Category Archives: Mars Colony

Editors note: These editorials originally appeared Nov. 23, 2017.

Kirsten Hazelton, a second grade teacher at Southside Elementary School in Sarasota, gave her students an assignment for Veterans Day. One of those students, Rhys Parry, 7, wrote a letter to his uncle, a captain in the Marine Corps Raiders, its special forces division.

Parry thanked his uncle for serving. And by way of every childs uncanny ability to state simple, direct truths and profound common sense, young Parry wrote:

Freedom is the best thing in the world.

If only every American took that to heart. Especially today. What a tragedy that so many dont appreciate that truth. They take their freedom for granted, oblivious to this extraordinary gift.

So be thankful today. Block out the noise, the national politics, the cultural strife and the depravity that has consumed us. As you gather with family and friends for your traditional Thanksgiving feast, we take this space this week to urge our readers to take stock, at least for a few minutes.

If you think deeply enough about the meaning of Thanksgiving, there is so much more to this day than being thankful for the bounty on our tables. So much more to Thanksgiving than the story of the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims celebrating the harvest with the Wampanoag Native Americans in 1621, or thanking God for the end of the drought in 1622.

To a great extent, the first Thanksgivings were the celebratory culminations of the miraculous journey of a small band of Europeans in search of a place to be free to escape persecution and be free to practice their religion and their way of life.

That was their raison dtre freedom of religion. And today, you can say that principle is the fundamental rock, the bedrock, the perpetual birthstone of America.

And yet, here we are, 400 years later, continuing to fight for that right and principle. And if you think about that, consider also what it will require to preserve that right and the other rights granted to us in the Constitution.

Take inspiration from the courage of the Pilgrims and how they persevered through the long, harrowing journey from England to Holland to Plymouth Rock. Freedom will always be a difficult journey.

Weve made a tradition each year of retelling the story and roots of Thanksgiving because the story of the Pilgrims helps reset our compass. It reminds us how we came to be the New Hope in the New World. It reminds us of why we came to be. It reminds us of the price our ancestors paid to be free and to be free to worship as they wished. It reminds us to be thankful for all the blessings we have. And it reminds us that Rhys Parry is right:

Freedom is the best thing in the world.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The roots of Thanksgiving Day go far deeper than the story of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Yes, they were thankful to God for their bountiful harvest and their newfound Native American friends.

But if you can imagine yourself in the shoes of any of the original 102 Pilgrims who sailed from Leiden, Holland, for America, a land unknown, and who survived that tumultuous journey, followed by two years of near starvation, your gratitude simply for being alive would put a whole new perspective on Thanksgiving. It was far more than being thankful for a big fall harvest and feast.

Seldom, if ever, do we focus in our history texts on the details that compelled the Pilgrims also known as separatists, Puritans and Calvinists to set sail. The textbooks typically mention they fled religious persecution. But especially today, in this world of widespread and horrific religious persecutions, its instructive to remember the details of why the Pilgrims mustered the courage to cross the Unknown Ocean for freedom: for religious freedom.

In his 500-page account of Plymouth Plantation, Gov. William Bradford wrote how his fellow Calvinists in England became hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were but as flea-bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them.

For some were taken and clapped up in prison; others had their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and most were fain to flee and leave their houses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood, Bradford wrote.

After a year of this and meeting in secret to practice their worship of God, they saw they could no longer continue in this condition, and resolved to get over into Holland. The people of Amsterdam, they had heard, accepted the free practice of religion.

But sailing 200 miles to the Netherlands was no small matter. It was a monumental ordeal. Bradford describes the fear many of the separatists had of leaving England, as bad as it was, as a misery worse than death.

But these things did not dismay them for their desires were set on the ways of God and to enjoy his ordinances, Bradford wrote.

The trip to Holland was horrible for many. Chartered ship operators, once at sea with the separatists, robbed them, ransacked their belongings, molested many of the women and then sailed back into the original port and turned over the separatists to local authorities, who then imprisoned them.

Amazingly, the separatists didnt give up. Some few shrunk at these first conflicts and sharp beginnings, Bradford wrote, yet many more came on with fresh courage and greatly animated others. And in the end, notwithstanding all these storms of opposition, they all got over at length.

For 12 years, the Calvinist-separatist-Pilgrims lived and practiced their religion in freedom and peace in Leiden, an area within Holland where many of them became weavers.

And then the trouble began again.

Bradford wrote of Arminians, who greatly molested the whole state and university professors and other preachers who began to slander the Pilgrims religious practices.

The tormenting rose to such a level that Bradford said some of his neighbors preferred being in prison in England than this liberty in Holland, with these afflictions.

