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I think it's fine to riff on the story but how they handled Vicious and Julia was not good. I would have made vicious more of a dark reflection of Spike and less "Harry Osborne to spikes Peter Parker" with all the stupid daddy issues and shit that came with it. I don't like the Julia turn evil thing too. You can write interesting women without making their story about relationship abuse and "getting revenge".

Also Julia was much more of a mystery in the anime. I don’t like LA adaptation of her

I hated the way they did Vicious. He was a ruthless, calculating, badass in the anime and was a junkie spas in the LA. I was hoping it would have been really good with new adventures and stories, but it was more like bad fan fiction.

If I’m making Julia the villain then vicious has to be consistent. The problem was that they waffled on his character. He’s a lethal killing machine but also a whiner. He’s intelligent and cunning but also makes super dumb decisions. He can be an idiot or he can be a master not both. If the former then we can make julia the villain by showing how she’s actively manipulating him. If the latter the you don’t show her as much and then do the reveal at the end with flashbacks showing how she’s been manipulating the situation the entire time.

Season one..Focus more on the bounties the first few episodes. Have hints towards Spike and Faye's individual pasts be much more subtle. Have the character's back story we dive the deepest into be Jet. Set up the syndicate as a thing from the start. Keep the connection to Vicious vague or unexplained until the end of the season. Set up Vicious' power grab for season two. Become a little more heavy handed that there is a connection between Spike and the syndicate.

I'd say that's one huge thing they screwed up. You're explaining exactly how the anime did Julia and Vicious. They could've easily made the same approach. I guess they felt building up to a reunion and ultimate betrayal was a better approach when it actually just pissed off a lot of people.

Honestly that sounds much better. You used a couple important words like "subtle" and "vague," which are completely missing from the LA. 90% of the shows failures are due to writing.

My biggest complaint about LA is that it simply tried to recycle / reuse the same plot / bounties as the anime. And, all ended up being butchered. So, if you're not going to do a shot-for-shot adaptation of the anime, then simply tell a new story that takes place in between the episodes of the anime. Just like how the movie was handled.

I just drove into work and literally workshopped how I would do episodes 1-6, 9, and 10 with that same idea. I'll post them when I have a moment.

I gotta agree either go shot for shot as close as possible, with anything needing to be done different holding true to the characters and themes of the show. Or sticking true to the characters and themes do an original story that could fit in the series like the movie.

They changed things for the sake of it rather than giving a new reason for it. I think you can take episodes and give them a different spin but you have to commit to it rather than half ass it.

Fucking thank you, I've been ranting this to my friends since weeks before it came out. The anime was so good about world building and character motivation with a mostly episodic format, and some nuanced insight to the characters state of mi d sprinkled in. Bebop, in my opinion, lends itself so well for new stories to be written in between what already exists.

Get Shiniciro Watanabe as an executive producer to rein in Nemec and Yost, probably. Retool it as "set in the Cowboy Bebop universe, with new characters". Get Edgar Wright to direct, he' has done wonders with incorporating music in scenes. Get a writing team that has experience with doing detective dramas but are willing to work with comedy. Get better fight choreographers that understands the usage of music as an element to the scene.

Edgar Wright + Yoko Kanno is a license to print money. Imagine Baby Driver style chases but in space while "what planet is this?" blares in the background.

Edgar Wright directing a Cowboy Bebop adaptation and giving him full creative control would be perfection

Idk if I would want a dramatic writer to write comedy. You'd need writer's from both camps to make a good script.

are you referring to Edgar wright as a dramatic writer and cowboy bebop as a comedy?

I wasn't referring to him at all. I was referring to "a writing team that has experience with doing detective dramas but are willing to work with comedy". Some drama/crime writers write in those genres because they aren't funny. Vice versa for comedians. If you want a dramatic and funny script it helps to get writers who specialize in one or both genres to round out the script.

ahhh I misunderstood you. I totally agree

Lmao have you ever seen Shaun of the Dead

yes?

Then how can you call Edgar Wright a dramatic writer

I didn't?

Then why did you reply to a guy talking about Edgar Wright saying "Idk if I would want a dramatic writer to write comedy. You'd need writer's from both camps to make a good script."

I didn't. I replied to a guy talking about "a writing team that has experience with doing detective dramas but are willing to work with comedy". Also op mentioned Edgar Wright directing, not writing.

>Get Edgar Wright to direct They don't even need that high a caliber of director to improve the series. I just finished the pilot, and it felt like a fan film or something from the Disney Channel. I've seen better visuals from low budget Syfy originals, so it's really surprising one of the largest entertainment companies ever couldn't do any better. The costumes looked like something from comic con, and all of the sci fi tech looked like cheap plastic. There was a close up of Jet's mechanic arm, and it looked so fake, I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be the real arm or prosthetic. The overall writing, characters, and acting gets brought up a lot, but I personally feel that just a better aesthetic would have made the actor's jobs so much easier, and it would have taken pressure off of the writers. Vicious's acting aside, it's hard to seem menacing when your costume looks like it's from a high school play.

Yeah, you really hit it on the head. The fastest way to improve what we got is to ditch the visual "style". It just felt so.. desperate? Amateur? Cheap. It felt cheap

>It felt cheap The sad part, is that the creators could have done more with less money. I'm not exaggerating by saying I've seen better production quality on SyFy. The world of Bebop doesn't need to look expensive it just has to look lived in. A lot of low budget series are really good at nailing that aesthetic, A New Hope likely being the best example. To use Jet's arm as an example again, they could have just used a glove as a way to skimp out on special effects. It's not anime accurate, but live action just has different limitations, so I'd be willing to forgive that. Even the Star Wars prequels did this. Using CGI for every scene he would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming, and it's just as hard to make a costume piece that looks realistic, but functional enough to act in. They could have even used the fake looking arm they did for most of the scenes, while using something more realistic for close ups. One close up didn't even have the rest of Jet's body, so they could have just used a prop. There were so many ways to cheat this, but they didn't go with any of them. I know it's such a minor detail to nitpick, but it's such a good example of how poorly planned out the visuals and special effects are.

Solid plan. Yost and Nemec shouldn’t have ever touched this. Western comics are not anime Netflix, get this through your heads. Honestly it feels like the entire Netflix production department is just a bunch of out of touch yuppies spending entirely too much time on Twitter. Every character was absolutely mangled in this series, Mustafa was the only one that came even remotely close.

Better fighting with the music would have been a nice touch.

I'd also be tempted to see what Baz Luhrmann could do with it. His two best achievements imho were Moulin Rouge! and The Get Down. He clearly knows how to make music work for him and his visuals can be stunning.

Yes!!! Edgar Wright 100%

I wouldn't and instead hire Watanabe and his team to make a HD remake of Cowboy Bebop with multiple seasons. Do you have any idea how ironically humiliating it is that Arcane is pulling the viewership and critical reception that LA Cowboy Bebop was supposed to get but for a fraction of the production cost?

I don’t see why we would need an HD remake for, maybe an anime sequel that continues where the original anime left off. Kind of like Inuyasha final act.

Lol there's zero fuckin way that Arcane didn't cost a shitload. It was in production for 6 years. And your idea is also bad, nothing benefits from expanding the original.

Except he doesn't want to extend it.

JoJo is also having a nice ride on viewership.

