If you were an anime kid in the late 90s/early 00s, you love Cowboy Bebop. You just do; it’s one of the classics. Less pretentious than Neon Genesis Evangelion, but more sophisticated than Dragon Ball Z, it occupied that sweet spot of style and substance. And now a whole new generation of people are going to get the chance to enjoy it, because a team has been assembled to bring us a live action version.
Cowboy Bebop follows the bounty hunting crew of the spaceship Bebop. You’ve got Spike Spiegel, a laconic martial artist with a dark past; Jet, the old captain; the sexy and mysterious Faye; and kid hacker genius Edward. Oh, and her super dog Ein (yeah, Edward is a girl). They fly around in a ship called the Bebop, get into trouble and go on fun space adventures, all set to a funky soundtrack. It’s great.
If that premise sounds a little bit played out, it’s because everyone wanted to rip off Cowboy Bebop. Joss Whedon did it with Firefly, which only lasted for one season, and now the fans of that show can’t shut up about it over a decade later. Maybe a live action version of this show will quiet them down. Or maybe it will start them up again. Whatever, the rest of us will just enjoy it.
So far, the new Cowboy Bebop creative team includes the Midnight Radio crew (Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg), Marty Adelstein (who did Prison Break), and Becky Clements (who did Aquarius). You’ve also got Chris Yost writing, who’s a comics guy who actually worked with Joss Whedon, before writing a few Marvel movies and cartoons.
A bunch of the producers are also making the Snowpiercer TV show for TNT. No word on a network for Cowboy Bebop yet, but for now groove to the original theme song.