gventola

A Hanna-Barbera fan, I rented this movie, but thought it was going to be "lame-o". It can get rather disinteresting, these type of stories where they take a familiar tale, and put characters familiar from another source in the roles. You know, like all those sitcom cast retellings of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Actually, the film turned out to be quite fun. Shaggy (in drag) has to tell stories to a prince, who sounds exactly like Mandark from "Dexter's Laboratory", which amused me. One story is a gender-reversed version of "Aladdin", with a girl named Aliyah-Din as the poor heroine who must win her royal man. Despite the presence of Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo as genies, the story can actually be taken pretty seriously. Then Magilla Gorilla stars as Sinbad, in a hilarious parody which includes a surprising send-up of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride! As a Disney theme park fan, I was howling with laughter!

There are three problems I have with this movie. One deals with breaking character. When we first see Shaggy in this film, he apparently now has a career as a race car driver. At first, I thought, "Oh, that's a cool professional for a non-conformist like him!" Then I remembered something: Shaggy is a self-professed coward. What coward would take on the dangerous line of professional auto racing?

The second problem is romantic. Who is this Googie girl? Why is she Shaggy's girlfriend? I would have much rather have had Daphne, or even Velma, in the role.

The third problem is boredom. Once the big monster car race gets started, it turns into an extended version of Hanna-Barbera's other show, "The Wacky Races", and is really very tedious.

With blaring horns in the old jazz style, the opening theme of `Cowboy Bebop' comes on like gangbusters. What follows is a rush-the sometimes rollicking, sometimes humorous, and sometimes heartbreaking misadventures of a ragtag crew of bounty hunters. First there's Spike, of handsome face and sexy voice. He's not exactly a hero-he pretends not to care. His quick wit and flippant remarks hide a heart filled with despair. His partner, Jet, with a metal plate in his cheek and a mechanical arm, is nowhere near as pretty as Spike, but some fans still find him sexy. Besides, underneath his layer of perpetual grumpiness, he's a nicer guy than Spike. Faye seems like a sneaky and fickle woman, but her sorry past made her that way. She's really not all that bad. Edward is an eccentric computer hacker-her (yes, her!) personality is not explored in depth. She's mostly there to access top secret files for her crewmates and to provide comic relief. Ein is the ship's longsuffering dog, a cute Welsh Corgi.

The setting is our solar system, later this century. It seems we have practically vacated Earth and moved to Mars, Venus, and the moons of Jupiter. All this supposedly happening within my lifetime I find hard to believe. But the people behind the show tell a good story, so I let it pass. I don't like the idea of Earth lying in ruins, but I like that humans are still basically the only sentient beings; there's no bizarre aliens. I like a lot of sci-fi, but I always was more interested in humans and humanoids than Wookiees and Hutts.

Despite its TV-14 rating, the show generally has less adult content per episode than the PG-rated `Simpsons'. There's blood splattering, and some cuss words. Despite Spike, Jet, and Faye not coming across as virgins, they see very little sexual action. We know Spike had a love named Julia, but are kept wondering: does Faye love Spike? Does Jet love Faye?

I still can't figure out why I'm so drawn to the show. I usually go for tight, mushy friendships and romances, and innocent heroes. The crewmates on this show seem indifferent to each other. Yet they do care, deep down.Still, the show does a good job at making you care about characters who themselves don't seem to care. All the action aside, it's the character exploration that makes the show stand out. Even saying that, I don't feel I've pinpointed why I'm fascinated by and addicted to the program.

And now, a friendly warning: This show is a roller coaster. With all its ups come downs. Throughout all the fun is interwoven a thread of dark tragedy. If you are the kind who only likes shows where every episode ends in triumph for the characters, don't tune into `Cowboy Bebop'. (Not even for just one episode-it's instantly addictive!) But if you're the kind that likes a sad story, like Shakespeare's tragedies, as well as happy ones-climb aboard and pull down the safety bar!