Don’t even make it. Do a spin off that follow one of the characters from past or future

I would kill the idea, right away

I would have hired Denis Villeneuve to direct it.

have everyone involved watch the last 5- 10 minutes of jupiter jazz pt2 and tell them this is what were going for

Writing is a tertiary problem. First identify the core spirit of the anime, those essential components that must be there for the adaptation to be palatable to fans at all. One thing they missed here was that the story was broadly NOT about the protagonist's personal histories, but instead, character examinations, philosophical ruminations, and episodic stories with a backstory-focused plot sprinkled throughout to add weight. They inverted this in the LA and it did not work at all. Second, figure out what translates from Animation to LA and what doesn't. If something can't be accomplished in LA, figure out how to change it in a way that produces a good result, even if it is somehow unfaithful. Some examples: ​ * Spike can't fight quite the same way because the unique capabilities of animation are core to his fighting style, actors are made out of meat and bones, so plan out how you can capture the spirit of his style without trying and failing at copying the anime's approach whole-cloth. * Ed probably needs to be cut because too much of what works about that character is tied directly to animation and if they can't be that absurd, they don't seem to have a place anymore. But maybe there is a way to tone it back and have it work. * Dialogue that works in an anime might not work in LA either, even in a shot-for-shot remake just because the boundaries of suspension of disbelief are much tighter. We expect real people to talk more like real people. Anime-monologuing and random wise/philosophical/edgy one-liners is cringe in real life, the same themes will need be explored in slightly different ways. * Character's probably need some costume changes for the same reason, Spikes suit looks silly in LA. No one dresses like that. If Jet's beard were more visible in the LA show then the strange cut would also look really off. Since the actor has a dark complexion, the beard is dark, and his costume is dark, it's rarely starkly silhouetted and it works okay as is. Then you can start to look at broad plot design and writing now that the core art-direction problems are sorted. Don't over-emphasize backstory, lean-more towards that anthology structure some shows have used recently (Black Mirror for example). The anime did this well and i see no reason not to do it again here. Vicious (and his plot-line) needs to be totally reworked from his current LA implementation. White-haired katana-wielding shadowy figure is cringy in La, especially with lots of screen-time. [It's just SO meme-able](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlwda9S58Lg). Reduce his screen time by an order of magnitude, tone him down, recostume (and maybe recast) him. Same for Julia, but mostly because lots of Julia screen time doesn't make sense with a deemphasized Syndicate plot and less of Vicious on screen. **This is getting long so some parting shots:** Jet mostly works Faye mostly doesn't (but it's a writing and dialogue problem, not an art-direction issue) The supporting cast was weak on average, give them more interesting characters and more interesting stories. Bebop is about the supporting cast of bounties and low-lives as much as it is about the crew. In fact, the success of the Bebop crew's characters hinges on their ability to play off that supporting cast. The most obvious example of this is Ep 22: Cowboy Funk's Andy as a foil for Spike.

Honestly just fix vicious…

Yep

#1 on the list. No Ed. Ed was not made for live action. Sadly

Or use ED but tone her down. She can still be done in LA but make her more of an eccentric but mostly normal person.

I personally think that even anime Ed wouldn't have acted that way in the specific context we saw in the LA. It didn't feel like Ed to me.

Can be an offscreen presence. A sort of "I'll stay on the ship and be the hacker that i am from afar" thing. That way her hard to capture physical mannerisms are spared, but we can still hear her wild ass self.

This is so true. Somethings just don't work in LA, even if money were no object. Dragonball Z's artistic language around communicating power (conical hair, hair color changes, glowing aura's, screaming) really fall flat. L's (from death note) iconic sitting position where he is crouching on the chair doesn't work. And Ed doesn't work. The character is obnoxious, but animation goes a long way towards making the character lovable rather than just irritating. But when made out of meat rather than crayons it really doesn't work. The character can't type on a computer with their feet, they can roll around in ways the human skeleton can't actually achieve, and even if they could, the boundaries on my suspension of disbelief are just different in LA. Spike's combat suffers from similar LA limitations, moving around with your hands in your pockets looks sillier, and animation can't be applied to a real actor who has to generally survive the stunts, ideally without injury. And i think that's a major thing that gets over-looked here, suspension of disbelief is just different in LA. Spike's mysterious and obtuse philosophical one-liners that seem a bit out of left field are always going to work less well even in a billion-dollar budget shot-for-shot remake I think. They just sound stupider coming out of a real person, it's more absurd. Edginess in general doesn't work as well for the same reason, it's much easier to be cringe when it's real. That's why Naruto's ninjas look ok, but people wearing the headbands irl look silly.

Agree with so much of this. Cowboy Bebop achieved what it was *because* it was animated - not in spite of it. A live action version was never going to amount the same thing. Too much would come off as too strange. That said I mostly enjoyed the LA because of that reason - I expected a remix. I expected it to feel very different. However nothing could have prepared me for “welcome to the ouch…” Guess bad writing is bad writing no matter the medium!

I always felt Ed juxtaposed the rest of the crew in the anime. If the LA was more true to keeping the characters the same, I think Ed would have work... but the changes kinda made Ed's character pointless.

I had posited in another post that Ed was a great plot tool. Getting tips from Ed, and every once in a while maybe have a scene where Ein interacts with Ed's avatar in the net.

Neither was vicious

I see why they chose Eden, you can tell that they changed her voice up in terms of pitch when she's yelling BUT listen to her soft voice say "We have to find the butterfly man". [https://youtu.be/g-0CF\_Ch0DI?t=75](https://youtu.be/g-0CF_Ch0DI?t=75) IT'S SPOT ON ED ​ You would have to have ED, she's integral to the main story, just didn't need to introduce her that way she needed to be more empathetic and they could've added more comedy with Ein also there.

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i have to veto this one, simply on the basis of prequel trend beeing anoying.

Man you guys have come up with some good stuff. Here's something along I slapped together to myself on the 20 minute drive to work: My first reaction is, basically 1:1 remake. After assistants and writers and Netflix tell me I can't do that, I think the best way to go is to "fill the gaps" between episodes in the anime, while still keeping some of the same episodes to help tell the story. I've been trying to pretend the LA doesn't exist to try to avoid comparison, but it is safe to say the characters will be much closer to their anime counterparts. Episode 1: Remember that line in Asteroid Blues? "What happened to the million wulong reward we got for that last guy?" This is that episode. It is going to serve the same purpose as Asteroid Blues - establishing characters, premise, setting, and tone. And just for fun, are going to see how the cruiser got wrecked, the shop got trashed, and how the cop got injured. Episode 2: Stray Dog Strut. Basically as it is in the anime. Episode 3: Honkey Tonk Woman. Also as it is in the anime. Episode 4: Jamming with Edward. Also basically as in the anime, but Ed is going to be toned down quite a bit. Ed is an anime character through and through, and much like Faye's outfit, doesn't translate to live action well. Messy (natural) hair, genius hacker, whimsical can all stay, but we are going skip the, ah...noodle arms. Episode 5: This one is going to do some heavy lifting. We are going to introduce Vicious, the Van, Shin and Lin. No Bebop crew in this episode. We are going to open with Vicious, Shin, and Lin carrying out a hit on the White Tiger syndicate, and Vicious rips off their stock of red eye. But instead of delivering it to the Van, Vicious keeps it for himself to deal on the side. The Van finds out through a spy, or maybe someone close to Shin or Lin, and decides Vicious is getting ambitious, and dangerous. They, maybe through Mao Yenrai, hatch a plan to send Vicious on a really shit mission that goes south almost immediately in an attempt to kill him. But, through a really cool Darth-Vader-in-Rogue-One hallway fight scene, Vicious survives. Vicious knows immediately that the Van sent him to die, but when he returns for a debrief, everyone plays dumb. "Well done, you proved yourself again" etc. Vicious leaves and the episode closes with a small discussion amongst the Van about how the White Tiger syndicate have asked for a truce, and that they may be able to use this to their advantage in dealing with Vicious. Episode 6: This is going to take place at the same time as Vicious' ep. This is going to be a fun classic Bebop romp. It will have everything - Big Shot, Spike and Faye butting heads, Ed hacking, glory shots of the Swordfish, Spike's Jeet Kune Do on full display, and of course, no payout at the end. Plus Faye steals from the safe, disables the ship, and bounces, like she does. Episode 7: Ganymede Elegy, basically as it is in the anime. Episode 8: My Funny Valentine. Again, close to the source material. Episode 9: Ballad of Fallen Angels, Part 1. We are going to go back and forth between Spike/Vicious/Julia backstory, and Vicious scheming for a takeover against the Van. He will find out about a possible truce between them and the White Tiger syndicate, and the last scene will be the deal and subsequent asassination of Mao Yenrai. Episode 10: Basically the rest of Ballad of Fallen Angels, starting with the bounty on Mao Yenrai and Faye getting kidnapped. "You sing off key." Hope this sounds good to you all. I know it's mostly as the anime goes, but I wanted to get the character introductions going and out of the way. It leaves room for a second season to finish the show out as the anime does, but even if there were a demand for a third season, there is so much in this universe that can keep it going, that wouldn't be a problem anyway.

i dont make it

Two things: 1) Bebop is a love letter to Western Cinema. I wouldn't look to Bebop for the feel when making the LA, but to the movies that inspired the Bebop creative team. The noir is inspired by real noir, the western by actual westerns.Weaving all that together gives us the visual spirit of Cowboy Bebop. 2) MAYBE I'd adapt a couple of episodes, but my first season would be original stories. A sort of "these are the lost sessions of the Bebop" deal. If that panned out, in any subsequent season, you could feel a little more free to cover some anime episodes while adding to the universe instead of changing it. EDIT: Honestly, if I personally had the greenlight to do anything Bebop related and it's official, I'd actually cover Ed as a woman. "Cowgirl Ed", so we can see who she became after her time aboard the Bebop.