Distressed by the increasing abuse, the separatists elders began to look ahead. They believed within a few years they were fearful either to be entrapped or surrounded by their enemies and unable to flee.

Whats more, they worried about their children. It was common for children to labor long hours in the mills, their bodies bowed under the weight. Many children also were falling to the temptations of youthful licentiousness and being drawn into extravagant and dangerous courses, Bradford wrote. Parents saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and be corrupted.

At the same time, many of the separatists looked outward and spoke among their neighbors of advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world, Bradford wrote.

All three of these influences persecution, the well-being of their families future generations and spreading Gods word combined to motivate the Pilgrims to seek a new beginning. As they discussed their options, Bradford wrote, It was answered. The difficulties were many, but not invincible.

So they set sail to a land unknown. Bradford wrote of winds so fierce and the seas so high and the Mayflower shroudly shaken and leaky, raising the constant fear the ship would sink and that they would perish at sea.

When they finally stepped on land in the Cape Cod harbor, Bradford wrote, the Pilgrims fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof.

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The Bedrock of America - YourObserver.com

The Delhi government on Tuesday started trials at the redesigned the Rajghat intersection in central Delhi to make it more pedestrian friendly, as part of its project to establish zero fatality corridors on accident-prone stretches in the city.

According to officials, plastic barriers, spring posts, cones, and other such equipments have been laid around the Rajghat intersection to reduce exposure of vulnerable road users to the traffic, increase walking space for pedestrians and to slow down vehicles passing through the stretch.

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said such interventions to reduce accidents and fatalities will be replicated on 11 high-risk stretches across Delhi.

Delhi roads belong to all, as much to pedestrians and cyclists as to motorists, and the Delhi government is committed to making them safer for all users. It was keeping this in mind that we had launched the Delhi road safety policy in 2018. Through these tactical urbanism (TU) trials, earlier at Bhalswa Chowk and now at Rajghat, we aim to develop a comprehensive network of safe roads and junctions across the city. Small interventions like these, which you and I can take up, can effectively drive the behaviour change needed from commuters and the general public, to enable safe road practices in cities, Gahlot said, while launching the trials at the Rajghat traffic intersection.

According to officials, TU trials are temporary, quick and relatively low-cost interventions that test urban design, transportation planning and infrastructure changes for improving road safety for all road users, especially the most vulnerable, like pedestrians, cyclists and other non-motorised transport users. The trials will see road space being redistributed to ensure modal equity, road geometry, channelising traffic, reduction of vehicular speeds, and addition of safety infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.

Officials said the project at Rajghat intersection was undertaken in collaboration with the Delhi traffic police and NGOs SaveLife Foundation and Swayam. The work is part of the Delhi governments zero fatality corridor (ZFC) project where it ties up with stakeholders to work on the citys most accident-prone stretches through interventions that focus on altering motorists behaviour and making roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Apart from Rajghat, officials have identified 11 more intersections Mukundpur Chowk, Nirankari Colony/Gopalpur Red Light, Azadpur Chowk, Majnu Ka Tila, Burari Chowk, Sarita Vihar Metro station, Nehru Place, Khel Gaon, Gandhi Vihar Bus Stand and ISBT Kashmiri Gate -- for the same project.

Piyush Tewari, CEO of SaveLife foundation, told HT that the Bhalswa zero fatality corridor project recorded a 100% reduction in road crash deaths by limiting pedestrian exposure.

Delhi transport commissioner Ashish Kundra said since 2016, the Rajghat intersection and Rajghat bus depot collectively witnessed 47 crashes,13 fatalities and 51 injuries. These trials are aimed at making the intersection safe for all in an inclusive, cheap and quick manner. The end goal of these trials is to transform high fatality intersections into high safety intersections, he said.

Tewari said that they have followed a six-point intervention strategy to redesign the Rajghat junction. All the elements focus on either reducing the speed, or minimising conflict. Through these interventions we have managed to reduce the pedestrian exposure distance by about 50% and pedestrian exposure time by 30%, he said.

Continued here:

Delhis Rajghat road redesigned to make it safer for pedestrians - Hindustan Times

Outlander season 6 is heading our way in 2022, although it's been shortened to eight episodes.

In a press release, showrunner Matthew B Roberts said: "We are excited to get into the editing room to work on bringing the fans one step closer to reuniting with the family back on Fraser's Ridge.

"Filming in 2021 has presented an unprecedented set of challenges which led us to the decision to truncate the season in order to bring the fans the most vibrant and dynamic season as soon as possible."

Here's everything we know about Outlander season 6 so far...

Outlander season 6 will return on Starz platforms on Sunday, March 22, 2022, it's been announced.

