Thunderbirds 2086

In the year 2086, Earth and the Solar system are governed by the Federation, a supra-national organisation that evolved out of the United Nations. In a world of advanced robotics, artificial superintelligence, climactic disturbances and natural disasters, it falls to the International Rescue Organisation to fly to the rescue of anyone in trouble on or off the planet.

I think I can guess what you're thinking here: what the hell is Thunderbirds 2086? You've heard of Thunderbirds, the 1965 original puppet-and-explosions classic, and you've (probably) heard of Thunderbirds Are Go, the 2015 CGI-and-models reboot show from the Lord of the Rings effects team. You may have even heard of (and tried to forget) the ill-advised 2004 live-action movie directed by Jonathan Frakes. So what in the fresh heck of obscurity is this show?

Thunderbirds 2086 is an English-language dub of a Japanese anime called Scientific Rescue Team Technoboyger. The anime was developed by Jin Productions after a possible collaboration with Gerry Anderson on his new show Terrahawks fell through in the late 1970s. The team were huge fans of Anderson's work and, even after Gerry went back to the UK, they decided to honour his work with an animated "spiritual successor" to Thunderbirds. This successor featured the Scientific Rescue Team attending to disaster zones with their high-tech vehicles, the "Technovoygers." Amusingly the team deliberately mistranslated the name in English characters in the show as "Technoboygers," meaning the vehicles were dubbed "TB-1," "TB-2" etc as a further homage to Thunderbirds. More amusingly, this meant they could sell the show to ITC in the UK (the Thunderbirds IP holders) direct as a successor show, which ITC followed through on in its dub.

In this iteration of the franchise, the International Rescue Organisation (IRO) operates from the Arcology, a gigantic city-building rising out of an island in the South Pacific, as well as Thunderbird 6, a city-sized space station in orbit. The IRO has tens of thousands of people working for it and no less than seventeen major Thunderbird vehicles, alongside numerous less-impressive vehicles. The IRO was founded as a private enterprise by Commander Simpson, but now operates as an official arm of the Federation, the UN-descended government of Earth and its colonies across the Solar system. The IRO operates effectively as a space-age version of the US Coastguard, ensuring both the safety and security of people from natural disasters on and off Earth.

Despite the IRO's gargantuan size, the organisation is heavily dependent on a team of just five pilots: Dylan Beyda, the pilot of Thunderbird 1; Thunderbird 2 pilots Jesse Rigel and Jonathan Jordan Jr.; Thunderbird 3 and overall team commander Gran Hanson; and Thunderbird 4 aquanaut Kallan James. Commander Jared Simpson oversees their operations from the Arcology, and the commander's young nephew Skipper lends a hand as he prepares to apply as a Thunderbird cadet when he is older.

The vehicle roster is much larger than the original show. Thunderbird 1 is a large space shuttle which operates as a fast recon vessel and can more directly help in rescues than in the original show; Thunderbird 2 is still a huge transporter (though blue rather than green) which can bring other equipment to the danger zone in its various pods; Thunderbird 3 is a ground-control mobile command centre, basically a massive APC; Thunderbird 4 is still a submarine, but much larger than the original, and can carry smaller vessels inside it; TB5 is a firefighting vehicle which also has a large drill on the front; TB6 is the orbiting space city; TB7 and TB8 are fast interceptor vehicles stored on TB1 (and can also be used as drones); TB9 is a mech suit; TB10 is a spacecraft used for fast travel to other planets; TB11 is a high-speed ground vehicle carried inside TB3; TB12 is a large bulldozer carried by TB3; TB13 and TB14 are smaller underwater vessels (a flying mini-sub and bathysphere respectively) carried on TB4; TB15 is a ground drone and mobile computer; TB16 is basically the Mole from the original show; and TB17 is a huge spacecraft with an experimental near-light drive that can cross the inner Solar system in a matter of hours.