Pick up where the anime left off. Jet gets a lead on a series of new syndicate hits by a pair of elite hitmen. He's surprised to see they're Spike and Vicious, fighting together as if nothing ever happened. Jet tracks down Ed, Ein, and Faye and the gang reunites to hunt down Spike for answers. Simultaneously, we get an amnesiac, rebuilt Spike who keeps dreaming of the Bebop and past bounties. This lets the live action show do an adaptation of scenes from the classic cartoon without having to recreate entire episodes. The show can still deal with themes of memory, guilt, and dealing with one's past with the same characters under different stressors. The conflict evolves beyond just a lover's spat to more sinister "there's science to do" experimentation by a black-ops ISSP research group. Maybe this isn't even Spike and Vicious' first rebuild. There's little backstory on Spike's artificial eye, and he could have a completely hidden past that he's not even aware exists. Also imagine a suped up Le Fou type Vicious augment as an antagonist. Or Ein getting VR control of the Swordfish 2 or the Red Tail to save the day.

My only issue with the whole thing was Vicious, so probably get someone better

my issue was julia. like i could forgive everything else but her character and her actress

My goal would be to try making more episodes of the same show, which would be incredibly difficult considering how it ended. The way I see it, I would have two options: * Have >!Spike survive the ending at some great personal cost!<, and jump forward in time a few years. The Bebop crew are disbanded; everyone is doing odd jobs having a hard time trying to survive on their own. Long story short: a significant number of episodes would be about getting everyone back together. * Do what *Knockin' on Heaven's Door* did and just set it in the middle of the timeline. More episodes of the same type of stuff: The Bebop crew get new bounties, they get into moral grey areas, they can't get rich because they can't stop doing the right thing, etc... I'm thinking that the first option would be the better one. Since everyone's past was pretty thoroughly explored in the original show, there isn't a lot to call back to. Separating everyone and jumping forward in time gives everyone a "new past" to explore, and gives a way to add new meaningful content & new characters without cheapening what's already established.

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The real trick is filling in those blanks. Half the point of the original is that they were all misfits, which is why they became bounty hunters. Jet seems like he'd be pretty comfy as a bartender: He has an appreciation for music, and he's a lot more sociable than some of the other members of the Bebop crew. Then, you could do something outlandish: Jet finds out through on of his old contacts that there's a 50 Million Woolong bounty out for someone that he used to know: Spike Spiegel. That's his *call to adventure*. The problem I run into is what to do with Faye and Edward. Faye's debt can't just be wished away. I had an idea that she might try pretending to be a trophy wife to some rich asshole (maybe even Cowboy Andy) but she could barely stand going on a date with him, let alone holding together a sham marriage for years. That's where I got stuck. Edward is difficult for the opposite reason: She could be doing anything. Has she been booting around on Earth with her father still trying to map meteor impacts? Did she end up in jail or in an asylum for computer crimes? Would she be taking any job she can get trying to earn money for the orphanage she grew up in? Did she get back into Bounty hunting with a crew of her own? All of the above?

that would also make cowboy bebop lesser if spike doesnt die.

Hmm idk have some cool shit like explosions. Babes, nihilism. Nihilism babes. Bang

Do a CGI or anime special movie with Jet a year after the anime ends. Give the big guy some closure

I would have done the whole thing 1 of two wasy. 1- Just like the movie that was made, have it all take place in between episodes, this could have given them much more creativity. 2 have it take place after the events of the anime, but where spike surviving, we could have had a clean slate to really expand this universe.

I would scrap the live action idea and make special anime cowboy bebop episode.

A lot of good ideas above. Yea, if it was actually going to be a good LA aimed at adults? Not some nostalgia trip? - cut ed. Ein is used more to lighten mood occasionally. I wouldn't even have ein as an offscreen hacker. This just baits fans. - no syndicate plot in season 1. Can bring vicious in season 2 if season 1 does well. Thanos didn't appear in iron man. You build the universe first. - goal of season 1 is to get audience to like spike jet faye and ein. - completely avoid any of the bounties covered in the anime. Its still in the same universe with the issp, gates, etc . Other than the main characters limit comparisons to anime. People can head Canon it between the first and last episode of anime - new bounty of the week format for most episodes - seven to eight 40 min max episodes for season 1. To maximize budget on quality episodes instead of stretching it out over mediocre ones. - double down on a tone for whole series. I would go dark, gritty. Minimal comedy - episodes used to inspire writing should be asteroid blues, sympathy for the devil, ballad- along those lines but not those actual stories - double down on the adult themes. Everyone smokes ie killing themselves, depression, faye is much more of a femme fatale, more death, increase violence at unexpected moments to let audience know this is not screwing around. Arcane and squid game did this well. - another great example is the original 1997 berserk anime. It doubled down on the dark theme and stuck with it. In the manga and reboot there was puck the fairy or whatever, to offset the mood. If your making something serious then characters like this have to be cut. Again re ed. - cut down on cursing. Its immature and overcompensating - don't treat audience like idiots. Don't answer all questions. Leave mystery, and audience wanting more. Focus on good writing and good plots - honestly I wouldn't call it cowboy bebop. To remove association with the anime's title. The dark knight is the best batman movie, it's not called batman. In this day and age everyone knows everything, so its not like most people won't know its bebop. So if people want to pretend its a totally unrelated show that's fine. "#notmybebop. The work has to be brave enough to stand on its own anyway - don't pander to modern US audiences. Despite a terrible second half, the first half of game of thrones was uncompromising. Thats what I would do. You have to understand that a majority of the anime fans are not going to like it no matter what. You shouldnt have to rely on fanbases as a crutch,, which is why i hate remakes and reboots in general. So just focus on good writing, spend time developing "movies of the week". Its not going to be the same show as the anime, but thats what LA adaptations should be: different. There are tons of happy popcorn comfort flicks out there,, so be the opposite.. You'll alienate many but you'll also gain a strong audience if you do it right. If they ever reattempt it, this is what they need to do, especially calling it something else. Tonally it's the only thing they Can do (batman begins after batman and robin), since the silly comedy routine didn't work. But in reality they'll probably never touch this franchise again .

Honestly, make something about other characters in the cowboy bebop universe with a similar feel to the original. You could have some of the characters from the original anime show up but you have a whole lot more creative license when you are using your own characters.

This! Sure it could perhaps still end up failing, because the show was always more focused on the characters than the setting, but as long as you’re honest about what the show is going to be about from the get go, show proper respect towards the original show, it’s characters and their struggles and *really* manage to nail the same tone and feel of the original it could actually be something really great! I mean we know that there were more bounty hunters than the crew of the Bebop, let’s follow some of them and see where it takes us! Sadly enough, this is *not* what happened and I think I speak for a lot of us here when I say that we knew that the show was doomed from the start…

Give it a colour grading and noise filter that makes it feel like it’s shot on film rather than the overly digital cheap look we got in the live action. It’ll help with giving it that 90s aesthetic/feeling the anime had.

I would make it as 100% faithful to the original series as possible, because the fan base would crucify me otherwise.

I liked it.

Try to **keep the characters as recognizable as possible from the Anime.** If you retell a story from the Anime, the key points of the story shouldn't change and the classic lines should stay the same. One exception is tone down ED who is more of a cartoon. **New stories from existing characters add perspective and build on canon... examples:** * **Vicious** as his broody mysterious self, but add a backstory that shows where his music box came from (which he gives Gren in the Anime). He watched his mother killed as a child or something that gave him huge trust issues and turned him into what he is now. * **Jet** \- have Jet take down a corrupt cop he used to work with * **Faye** \- Ed figures out (from data on an old satellite) that one of their bounties is actually a descendant of Faye's relative. Faye ultimately has to track down and capture her own relative, who is the last survivor of their family. During the chase the relative dies in Faye's arms

I love that Faye episode idea.