We also know that the first episode will be feature length at 90 minutes long, and that it will be a shorter season than most due to the pandemic. There'll be eight episodes in season 6, as opposed to the usual 12-13 episodes.

It has been revealed that the season will be loosely based on the novel A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon, which is the sixth book in the series. There may be some diversions from the source, but it's likely to follow the key events of the story.

The synopsis for the novel is as follows: "Its 1772, the Royal Colony of North Carolina, and the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and preserve the colony for King and Crown. One minor problem: Jamie Frasers wife, Claire, is a time-traveller, as are his daughter and son-in-law. And Jamie knows that three years hence, the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the end of it all will be independence with those loyal to the King either dead or in exile."

It adds: "Beyond present danger, though, looms the threat of a tiny clipping from the Wilmington Gazette, dated 1776, which reports the destruction of the house on Frasers Ridge and the death by fire of James Fraser and all his family. For once, Jamie Fraser hopes the time-travellers in his family are wrong about the future. But only time will tell."

So far, we'll expect to see the usual cast members like Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall Fraser, Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser, Richard Rankin as Roger Wakefield and Sophie Skelton as Brianna Randall.

There will also be some new arrivals, as confirmed by the official Twitter account. Mark Lewis Jones, Alexander Vlahos, and Jessica Reynolds will be joining the cast as The Christies.

It's not known if fan favourite Lord John Grey (David Berry) will return for season 6 as he does not appear in the sixth book, but we'll have to wait and see!

Not yet watch this space!

Go here to read the rest:

'Outlander' season 6: release date, cast, plot, and everything we know - What's On TV

GALVESTON Brooke Carlson checks in at least once each shift on the nearly 100 refugee coral at Moody Gardens. Scientists rescued them in recent years from Florida, where a disease is swiftly killing colonies. Zoos and aquariums nationwide took them in. The coral are the hope for one day building back the reef.

The Florida coral in Galveston now live in three large, blue tanks. Carlson and the team make saltwater for them to live in, stir together refrigerated and frozen food to eat, and monitor how they respond to LED lights that mimic the sun. The process involves both caring for and learning about them; at least one species has never been in captivity before.

These animals didnt choose to be here, said Carlson, squeezing their liquid lunch into the tank with a turkey baster. As a keeper, my job is to give them what the ocean would, which is a very big task.

That so many coral were saved and so many facilities offered to look after them shows how important scientists felt the effort was. Coral worldwide already suffer from climate change. The disease in Florida, called stony coral tissue loss disease, affected almost half the stony coral species there, according to the state. More than 80 percent that got it died.

By the numbers

Facilities housing coral: 28

Colonies under care: 2,341

Percent at Moody Gardens: 4

Florida rescue sites: 188

Source: Coral Rescue - Coral Monitoring Dashboard

But the success story in saving some also gave way to further concern. Galveston researchers realized the disease might come closer to home. The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary near Texas has some of the healthier coral that remain. The coral are deep in the Gulf of Mexico and roughly 100 miles off the coast, which might protect them, though it also makes them harder to help.

On HoustonChronicle.com: New Gulf coral protections prioritize oil and gas over science

Stony coral tissue loss disease spread quickly. People first identified it in 2014 in Florida. It went on to infect coral along the entire 360-mile Florida Coral Reef, which curls along the bottom tip of that state. Scientists hoped the disease wouldnt reach Dry Tortugas National Park at the westernmost end. It did. That sounded alarm bells at Flower Garden.

Officials with the sanctuary, which is like an underwater national park with protections for the marine life there, put together a plan for what to do if the disease arrives. Theyve prepared to monitor its spread; remove smaller, sick colonies with chisels; and treat larger colonies with antibiotic putty pressed on with gloved fingers.

The biologists hope never to have to pick which coral colonies to save, but protecting all of them from the disease would be impossible.

It is spreading everywhere, said Michelle Johnston, a research biologist with the sanctuary. Were just highly concerned that the time is ticking.

A coral colony sits in the hospital tank in the Coral Rescue Lab at Moody Gardens Aquarium on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021 in Galveston .

Scientists arent sure what exactly causes the disease, or how it spreads. Sanctuary divers are trained to spot the telltale white lesions. Theyve also shared webinars on what to watch for with operators of the boat that often takes out tourists. Divers are asked to disinfect their gear. Mariners are supposed to be careful with how they replace ballast water, which is held within ships to stabilize them, as it may be a source of the spread.

Others are also getting involved: Sanctuary staff are collaborating with a North Carolina scientist whos working on an alternative treatment for the disease. And researchers are planning to look at which Flower Garden coral may be susceptible and whether they can help repopulate the Florida reefs if they remain healthy.

