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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:28 |
 It's another volume of Cowboy Bebop, with an Alien
homage, another Spike -vs- Vicious confrontation & Jet going into
full PI mode. Fun, serious and fun, in that order. For all
that Spike & Vicious make for some great action, it was the Alien rip-off that sold this volume to me...
11 - Toys in the Attic
The Bebop's between jobs, and life on board
is slow - Spike's making kebabs with a bit of help from a flamethrower,
while Jet's playing strip dice with Faye. And losing. But something's
about to bring a certain terror to life onboard - while digging around
for some clothes (to replace the ones Faye won from him), Jet is bitten
by a strange creature, and passes out soon after. Faye falls victim
soon after, leaving Spike and Ed to try and capture the creature before
the become the next victims. It's Alien, only in the Bebop style...
12/13 - Jupiter Jazz (Parts I & II)
Faye
jumps ship, taking the Bebop's supply of cash with her. Not willing to
let her get away with their earnings, Spike and Jet set Ed to finding
her, but the only thing she pulls up is a reference to Julia -
something sure to catch Spike's attention - linking her to a town on
Callisto called Blue Crow. Determined to track Julia down, Spike
leaves the Bebop and heads for Blue Crow. He's not the only person
headed there - Faye's found her way to the town, where she's struck up
a friendship of sorts with sax player Gren. While he appears nice
enough on the surface, Gren's not all he appears to be - an escaped
convict, he's due to meet Spike's old nemesis Vicious shortly for a
trade in Red-Eye. Spike's own search for Julia has also led him to
Vicious, and a showdown that doesn't go well for him. Meanwhile, Faye
has uncovered Gren's links to Vicious, landing herself in trouble in
the process, while Gren has a score of his own to settle with Vicious...
14 - Bohemian Rhapsody
The
Gate Public Corporation is having problems - there's been a string of
robberies at the Gates, but despite a hugh bounty being placed on the
ringleader, nobody's been able to bring them in. The only clues are
chesspieces that each of the low-level criminals taking part in the
scam have had - 'net-connected chesspieces for playing an online game.
Jet takes what information he has to the Gate Corporation - they're
not very co-operative face-to-face, but a big left in their offices
reveals they seem to know who the mastermind is - an ex-employee by the
name of Chessmaster Hex...
I loved episode 13 - it's just so much of a take on Alien
- which is a personal favourite of mine - that it's impossible not to
enjoy it, although in this case Ed takes care of the intruder in a much
easier fashion than Ripley ever managed. Classic stuff.
Jupiter Jazz is probably the weakest of the Spike / Vicious episodes,
probably as it focusses more on Gren than on the two old
adversaries. Gren's a strange character - a lot has happened to
him over the years to make him the person (s)he is today, but I didn't
find him to be a character that really grabbed me, and tht spoiled the
episode somewhat. Still not bad, though.
Jet gets to do what he's best at in the final episode, as his old cop
skills come into play as he tries to track down the cause of the Gate
Corporation's problems. It's quite a fun little episode, as Ed
gets a good amount of screen time as well.
Overall, not the best volume of Bebop, but still well worth watching.
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