Let's watch! Cowboy Bebop

[Socratov]

Episode 19: Wild Horses

• So, I just ate oysters for the first time in my life and I liked them a bit. Not as much as I like this damn fine baseline...
• So, the episode... It's a Rolling Stones reference, thus I'm anticipating suck.
• So, now we add pirates to the already existing "Space, western, mafia and noir detective" list.
• So, Spike crashed his ship while Jet and Faye are 'fishing'.
• Wait, so the pirates are out-hacking Ed? Impossibru!
• bla-bla, standard mechanic - old client talk...
• Swordfish is operating again.
• **** yeah! space battle!
• So the old man is gonna show he's game, huh?
• Blue sox... Really?
• anyway, good to see the Discovery back into orbit...
• Nice picture. I'm sorry to see the swordfish go though... I mean, without it's wings it's little more then scrap, right?

So, that did not suck. Even though the trend of Rolling Stones song titles would have given a different expectation. I liked it. not very special, but decent enough I guess. I am hungry for some plot though...

7/10

[Feytalist]

Wait, you're at episode 19 already? Whoa.

When are you going to watch the movie? Coz now's pretty much the time.

(You have to watch the movie.)

[Brewdude]

Yeah, It's movie time. Pretty soon it'll be too late for the movie. Certainly don't watch 23 and on before it.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Noteworthy because of strange meta-ness: that's not Discovery, that's Columbia.

[Socratov]

Wait, you're at episode 19 already? Whoa.

When are you going to watch the movie? Coz now's pretty much the time.

(You have to watch the movie.)

Yeah, It's movie time. Pretty soon it'll be too late for the movie. Certainly don't watch 23 and on before it.

Well, I'm gonna go with the advice TvTropes and watch it between 22 and 23...

Noteworthy because of strange meta-ness: that's not Discovery, that's Columbia.

Ah, ok. Honest mistake I guess (I feel my geek license will be taken away if I say I only know about Discovery, and thinking they look really alike...).

[DigoDragon]

(I feel my geek license will be taken away if I say I only know about Discovery, and thinking they look really alike...).

It won't. Folks mixed them up all the time here in O-Town.

[AdmiralCheez]

Is there any way to tell the Space Shuttles apart, aside from the name stamped on the side? I was under the assumption that they were pretty much identical.

[cobaltstarfire]

Is there any way to tell the Space Shuttles apart, aside from the name stamped on the side? I was under the assumption that they were pretty much identical.

Other than Columbia who has a mildly different coloration and tail, it looks like they're all the same other than the stamps on their wings. But I feel like we get to see that stamp somewhere during the episode...

[DigoDragon]

Is there any way to tell the Space Shuttles apart, aside from the name stamped on the side? I was under the assumption that they were pretty much identical.

Other than Columbia who has a mildly different coloration and tail, it looks like they're all the same other than the stamps on their wings. But I feel like we get to see that stamp somewhere during the episode...

Yeah, they all share the same frame. You have to look at the decorations to know which is which. :)

[Socratov]

Ok, now I have sought it out, I see a problem:



and



compared to the real world pictures:



we have a mixup between the Columbia (name in pic #2) and the Challenger (the partial S and A)...

Still not the discovery though

[cobaltstarfire]

I think they may have made a booboo and referenced pictures taken of Columbia prior to 1986 going off the screen caps.

They changed up some of the ships markings after the Challenger incident. The SA you're seeing is part of "USA", and the location of its name is where it would have been before Challengers accident.

Here's a picture of Columbia launching from 1981

edit: I'm just digging this up from wikipedia and NASA image archive cause you guys seem interested in it. I'm probably going to go back to lurking now. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the shuttles at all without being able to see their name. So don't feel too bad about nerd cred or whatever eh? :3

[mangosta71]

There's a pretty big historical problem with presenting it as the Challenger. That aside, the shuttles' names are underneath the flag stamps (or, in the case of Challenger, the USA stamp) and should be visible in the top still. The tail painting is also that of Challenger - the black at the tip is thinner than Columbia's, but thicker than the other three.

The most obvious explanation is that, at some point during the 60-year interval, the ship has been repainted and it wasn't done exactly the same. Or we could just say, "It's just a show; I should really just relax."

[Socratov]

The most obvious explanation is that, at some point during the 60-year interval, the ship has been repainted and it wasn't done exactly the same. Or we could just say, "It's just a show; I should really just relax."