Moody Gardens may take in Flower Garden coral, too. For the Florida effort, researchers prioritized 20 species that were most susceptible. They hoped to save 200 of each species. Johnston cautioned that nothing had been finalized with Moody Gardens, and they would start small. They need funds and the ability to get offshore without significant COVID-19 restrictions. The aquarium would need a separate space for them.

Moody Gardens sprawling Galveston Island location includes a hotel, golf course and convention center. It also has the iconic pyramid-shaped aquarium, where this work is being done. The facility spent some $31,500 to transform an underwater photo gallery there into a coral rescue lab for the Florida animals. The first colonies arrived in 2019 on a truck, packed in Styrofoam boxes in bags of water. Rescued Florida coral also live at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi and at the Fort Worth Zoo.

Carlson spends so much time staring at them, she sees their nuances. They are wrinkly and bumpy and feathery, various shades of brown, green, pink and purple. She knows which prefer to be directly under the light and which prefer the tank edges. She watches to see if they prey on each other or if they look sick. On a recent weekday, she patiently spent about 20 minutes feeding the coral in just one tank.

Sometimes Carlson plays Disney music while she feeds them, though coral dont have ears. She might talk to them too. That day the lab was quiet except for the hum of equipment. She wore socks with Pokemon fish and a belt with sharks. There is a lot of pressure to care well for these coral, she acknowledged. But that made the work rewarding. The water got more murky as she added food. The coral might get extra chunky treats for Thanksgiving. For now, they were getting full.

emily.foxhall@chron.com

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Coral in the Gulf of Mexico are facing an extreme threat. Here's how Moody Gardens is trying to help. - Houston Chronicle

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1440340/Cannon_Foundry_Simulator/Create futuristic cities, develop the infrastructure, make discoveries, explore and expand simply put, be the first one to build a settlement on the surface of Mars!

Have you ever thought of having a rover for a neighbor, red desert outside the window and Earth shining above you in the sky? Well, its high time you did! Welcome to the city of the future. We have a great public transport, efficient solar panels, fully automated homes and unlimited living space. Food is cheap, technology advanced, and people (along with robots) amiable. Mars town is a moonshot project (or should we say marshoot?) that will change the world!

The only thing left to do is to build it! And you have been chosen to start this process.

Develop the land and build roads, so that the city can expand further. You have an army of rovers and droids at your command, so youd better make good use of it! Erect the necessary buildings and then focus on what matters to you most technology, entertainment, terraforming, or discoveries? Enhance the quality of life on Mars and make everything in your power to make the city thrive.

There is a world beyond the domes of the town and nothing can stop you from exploring it! Hire people or program droids, and head out into the unknown! Fill in the blank spots on the maps travel across the land and find places that could be just right for erecting new cities. Remember about a supply chain, since you will need it to provide the outpost with food and resources.

To become self-sufficient, you need to gain resources. The simplest way to achieve that is to find a deposit and then start mining it this process requires a specialized team and a proper equipment. Make no mistake it only looks easy, but the most important part is to actually make it work. The Martian surface is extremely hostile for life, and you will need all the manpower that you can get.

Find a balance between stability and exploration. Acquire financial support to boost the colony, expand the settlement, and make people feel like at home under the great domes. But beware, no one knows what you may find during the process of the colonizationLets settle down and see what happens!

Excerpt from:

Mars Colony Builder on Steam

2009 American film

Princess of Mars (retitled and re-released in 2012 as John Carter of Mars[1]) is a 2009 direct-to-DVD science fiction film made by American independent studio The Asylum, loosely based on the 1917 novel A Princess of Mars by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film's promotional art mentions how the original story inspired some elements of James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar, but neither the credits nor promotional material mention Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is not to be confused with the higher-budget 2012 film John Carter, which is an adaptation of the novel. In the UK, the film was released with the title The Martian Colony Wars.

John Carter (Antonio Sabato, Jr.) is a modern-day U.S. Army sniper serving in Afghanistan, wounded in the line of duty and used in a teleportation experiment wherein he is transferred to Barsoom, a planet outside of Earth's solar system, where he exhibits the ability to leap amazing distances. Initially enslaved by the Tharks, he earns a rank among them and later saves a rival group's princess, the human-looking Dejah Thoris (Traci Lords), from death.

The group of Tharks, led by Tars Tarkas, takes Carter to their leader Tal Hajus, guarded by Tars Tarkas' daughter Sola. Learning that Tarkas gave Carter a military rank only Hajus can give, Tarkas and Carter are forced to duel. Upon winning, Carter faces Sarka, an Afghan mercenary who had betrayed him. When Sarka escapes, Carter helps Tarkas kill Hajus and become the new leader of the Tharks.

