Big fan of the anime Cowboy Bebop created by Shinichiro Watanabe, and obviously anything sprawl related by the big guy William Gibson. The similarities between both worlds have been swimming in my head for quite a while (as mentioned b4 in my previous posts). I recently re-read burning chrome...and I was like wow...WTF!! So here’s the bebop chrome shuffle:

The Sprawl
Bobby Quine:Cowboy,Thin pale dude with dark glasses.

Automatic Jack: Cowboy, Mean looking guy with myoelectric arm.

Cowboy Bebop
Spike Spiegel: Cowboy, Thin pale dude with dark glasses.

Jet Black: Big, mean looking guy with an electric arm.


And the grand daddy of them all is the bar frequented by Bobby Quine and Automatic Jack is called Gentleman loser, and the bar that Spike and Jet black go to is called Loser bar...Got your number now Watanabe San lol He must’ve been a big Fan of Gibson’s books! How many other folks have borrowed ideas like this from old boy Gibson you wonder! Quite a compliment If you ask me

I knew I loved BeBop for a reason, or three...wow.

Yeah dude, Shit's crazy!! It's like that Simulacra and Simulation rubbish that Baudrillard fellow used to yap about...pretty awesome

I agree that Bebop contained plenty tribute--though I never considered Jet's arm. Consider too, all the tributes in the Sprawl novels and generally--Case & The Dreamer is one of Sturgeon's most famous stories, the Panther Modern liaison was Lupus Yonderboy, like the Yonderboys in Stand on Zanzibar (lupus is a real disease, though featured in Brave New World, I'm not confident that was conscious), and on and on. Lotta Lou Reed -- All Tomorrows Parties most obviously, and the vodun guy in Count Zero who quotes Waitin for My Man ("first thing you learn is that you always hafta wait"). Lotsa stuff I can't recall--though of course Gentleman Loser is a (great) Steely Dan song. Steely Dan, in turn, is a William Burroughs reference, giant dildo of yokahama, if I recall and, hey, we're back to Japan. And so on. Perhaps this serves to give a new generation a glimpse of what Pynchon once called Dopers' All Connected Universe, eh?

There is an episode where they return to Earth looking for a Betamax machine... Very Gibsonian.

Y'know, it occurs to me that a Watanabe-directed Neuromancer film set in the Bebop universe would be about as close to perfection as I can imagine.

Definitely a closer approximation than a Joseph Kahn/Torque mixed with some Britney Spears inspired Sprawl lol

Ma Bad...couldn't help it! No worries Mr. Kahn, still gonna give you the benefit of the doubt!!

But even though Watanabe San hasn't done any live action feature lenght movies (as far as I know) he'll be by far more suited to do a Neuromancer movie than Joseph Kahn I feel!

Look at Mamoru Oshii...He's dabbled in live action (Avalon) before with relative success.

Someone should have a sit down with the suit Peter Hoffman. And tell him to look at his options seriously. If it's not too late!

quote:

Originally posted by RUR:
There is an episode where they return to Earth looking for a Betamax machine... Very Gibsonian.

Aah...I remember that episode.The dude who they go for advice about the relic technology could have been a take on The Finn come to think of it.

quote:

Originally posted by LonnyZ:
Perhaps this serves to give a new generation a glimpse of what Pynchon once called Dopers' All Connected Universe, eh?

Right on the money LoonyZ

quote:

Originally posted by RUR:
There is an episode where they return to Earth looking for a Betamax machine... Very Gibsonian.

I love that episode, when Ed meets her father.

Bebop gets achingly sad toward the end, doesn't it?

They don't do the blues like the Bebop does no more.

Yup, it gets very intense at the end. One of the most beautiful endings of any series!