This massive and impressive vehicle roster is made a bit less impressive given that several vehicles never show up and almost every episode relies on TB1, 2 and 3, which can combine together into a larger vehicle capable of space travel. TB4 plays a major role in only a few episodes, so Kallan spends most of her time acting as a co-pilot on one of the other vehicles.

Like the original show, we have a mixture of natural disasters and problems caused by criminals. Unlike the original show, we also have something approaching a story arc as the sinister Shadow Axis - an alliance of asteroid settlements that want to break away from the Federation - launches various terrorist attacks on Earth to try to secure its independence. We even have a recurring villain, the Shadow Axis's unseen leader, General Starcrusher. Before you get too excited, this story arc is not very well-developed and left unresolved at the end of the show (though given the last half-dozen or so episodes don't even mention the Shadow Axis, this is not a major problem). More impressive is that the characters actually show some development and internal characterisation. Captain Hanson is the oldest and most experienced member of the team and the only one to have a wife and family. In at least one episode, he struggles to reconcile his calling to help people with the time it takes away from spending with his family. Dylan and Kallan have an unresolved mutual attraction, whilst Dylan also suffers from a clash of duties when his friends are put in danger and he has to choose between helping them or saving thousands from impending disasters. It's no big thing, but very different from the much more limited character arcs in the original.

Some of the disasters are very clever and well-portrayed. Arguably the best episode deals with a tidal wave striking the South Pacific after the weather control system goes haywire and has the four main Thunderbird vehicles having to work in concert to save thousands of lives across multiple islands. Another episode about a research station in danger of crashing into the Sun (a clear homage to an OG Thunderbirds episode) has a lot of superb tension given the limited running time. Most of the episodes are in fact pretty decent, with a strong sense of character and tension. The worst episodes are the ones that phone in some dodgy stock-SF plot, usually about aliens (Mindmeld and Trial are the worst offenders here) which are otherwise largely missing from the setting. The Shadow Axis/Starcrusher storyline is promising but doesn't really go anywhere, and without an on-screen face for the villains, it falls a bit flat. Starcrusher ends up being a less compelling villain than the Hood, which is really saying something. Other episodes are goofy but somehow pull it off: one episode about a dolphin joining the organisation ends up being surprisingly enjoyable, and an episode about a forest fire caused by the never-ending battle of wits and wills between a prize hunter and a cyborg stag (!!!) is one of the strongest episodes of the season.

The show is arguably a little darker than the original, even granting that the English dub pulls its punches way more than the Japanese original in terms of casualties, but the sense of worldbuilding and the scale of the Federation is really well-realised. There's a lot more work here in terms of scene-setting and continuity than the original show attempted.

The animation is mostly decent, especially by the standards of 1983, and the music is superb, with a mixture of themes from the original Japanese version and ITC's Barry Gray library. The use of themes from the original Thunderbirds and other Supermarionation shows is restrained and will raise a smile when they appear. The voice acting is mostly fine, especially from the regulars, but the guest cast can be hit or miss. The English-language dub has some very witty dialogue and pop culture references, though one episode where the redshirts who are about to die in the opening disaster refer to themselves as redshirts is a bit too on-the-nose. Some of the guest voices in the last couple of episodes are awful, possibly due to a budget crunch as they tried to finish the project on time.

As an alternative, Next Generation-style take on the classic premise, Thunderbirds 2086 (***½) is a decent show. It has some clever ideas and pretty entertaining episodes. It lacks the full charm of the original puppets, but the shorter running time means the show is much more dynamic and faster-paced, and the advantages of animation in portraying things the puppets and small sets could never even attempt are obvious. It definitely gets weaker towards the end of the run and the serialised elements never really take off, but you can do much worse than giving this curiosity a spin. The show has never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray, but a remastered version is available to watch for free on YouTube.

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Live-action COWBOY BEBOP gets first pictures and airdate

Netflix's live-action take on classic anime Cowboy Bebop has a release date: 19 November this year. Netflix have also dropped the first publicity images for the show.