Captain Carter then learns that Dejah Thoris has fled to the planetary air-cleaning station that keeps Barsoom habitable, which Sarka damages, causing the atmosphere to deteriorate. John Carter and Sarka face each other in a duel, but Sarka is killed by an insect during the fight. After Carter and Dejah Thoris reactivate the station, Carter is returned to Earth, where he declines to tell his superiors about his adventures for fear they will colonize Barsoom, and returns to military duties while hoping one day to return to the planet.

This film makes extensive use of the Vasquez Rocks for its alien landscape, appearing throughout the film as different locations.[citation needed]

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Princess of Mars - Wikipedia

Here are the most outstanding news stories over the weekend, presented to you by U.Today:

In 2021, the interest of cryptocurrency whales toward the Shiba Inu token, also known as the Dogecoin killer, has significantly increased. Etherscan data shows that, last Saturday, anonymous whales transferred around 260 billion SHIB in several massive lumps, each carrying over 80 billion coins.

Some experts believe that whales are also accountable for the recent SHIB rally, when two weeks ago a large market player bought six trillion coins and then added 276 billion SHIB to them.

According to Dogecoin YouTuber Matt Wallace, who calculated Elon Musks fortune in the DOGE equivalent, the centibillionaire has a net worth of around 861 billion Dogecoins (209 billion dollars). Musk hopes that this money is enough to start a permanent colony on Mars. The DOGE community went further; some of its members tweeted that the meme coin should become the official currency of the red planet.

In his recent tweet, researcher Leonidas Hadjiloizou asked the XRP community about the side former Ripple CTO Jed McCaleb would take in the ongoing legal battle between the fintech giant and the SEC. If the SEC wins and the court rules that XRP is a security, according to Hadjiloizou, it would mean that McCaleb broke the law by selling nine billion potentially unregistered securities (compensation from Ripple as part of the Settlement Agreement).

Also, in this case, according to Hadjiloizou, Jeds company, Stellar, and its native token, XLM, will be in for hard times as well.

Sunday ended with good news for the Dogecoin community. Its Change.org petition calling for Robinhood to list Shiba Inu has surpassed 250,000 signatures, meaning that the goal of 300,000 signatures is close. However, the popular trading app has not indicated whether or not it is ready to add SHIB.

Despite being opposed by Bitcoin maximalists, billionaire Mark Cuban said that he would continue talking about Dogecoin. In his opinion, Dogecoin is a great introduction to the industry that allows one to learn about cryptocurrencies in a cheap way. Cuban also added that the Dogecoin community is fun to be part of, once again praising it for its frivolousness.

However, despite being a strong Dogecoin advocate, the billionaire owns only $1,500 in the meme coin.

Read this article:

Musk to Start Colony on Mars Using DOGE, SHIB Petition ...

The new mini-series MARS is not like most science fiction films or TV entries. Instead it is more like "science future" rather than science fiction an extension of existing knowledge and techniques to the near future. More specifically, the authors envision what it would be like to travel to Mars in 2033. Because it is "science future" and not science fiction, most of what we're watching seems familiar.

Each episode looks like a documentary made in 2033 about the pioneers of the Mars movement. So we see interviews of people like Elon Musk and they talk about the Space X program. Then it switches to real time and we see the trials and tribulations of the first people to land on Mars.

As clever as the science future element is, there is a fictional story here as well, concerned with troubles that happen on the approach to Mars and the landing and the subsequent attempt to colonize the planet. This part of the series is lacking, not merely in character development, but also in action. It is slow going, but probably not unlike what it would be if you were there.

Among the most interesting elements are the decisions that have to be made about the program and comparisons between this future project and major exploratory projects of the past.

This series is definitely worth watching.

Link:

Mars (TV Series 20162018) - IMDb

Future Martian settlers will grow increasingly autonomous and could slowly stop sharing information with mission control, according to a study of colonists simulated in an extra-terrestrial environment.

Project Sirius, 120-day isolation test that is taking place in Russia, seeks to investigate the autonomous behaviours of potential crew.

Future missions to Mars, and further planets, will require individual action as the delays between mission control and spacecraft become an insurmountable issue.

During the test, which recreated pressurised chambers, landing operations, and a five-minute delay between the subjects and mission control, it was found that the crew quickly functioned confidently and worked collaboratively.

"The communication characteristics of crew members with different personalities, genders and cultures became more similar during the mission," co-author Dmitry Shved of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Aviation Institute said, as reported by Cnet.

"The negative side is that the mission control loses the possibility to understand the needs and problems of the crew, which consequently hinders mission controls ability to provide support.

The subjects were dissatisfied with the inability to confirm opinions from mission control immediately, which leads further to the mistrust and breaking of the established information circuit between the crew and the MCC, according to the research paper published in Frontiers.

