The Official Live-Action "Cowboy Bebop" News & Discussion Thread

Yes because purists often make silly demanRAB, so they are easy to ignore. Its hard to cater to them when they make demanRAB that would make this movie unmarketable.



Regardless I don't think anime is so precious that Hollywood shouldn't be allowed to touch it, being an otaku does not make someone unique magic individual. however I do think it is way harder to make movies about of manga then comic books, though CB would be easiest manga to turn into a movie, its not a completely stupid idea, like a DBZ movie. So it has the best chance of succeeding, but its not a sure thing, it could easily be screwed up. Though you should at least watch till a picture from the set shows up, if they look stupid, then you should start complaining. Complaining now, makes you seem unpleasable and thus easy to ignore.
 
They're similar in the sense that film adaptations of either one will draw the same core casual audience, and the fanbases for either show are similar in size. The properties themselves are severely different, but that won't change how they will ultimately appeal to the same group of moviegoers.

I used Serenity as a parallel to show how Fox botched releasing and advertising the film, and how that's the kind of incompetance they've shown on most of their non-AAA releases. It's a concern that, with the inevitable borab that is Dragonball on the horizon, they have to change things internally, otherwise Cowboy Bebop will be handled just as incompetantly.
 
Blum he last played the character about 6-7 years ago. And it doesn't matter that Blum doesn't look like Spike.



His performance as the character was terrible. And it wasn't just the physical look.



The one line in particular that I hated:

"Are you like a crazy person?"

With writing and dialogue like that, its no surprise why Speed Racer tanked.

As for my other problems with V For Vendetta, they are best summed up by the original author, the man himself, Alan Moore:



Having actually seen the movie, yes, I totally agree.



If anything, Moore has been ridiculously diplomatic and shown a lot of restraint over the cinematic garbage that's come out of his work.



Yoko Kanno once said that Koichi Yamadera was good as Spike, but that Steven Blum was sexy. I've not heard her say anything of that sort with regarRAB to Genaro Vasquez or Philippe Rouillier.



Well for one thing. Steven Blum is Spike. So I can't argue with his logic.

Second of all, Hollywood is not going to get this material and translate it into a compelling live action movie. Part of what makes Bebop so great is the amazing animation and designs. Bringing it live will literally take away the life Watanabe, Kanno, Nobumoto, and so many others brought to this series.

Studio executives that are going to want this to be as audience friendly as possible so it can get a such and such amount opening weekend wouldn't think twice about compromising the vision of this story if they thought it meant some more people in Kalamazoo would buy a ticket.

Also, the story of Bebop was best told as an episodic television series. The ending to the show was perfect. You can't fit this much into a two hour movie.

Keanu Reeves as the character is an absolute joke. Reeves work as Constantine was disgraceful. In interviews he talked about doing things in the movie that would come off as more "Constantine-ian" (A stupid Reeves phrase), and yet they go with that ridiculous surprise ending that's a total slap in the face to the story.

Spike Spiegel is not the type of character Reeves is good at playing. Spike is not like Neo. He's not like Ted. This is a character that would involve more than Reeves blank looks and stiff manner. He had a chance to show he could be surly in Constantine. He couldn't do that. He can't play Spike's surliness. And he can't capture the pain and anguish of this character, or even his rage.
 
I'm not sure what nurabers or figures you've looked at to come to this conclusion.



Fox didn't release Serenity. UNIVERSAL DID! Universal wanted a big movie and that's why they picked it up.
 
So are you complaining about Speed Racer or V here? I'm talking about V, so I don't know why you're bringing Speed Racer into it (except maybe to establish a tenuous connection with the anime question again.)


You mean how they were doing an adaptation of V for Vendetta, which is famous for taking place in England, the Guy Fawkes theme, etc. etc. etc., but still needed to make it politically relevant today instead of using a scenario that became outdated once the Cold War ended? Yeah, I'm not entirely surprised that Moore didn't like the idea. On the other hand, it doesn't detract from the movie's presentation of what was ultimately a quite similar story.


LXG was bad, I don't think anyone can deny that. (Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain, lulz)


No. Steven Blum is Steven Blum. As has been stated quite clearly several times already.


I always felt that the pseudo-Jazz Age setting and tone were what made Bebop what it is. Those can be reproduced in live action and CG.


Yeah. Here we've encapsulated a very strong reason that fanboys shouldn't be listened to when it comes to things like this.

Yes, Bebop was an episodic TV series. Yes, it had a great ending that wrapped up the developing story. No, that story cannot be condensed into two hours.