From left to white, John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black and Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine. An unnamed Welsh corgi actor is playing the dog Ein.

Cowboy Bebop is based on the critically-acclaimed anime which ran for one season of 26 episodes in 1998. The original series was noted for its noir-ish atmosphere, it's vividly-portrayed setting (a futuristic Solar system where Earth has been abandoned after a hyperspace accident destroyed the Moon), it ambiguous characterisation and its absolute killer soundtrack.

It's unknown how much of the anime series the live-action version will cover; however, the fact that the casting for the regular role of "Radical Ed" has not been announced suggests it may only cover the first half or so of the original series (Ed debuted in the ninth episode of the original run).

Cowboy Bebop shot on soundstages and location in New Zealand, but production was blighted by lead actor John Cho injuring his foot just a few weeks into filming. Production was shut down for several months and was due to restart just as the COVID pandemic struck and all filming projects were suspended in New Zealand. However, production was able to resume last summer.

Additional castmembers for the series include Alex Hassell as Vicious, Elena Satine as Julia, Geoff Stults as Chalmers, Tamara Tunie as Ana, Mason Alexander PArk as Gren, Rachel House as Mao, Ann Truong as Shin, Hoa Xuande as Lin, Blessing Mokgohloa as Santiago, Molly Moriarty as Kimmie Black and Lucy Currey as Judy.

Cowboy Bebop would be nothing without its infamous soundtrack, and the good news is that Yoko Kanno, who scored the original anime, is returning for the live-action project.

Writers for the show include Christopher Yost and Hajime Yatate, a collective pen-name for Sunrise Studios, who created the original anime.

Directors for the project comprise Alex Garcia Lopez and Michael Katleman, who each directed five episodes.

Netflix have a mixed record on their anime adaptations, but this one benefits from a much higher budget than most of their previous efforts, and getting Kanno and Yatate involved may assuage fears that the show has been compromised too much. It certainly looks the part.

Brand new AKIRA anime in development

Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo is returning to his most famous creation for a new project.

His seminal graphic novel collection is getting a brand-new anime adaptation, this time for television. The 1988 Akira animated movie, although a classic, had to compress six very large volumes totalling some 2,000 pages into under two hours, which resulted in a film that left out very large chunks of the narrative. As the film was also released two years before Otomo completed the manga, there were also some significant differences in the story and ending.

The new adaptation aims to adapt all six graphic novels very closely, so will probably be a multi-season project using the latest animation techniques. The 1988 original movie is still getting some love, however, with a brand-new 4K remaster underway for release in April 2020.

This news comes a few weeks after it was confirmed that Taika Waititi will be helming the long-awaited live-action version of the story, for release in May 2021.

ALTERED CARBON anime in development

In somewhat surprising news, Netflix has confirmed that it is expanding its Altered Carbon commitment with a spin-off anime show.

To be written by Cowboy Bebop writer Dai Sato, the anime will take place in the same universe as the live-action TV series (the second season of which is currently in production), based on Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs series of novels, and will expand on the universe and mythology of the setting.

A Pacific Rim anime is also in development at Netflix.

The news is part of a wider engagement by Netflix with Asian television, producing both original live-action series and anime for the network. Netflix is reaching saturation point in the American market and in order to continue growing, it will need to pick up more subscribers in Asia, Europe and elsewhere.

Altered Carbon's second season is expected to air before the end of 2019. The air date for the animated series is unknown.

Cowboy Bebop

2071. A hyperspace gateway accident has made Earth almost uninhabitable, scattering humanity across the Solar system, with huge centres of population to be found on Mars and Ganymede, whilst Venus is being terraformed. Ex-crime syndicate member Spike Spiegel and ex-cop Jet Black are "cowboys", bounty-hunters working from the Bebop, a spacecraft with aquatic capabilities. They're happy working alone, but soon find themselves reluctantly acquiring new recruits: a strangely intelligent dog called Ein, an amnesiac con artist named Faye Valentine and a brilliant young hacker, Ed. Together they get into strange adventures from one end of the Solar system to the other as they try to get a big score...and forget their pasts.

