rid of Ed really going to do? Just because it doesn't fit the gen x / millennial demographic they're targeting?) Still not super sold on John Cho as Spike, but Jet and Faye look pretty cool. Spike's outfit looks well-made.

Adapting a TV show into another TV show feels slightly redundant - the expression of the original is just fine. That said, I think it's harmful when people get angry over media they don't like (the fan backlash to modern Star Wars is honestly embarrassing, even if the works themselves aren't perfect) so there's no use in getting worked over a bad adaptation.

That said, I don't think this looks awful at all. These shots just kind of cement in my mind that shifting it to live action just...didn't appear to have added anything. I think it worked out really well for Netflix's take on The Witcher, but anime has always proved challenging to translate correctly. I'll give this a chance, since the color grading and set design on the Bebop also look nice.

Ein's lookin cute as hell. They totally should've credited the dog by name
 
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Wol

None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
AKA
Rosarian Shield
The clothes are just too clean, though it might be just for promotional purposes.

For anyone that already watched the anime, I agree that it won't be adding much value for them, unless its shockingly good.
 
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