Well, we are geeks, discussing a science related topic, in an anime thread. So, I'd have to say fat chance

[BannedInSchool]

Shoot him into space so he can think about what he said.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

The most obvious explanation is that, at some point during the 60-year interval, the ship has been repainted and it wasn't done exactly the same. Or we could just say, "It's just a show; I should really just relax."

Well, on a more sobering note (and the reason why it's kinda surreal to see the Columbia in this episode), that wouldn't really be possible, because of the disaster in 2003.

[mangosta71]

Shoot, that's right. I thought the one I'd seen a couple years ago at the Smithsonian was Columbia and Discovery was the other one that we lost, but I got them backwards in my head. Yeah, that does make it somewhat surreal.

And I'm glad that at least one person in the thread caught the MST3K reference.

[DigoDragon]

I thought the one I'd seen a couple years ago at the Smithsonian was Columbia and Discovery was the other one that we lost, but I got them backwards in my head. Yeah, that does make it somewhat surreal.

I think the first time I saw that episode WAS back in 2003 so... yeah, surreal.

The shuttles are also a lot smaller "in person" than they look on TV to me. I've been inside the Enterprise and it just seems so... cramped.

[Socratov]

Episode 20: Pierrot le Fou

• A terrible week, a good day, and a great baseline. I even got the whiskey present. Time for some adventures of the Space Cowboy...
• Even though I get the feeling it's less Cowboy now, and more Noir...
• Yuuuup, that's a lot more Noir...
• And the weird red-eyed guy is probably badass...
• You know, for a in-the-moment kind of guy like Spike he has an uncanny ability in Pool, even when such games require quite some planning beforehand...
• So, the fat guy has a forcefield of some kind...
• 6-hit combo! DEVASTATING!
• Ehm, spike, I'm pretty sure that's not how it's supposed to work. Pierot (I assume the fat guy's name is Pierot), that's not how many bullets a cane gun is supposed to hold. No, not even in future space time. And no, not even then...
• blahdiblah, important, blahdiblah, impossible, blahdiblah, trouble. yeah, Yeah, I know, it's standard practice in Noir media, but, it's getting a bit old...
• Faye, I'm convinced that's how you treat the infirm...
• finally some info. Also, I was correct about the name. It seems we have a 'mad assassin' on the loose. yet somehow I think the situation isn't quite what it seems...
• once again Ein shows he's the sharpest knife in the drawer...
• Ed is once again back to cloudcuckooland...
• And the Swordfish is whole again. good. I like the look of it...
• Nope, false alarm, It's looking quite shabby actually. Never thought space had such a inverse-distortion effect.
• abandoned theme-park, alone, and a mad man. And suddenly everyting comes to life... I think this may be one of those moments where they may have started joined in early on the trope, but it's overused allright...
• Good to know they have internet access in cloudcuckooland...
• Ok. Freaky ****. I guess it's abou the creation of Pierot le Fou... and he wasn't even fat to start out with...
• Biological progression, psychological regression, so they basically invented the Psychos for borderlands a decade early... Too bad he didn't tell spike he had the shiniest meat bicycle... That would have been fantastic.
• he has a thing against cats though... One could say he isn't a big fan of... *****... (terrible pun, I know...)
• And his pain threshold is terrible.
• wow, death by giant animatronic dingo. That's a terrible way to go...

Wow. What an episode. This one has all the weirdness it needs to keep me up on my toes, while having enough action to make it exciting. it felt good seeing Spike dance again. It adds, like the aerial combat (even when in space), a certain panache to the show. You knwo what? I may not think Ed to be the best character of the show, but his episodes really rock! They are flavourful, bursting with emotions and action and pack a punch. Opposite is jet, whom I very much like as a character, but whose episodes lack any sort of pacing, action and... panache... Yeah, panache is a good word for it. I found the extreme glass cannon nature of Pierot a bit Mary Sue-ish, but it did not ruin the episode for me. What's more, it allowed for an extremely embarrassing and humiliating death: Death by giant animatronic dingo. It's gotta be sad to go that way. Also, the animators really took the animation to a next level. it was so freaking cool...

Anyway, the verdict is in: 8,5/10

[DigoDragon]

[*]You know, for a in-the-moment kind of guy like Spike he has an uncanny ability in Pool, even when such games require quite some planning beforehand...

He probably knows how to plan, but is lazy by choice.

[Socratov]

He probably knows how to plan, but is lazy by choice.