Cowboy Bebop originally aired in Japan in 1998 and received significant critical acclaim, which has only increased in the last two decades. It's an anime (animated Japanese series) that draws on large numbers of influences, including significant western ones such as film noir, Westerns and jazz. Its acclaim and place in the anime pantheon is down to its accessibility, the relatively straightforward storylines and the very fine characterisation.

At first glance Cowboy Bebop adheres to the "small dysfunctional group of people on a small ship" paradigm previously seen in TV shows like Blake's 7 and Red Dwarf and films like Star Wars, and later employed by the likes of Firefly, The Expanse and Farscape, not to mention novel series like Chris Wooding's Tales of the Ketty Jay. Generally, each episode revolves around Jet and Spike picking up a bounty contract and trying to take the target down, usually through escalating and increasingly riotous complications. Several key episodes eschew this format in favour of exploring our heroes' backstories, with tinted flashbacks revealing how they got from where they were to hiding on a starship at the arse end of space. Cowboy Bebop has been called a coda or epilogue to a story that we never got to see, which is an interesting approach to a narrative but also one that works really well.

The show is rooted in its four characters: Spike is disinterested and apathetic until he is either annoyed or he is drawn back into his criminal past. Jet is more empathetic but, as the Bebop's owner, is often distracted by their always-precarious financial situation. Faye pretends to be too cool to be concerned about anyone else, but as the series continues we learn more about her insecurities and her missing memories. Ed is...thirteen and strange, and "data dog" Ein steals most of the scenes he's in. These initial characterisations are deepened as we explore more about their past episode by episode.

The show is unusual for eschewing anime's love of deep serialisation and increasingly convoluted long-running story arcs and focusing more on adventures of the week, with the occasional "arc episode" with longer-term ramifications. This allows for a lot of tonal variation. Some episodes are very bloody and action-focused, others are very comedic, others are romances or noir mysteries. At least two episodes are outright horror (Alien gets a homage), and the series as a whole can be seen as something of a tragedy, with the ambiguous finale approaching with gruelling inevitability. But there's also lots of good humour, some non sequitur moments (one episode seems to be one of the writers getting his obsession with the VHS/Betamax wars off his chest) and a commitment to character that is highly successful.

The animation is, mostly, excellent. There's some outstanding compositions and imagery throughout the show and the production design of the spaceships and future cities is top notch. More variable is the CGI, which was in its infancy at the time. There's not much of it, but it varies from the outstanding (the CG Mars the Bebop flies over several times is fantastic) to the patchy and risible (a background shot of Jupiter looks like a late-1990s screensaver).

One of Cowboy Bebop's greatest strengths is its music. The title theme and the outro song are both very good, but every episode is packed with songs from multiple genres including blues, jazz, rock, country, heavy metal and, in one Shaft-riffing episode, some R&B. Legendary composer Yoko Kanno is responsible for the show's soundtrack which must have a serious claim on being the best soundtrack for a single season of TV, animated or otherwise, ever made.

On the negative side of things, some episodes are a bit lacking in exposition, but usually if you wait long enough all of the major plot points are explained and the character arcs make sense. More of an issue - for some viewers - will be that the characters are mostly dressed sensibly for the dangers they are facing, but Faye is near-constantly portrayed in revealing outfits. It's odd because the show not only lampshades this a couple of times (showing they're aware of it), but even goes out of its way to present less-prominent female characters in a less exploitative manner. One episode, about a female space trucker with a love of heavy metal music, is particularly welcome for its exploration of a "non-standard" (at least from the perspective of the time it was made) female character. Faye is certainly a very strongly-characterised figure with an interesting backstory, but you have to put up with some silly outfits to get to that part of the story.

