Cowboy Bebop Forum

Out of all the movies that COWBOY BEBOP’s paying homage to, I never expected, nor even imagined, that it’d be dropping references to campy direct-to-video cult-schlocker, SPACE TRUCKERS. Ha! I jest, I jest… although it was pretty amusing for this show to basically put some real old fashioned, ham radio gabbin’ truckers as is into outer-space without too many embellishments. I’m pretty convinced that V.T.’s real name was actually Large Marge.

I probably shouldn’t be surprised that there are classic metal bands from the land of the rising sun, but good lord, was it amusing to hear the Judas Priest sound-a-like singing in Japanese here. I realized that music’s pretty much the recurring theme of the show, as it were, but I wasn't expecting some balls-out rawk ( \m/ ) to accompany the boistrous jazz and smooth sax jazz. I know a lot of you have watched the rest of this show (some many times over)… is there going to be a new wave episode? I think some A-HA would a perfect accompaniment for  the intergalactic bounty hunting.

Oh, and I’m with Ein. Bean sprouts are some all-caps NASTY, awful tasting stuff… even for a dog. I always pick that crap out whenever it’s in my ramen. 

I was going to call out the show for fudging breaking some sci-fi rules when Spike jumped out of his pod for his zero-G shenanigans - - he should’ve been frozen immediately! - - but I suppose they had some wiggle room since they were caught in that (presumably) sealed tunnel. That was pretty badass when he used the pistol as a propulsion source, though. Do we have any scientists in the audience who can vouch for its credibility?

The self-contained nature of these episodes is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s a nice break from the sometimes-too-serious-and-too-complex nature of the other shows. On the other, there’s really no hook to watch the next episode as there is for, say, GURREN LAGANN.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of  HYBRID BASTARDS!  &   UNIMAGINABLE .Order them on Amazon   here & here .

I agree it's different than something like Death Note or Bleach (haven't seen Gurren Lagann yet so I can't compare),which you feel like you HAVE to watch the next episode to see what happens. But I guess what they're trying to do is make the character's grow on both each other and you, the viewer. 
 
So technically there really is no point in the show per say. The Bebop crew isn't trying to save the world, they're just trying to get by. But I think you get so drawn to the character's by the end of the show that it works . Especially since you start to learn more about their past. At least that's how I feel.

@frsty13 said:

" Yeah, they don't do much hooking because of the self-contained nature you mention.  I actually find that to be a strength though since you can have someone jump into the series at almost any episode and enjoy it for what it is. @gla55jAw  I would actually say that the subject of the past is the point of the show (although not always the main characters')  Even this episode had  VT's prejudice against bounty hunters because of her past and moving beyond that.  Some episodes are stronger than others (episode 5 is really weak on this topic, but the de-evolution thing is kind of pointing at it).   "

Yeah, it is your right. It's just not all out in the open telling you that's what the show's about. For example, if you were a viewer who just caught an episode here and there you would just think they are self contained stories about a spaceship bounty hunter crew. 
 
But the character's past, well actually Spike's past (everyone else is still interesting), is why I love it so much. While we're learning about his past we're just on an adventure with him until it finally catches up with him

Space, there's no air resistance and no gravity to hold you down, so ANYTHING can push you. If you kick off a wall, you'll keep going forever until you hit something, and firing again was basically Spike getting propelled by the explosion inside the gun, so yeah, it'd work in a vacuum and a zero-g environment.

Space truckin' through the milky waaaay

the self contained nature of the show is very much a plus side of the show for the mere fact that so much anime is all about the big storyline and having a big bad guy to fight, which I do like but it's nice to have a series like the twilight zone with recurring characters as the guides

@SamJaz said:

" Space, there's no air resistance and no gravity to hold you down, so ANYTHING can push you. If you kick off a wall, you'll keep going forever until you hit something, and firing again was basically Spike getting propelled by the explosion inside the gun, so yeah, it'd work in a vacuum and a zero-g environment. "

Well not quite,there maybe not be any air resistance and no gravity in the sense you mean but things still have plenty of mass and that's what you have to  push around. The larger the mass the more energy you'll need to move that mass. I don't know if Spike's gun would be able to move him but I might know a few places to ask. also on another note if I recall correctly Spike held his breath and plugged his ears before he jumped out.as I understand it that is exactly the opposite of what he should of done, he should have exhaled so the pressure difference didn't rupture his lungs.  

OH yeah btw Spike could have survived the vacuum  at least .
 http://www.geoffreylandis.com/vacuum.html

Regarding physics...
 
It's probably easiest to think of it in terms of momentum.  Assuming we have a gun that can fire in space (no oxygen in space for explosions, typically), and that we start at rest, the momentum of the bullet and the momentum Spike will have to be equal and opposite.  The bullet has a small mass but goes very fast, and spike has a large mass and goes in the opposite direction at a slower speed.  If you wanted to know exactly how fast the bullet and spike were going, you would have to either (a) measure the velocity of one of them or (b) know how much energy was released in the explosion that sent the bullet and Spike flying away from each other.
 
The same thing happens when you fire a gun on earth--there's recoil--but you don't go flying backwards because of the force of friction between your body and the ground.

Well I asked about the whole gun thing and this is the answer I got 
 

 As there are lots a variability in the 9mm range, I'll assume that the bullet weighs 5.2 grams (0.01 lbs) and has a muzzle speed of 350 m/s. I'll also assume that the gun can somehow fire in a vacuum.

By the conservation of momentum, that gives our 155 LBS man a speed of:
350m/s * 0.01 lbs/155 lbs = 0.0225 m/s or about 0.88 inches/second.
 

So it doesn't look like Spike's gun would have gotten him any where very fast.

@Fabe: It was the nineties. They didn't have all this space protocol we have now.

Ah someone beat me to it on the gun stuff.  Yes possible but he wouldn't be moving as fast as he was portrayed and likely the gun wouldn't have fired as there wouldn't have been any oxygen.  You are also correct that he should have exhaled so that the pressure difference didn't get him.  But if you are watching this for science then um yeah....I teach chemistry just as a yes I know what I am talking about comment.   
 
I go in more for the shows like gurran lagan that some might think of as to serious but life is serious so I like my art to be the same way.   
 
Oh and no there isn't a new wave episode...but some take on me might be interesting with this show hmm...AMV anyone?

This is the first I had heard of that, falcomadol...I understood that the broadcast of the series was suspended halfway through due to concerns about violence, but I didn't know any of the episodes were direct-to-video.  Source?  I'd like to know which were which if this is true.