Welcome to part 2 of the Western With A Twist Blog series, setting the mood for the upcoming release of Beneath the Canyons, Book 1 of my high fantasy-western series Daughter of the Wildings. This time: movies and TV. (Part 1, Books, is here)
[Note: Amazon links are my affiliate links.]
[Note: Amazon links are my affiliate links.]
First
of all, if you're talking about TV and movies that are sci-fi or
fantasy with a western twist, or western with a sci-fi/fantasy twist,
you have to include Firefly
on the list. I don't know how much I need to say about it, except
adventures in space with a wild west feel - guns, fortune-hunters,
independent-spirited people trying to make a new start in wide-open
territory not necessarily on the right side of the law. I haven't seen
the entire series yet, but what I've seen I loved. And, of course,
there's the companion movie, Serenity. [Amazon]
Possibly the next most obvious entry is the old TV show, The Wild Wild West.
Basically James Bond in the old west (the main character is Jim West;
get it?), with lots of cool gadgetry, it also has elements of science
fiction and alternate history, and is sometimes considered a forerunner
of steampunk. I don't remember watching it as a kid, although I do
remember the little animations between segments, but there are some
episodes on YouTube so I've been watching those lately. Lots of fun.
There was also a 1999 movie version which gets pretty bad ratings, which
is too bad because with Will Smith and Kevin Kline you'd think it would
be good. [Amazon]
Next up is one of my favorite movies, High Plains Drifter,
with Clint Eastwood. Spaghetti western about a Man With No Name who
comes into a desolate western town, uncovers its dirty secrets, and
punishes it for a long-ago crime. Is he just a wandering Stranger, or is
he something more? (The link goes to Rotten Tomatoes because the
Wikipedia article was written by someone with a definite bias against
the movie. :P) [Amazon]
Finally, while we're on the subject of movies, we can't forget Cowboys and Aliens,
which I haven't seen but I love the idea. Critical reaction seems to be
mixed; some reviewers love it, others just don't seem to get it. [Amazon]
Next up are two of my favorite anime series. Cowboy Bebop
is set in space in the near future, after Earth has been made mostly
uninhabitable by a natural cataclysm and mankind has moved to Mars.
Lawlessness and corruption are rampant, providing plenty of work for
bounty-hunting "cowboys" like the crew of the Bebop: Spike, wisecracking
gunslinger/martial artist and refugee from the criminal Syndicate; Jet,
tough but tender-hearted owner of the Bebop; sexy Faye, a woman without
a past; Ed, the 13-year-old hacker girl, and Ein, the super-intelligent
Welsh Corgi. Science fiction/space opera with a definite Wild West
feel, an awesome jazz soundtrack, and the famous tag line, "See you,
space cowboy." [Amazon]
Trigun
is also set in space, on a desert planet where spaceships evacuating
humans from a ruined Earth crash-landed. With the destruction of the
ships, technology has, for the most part, gone back to the level of the
late 19th/early 20th century (with a few things salvaged from the ruined
ships and, of course, the Plants that provide the planet with power and
water). The society is wild and lawless, and the most wild and lawless
of them all is Vash the Stampede, the Humanoid Typhoon, the outlaw
gunslinger with a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head. Vash believes in
Love and Peace, but a darker destiny hounds him across the planet. Along
the way, he meets up with a series of renegades, bandits, bounty
hunters, and desperados, an intinerant priest who's more than he appears
to be, asssorted lovely ladies, and two "insurance girls",
investigators assigned to make sure he doesn't prove to be the ruination
of the insurance company. [Amazon]
I like to think that Silas Vendine, the hero of Daughter of the Wildings, has a little bit of Spike and Vash in him :)
Cowboy Bebop has bounty hunters, and Trigun has a character with an enormous bounty on his head, and the two come together in possibly the greatest anime music video ever made, Tainted Donuts. To finish off this post, sit back and enjoy some animated Wild West in Space action!
Cowboy Bebop has bounty hunters, and Trigun has a character with an enormous bounty on his head, and the two come together in possibly the greatest anime music video ever made, Tainted Donuts. To finish off this post, sit back and enjoy some animated Wild West in Space action!
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