Both sides became more and more dissatisfied with these contacts, based on their further decisions not on the current data about the mutual positions, but the assumptions, which the researchers call detachment enhanced by isolation, monotony, confinement, and lack of physical activity.

Such a detachment may lead to resistance of crew members to the recommendations of the mission control and predominance of their decision-making based on their knowledge, values, and priorities, the research hypothesises, but this will likely take generations to happen - if it does happen at all.

"During the period when the Mars colonies will still be dependent on resupplies and people coming from Earth," Shved said, "the probability of severance of diplomatic relations seems rather low."

With the development of other planets growing ever-more possible with funds generated by private space programs, agencies and governments will need to decide on extra-planetary law sooner rather than later.

Much of the legislation now is significantly out of date, and that which does exist has been described as motherhood and apple pie generally positive and reasonable, but with no focus on the hard issues that will arise.

Legally, future astronauts have more chance creating a community rather than a colony, as those missions will still be under the governance of the host country, but it seems likely that there will be planetary-wide laws on Mars rather than the country-specific legisalation we have on Earth.

In 2016, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said his intentions for a Martian government would be a direct democracy, where people vote on the issues themselves rather than through politicians under representative democracies as we do now.

Original post:

Future Mars colonists could revolt against mission control on Earth, new study warns - The Independent

Its easy to understand why Netflix felt it might be able to pull off a live-action Cowboy Bebop, just as its easy to understand why it all went so horribly, horribly wrong.

On the one hand, Shinichir Watanabes epochal 1998 anime series just begs to be remixed, inverted, and maybe even chopped and screwed. An impossibly cool retro-futuristic western space-noir that blasted hyperspace gateways between its various genres with all the exuberance of Yoko Kannos freeform jazz soundtrack and forever galvanized a more global audience for its entire medium along the way Watanabes stir-fry serial about a motley crew of interstellar bounty hunters doesnt only endure as a masterpiece of pop art mish-mash, the original Cowboy Bebop also lingers with fans as a bittersweet ode to the mad scramble of their own existence.

Watanabe took a wild slew of disparate elements and harmonized them all together into a wabi-sabi cartoon saga about the beautiful dissonance of being alive; his show introduced a ship full of mangy orphans and runaways, most of whom were hopelessly tethered to the same memories they were so desperate to piece together or leave behind, and listened along for the length of a dream as these unlikely session partners made some unforgettable music together. Whether paying homage to John Woo in a massive shootout on Mars or sifting through the ruins of Earth for the last Betamax player in the universe (so that amnesiac Faye Valentine might be able to watch a tape containing footage of her former self), Cowboy Bebop created such an ephemerally special future because it knew in its bones that people are always responding to their pasts. Even in the outer reaches of Jupiters moons, we bring ourselves with us wherever we go. To quote the end scrawl from the final episode: You gotta carry this weight

RelatedRelated

The live-action version of Cowboy Bebop exists for the same reason that so many other pieces of undead IP have been dug up and Frankensteined back to life in the streaming age, but few shows are more intrinsically sympathetic to the difficulties of letting sleeping dogs lie. From a certain perspective, you could even make the case that even the worst attempt to revisit Cowboy Bebop would honor the spirit of Watanabes series better than leaving it alone ever could.

At the same time, however, Cowboy Bebop was also haunted by the fact that the past is full of lost things people can never get back (its story takes place in 2071, 49 years after an Astral Gate explosion cut history in half, rendered Earth almost uninhabitable, and scattered humanity across the cosmos). It found something immensely sad in how its characters were lured back toward their buried trauma, often at the direct expense of the found family that had shown them a way forward. They were almost powerless to fight that feeling everyone has to snap out of their dreams at some point but Netflixs Cowboy Bebop doesnt have the same excuse.

This new show is the product of a culture that exhumes yesterday because its run out of fresh ideas for tomorrow, and its vision of the future is so sterile and uninspired that it often feels like nothing more than a cheap vision of the waking life that everyone in Watanabes original was trying so hard to sleep off.

To a certain extent, it seems that showrunner Andr Nemec and screenwriter Christopher Yost recognized the devils bargain of returning to Bebop. Adapting one of animes holiest cows is something of a fools errand just ask the 319 directors whove tried to remake Akira, or the unfortunate souls who actually managed to shoot live-action versions of properties like Death Note and Dragon Ball Z and in true Bebop fashion these guys may simply have loved the idea too much to let it go. After all, the Bebop crew had a knack for rescuing victory from the jaws of defeat, even if they usually squandered their rewards before they could spend them.

Its possible that Nemec and Yost also self-doubtingly shared the internets skepticism that the writers of Max Steel and 2014s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could re-capture lightning in a bottle (though the decision to split these episodes between directors of Daredevil and Gilmore Girls suggests more of a doubling down), but the reality is that Watanabes series should never have worked so well in the first place.

