Saturday, September 26, 2009

Cowboy Bebop Session #7: Heavy Metal Queen

The Swordfish is a rather nifty craft.
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Befitting of its title, our latest session opens with the sounds of heavy metal. Cowboy Bebop often proves itself as much an aural experience as a visual one. The 5.1 Remixes are sensational in surround and the colors do appear vibrant. Prepare to dock aboard Cowboy Bebop, Session #7, Heavy Metal Queen.

A character named VT boards a space station with his fluffy grey cat. The voice actor was poorly chosen for this character. The voice was a little too young and less steroid-riddled than the VT part appeared. One of the bar/eateries is crawling with bounty hunters awaiting the arrival of a guy named Decker [a nod to Blade Runner perhaps?].
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Meanwhile, Faye is waiting for Decker at a place called Woody's. She slides her little body over upon his arrival and plants her pistol under his chin. She's a smooth operator and unafraid of using her sex appeal as a weapon. We need to hear Pat Benetar's Sex As A Weapon to a montage of Faye. A weaselly fellow runs for the door after Faye tells him to phone the police. She's got the big, brawny Decker only it turns out the weaselly fellow with glasses WAS Decker. She's got the wrong guy.
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Back at the bar, VT is smashing heads. Spike is attempting to place a raw egg in his drink when it lands on his crotch after being bumped by a stooge in the brawl. Spike assists in cleaning up the rest of the bounty ruffians. VT's not crazy about bounty hunters as he tells Spike.

Faye goes after Decker but loses him as well as her ship after a mini-bomb hits her.
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Now, I'm completely surprised when VT mentions he/she was married and had a husband. This might explain the voice issue problem I was having with the character. It looks like casting the actor was spot on for the purposes of the story. I stand before you red-faced. VT learns Spike is a bounty hunter and disrespects him. Elsewhere, the "Something Brothers" [the gang Spike beat to a pulp] spray paint his Swordfish. So VT, the heavy metal queen, is kind of a space trucker and gives Spike and Faye a hitch along with their trashed space vessels.
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VT back on her own spots Decker and goes after him. Spike radios VT and tells her to stay away from Decker because he's carrying high explosives. Decker throws one of his explosive viles at her and the corridors begin to collapse inside the meteor-like mining station. Decker is killed and VT survives.
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Spike and Faye arrive in their newly repaired ships [by Jet] and need to get her and themselves out of there. Sealed off in the mining satellite with no way out, Faye attempts to get some nitro from Decker's crashed ship while VT turns up the volume on the metal. They blow a hole and escape in a nick of time.
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There's a nifty action sequence with Spike using his gun to propel himself from point to point. Enjoy even if it is out of this world.


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He finds evidence of VT's name, Victoria. She was the wife of a famous, but now deceased bounty hunter. In the end we learn why she rejects the bounty hunter lifestyle, because her and her husband were hunters and now he is gone. It may not be the most exciting reason or even surprising reason, but it's a reason and it is fairly logical.
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Heavy Metal Queen: B

Cast: Spike/ Jet/ Faye/ Ein

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