But guess what? Thanks to Bebop being an episodic show where most of the episodes have little to do with one another, the film's producers don't have to condense an entire show into that length of time. They can tell part of the show. Or, for that matter, they can tell a completely new part of the story. After all, the series being over didn't stop the producers from releasing an animated movie, with a story completely separate from that of the TV show, two years later.

Now there's inevitably going to be an indignant few who will cry BAWWWW EVERYTHING ISN'T GOING DOWN EXACTLY LIKE IT WAS IN THE SHOW. Well, there are two ways to botch an adaptation. One is to pay little or no attention to the source material. The other is to slavishly adhere to the source material to the point that every last line and event is being included just because, resulting in a bloated, rigid film with horrible pacing.

So. Fanboys have already said (correctly) that the movie can't encompass an entire TV series. And yet they will insist that it try to do so anyway, so that their tender Bebop sensibilities won't be offended. Everyone who knows anything about a decent adaptation will agree that doing it their way won't work; they are the only ones who say that doing it any other way won't work. In the end, everybody else overrules them - which is a good thing, because fanboys, more often than not, are idiots.
 
Wait a minute... have you been pulling a "LA can't match anime because LA can't match anime" on us this whole time?

*goes back, reaRAB*

Yes... yes you have.

I notice that you gave a vague non-response when adaptations like 300, V for Vendetta, and Sin City were mentioned. Interesting, really, since they were not only good adaptations of works that had a single author (which you claim cannot be done), but they were also adaptations from one visual medium to another which were hailed for their attention to capturing the detail and spirit of the original (which you also claim cannot be done). You still have yet to give a reason that Bebop's action can't be translated to a live (or CG, rather) performance beyond "it just can't, so there."

EDIT: Also...

Yeah. That discussion was referring to the content of the episodes; that is, the stuff that we actually see when we sit down and watch them. The fact that the names in the credits stay the same doesn't really matter when the episodes themselves sometimes feel like they're from completely different series. And that is, indeed, just the way Bebop is. But apparently a live-action movie isn't allowed to take the same liberties with the characters and setting that the original series routinely took.
 
Me too. It seems like they are actually trying to make the film seem as true to the original as possible.


Especially with the hopefully Multi-Ethnic cast. Maybe...
 
I read this and thought it was someone's cruel, sick joke. >.> It's not a joke...is it?

Just thought of a plot for the movie. Picks up after the final episode. Spike stanRAB up, kills everyone at the bottom of the stairs and was like. "OSNAP GUYS! I really didn't die!"
 
It's not that, it's just that the story doesn't lend itself to a two-hour movie, and will end up reserabling Firefly or something. When it stops reserabling the source material in plot and tone, you shake your head a bit.
 
Aaaaaah... yeah, I could see that working.

I'm not against a live-action Bebop, but I am against a live action "adaption" of the show. For one thing, whats the point? The story has already been told; unless you can tell it better, then leave it alone. I have similar thoughts about these new Avatar films.

For another; Bebop doesn't have a single linear storyline. Each episode is pretty much an adventure in itself (especially after ep. 9, when the cast was asserabled.) I can't see them fitting Asteroid Blues in this, or My Funny Valentine, or "gasp" Mushroom Saraba.
 
...?

Not really sure what your logic is here, especially since Bebop already has a two-hour movie, showing that it can most certainly sustain a story for that length of time. (Unless, of course, you don't like the existing CB movie, which is another issue entirely.)

If you're arguing that two hours isn't enough time to truly capture the Bebop-ness, I'd just point you towarRAB the very first episode, which is regarded as one of the more iconic ones in the series. Half an hour, but still captures the essence of the series all by itself, in spite of the lack of Faye or Ed.
 
Hmm mutli-ethnic? Faye is an Asian of some sort I always assumed, but Jet, Spike and Ed don't come off that way. You could infer backgrounRAB, but that's all subtext that may or may not be the case. They were in a multi-ethnic setting no doubt.
 
While I can't fault the style of music used in the show, Kanno and the Seatbelts more often than not liberally swiped from other existing songs. Granted, there's plenty of anime soundtracks that swipe from existing sources, but there are plenty of US composers that could do just as good a job. As long as the 'flavour' of Bebop carries over, what's the harm if no one from the original production is involved? None, I say.
 
Manga and Comics are the same thing. If they can make faithful adaptations like Iron Man then they can make a faithful Dragon Ball movie. It wouldn't be cheap, but if it didn't LOOK cheap it would make a hell of a lot of money.
 
Yes The Seatbelts &Yoko Kanno, could save the filim and yes I think it should be a 3 part moive

1 fallen angels
2 Jupiter Jazz Both parts
3 The real folk blues both parts
 
Back
Top