Nix | June 24, 2009
421 comments

Updates on Live-Action Robotech and Cowboy Bebop

So what’s been going on with the live-action versions of “Robotech” and “Cowboy Bebop”? Not a whole lot, as both movies seem to still be in the very early stages of development (i.e. scripts are still being written), but AICN finally has updates for both movies.

On “Robotech”, a new writer has come onboard in Tom Rob Smith, a UK-based writer. He will be contributing to a script that has recently gone through the hands of some notable names, including Lawrence Kasdan and and writing partners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (TV’s Smallville). “Robotech” is being envisioned as as starring vehicle for Tobey Maguire of “Spider-Man” fame. Which reminds me, with Maguire now committed to a fourth movie, it doesn’t look like “Robotech” is going to happen anytime soon, at least if Maguire wants to star as well as produce this thing.

The “Cowboy Bebop” movie, on the other hand, seems to actually be moving forward. Writer Peter Craig has already finished the script, and says this about the original “Cowboy Bebop” crew’s involvement in the live-action movie:

met with all of them in Tokyo in December – at a long meeting with Keanu in the room. I thought there was an immediate rapport between all of us, particularly Shinchiro Watanabe and Keanu. I asked questions, presented scenarios, and they were very specific about their vision for the series, and how it might convert to a live-action film. They’ve continued to be in touch since then; and last month I received a very detailed letter, which I’ve consulted regularly. I’m close to finishing an early draft, and I believe they’ll be very happy with it. Not only does the script stay extremely true to the show — I also know that Erwin and Fox are already discussing production designers that can reproduce the “look” of Cowboy Bebop as closely as possible. They’ll be reading the script soon… so my fingers are crossed.

The live-action “Cowboy Bebop” is set to star Keanu Reeves.

Below: “So what’s the deal? Is this movie getting made or what?”


Category: Cowboy Bebop (Live-Action) Movie, Robotech (Live-Action) Movie, Sci-Fi Movie News | Tags: , , , , , ,
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  • oroboy

    The original creators of Macross actually thought that the ‘concept’ of Robotech was pretty interesting. When the producer of Robotech (Carl Macek) went to Japan to pitch the idea of “Robotech 2, The Sentinels” to the studio,
    the original writers of Macross were brought up to speed about how their series was combined with the other 2 to create a saga… and how Harmony Gold wanted to continue the story with “The Sentinels.” The Japanese were very interested in doing the joint project with Harmony Gold; but because the Japanese studio did not want the Macross fans to get confused between the two series, the studio wanted to make it into an entirely new anime… that’s when negotiations broke down, and only a handful of episodes were produced.

    If the creators of Macross thought that the concept of Robotech was interesting, then the idea had merit; it’s just that Carl and Harmony Gold had to work with so much ‘constraints’ to be able to get it shown on US television, that the episodes were indeed butchered. One thing is for sure though, as much as I HATE dubbed anime now, I still prefer to watch Robotech over the original Macross/SC/Mospeda.

  • oroboy

    For everyone hating on Robotech (or more like just the 1st generation/Macross Saga), you guys have valid reasons to not like it. If you take a look at the reason it happened that way though, you’ll understand why it wasn’t as good as it could have been.

    For one thing, to get a program syndicated on television at that time, a show had to have a certain number of episodes; Macross didn’t have enough, nor did Southern Cross or Mospeda. The one thing they all had in common though, was that they were war/mecha dramas. Combining them solved that problem… but of course you would have continuity issues between the generations. Number two; violence/blood/gore and adult situations/nudity… in Japan it was OK for primetime, for US Saturday morning (or anytime for that matter), definitely a no-no. Not even getting into the language issue, those two reasons alone made it difficult to put out a show.

    A lot of the time, it isn’t the fault of the studios/producers/writers that a show gets butchered, but constraints placed on them by the television stations and Federal Communications Commission (a.k.a US Government). They did the best with what they had to work with, and I for one am thankful. A lot of us were introduced to anime this way because it was the pre-internet era; and anime wasn’t big enough to where you had conventions or anime shops, so without it, anime might not have been as popular in the US as it is today… in other words, shows like Robotech, Star Blazers, Speed Racer, Voltron, etc. all help set the foundation for future animation shows to come to the US. SO STOP BITCHING!

  • RoboFan

    I have been a fan of Robotech for twenty plus years. I have just bought the Protoculture Collection. I enjoy Robotech every time I watch it. In the extras there is the Macross and the Genesis Climber Mospeada Pilots. To me there really was not much of a difference. I am very excited about this movie. I have always said that Robotech would make a great movie as long as they could do the CGI right.

  • fox

    NERDS! “robocrap”…”roboshit” LOL!!!!!

    when or if the movie comes out your still gonna watch it so stfu geeks.

  • Hikaru Hunter

    This bickering is pointless. Both shows are for all intents and purposes the same product if you consider the “look”. Arguing over what animation was better is even more pointless as 1. They were the same. 2. The film will be a LIVE ACTION production and as such will have a look all it’s own. I think that fans of both series should be excited that SOMETHING is being made out of this material.

  • James72

    Honestly, which is better is a moot point. If it wasn’t for Robotech the masses would have never been introduced into the franchise. When I saw robotech for the first time as a 12 year old (25 years ago), I was awed. I assume most of the people posting Robotech bashing are about 12-25 years old or live on the west coast because if you were around when HG released thier version, most people wouldn’t of had access to the originals. I know because I tried way back when (damn import tarrifs and not living on the west coast). Now with wide access to anime people can look at both and choose, but don’t hate on a release that exposed millions of people via network TV access and is partially responsible for your manga to take root and blossom as a artform in the U.S. Please think before you write.