Not really, I mean, even when planning is convenient and saves effort in the long run he just straight up refuses to plan. I'm guessing that when he was with Vicious that he was the level headed planner of the two, and that he now refuses to do it since it reminds him of other times.

[Calemyr]

I found the extreme glass cannon nature of Pierot a bit Mary Sue-ish, but it did not ruin the episode for me.

I always figured the forcefield meant that he hadn't been actually injured in decades. When you don't feel a pain in a while, your tolerance towards it goes down. Now combine feeling no pain for that long with the mentality of a child, and you can see how he'd throw a tantrum at any injury, no matter how severe.

Not really, I mean, even when planning is convenient and saves effort in the long run he just straight up refuses to plan. I'm guessing that when he was with Vicious that he was the level headed planner of the two, and that he now refuses to do it since it reminds him of other times.

It's a question of how long the "moment" is. If he didn't plan at all, he'd be dead (you have to use strategy in a fight, after all). However, planning past a certain point is futile to his mind, so he just doesn't do it.

With pool, he'd probably plan up until the end of his turn. If he gets this ball, it'll put him in a position to get that one, and so on. It's when the other guy gets his turn he'd see no point in planning for.

[Brewdude]

Ed's a girl, ya know. :)

[Socratov]

Ed's a girl, ya know. :)

Yeah, I know, I just keep getting the pronouns mixed up...

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Yeah, I know, I just keep getting the pronouns mixed up...

If it helps any, a lot of Bebop fans have the same mixup. Though, I feel like I remember Ed being at least somewhat ambiguous throughout the series.

[DigoDragon]

If it helps any, a lot of Bebop fans have the same mixup. Though, I feel like I remember Ed being at least somewhat ambiguous throughout the series.

Faye figures out Ed is a girl early on, however in-universe folks have made the mistake.

[Socratov]

Faye figures out Ed is a girl early on, however in-universe folks have made the mistake.

Well, Let's be honest, It's not as if the writers *ahem* made it that way...

[Socratov]

Episode 21: Boogie Woogie Feng Shui

• Guess who's back? It'sa me! Socratov, and boy, did I bring a fan-freaking-tastic baseline with me
• So, yeah, I've been busy and away for some time. The combination of finishing my education and meanwhile just ending up with a filled social agenda... so that just happened... Now I'm back though, with a fresh(ish) episode of Cowboy Bebop.
• So far it seems to look like a Jet episode, but with more action and pacing. It's like the writers heard my critique through time and space.
• Oooh, a big fancy quest. There better be treasure... A space cowboy needs to eat, you know...
• funny, the writers really wanted to show off eastern culture: a lecture on Feng Shui and a shot of people practising Tai Chi
• No jet, you are old enough to be her father.
• Too bad we didn't see Jet get brain freeze.
• The sunstone is a piece of coal? Nah, can't be. It's too soon.
• I like Jet's interrogation techniques...
• No, ed, that's not how a feng shui tablet works. Silly girl...
• Ok... This is getting slightly corny...
• Ok, so not coal, but a magnet, which specifically points to another stone...
• Faye, if men are extremely predictable, what does that make Spike?
• Nope. No she doesn't. Spike, it's a trap.
• And he told her anyway...
• Ok, this girl is saying "I'm sure this is the right spot" so many times now that my brain is really challenging my mental discipline stopping the onslaught of naughty jokes my sick and very twisted brain can think of...
• Ok, the whole space battle stuff was a bit disappointing... as was the rest of the ending...

So, while the credits roll I feel conflicted. On the one hand the episode was really good. the details were great (even the tears flowing away sideways while in space), on the other it felt a bit rushed. The story was good. It had great pacing and a bit of action, which is huge for any Jet centred episode. But it felt a bit lacking. Most great episodes of Cowboy Bebop have a killer ending. I feel it's almost there to make it to an 8. So the verdict is in:

7/10. Not enough pow to get it closer to an 8, but better then anything 6.

I'm looking forward to the next episode: it promises a Spike centred episode with all the good parts of action and excitement. of course after the next episode I'll tackle the movie. Really curious what they will make of that.

[ryuplaneswalker]

best line of the entire series in in this episode.

Spoiler

Show

Hot Dog Bun Not Too Young!

[Eldan]

This is probably the worst episode of the show for me. If only because I always forget it exists and I can't say what it was about without looking it up.

[DigoDragon]

This is probably the worst episode of the show for me. If only because I always forget it exists and I can't say what it was about without looking it up.

You know... this is one of those few episodes I can never remember myself. Heh.