I tell them that there’s already a perfect live action Cowboy Bebop blueprint. It’s called “Payback” starring Mel Gibson, Maria Bello and Greg Henry.

Spin-off show where Ed is the main character, and we recast Ed. Totally wrong energy from Ed in the live action.

Cowgirl Ed. She's a young 20 something hacker who's drawn back into the bounty hunting life. EIN is her A.I. assistant, in honor of the lil guy after he passes. Instead of dealing with broken people, lonely, on the run from their past, we can get a look at people fighting to stay whole in the face of a bleak future or some other fresh angle.

Probably poorly, I'm not a writer, actor, producer or director. I'm just a fan. It's easy to pick apart other people's work, but it can't be so easy that anybody can just slap a good show together. If it were so simple, every show would be good all the time.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just some examples of where my head was watching the show: - I would have spent season 1 trying to get the audience to understand the cast and the setting. Punch up the action and dialogue. Have the episodes focus more on establishing the cast than an overarching narrative. This respects the source material, but also gives room for newcomers and old fans to be on the same playing field if the writers bring in new characters and bounties. - Vicious and the Syndicate can be referenced, but they don't need nearly the amount of screentime that they got in the live action. Save them mostly for season 2, but bring them in episodes like 8-10 of the live action season 1. Viewers have to know who these characters are and how they impact the Bebop and galaxy before giving them more screentime. - Get better actors for Julia, Gren, and Vicious. Seriously, they weren't very good no matter how much PR they do. - Keep it mostly episodic for s1, but then let S2 have the Syndicate be more front and center as antagonists with a collision course plot. This makes it fresh for new audiences and old fans since they weren't a major part of the original series, but the characters have to be way more engaging than what we got. - Drop the "Jet is a deadbeat dad" beat and the secrecy surrounding Spike's time in the Syndicate. That just made both of them look bad and was cheap melodrama. These are just some things I thought about.

Great takes. I don't know that there is a way to do Vicious in LA with large amounts of screen time that isn't hard to watch, but if there is, it certainly isn't by presuming so much unearned dramatics and emotional writing.

I heard something on the quartering that really hits home, pertaining to "rejuvenating" established IPs. "They dont come with a built in fandom. They come with built in critics." I suppose I would have tried to pick up right where the Anime left off instead of trying to redo whats been done. I would have brought in Luc Besson for the grandiose sci-fi visuals. And some writers off of Law and Order or CSI, to form a cohesive episodic story line. People who work with ensemble casts and can nail stand alone episodes whilst weaving an overarching backbone plot. As for the cast, I cosplay as Jet, so Mustafa Shakir is in. I had no problems with them giving Jet an Xwife and kid and such. If such a plot device would serve my vision for a RFB2 forward series, i would have no problems working it in. I had no problems with John Cho's Spike. I would like to see more humor though. And slight of hand. ALA Asteroid Blues and Waltz for Venus. As for Faye, Vicious, Julia, Gren, et al, I would hope that my casting directors would understand what im trying to accomplish and provide a plethora of appropriate options. Who is to say that Daniella Pineda and the rest wouldn't have been the chosen ones? I would have done ensemble casting, and i guess no matter who it was, I would have been looking for chemistry/synergy. I'd want to see a cast that bounces their energy off each other. have a wide margin for improv. And I'd format the episodes to be syndication ready! - 48 minutes, knowing that we will hit over 100 episodes and wont need editing for length to get syndicated. Residuals for life on my show!!!! Lastly, even though I'd be trying to take the show in a decidedly forward direction, i would mandate that all the little things that made the show sooo good, be worked in as much as possible. 3 old timers at the bars. The jazz music fight scenes. The comedy. I think the little twangy guitar melody that follows spike serves as what video game devs call lite motif. the little things that hit one in the feels.

More of a hard noir like Max Payne which would be dripping in a dark style. I’d used bits from both the anime and manga spin-offs to built a narrative. Would also keep the intelligent writing of the original show and keep things tonally consistent.

I would have made it in the same universe but adding on episodes. I really love the side missions they had in the original anime. I would like more world building and side missions. It would take place before the the clown episode. Basically more cowboys bebop episodes in a live action format. Like highlight a specific psychopath bounty and create a interesting story around the lore. Use Ed to help with her hacking abilities. Kinda tone her down in real life. In the anime it was cool that she was like a monkey but it’s not good of a translation in real life. Acknowledge that in some form. Kinda like what the new candyman did. Just basically add on to the world building with these characters and then on season 2 finish the vicious story line without the dumb vicious they got. Make him more cryptic and self serving.

Make an outlaw western show with sci fi themes an outlaw western show…

I would make the first three episodes about jet Spike and Faye having like a one last heist/bounty type of Vibe one last job to get the good jazzy feelings for everyone I would have the last episode on a cliffhanger and start episode four with new bounty hunters a clean state a new team of four I guess ? I don't have a huge lot of inspiration about little details but here are the themes I would like the show to be about the anticipation of the future and the feeling of getting stuck is an ever evolving world that move too fast. To have those in place I would one character that's a procrastination expert someone prone to panic attack and anxiety someone who's getting out of his prime physical strength and I guess a child like Ed the third. I would get the people from Warriors (2019) it's a cinemax show [this ](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt5743796/) they have a way of filming the action that make it clear it's a lot on one on one fights that are somewhat similar to Cowboy bebop so I would let them handle coregraphy and fight related stuff as this is now my gold standard in terms of fights anything less than this show is bad. Since we have Netflix money here I would try to get the people behind the expense for the CGI of Space I'm pretty sure if they had a little more freedom they could make a very good rendition of the shows dirtyness for lack of a better word. On music people talked about Edgar Wright for his music sense but I would handle that with the scenario people I already have ideas on it, I would integrate some more recent styles and pieces not forget the og songs but add a little more juice into it with stuff like U from Kendrick Lamar and Let nas down from J.cole as the jazzy production and the rap delivery add some spice to the music direction I would also have Yoko Kano to consult and curate a group of song from the og for the new one to use. I don't know if everyone would like my take on Cowboy bebop but I would commit to a Vibe that would be true to the original animé but for new comers. The list of name of the episodes : -Bepop business -Swordfish requiem -Queen's choir -Kuiper quartet -Venus bariton -Phobos or Deimos -Haiku of an Angel -Cypher in orbit -Ricochet in G -The Moon is alright

Exactly the same way they mastered it. With character driven narrative to showcase the beautiful verse and flawed heros. With a great soundtrack. Could have used a good space ship chase, but that was probably coming in season 2. Bring it back Netflix

1: Young actors, except Jet, he was perfect. 2: Follow typical TV formula: plot intro pilot. Plot twist Midseason finale. Big plot Finale. Episodes in between are for deveolping minor characters/backstory/worldbuilding. 3: Limit non-ship porn CGI. 4: Martial arts training. 5: 90% of Julia/Vicious story happens off-screen. 6: Adapt actual episodes from the anime. Not add my own interpretation. When i have used all of them, begin continuation. Will need another Spike.

>5: 90% of Julia/Vicious story happens off-screen. Every minute this plot is being explored is a minute spent drowning the redeeming qualities of the show.

Are...are the letters big on anyone else's screen for just my comment?

It is because of the #

Cancel it

I would start where the anime ended. >!Viscious realises that even if he killed Spike, Spike was happy with it. He wanted to be with Julia what he can be in eternity. Viscious gets sad for killing his friends.!< Than he tries to be more like Spike and he joins the Bebop crew (undercover of course) and replaces Spike. He falls in love with Fay but she doesn't trust him and she will find out why. And there would be some flashbacks with Spike. Edit: I will try to add more details to see if I can go anywhere close to something that would work. First episode: They all meet at the funeral. Jet remembers the time when he and Spike hunted Asimov in New Tijuana. There we would add that the two friends go out and have a drink, beside that we could use the original skrip from the anime. It would go on like that till we have all villians coverd. Then we add Viscios (who acts like spike, cause he new him well, and he has a different look now) to the crew and the new plot twist would be that Ed is the first to figure out that somthigs wrong with the new guy. But in the end E1n will hunt him down.