  • Gouki

    LMFAO I love how people actually think the “Robotech” Movie will in fact follow Robotech or Macross Anime.

    This is the film industry…think Transformers(Bumblee as a Camaro,Ratchet as a Hummer,etc..;G.I.Joe(no Shipwreck,Beachhead Tomax & Zamot,etc)….I will say it will not be exactly to the letter…EVER!!! Tell me one anime/cartoon Live movie that followed a series or better yet a Movie that followed a book to the letter…because I cannot think of one.

    I do enjoy the Robotech vs. Macross efforts though they are indeed for a good laugh its “American Hack” vs. “Japanese Icon”<….oh look there American made film called "ROBOTECH"…..if you think it will be garbage then shall I make you aware that it is going to be produced by an AMERICAN Citizen not a JAPANESE Citizen. There is your answer…its not going to be MACROSSish but ROBOTECHish<..i say ish because it won't be exact. Plus bought the rights to produce ROBOTECH not MACROSS.

    Still I Imagine that MACROSS Lovers will still go see the movie regardless if its not MACROSS.

    And I also laughed at the watched toll posted of MACROSS vs. ROBOTECH (numbers crunched) when one series has more than the other in episodes and more people through word of mouth say MACROSS before ROBOTECH. Its like Saying to a child.. Do you want to go to McDonalds or Whataburger to eat?..most kids knowing the word McDonalds will say go there.

    Robotech and Macross I have watched them both. It comes down to popularity(opinion) in the end or in this case old school vs. noobs…but then again I think of people saying Bleach and Naruto is the BEST since white rice and I laugh at those people..xD

    If and when it is done, I will go see the movie, regardless if its crap or not.
    Until then I will be watching comic action flicks. Next 2 in line are Iron Man 2 and Kick-A$$ on my list.

    Oh which one do I prefer? ROBOTECH because I seen it before MACROSS,but they run pretty close, since the animation is basically the same…and for those who say without robotech there wouldn't be anime in the USA..um yeah I am pretty sure Robotech wasn't the first Anime in the USA.

    For many of the older readers, you may remember Tetsuwan Atom (Astroboy) which premiered in the early to mid 60's. Created by the visionary Osamu Tezuka, it ran for 193 episodes and is considered to be the "founding father" of the anime revolution.

    G-Force found us in the early 70's and displayed the popular mecha style that had surrounded anime during that time. Giant robots and high action made this an anime favorite.

    Mobile Suit Gundam followed suit (no pun intended :) in 1979 and gave us just over 40 episodes of robot-butt-kicking action. Although remade, Gundam is still around in one form or another today and remains one of the all time favs among hard-core anime fans.

    Robotech and Captain Harlock appeared in the 1980's and anime fans were hooked. While the mecha trend was still alive and well, anime was beginning to evolve into something bigger and yes, better.

    Again it wasn't the first anime but yes it was one of the 1980's.

  • Triskull

    http://www.steelfalcon.com/Macross/Images/continuity.gif

    for all ya’ll who are still fighting over this, this image should help clear up some more light for ya’ll. And its pointless arguing this is just something to try to show my persuasion on the matter.

  • Cougar

    To some naive posters (like malik) above: Robotech is the butchered US version of Macross done by Harmony Gold. It was dubbed, heavily edited and the plot was completely rewritten. The actual episodecount remained, as did the rough episodestructure.

    Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (created 1982)
    Robotech (created 1985)

    From the official Robotech site:
    Q: Sometimes I hear the series referred to Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada. What do they have to do with Robotech?
    A: Macross (Super Dimension Fortress Macross), Southern Cross (Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross) and Mospeada (Genesis Climber Mospeada) were three separate Japanese Animation television series that were combined to make Robotech.

  • Trisk

    Alright, enough with the arguments. What we should really be ‘Discussing,’ not arguing, is the what they plan to be creating and the cast they plan to choose. Yes i did try to convince others of the differences but that failed,and as had everyone else’s who’s tried to do the same. Arguing leads to the same thing and never ends cause no one really wants to give up and admit who is right and who is wrong. Now please lets all stop acting like grade schoolers in a petite fight. MY OPINION of having Toby Maguire as a character, and probably the main character, is that it will make things like his spider-man, which on a side note they decided to make another from the beginning this time with out TOBY. And what do ya’ll think of them might having Keanua Reeves as Spike for the Cowboy Bebop movie?

    • Trisk

      Yea i kinda lost track on my earlier statement “MY OPINION of having Toby Maguire as a character, and probably the main character, is that it will make things like his spider-man, which on a side note they decided to make another from the beginning this time with out TOBY,” and never really said my opinion. XD

      I think that ‘if’ he is the main character its going to bomb badly, i personally don’t like his acting styles its a bit ah…… well i find it somewhat childish. He’s okay in some films but he kinda killed in spider-man, and that was my favorite comic book, and T.V series back in the ’90s. :-’(
      Anyway i personally hope the decide not to cast him at all, i’m still bummed that he’s the producer but i guess if it wasn’t for him we wouldnt be having this movie, though i kinda how japan kicks of this idea and makes a SDF Macross (THOUGH I DONT LOOK FORWARD TO THE ARGUMENTS ON THIS SO PLEASE DONT START NON!!!)

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