Cowboy Bebop

I'm curious how Ed would be portrayed. As close as possible? Tone down her behavior? Raise her age so that there isn't a twelve year old cyberterrorist as one of the good guys?

For those wondering if Lewis Tan can act and fight at the same time, I present to you: Danny Rand versus the Drunken Master.

Aside from being a terrible interpretation of the character he was supposed to be (In Name Only, really) I wasn't that impressed with his acting.

Also, calling Ed a "cyber terrorist" is pushing it pretty far. Pretty, pretty, pretty far. Ed should be played like what she is-a weird genius young woman.

Yea, the more I think about it, not sure what I was going for.

At the very least, cast Ed with someone who isn't white. Granted, the show isn't very clear on what her ethnicity is (possibly Turkish? Her father's name is a garbled version of the phrase "Excuse me, check please" in Turkish) but it would be a great break for a young (possibly) middle-eastern actress.

Well he did give her a French name, if that means anything.

I always imagined all the leads to be mixed-race of some kind or other. Except possibly Jet, who I'm pretty sure was supposed to be white (though I really think he ought to be black for the live action series).

Ed's gonna be hard, given how seriously cloud-cuckoolander she is. That's gonna be a difficult performance to pull off.

With Jet though, you would run into an issue where you cast a black guy to play a character named Jet Black, where the character wasn't black to begin with. I agree with you, but it creates some odd optics around the situation.

I'm of the mind they should just be as accurate as possible to what screenshots of the characters look like - Spike can be any lighter-skinned actor of any ethnicity with an afro, Jet should have a strong jaw and a prosthetic arm, Faye should be mixed and have purple hair, Ed should be darker/tanner than the rest.

As long as they don't Last Airbender this and make every dark character white then I don't really care.

And even if they pull that off and get all of the casting choices spot-on they can still fudge this with a terrible script and pacing. I can see that happening. Let's look at prior attempts to Americanize Japanese works - Death Note, Ghost in the Shell, Dragonball Evolution. Not a good track record, with the exception of Death Note since it's not out but what we've seen and learned so far is already a little concerning.

edited 19th Jun '17 7:33:14 AM by Soble

It reminds me of something John Cleese said, when he was trying to explain why he thought Monty Python had such success in America. He attributed it at least partially to their not trying to Americanize it. They'd wondered if they should, and been advised to do so, but then opted to just let it stand as it originally was. The ''foreign-ness" was part of what people liked about it.

That said, I don't think the whitewashing by itself was what killed 'Ghost in the Shell. I think it was a script that got everything about Ghost in the Shell wrong. If they'd adapted the original film, and just set it in New York or LA of the future, then it probably could have worked, even with the whitewashing (I doubt it though; Shirow has a tendency to confuse the heck out of the casual viewer). Dragonball: Evolution had more problems than just whitewashing, too; that's a franchise that, if you want to adapt it to live action, it's going to be a serious investment of time and resources.

The problem is both films wanted to be something else. Ghost was yet another attempt at remaking Robocop while missing what made Robocop so compelling (the human story and satire informing said story). As for Dragonball, I'll say it again, we've seen the well, competent version of that film when it was called Man of Steel.

Bebop is thankfully pretty grounded with its portrayals and setting. Which is why I'm glad they didn't (and dread when Netflix eventually does to counterprogram this) adapt Outlaw Star.

I mean I can get the "yes, the CGI is better" part of that joke.

But whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat are you smoking and can I have some?

(2) I've never seen Monty Python but I can agree with the sentiment.

edited 19th Jun '17 7:50:03 AM by Soble

The fight scenes.

This could work. We already had a live action Cowboy Bebop and that was amazing

I can definitely see similarities between Firefly and Cowboy Bebop (not sure if the latter was inspired by the former though), although I think there's some distinct differences. Firefly, like Farscape, seems to be molded after Blakes 7 in terms of having the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits be anti-government rebels. I believe the slogan for Firefly was "Space Pirates On the Run".

On the other hand, the crew of the Bebop are bounty hunters who take jobs from the (non-evil) planetary government. And rather than being a cynical former hero like Mal, Spike is a goofy former "villain" (it struck me he has a distant relationship with Vash and Kenshin).

Thinking about it, it struck me that the closest American show to Cowboy Bebop might be Burn Notice in terms of how its similar use of hypercompetent professionals dodging their pasts while living in Perpetual Poverty.

I'd hesitate to call Spike "goofy."

But its not like Firefly had to be based on CB for their to be similarities-Space Western is a genre that neither of them invented, and which neither of them exist solely in (Firefly has more high scifi elements, Cowboy Bebop has more noir influences, and so on).

I'm trying to think of youngish actors who would make a good Spike, but I'd be totally fine with them getting more or less unknowns. That'll probably be exactly what they do with Ed (who really isn't that odd of a character, she's actually a lot like a much older character-Pippi Longstocking).

I wonder if they'll expand Vincent's role, considering he only appears in a handful of episodes.

I'd call him "aloof" at the very least.

And yeah, Man Of Steel is pretty much how Dragonball should have looked, agreed.

Spike can totally be goofy when he's in the mood. One of the great things about the show is how fully realized the characters are, how they can be tragic, hilarious, sexy, and stone-cold terrifying, sometimes all in the span of a little over 20 minutes.

It's not an easy mix to get right. It requires a kind of absolute confidence that not many network shows would allow themselves even if they had it to start with. Lightning in a bottle.

And I'd say Lewis Tan was pretty charismatic for a guy who only gets eight minutes to play a fairly cartoonish role. More importantly he has the look and fighting ability. Give him a shot, and if someone better can be found, that's fine too.

edited 19th Jun '17 11:54:24 PM by Unsung

You know who I think should play Ed?

Ashly Burch.

Just die her hair red and let her loose.

The Firefly film Serenity feels more like Cowboy Bebop in tone, probably because they deliberately styled it to be more of a Noir than a Western. Joss Whedon talks about that a little in the commentary.

Not sure Ash can skew that young anymore. If they'd gotten around to this just a few years sooner, though...

I like both, but looking back on them now, despite the similarities of the premise I'm inclined to believe Joss Whedon wasn't familiar with Cowboy Bebop at the time (less so Outlaw Star). It's interesting how they parallel each other, though, right down to their respective The Movie. Makes me even more curious where Firefly would have ended up if they'd managed to finish out their first season.

They could age Ed up a bit, though I suppose that would lessen the impact of her Child Prodigy status.

They'd almost inevitably have to age Ed up somewhat, but Ashly Burch is pushing thirty.

Plus you lose a lot of character beats if Ed is too old, if she's just...odd, rather than having the excuse of being young and innocent. Spike's dislike of children and pets, Faye's aloof big sister act, Jet getting to act like a dad (which he does anyway, to everyone, but without the pushback).

I mean, we all know the only character who really matters is Ein.

There are so many things that can go wrong with casting the right canine. And Ein is kind of a central figure in the plot.