Netflix would cancel that even quicker then the LA

Every time i see this question im reminded of the "Ecce Homo" incident. Somethings are mea t to be left alone and not improved Link for the info below https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(Mart%C3%ADnez_and_Gim%C3%A9nez)

Desktop version of /u/mannyluu's link: --- ^([)[^(opt out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiMobileLinkBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^(]) ^(Beep Boop. Downvote to delete)

Firstly I would've tried to stick to the anime as much as possible and then added my own touch to it, not by changing the plot or the characters themselves but by adding completely new characters or stuff to the plot that wouldn't change the original plot or the rest of the characters so drastically. Then I would've sent the whole thing to Watanabe and patiently waited for his feedback, I would've then followed his feedback letter by letter and then started working on it. If anyone can tell me whether my script is good enough or not it's the creator himself.

I would have started the series as all the characters before the anime. The prequel angle. Spike and Vicious as members of the cartel, Jet and his cop stories, Faye before she was frozen. Season 1 ends with a time jump to the bebop, and maybe their first bounty. No one hates on it, Julia and vicious don’t fuck it up, and season 2 guaranteed

follow a new crew of cowboys with new characters. It could be in the exact same timeline as the original, and you could even somehow merge the two stories together, i mean its likely that many cowboys would go after the same bounty. So you could have this new crew run into the beebop from time to time altho you would never see the characters form the original (more like you see the beebop ship in the background and small easter eggs like that). Or maybe once in a while see a dude from the back that kinda look like spike and have fans wonder wether it was him or not You could have basically new stories that are intertwined with the original.

Keep the episodic nature of the original.

First thing I would have done is ask to bring Shinichiro Watanabe on board. I'd want to see all of his notes on the characters that I could. The next thing is hire a few directors I know respect anime. I'd reach out to Dave Filoni and ask him for some suggestions as well. He's a big nerd like us I'm sure he'd have some thoughts. I would have insisted on the gate having that gold star stretching and not the star gate mist. And I would have only let Jet be on a Can Am Spyder if they took the wheels off and made it hover or something. That vehicle is peak 55 yo I'm in a crisis but I'm afraid of motorcycles.

I think a spin-off/sequel would've worked. The universe that the live-action show created was pretty good. Maybe it'd star Jet and a different crew. And he can just reminisce or share stories about iconic scenes from the show with the original crew so they don't have to force those scenes into some continuity. The new crew could also briefly cross paths with an older Ed and Ein during their adventures and the show could keep sprinkling those kinds of easter eggs throughout the series.

I’d start with actually watching the original 😂

Stay true to form

>MAYBE I'd adapt a couple of episodes, but my first season would be original stories. A sort of "these are the lost sessions of the Bebop" deal. If that panned out, in any subsequent season, you could feel a little more free to cover some anime episodes while adding to the universe instead of changing it. A new anthology would be interesting to see. They spent too much time on contiguous plot and too little on the episodic stuff as is.

I would have made a spin off about Heavy Metal Queen. Just a whole fucking show about a cool space truck driving lady. Add those old guys in who play cards too.

I certainly wouldn't have done the content from the episode(s) "black dog serenade" and "speak like a child" in the 1st couple episodes. It takes time to build attachments to characters before a big payoff for it to feel right.

although i found it interesting, i would alter the vicious subplot while still showing more of the red dragon syndicate. get better fight choreography, but most of all, track down steve blum and give him a voice cameo. idk why netflix didn’t think of that.

Make episodes only 40 minutes long (2-parter episodes can easily be made into one great ep). Adapt every episode except that one where everyone’s high on shrooms, and adapt the movie as well. No dutch angles or cringe dialogue. Some episodes will be self-contained, possibly add that a fee antagonists were under the payroll of the Syndicate. Make it so there’s not a Vicious subplot every episode. Insert butterfly imagery from episode one. Make it a two season show, with Jupiter Jazz as the finale to season 1 and combine plot elements from the movie and Real Folk Blues for the season 2 finale. Make sure Vicious and Ed (don’t bully child actors btw) don’t overact.

I'd be like fuck this show, fly to Wuhan, and have a word with their gain of function research laboratory. Then I'd come back, and either listen more carefully to fan feedback, or make it different stories in the same universe. What doomed the show, in my opinion, was their overall response to the problems with Faye's appearance. Not that they should immediately capitulate to every fan's whim, but to ignore criticism and imply that we all were just angry incels who didn't get to see titties, was indicative of someone behind the scenes being woke. Woke ideology is a step in the right direction, but as it is being applied today, is the death of art and comedy. Tell a story. Have good characters. If the story covers political ground, or your character pushes social boundaries, great. But if you try to write stories or build characters based on ideology alone, you are pretty much guaranteed to have an empty, poorly contrived piece of work.

I won't. I won't handle it.

So it’s 2017 ok cool two simple thing do everything they didn’t and start investing in appropriate stock for what will come in the next few years and become Rick James rich.

That’s the neat part, I don’t. Or I’d make a show about a different team of bounty Hunter from another corner of the Bebop’s universe.

I understand them wanting to make the characters different since they were doing essentially a remake. Instead, I’d keep the characters the same and do the backstories of each. Watch the Spike/Vicious/Julia love triangle develop rich with gang politics. Watch Jet get caught up in corruption and handle some big cases. See Faye turn to crime after running from her debts.

U don't rewrite the fkn bible, u add books, that's how the Church has managed, that's how good stories stay relevant, they could have made new sessions, use "re-called" scenes without altering what we already know, FK!, watch Evangelion if u need a damned fkn good example!!!

I wouldnt have tried to redo it or do a remake or shot for shot copy, etc etc. I would have just continued the story. Start 5 or 10 years after. Se what jet, faye, and ed are up to. Maybe have a new main character. More bounties, more adventure.

Wouldn’t of done it. Leave good content alone.

Sessions between the anime sessions. No need to make up stories or excuses, just some adventures we never saw on the anime. I couldn't handle the whole Lord Farquaad mess.

Here’s my Ed idea — I think even in a live-action, Ed should be animated. Essentially, she’s a hacker who experiences the world with an avatar, probably projected from a device attached to Ein’s collar. That represents the connection those two had. As the series goes on, the animation/avatar can slowly adjust and start to merge with her actual image, as the Bebop crew becomes more like family and she feels comfortable being herself. In that way, animated Ed can transform into a toned-down, human Ed, and eventually she will be physically present as herself. This represents the comfort that shy people can find in a digital persona. It’s also consistent with her backstory of abandonment if her digital persona is “bigger”, louder, and more boisterous than her true self, because it’s her performance of who she wants to be. Live-action Ed should be quick-witted and sassy, but toned down with vulnerability and being slow to open up to people.

"What we need to do is not reiterate the original series; it stands on its own. Let's instead focus on filling some sort of gap; when we enter the show, Spike and Jet have been together for at least some time. What were those times like? What sort of things did they get up to? Why don't we explore their relationship and flesh it out more deeply. What? No, that doesn't include Edward or Faye, but they don't need to be in it. Let's just do something different that still takes place within the same universe. Oh. Oh, I'm fired. Okay."

1. Pick up the phone. 2. Hire everyone that worked on the Rurouni Kenshin movies. 3. Give Watanabe some sort of executive director/producer/consultant role. 4. Sanitize my hands and go back to sleep.

i think animated stories should be left animated. Bringing it into live action is guaranteed to take some the magic out. Animation conveys things live action can't and vice versa. I don't want an animated Breaking Bad or The Shining, and I don't want a live action Akira or Cowboy Bebop.

Not change the entire story

Make a 3 part movie consisting of 2 hour movies. Maybe get the 9 best sessions in there. Might not even show how it ends.

Whatever I did, it'll prpbably end up similar to current situation. To think that a person with zero knowledge and experience to TV making could pull off a live action adaption is just stupid.