And so rather than re-trace the original or risk telling brand-new stories in the shows beloved sandbox, Nemec and Yost have wisely split the difference. Their adaptation recognizes the sacred nature of its source material by acting as more of a gospel to the holy book of Bebop than anything else; its the same board you might know and love, the pieces have just been moved around a little. For example, Faye no longer waits until the third episode to make her introduction, as she and Spike now cross paths during their first-episode pursuits of a rogue mafioso.

Likewise, the exhilarating air chase that capped off the animes pilot has been largely replaced by a nighttime shootout in a parking lot, a scene so utterly lifeless itll leave you begging for more of the consumer-grade CG this show busts out during the rare moments when it remembers that its set in outer space. Alas the $25 that Netflix apparently budgeted for each of the shows 10 episodes isnt enough to make a convincing interstellar epic. And thats really the whole ballgame, as the original Cowboy Bebop cooked up one of modern fictions most vivid, intoxicating, and transportive visions of the near-future by sublimating style into substance; by creating a world in which the tension between conflicting tropes and archetypes might crystallize our search for meaning amid the existential chaos of the universe, and make it possible to find a mythic weight in the paper-thin rivalry between a fluffy-haired ex-gangster and an edgelord named Vicious. Watanabes anime wasnt cool because it was good, it was good because it was cool.

Like so many of the great Westerns did for the past, Cowboy Bebop left you itching to visit its floppy-disk vision of the future, even if a trip there promised certain death. The azure oceans of Mars. The patches of land that floated above Venus and rained flowers below. The terraformed planets that contained Hong Kong-inspired megalopolises inside of glass domes like the worlds seediest wedding cakes. Even the rundown New Tijuana asteroid colony seemed more exciting than any place on Earth. In the third episode of the Netflix show, by contrast, our heroes visit a red-light district where a flashing neon sign reads PORN and the Space Needle has been composited into the background for texture.

It was always going to be a challenge to infuse a live-action Bebop with the same magical atmosphere, but the Netflix version of the show falls so far short of creating that mood or any sustained sense of place whatsoever that its hard to imagine how it got past the concept phase. For Watanabe, tone was an instrument that he played with the virtuosity of a first chair violinist. For Nemec, its a single note stretched between planets, every episode dulled by the same Xena-level production design and one-size-fits-all ambivalence that even a climactic riff on the animes most iconic episode (Ballad of Fallen Angels) cant help but swan dive into a safety net of lame jokes and bad soap opera. Considering that fans could probably retrace the original show with their eyes closed, its unforgivable that these episodes hardly offer a single memorable image of their own.

Bebop diehards will be appalled, while newbies will struggle to imagine why people have been making such a big deal about the anime for the last 20 years. The New Zealand sets are so crummy, the cinematography so flat and colorless, and the ambiance so non-existent that it would be hard to remember this is supposed to be Cowboy Bebop at all if not for the shows three main characters (it pains me to say that even Kannos generic contributions to this adaptation sound like reheated leftovers, and do little to give the Netflix series any life of its own).

The casting of Netflixs Cowboy Bebop is a saving grace that ranges from the smart to the divine. The actors are often the only thing that pulls these episodes back from the brink of catastrophe, even if they cant do much about the wretched dialogue that keeps the show dangling over the edge. First and foremost, John Cho is an inspired Spike Spiegel; no one could ever hope to embody a character drawn to be equal parts Clint Eastwood, Elliott Gould, and Bruce Lee, but Chos breezy and humanizing performance nails the disaffected cool of a death-obsessed bounty hunter in a blue leisure suit.

If he cant be as self-actualized as Spike was in the anime, Cho still hints at shifting layers of regret and spiritual purpose even when hes forced to pretend theres nothing under the surface. In a show that clumsily deploys Joss Whedon levels of sarcasm to fill in the Le Samoura-like silences that punctured the original, Cho makes those quips feel like the defense mechanisms they are. It doesnt hurt that he can hold his own in a fight, devastating knee injury and all. Netflixs Bebop is very short on memorable action setpieces (the ostensibly explosive Pierrot le Fou episode is so botched that fans will be doing its villains demented cackle from their couch), but Cho exudes a calm during even the most intense battles, and in the second episode even gives Tom Cruise a run for his money during the messiest bathroom brawl this side of Mission: Impossible Fallout.

