Mimicking Without Understanding - A Comparison of Cowboy Bebop's Opening Scenes

I am now forced to censor my videos due to YouTube's ridiculous policy on "excessive language" now being a factor in demonetization. I was going to use a cliffracer from Morrowind as the censor, but it turned out to be too long, so we get Half-Life scientist instead. Uncensored versions will be available on Odysee and Rumble very soon.

As a buddy of mine said "this was written and directed by people who don't like the original and thought that they could write it better when their entire career was nothing but participation trophies"

I call it "cargo cult writing" - they're able to copy the outward appearance of something, but don't understand the the guts or inner workings of why the original worked in the first place.

"The director has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why." - Roger Ebert (in regards to Battlefield earth I believe)

Tfw the anime have gunshot recoil but the "live" action show doesn't.

No wonder Shinichiro Watanabe was so ticked off at Nutflecks version of "Cowboy Bebop." And "the writing staff" were looking forward to a SECOND season where they "could move beyond the original series"? I wouldn't pay ONE Woolong for this swill.

This feels like the Netflix creators saw "wow japanese anime so goofy" and tried to tailor their version as such, not realising that Bebop is a pretty serious show told through the medium of animation. Clearly they did not understand the original

One was a cartoon that sought to gave its characters life. The other was live characters that sought to emulate a cartoon.

Why on Earth did they feel the need to make Spike a sadist who kills people in horrifying ways? It makes him repellent, not cool.

The one positive thing I will give Cowflix, Mustafa Shakir was great as Jet. Even when the script was absolutely awful and didn't understand the character, I fully believed he was Jet. From his mannerisms and voice. He clearly was invested in the character and did his homework. I hope he lands another big role in a better project.

I think you nailed something I could never get past. they made the live action movie that seems more like a looney toon cartoon than a real movie. they treated it like a cartoon because western writers somehow think they are "better" than anime writers.

For me, The Netflix adaptation of Cowboy Bebop was officially irredeemable after the scene you show at 17:32 Netflix Spike kills that woman behind the shotgun guy like it's nothing. Netflix Spike is even immediately told by Jet to stop killing everyone. Anime Spike was a killer when things got serious, or if he was up against another killer, but for the most part he would just disarm or knock people out. Anime Spike had a moral compass and a honor code. Netflix Spike is established as a heartless psychopath in the first action scene. Netflix even double downs on that when Spike shoots the guy he previously stabs with the knife twice. That guy was seriously injured and armed with a melee weapon. He would have been no threat to Anime Spike who would have just knocked him out and collected the bounty, not murdered him for laughs. The only question is why Netflix Spike did not just shoot Faye Valentine in the face when they first met. She had a knife and tried to stab him in the nuts. Netflix Spike should have shot her twice and then shot Jet for breathing too loud.

I like how the crook in the movie pretty much looks like a middle-aged office worker, probably because he used to be one and likely had a similar story as to William Foster from Falling Down.

14:32 The animator's attention to detail on Cowboy Bebop is actually startling at times. Slow this scene down and look at spike's grip frame by frame, while he's pulling this guy over the shelf. He's not just grabbing his arm, he's twisting it and constricting his wrist so he can't easily aim the gun down.

The whole "You're not worth that much." Line also completely misunderstands...like most of the show. The Beebop crew scrapes by on whatever they can earn, not even able to afford real meat. They went after that target because it paid the bills. Maybe it was meant to be a bluff but it just goes so hard against the original for him to wave away the guys bounty that it defies explantation why they thought it was a good idea.

Cree... I can't wait to see you tear The Banshee (aka. Netflix Faye) a new one. The writers room honestly thought that an an annoying F-bomb dropping in-your-face girlboss was an improvement over a tragic femme fatale, and I'm so happy that Bebop bombed and placed the live-action Mobile Suit Gundam movie on hiatus if Faye's treatment was any indication.

i love watching scene breakdowns of bad media and i hope to see more in the final video

Honestly the first scene you show is a great example of modern cinema, a lack of self awareness, the orginal makes him an inexperienced moron telling a store clerk where he is on the political spectrum but atleast he has some logic, while the new one makes him a homicidal maniac who's unpredictable to try to be intimidating to the viewer (btw makes him predictable,) which only will be to the most green of television watchers, the orginal makes the guy somewhat intimidating due to his temper and he is dealt with a more realisitc way (although cartoonish) by them showing he's not experienced and confused by spike not reacting the way he expects while someone with some actual experince would pump spike full of lead on instinct, the new version is just karate and spike defying the laws of gravity to look badass while executing the baddies in horrific ways, like him getting a guy to kill himself.

You could write the casino intro as impactful and faithful to the original. After the hostage taker monologue you'd punctuate it with a slot machine chiming. Hostage taker is confused and approaches spike who's listening to music, completely absorbed in pachinko or slots or something, pulling the slot without noticing what's going on around him. Maybe the hostage taker is confused because he thought they cleared the room but he gets close to confront the zoned out casino customer and then boom, cue fighting and action.

What actually put me off continuing the show was the fact that they had to force in an appearance by Faye as early in the show as possible. No patience at all.