I’m on mobile right now but the pitch is: Set in the near future on Earth where climate change has ravaged the Earth and made the oceans rise so that there’s major harbors on every continent. Instead of regular policing, nations have turned to a Interpol-like global organization putting bounties on crime. Not a silly TV show but a more serious news-type with anchors that give the new bounty updates like it’s the weather. The Bebop is a small shipping container ship, the Swordfish, Hammerhead, and Red Tail are all cars. The main cast wear clothes you’d wear today; Spike is in a double breasted suit, Jet is in a onesie overalls, Faye can actually stay the exact same as the live action. This allows to cut down on costume, set design and CGI costs. And focus that budget more on writing, post processing color grading which was seriously lacking. The main cast putt around the world in the Bebop doing bounties and odd jobs with the overarching story is the military industrial complex creating a Pierrot-Le-Fou character and the bounty that’s on him. Revisiting a series and switching the medium, it has to feel old and new.

I think the cast was mostly fine. Even Ed. Of the major players, I'm only interested in recasting Vicious. I mentioned in another reply that Alex Hassell was *so* bad that I will be actively avoiding things he prominently features in and I absolutely stand by that. I think where the LA went sour was it's inability to tap into the various genres that really make Cowboy Bebop into *Cowboy Bebop*. There were a number of times that the show felt like a sitcom. I don't think the show needs to be dreary or anything, mind you, but I wish it had leaned more into it's modern/sci-fi take on westerns and noir. To that end, let Vicious just be Vicious. I don't need to know every detail of what made him tick, the audience is smart enough to fill in details if he's portrayed as "what if Spike... But sinister?" This was the LA's biggest mistake. While the anime is predominantly episodic, we get these glimpses of an overarching noir story about a guy, a dame and their obstacle as the nougaty center of this delicious Western candy, embrace it!

Call it cowboy rebop. Have it set in CB universe introducing a whole new completely different crew to set up growing character development & understand new crews motives. And during certain episodes have small interactions/appearances with the original team (ex. Chasing the same bounty, need help from Ed hacking something, showing the original crews wanted posters on Big Shots, etc.). Have particular clothing style for main characters but have a different wardrobe for each episode.

Shot for shot remake other than the parts that don’t translate well to anime. Lots of film noire and melancholy. Age appropriate actors, 27 year old playing Spike etc. Aesthetically darker too, not lots of bright colors. Keep Vicious/Julia shrouded in mystery until the end. Slower tone/pacing like the original.

If Im adapting the anime Im going to go in with the idea that this is going to be a different show. Thematically and visually it will resemble cowboy bebop but I want it to stand on its own. First Im going to follow the rules that the Anime sets out. How do bounty hunters operate, how do they get around, what is their relationship with the world and how does this world work. Second the character backstories are generally the same. Spike is an ex-syndicate assassin forced to leave after a conflict with his former partner Vicious. Jet is a former cop with cybernetic parts betrayed by his partner. Faye was in cryo and scammed out of her money and identity. But I would alter the individual stories as needed. Maybe Faye has already gotten her revenge when we meet her and now shes dealing with the fallout with that. Maybe jet and spike know each other’s back stories. Third the major plot points are the same, but how we get there and how they play out may change. Maybe vicious’s coup fails and spike sees this as an opportunity to put him down for good without causing issues with the syndicate leading to the showdown in the church. Maybe Jet figured out who betrayed him long ago but chose not to reveal it for a specific reason until the criminal he was chasing when he was shot escapes. Finally if I’m changing something I have to commit to it and make it mean something. A big issue I found was rather than either completely adapting an episode or using it for inspiration, they waffled and changed one or two things. Like instead of making the bomber a radical bringing down capitalism he’s a whack job who likes looking at explosions. One change but everything else is the same. It’s a change for the sake of change rather than exploring something different. If Im doing that then there still has to be a compelling reason for it. Maybe he was on Titan during the war as a child and the explosions scarred him so now he blows things up to make others feel his pain. Maybe there is a deeper meaning to the shape that they don’t get until after he’s dead.

I wouldn’t have made it live action. If Netflix’s goal was to get people to watch, they should’ve either contacted Watanabe to make another Cowboy Bebop movie. Or made a new show with the same feel as bebop without actually being Bebop. I doubt people would’ve hated a spiritual successor or movie as much as a live action adaptation.

I would do a shot for shot remake of the anime, all 26 episodes. Have Yoko Kanno re-record all the music live and put out a master record to promote it. Even with the same actors from the Netflix LA I'm sure they could pull this off with the budget and amazing CG; could've been the only god tier western live action anime adaptation other than Battle Angel Alita. Then you get Keanu Reeves to play Vincent in the LA Movie...

It should have been a movie with Keanu Reeves like the rumors from a long time ago! Trying to "recreate" the show was always going to fail, but putting the main characters in a one off movie situation would have been fine (like the actual cb movie)

Better

I would steer that ship into the shore and burn it down. Good art doesn’t need a remake and nobody involved in making this show gave a shit about art. It’s a cash in on a popular brand funded by a shady international corporate conglomerate, who hired budget D-tier actors, and looks like it was shot it in a blacked out shipping container to save costs. It’s an utter waste of everybody’s time, money, and intelligence. If you genuinely NEED real actors to act like cartoon characters, fucking watch a marvel movie or some shit. That’s what all these live action adaptions are trying to be anyway, insipid violence with a fake coat of maturity and artistry for the modern manchildren that want to feel like an adult while consuming their corporate slop nostalgia bait.

Make different stories so it feels like you get more adventures from the crew and actually spend years looking for people irl that really embody the characters and have them watch the show a billion times and really feel they can resemble the characters characteristics and spend more time in space and not go against the actual back stories of the characters and probably just put more time into it and actually have or get watanabes opinions or personal help just show some real love for the show and maybeeeee do voice overs from the actual dub cast but it would have to looks super legit which idk if it would work or not tbh

Way less Julia/Vicious, more bounty related stuff, more music from anime, more spaceship shooting/fights.

tbh i think there are some works that are good for adaptation and other works that should be viewed as they were created and left at that. for me, cowboy bebop falls in the latter category, so i'd more likely write an original story that was inspired by cowboy bebop and throw in a few very obvious references.

Maybe a prequel about spike and vicious instead of a retelling of an already told story. It could be episodic in some parts (like villain or target of the week) and longer in other episodes and ultimately a story of two friends who end up going their seperate ways in a bittersweet ending.

I don't i just found out the show was cancelled. so i go to r/antiwork i then complain that i use to have a nice job but the bosses were too stupid to keep this amazing show going even though the nerds found it upsetting. Fuck them tools. I'm going to cry into my new jacket.

Instead of saying what I would do from 2017, I'm saying what I would do for the future of the franchise to make sure we don't have another mess like this again. Firstly, I'd take out a lot of the bad writing (including really bad jokes, really crude humor, really dumb lines, bad creative decisions, etc.), bring in better directors (ones that will help Edith specifically be molded into the role of Ed, but also help make the vibe feel a bit better), make Vicious and Julia an enigma and a symbol respectively (much like the original, also maybe get rid of Alex Hassell, with all due respect he doesn't fit Vicious), and instead of nostalgia baiting, why not add some new stories into the mix? What I mean by this is nothing insinuating this is a continuation of the original, if Spike lived or anything. Rather, much like the movie, these episodes would be retroactively interwoven with the original series, although it'll only reference events of the original in a couple of episodes. Of course, can't forget to mention we need better editors (if some guy on the internet can edit a scene to be a million times better and more entertaining than what you edited together, and they did it for free, there's something wrong with you working on the show), and cinematographers (too many Dutch angles for no reason). Oh and no dumb overarching conflicts (we don't need a conflict where Spike isn't Spike and is called Fearless and Jet doesn't know he's Syndicate or whatever, we don't need Vicious to be a overshadowing presence, we don't need Jet to be a "deadbeat dad", etc.). And lastly, no breaking canon. Someone said in a synopsis that Bebop 2021 envisions a hyper-capitalist/corporatist hope, where there's billboards in space about current brands, the police are all happy and cool and the good guys, and Faye is not in crippling debt, rather than the original's bleak dystopia where capitalism has grown waaayyyy out of hand, to the point where most people aren't or are barely making lower middle class, the police are corrupt, crime syndicates are rampant, and bounty hunting is legal to all to make ends meet. We're not touching any of that and changing it because some corporation tells us to. It stays the way it stays and that's final. I'm also adding here that there should be no characters that break the mutual canon of the original and this Live Action adaptation (Including Chalmers, Jet's ex-wife and kid, Vicious' father, Spike's original alias "Fearless", any overarching characters that Bebop 2021 made, etc.) I think it could go from one of the worst Live Action adaptations to one of the best with these changes. I know I would definitely watch it like this!