Its Mustafa Shakir, however, who emerges as the clear MVP. The Luke Cage alum is both an uncanny personification of the level-headed and fabulously named ex-cop Jet Black (aka The Black Dog, whose bark is worse than his bite), and a well-realized growl of a man in his own right. Even without a bonsai-pruning scene to hammer the point home, Shakirs lovable performance radiates the serenity now energy of a workaday stiff who just wants to survive this craziness without killing anyone he doesnt have to. Shakirs turn is so complete that the decision to saddle Jet with a young daughter hes never home to see feels like overkill, even though it helps the shows seventh and best episode (Galileo Hustle) build into a broader comic reflection on the space-time distance between parents and their kids.

Typical of this series abject inability to accommodate genre, let alone reckon with the heightened realities that come with it, Jets daughter is also roped into a save the cat scenario that epitomizes the extent to which Cowboy Bebop has been denatured for its Netflix adaptation. Of course, its the pre-existing characters who bear the brunt of that. Daniella Pineda brings admirable verve to the role of Faye Valentine, the mysterious and volatile one-woman wrecking crew who brings the Bebop together in spite of everything; her performance brings an anime-proportioned femme fatale down to human measurements without losing any of her spark, or the even more crucial sense that Faye is a go-it-alone girl interrupted. But Nemec and Yost arent sure how to elaborate on someone previously defined by her absent sense of self, and so Faye is often reduced to a plucky space-age girlboss who calls Spike a dickwad and takes out a room full of goons while shouting Welcome to the ouch, motherfuckers! This is not the retro-futurism liberals want.

The issue of how to expand on the animes characters with hours of time and not a seconds worth of style inevitably weighs heaviest upon Spikes old syndicate partner Vicious, who was never more than an adjective in the original series. Played here by Alex Hassell, a brilliant Shakespearian actor whose Ross is among the many highlights of Joel Coens The Tragedy of Macbeth, Vicious is stretched into a British-accented big bad with enough backstory to fill out an entire Greek tragedy. Hassell cant be blamed for embracing the cartoonish melodrama of it all going full Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending might be the only way for such a gifted actor to keep themselves engaged across 10 hours of snively bloodletting and hackneyed villainy but Vicious sadism is spread far too thin to take him seriously as a real person, and he lacks even a fraction of the menace his anime counterpart achieved through omission.

The most consistent element across these 10 episodes might be how much they fumble the ball whenever trying to mine new depth from the aspects that Watanabe intentionally left superficial. Julia (Elena Satine), the blonde who haunts Spikes dreams, is very different in ways that misapprehend her meaning to this story, while much of the overarching drama surrounding Spikes past is bafflingly placed on the idea that Jet doesnt know about his previous life as a hitman for the Red Dragon crime syndicate. The show fails to makes a good case why Jet would care. Because hes an ex-cop? So what. Spike is the only reliable partner the guy has left, and vice-versa. Besides, everyone on the Bebop is running away from something. Thats how they all ran into each other, and why theyre able to live at the same pace.

Underneath its badass faade, Cowboy Bebop has always been a wistful story about people who cant shake free of their own pasts, especially in the embrace of a found family that doesnt give a damn about who they used to be only whos going to pay for their next meal. Even supporting characters like Gren (re-imagined here as a frothy non-binary jazz club host played by Mason Alexander Park), Shin, and Alisa ask to be defined by the paths theyve lit for themselves through the darkness of space, and the reluctant heroism of the Bebop crew often hinges on whether they agree to honor those terms. Sometimes being a bounty hunter means that Spike and Jet cant afford their feelings, while at other times their freelance existence is exactly what permits them to offer people their kindness of non-judgment. The Bebop itself is a floating oasis of scrap metal, a respite from a world in which the past clings to your legs with its teeth, and so its mind-boggling that Jet would fail to wrap his bald head around what he and Spike really offer each other through their oil-and-vinegar bromance. Worse, its thoroughly boring to watch him try.

Any version of Cowboy Bebop is going to have a complicated relationship with the past, and that relationship remains the animating force of Netflixs live-action show. Similar to Spike himself, this show has no hope of turning back the clock and making things as sweet as they are in our memories. But where the Bebop crews efforts to distance themselves from the people they used to be invariably bring them closer toward the people they really are, Nemecs eyesore of a series only continues to lose sight of why Cowboy Bebop is so beloved as it drifts further into the stars par for the course at a time when intellectual property is less prized for the ghost than its shell. You can change your name, Julia tells Spike, but you cant change who you are. To judge by this garish adaptation, it would seem like the opposite is true. This was never going to be the Bebop that fans hold so near and dear to their hearts, and thats fine. The problem is that it doesnt become anything else, either.

The entire first season of Cowboy Bebop will be available to stream on Netflix starting Friday, November 19.

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Cowboy Bebop Review: Netflixs Live-Action Riff on Everyones Favorite Anime Is a Cosmic Disaster - IndieWire