Nevertheless, Cowboy Bebop (****½) is a very strong show. It's tight and constrained (consisting of only 24 episodes) with some of the best and most memorable characters you'll ever seen in a TV show. The worldbuilding is excellent (excepting the fact it's unlikely we'll have colonised the entire Solar system in just seventy years), the stories are well-written and the thematic explorations of love, loss, redemption and family are highly successful. It also makes a great gateway show for those unfamiliar with anime's tropes and ideas. It is available now on Blu-Ray (UK, USA) and is available to watch on Netflix in the UK as well.

Happy 20th Anniversary COWBOY BEBOP

The popular and influential Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop celebrates its 20th anniversary today. The 26-episode series debuted on 3 April 1998 with the transmission of the second episode; the series was broadcast out of order, resulting in low ratings and the show's cancellation after only twelve episodes had aired. The series aired, in full and in proper production order, the following year and immediately picked up significant critical acclaim. In 2001 it became the first anime to air on the American Adult Swim channel, introducing a whole new American audience to the genre.

Cowboy Bebop is set in the year 2071, when the Solar system has been colonised and Venus and some of the moons of Jupiter have been terraformed (most notably Ganymede, which becomes the key setting for many episodes). Hyperspace gates link the planets, allowing for rapid travel across the system. Fifty years earlier, the first gate, located in Earth orbit, malfunctioned and exploded, shattering half the moon and sending billions of asteroids into orbit around Earth (and some onto collision courses), almost sealing the planet off. The rest of humanity has scattered across the planets.

The show follows the adventures of the spacecraft Bebop, a starship/boat hybrid. At the start of the series its only crewmembers are odd couple Spike Siegel, a former Red Dragon Syndicate criminal, and ex-cop Jet Black, who are now working as bounty hunters or "cowboys" in the show's parlance. The crew rapidly expands over the course of several episodes (a similar way of introducing the main characters as on Blake's 7 - itself a precursor of Cowboy Bebop - and Babylon 5) with the arrival of the beautiful amnesiac Faye Valentine, "data dog" Ein and Ed, a young child who is also a genius computer hacker.

Cowboy Bebop is notable for its Western influences, particularly several episodes which are clearly homages to film noir. The show has an incredibly eclectic soundtrack, courtesy of genius composer Yoko Kanno, which takes jazz as its main inspiration. Other episodes feature country, rock, classical, electronic and even heavy metal influences. The show also relaxed the obsession with detailed story arcs other anime series suffered from, instead consisting of mostly stand-alone episodes with a couple of recurring character arcs (including Faye's search for her past and Spike's repeated confrontations with his friend-turned-nemesis, Vicious).

Cowboy Bebop is also notable for how little of it there is. Director and co-creator Shinchiro Watanabe was keen not to milk the franchise, so designed it as a story with one definitive ending. A couple of years later he did return to direct a movie (which takes place before the final episode of the series proper), and a two-volume manga of the series was created but that's it. Watanabe has resisted making a sequel, reboot or continuation ever since. This relatively limited amount of content, together with the show's less-serialised nature and Western influences, has made Cowboy Bebop a much-recommended "gateway show" to the world of anime, being light on the insane tentacle monsters and brain-melting, convoluted backstories some other shows in the genre are known for.

The show has picked up significant critical acclaim and celebrity followers: Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson and the late Robin Williams were all big fans of the show. A live-action version of the show has been mooted for the last year or so, whilst some believe that the show was an influence on Joss Whedon's Firefly and the animated series Archer (particularly the use of music and the very similar title sequence).

By random coincidence, I've been watching Cowboy Bebop for the past couple of weeks and am about to wrap up the show, so expect a review later this week. In the meantime, congratulations to the cast and crew of Cowboy Bebop for having created something that still means a lot to people twenty years later and, impressively, not having run it into the ground with sequels and reboots.