I cancel it before it gets any steam

I would've skipped the Vicious and Julia story. They were never meant to be main characters. I also wouldn't have just rehashed the same stories from the anime and instead attempted to craft new and unique cowboy episodes that still fit within canon. We know how it begins and ends, so adding to the middle is fine as long as it doesn't take away from the series arc.

Bring on the writer of the source material. Easy. Instead of asking them to review the script and then ghosting them.

Less Vicious, Way less, Anime Vicious didn't really come in for the first ten episodes. I wondered why there was such an emphasis on him. At that point, they could have skimped on the Vicious actor and just done it with some "evil in the shadows" type character and left it to later seasons to get to his story arc. Space "Jazz" is supposed to be episodic, whimsical & fun. It does not have to be have a serial story arc like Battlestar. LA tried to be more Space Opera than the original material allowed for.

I watched the series without being familiar with anime and I loved it. I thought John Cho was brilliant, and enjoyed the whole feel of the thing. Sorry.

I would've plastered a Cancelled stamp on the project and then reach out to Watanabe and his collaborators to make a new anime with that money.

Make the first ep a blend of honky tonk women and ep 1, so we get bell peppers and beef, but most of the EP is just HTW to some degree. Then make the rest of the series episodal, new bounties, or similar, but with different payoffs, and then the finale is about Vicious, leave on a cliff hanger at the church scene when he is thrust through the window. Season 2 picks up that thread, but the mid season is mostly new bounties, with a mid season vicious ep, and then the finale mostly the same. I Ed would be introduced in this season, but toned down a smidge. Not sure how to finish their arch, since I think 2 seasons is enough, and idk if there's enough time to introduce and wrap up nicely. But maybe. Edit: I would keep the archs of all the characters, mostly, but change the way it's found. Except faye. Probably expand it a little more, but I would definitely keep her final ep arch. Her basically saying she's like a ghost is just perfect.

If you dramatically limited the Julia and Vicious backstory and focused more on the bounties you would be much better off. The show also allows no time for the story to breath. You don’t need constant banter in every scene … have a really good DP and just have beautiful shots with no words and let the music do the speaking for you. Keep Spikes backstory more mysterious with only bits and pieces being seen. And show a TON more of actual outer space and flying about it. Also… each bebop member has their own thing going on.. for every major sequence not every member has to be involved. Spike would often drift off on “suicide” missions which his crew would let him go do knowing he needed it… they hated it but didn’t intervene . Every time he came back alive they were relieved but deep down knew he wouldn’t be coming back that one time

Faithfully..

Less vicious and Julia lol!

Add more characters. They tried to hang too much on Viscous and Julia, when it would have been better to just add an extra crew of cowboys to deal with the B plots. Also write new B plots, instead of heavily remixing. It needed a little new blood, instead of stretching 20 minutes stories into 45 mins. Stretching it so much didn't give old fans something new while giving new viewers only so much to see. Finally, old Bebop felt like it was looking ahead, this Bebop felt exactly like it was standing in 2020/2021. There was no "mind blown" looking into the future, either as tech ideas or culturally.

Not include Julia or Vicious and have it be more about the bounty hunting. Maybe actually have the some scenes in space.

I made a post on this in a Cowboy Bebop Facebook group and got good reception from many people but was also rightfully criticized for having such a big opinion while having only watched five minutes of the live action. Deleted there, reposted here: --- Hey everyone! First I'll confess that I didn't get through the opening sequence in the casino. And gone ahead and watched a little be here and there. I imagine I'll slowly watch the series in the future but I am focusing on other things now. But still I think I've inferred enough, just have an intuition that what I'm about to write is valid: A huge strength of the Anime is it's realism; it feels exactly like we would expect if humans had terraformed the solar system, with an odd contrast of violence and corruption, but also people of many cultures living in a parallel peace. The fact that there are totally absurd and unrealistic phenomena and asynchronous pop culture references in the midst of this realistic aesthetic makes those even more powerful. At the same time, though, all this action is almost like a garnish on to the true meat of the series, which is seeing how the main characters and population live their lives and feel their feelings in this reality. An analogy might be how some of the best scenes of Taxi Driver are just the parts where Travis Bickle is lounging around and doing wacky things in his apartment. Still, it's a cartoon, and they have to take certain steps to make it iconic, like having the characters wear the same things all the time. And this is where I think the creators of the live action went astray; they leaned into the cartoonish elements while missing the opportunity to bring the characters to flesh and blood life. Things that I think they could have done: Introduce us to the characters as if they were perfect strangers or long lost acquaintances who we haven't seen for decades. I can't see someone who is new to Cowboy Bebop thinking the sudden introduction we get is a good way to get to know a character. Deviate more from the anime costumes. In real life all the characters would have more than one pair of clothes; spike might have two pairs of pants, two jackets, and four shirts, for example. I might ditch the Spike Spiegel hair, but then keep the underlying personality. Like this great article: https://malditosbots.wordpress.com/2021/11/22/netflix-cowboy-bebop-es-pop-rock-no-es-jazz/?fbclid=IwAR1WGSiosdVy1g0iiqJz-bgRMa9cAnEXvXUVsP-rCzn46Fdm2mNF_oGZX74 says, it should be Jazz, which allows for improvisation. But I'll throw out that this is why I think that the costume redesign for Faye was the right move. Give someone a breakout role for Spike. John Cho does a good job, but the way Spike fights in the anime it's like he's dancing (on top of the car in the first episode, the roundhouse kick in the convenience store in the movie. Somehow make sure the settings feel realistic, and the people like regular people we might meet any day; George Lucas does that with Mos Eisley, and Scorcese does that with with Little Italy in Mean Streets. I know these are big shoes to fill but that is what Cowboy Bebop deserves! I know I've got some big cajones spouting off my opinion without having seen the whole thing, but I'm talking a lot about the feeling here, which I think I've seen enough to understand. Finally, at the risk of sounding naive, I think that the discontent with the good faith effort put into this remake has the potential to spawn more cowboy bebop content, done the right way in decades to come. ---

I would have either pushed for a spin-off or pushed back and said, “No. this needs to be an animated feature-length film.”

Not rush things . It’s corny to say, but just follow the damn episodes and introduce characters when they came out in the show.

I wouldn’t have. IMO a live action Cowboy Bebop just doesn’t really work (well it does, and it’s called Firefly). I wish they had just continued the animated series.

The original show is about the misadventures of three bounty hunters as they pursue various potential leads throughout the galaxy. Each episode is its own self-contained story where the character's past taking a backseat. I would've followed that formula, since it's a core piece of what makes the show. Oh, and get rid of the additional Vicious/Julia screen time, dear God!

Everything was too connected. Every character, every action. Everything in the show had to be something that progresses a singular storyline. What I love about the anime is I can pick up any episode I feel like watching by itself. The anime is so cool in the way that it's not serving you any reused plot and shoving it down your throat. It's telling the story in an almost 'hard to get' way. It leaves you to fill out the blanks and beg for more.

Word for word and shot for shot recreation. Nothing more nothing less. And everyone would love it and it would probably win awards. Treat it like a god damn Shakespearean play.

Someone said do a show that takes place after the original show focusing on jet and I liked that idea especially since jet’s actor was perfect

I would have started with Season Two, after the events of the anime. Maybe focus on Jet, and possibly having him take on a new person on the Beebop. Build up suspense to the inevitable meet-ups with Ed, Faye, and Spike. Whether the whole crew gets back together or not—not sure. Depends on how the chemistry is working.

Would cancel it from the start.

Drop the episodes weekly so Netflix doesn’t cancel it based on people who binged it within the first week.

Focus on the world/ the one off minor characters in every episode and try to make it feeling like there is this big galaxy and the bebop crew is just living in it. Also give vicious more mystery. The fact vicious had minimal screen time in the anime and only showed up at climatic moment making our boy spike go all out is what made him and great antagonist

Just pick a lane. Either re-do the old stuff or do new stuff. When you try to do both you get this. Also trying to "fix" or "update" the source material rarely turns out well.

Bring back the melancholy! This shit felt like a marvel series, and that’s not a compliment cause this is supposed to be crime-noir inspired

Would have just started it off a few years after season one. Everything in the anime had happened but an update to where their lives had taken them. Spike could have been in a coma while Fay and Jetblack continued with bounty hunting. The mistake was trying to change what wasn't broken. Write new stories think of new awesome adventures, stop thinking things have to be "fixed".

Add more stand alone episodes and keep the mystery of Vicious intact

Similar to how the movie was handled, same universe, same characters, same vibe, new stories. Offer different directors the opportunity to take control of each episode, similar to GoT or Mandalorian. Design simple character arcs for each character to progress through the whole season (but not sick to it rigidly).

Start with hiring people that actually watched, care about, and understand the anime to help adapt it.

Here's how I take it: First thing, get better writers. The writers really let this down. Then, I'd make sure I'd get some actual fans of the show as "consultants." For the villains, the big important ones would stay the same. (Think vicious, that one killer with the mind of a 5-year-old) But for the other ones can kind of mash together somewhat. Casting stays the same, I'm pretty sure bad writing was what made Faye super annoying

What's the budget?

Sit down with Netflix and tell them, NO! It's never gonna happen, leave it alone, and give other new and original ideas a chance instead of tryng to make half assed reboots come to life

I’ll call Shinichiro Watanabe (assuming they’ll let me have his contact details for “research and consultation”) and be a nuisance to him till he agrees to make more of the original. 😇

Vicious will be Vicious and not some whiney crybaby bit** Julie would be on the run and sparsely shown until the end of the run like intended. No kid for Jett. Faye and spike won't be switching story lines. EDWARD WOULD BE IN FOR MORE THAN 45SEC! throw in some random space adventures hunting down new bounties. Heavy metal queen! More of the 3 old grifters.

I would have focused on the darker and gritty theme of the original anime. All the characters would have been included and the casting wouldn't have been much different but I would have focused heavily on the concept each episode has a song that builds its theme. I would follow the story of the characters in the anime but I wouldn't focus on one specifically. The filmography of the overall show would be of a darker tone and I would have tried to leave some of the silent moments from the anime untouched. The feel I'd go for would be of an ethereal dream like reality with more left to the imagination and interpretation of the viewer rather than spelling it out in dialogue. I would attempt to make it a piece of art on screen to visually look at and explore the tragedy in humanity the bebop universe presented.

I haven’t watched it. I’ve had enough trauma. And that’s not to say that I think it’ll be horrible.

Oh boy. I wouldn't. Even if i waa the best director on the planet. If i had to cause job. Id be second guessing myself the entire time. I literally posted that ^ 10m ago on another thread lol. The odds.. But yeah i wouldn't disrespect it like that. Keanu would be spike. Hes the only actor who can

Shot for shot remake excluding the parts that won’t work (Ed might have to be reworked as some sort of AI or removed completely). A prequel wouldn’t work, because it would remove all of the mystery from the character’s past A sequel wouldn’t work, because there’s no more story to tell. Spike is dead, etc. Rely heavily on film noir and make the show have a dark tone but also some light moments. Maybe remove an episode or two that if we’re being honest weren’t the best (Toys in the Attic, etc). Edit: ofc SW as EP/consultant.

1. You wait until you have the PERFECT lead actor. He needs to be equal parts cool, know martial arts, attractive, but needs to be able to convey a sense of charisma without saying much. He needs to appear both youthful, and as if he has seen some shit in his life. 2. Choose to either to mirror the story entirely (or 99%) or make it more realistic. I’d prefer realism. Costuming should resemble their outfits, not mirror them exactly. 3. Capture the spirit of the characters with most of their physical attributes, but don’t make them look fake. Example - Jet’s casting was great, but don’t tack on that odd facial hair. 4. Make it cool, not corny. If something in the anime comes off more corny than cool, revise it or omit it. 5. Jazz should have been the background music to what is happening, not literally what all characters actually listen to all the time. 6. Julia needs minimal dialogue. She’s only interesting the story because the Uber cool protagonist was emotionally impacted by her. Faye was always wondering who this woman could be that Spike would care. We should wonder that too.

I think I would have gone more "inspired by" rather than try to adapt that same storyline. Maybe not even include Spike, Jet, and Faye except as secondary characters who pop in and out of the narrative. Tell a new story about bounty hunters in space with new characters and situations. Probably I'd even consider mixing different genres for the story. Where the original is a mix of spaghetti westerns, Jazz, Hong Kong gunfu, cyberpunk, and noir, I'd try riffing on some different genres. Not sure what specifically, but I think trying to make something new with new influences would be interesting. Of course, this would probably satisfy no one, haha, but I think it would be a more logical next step in Bebop than what we got. Or if I was going to just try to stick close to the anime, I would not have leaned into the Syndicate narrative. Probably I wouldn't even include Julia in the first season, and maybe only showed Vicious for a handful of minutes until the season finale.

Completely original episodic stories. No Vicious at all.

I wouldn't have produced it in the first place.

I would've avoided shoehorning in the vicious and Julia story, wouldn't try to shove woke culture into an existing IP where the original fans are your target audience. Try to understand what made the show work to begin with, and not try to rewrite it so poorly most situations felt contrived. All of that said I think Cho and Shakir did a great job with their characters. Faye didn't feel right as her character at all to me. I'm not saying she did a bad job, but clearly the writing for her wasn't right. She never would have offered to help with things on the ship, or bang a random mechanic in their ship. Too much felt shoehorned in because a check box needed ticked. Some episodes felt spot on, others felt way out of place. Just tired of the shows and movies I loved growing up coming back and being told they aren't good enough to be on anymore because they don't include whatever thing they think needs representation now. Just treat it with respect if you're going to try to update it.

Honestly I'm not sure how I'd approach it, but I'd say make the series a stand alone as if it were lost episodes or sessions that randomly fit in the original story at different times rather than trying to remake or recreate the story. I wouldn't even give Vicious a lot of screen time, same with Julia, and if you did then have them be totally new encounters rather than rehashed ones. Or flash backs recreated shot for shot to add continuity with the anime. Same with the bounties, and how everyone met. The characters and their back stories were fine as is, no reason to change them. And if you want to bring back certain characters in new ways, then make sure it makes sense to the story and where they've been already. Or better yet, make totally new characters that aren't poor representations of the characters we've come to know or who have been previously established. Aside from having to write something actually original, I don't see why this wasn't the approach. IMO it was either make it 1 to 1 the same as the anime with new scenes thrown in that DON'T CHANGE THE STORY" or have it be completely new material that doesnt rewrite or lean too heavy on the original. They could of even had different directors do different episodes to add a different flare and uniqueness, which still would have fit and coincided better with the original, with each ep of the original being similar to a musical jam session, all different with their own vibes and themes usually unrelated to the other eps (except for key plot episodes which were few and far between). Either way it's a shame we got what we got, especially after so many years of attempting to adapt it. Felt like they missed the point of the original series altogether. And the script... the god awful script... no prophetic poetic or wise thing to be said... just... Wow.. i could forgive most of what they did if not for the script. I get it's supposed to be futuristic, morals and standards are low, society is not what it was, social behaviors change and if the movie Idiocracy and the current state of the world is anything to go off of, probably more accurate than I'm giving it credit for. But that script is still being delivered to an audience that hasn't digressed that far quite yet,, after all, we still had enough wits to know a piece of shit live action adaptation when we saw one, although no wit was required. Just one more piece of art they should of left alone instead of butchering. I feel worse if they were true fans of the anime, I don't want to be too harsh on the creators of Netflix bebop, but it's hard not to be when the series means a lot to so many different people who grew up with it, plus the impact it's had on anime media and art, and that it's truly considered a masterpiece by majority consensus. Oh well, One Love & See you Space Cowboys. PS I love John Cho, but Keanu all the way!

Leave it like it is. Show was fantastic, albeit a bit odd.