It's the year 2071. Meet Spike and Jet, a drifter and a retired cyborg cop. They've formed a partnership in a bounty hunting enterprise that specializes in adventure and cash. Using an old converted fishing ship called the Bebop, with the help of the intelligent data dog, Ein, the mysterious and vexing femme fatale, Faye Valentine, and Ed, the genius hacker - Spike and Jet scour the galaxy to clean up space, one bounty at a time.

Cowboy Bebop will be a live action movie starring Keanu Reeves based on the anime TV show of the same name that was originally broadcast in Japan in 1998 before it made its way to the States via Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

“It’s got a Western quality, a Western film noir aspect to it,” said Reeves of the 26 episode TV series that also inspired a full-length animated movie in 2003. “It’s got so much style to it, and that’s part of its appeal. That kind of Old West, border town, low-tech science fiction aspect.”

Reeves also had the following to say about the planned movie:

“I think that would be a production designer’s dream. I think you just need a good production designer.”

“We’re taking the Red Eye [story], the beginning part of the series and then we’ll deal with the end of the series. We’re trying to figure out [the time frame]. We’re looking at the story right now.” [The plot of these episodes involves the origins on the fictional “Bebop” drug developed by the military that gives its users with a brief surge of superhuman reflexes and awareness.]

Cowboy Bebop is the sort of anime show that appeals to people who don’t normally like anime. If you’re unfamiliar with the show we’d suggest that you immediately plonk down some $120 or so for the entire box set on DVD. Yeah, we know times are tough and you have to pay your rent this month, but you’ll only thank us in the long run. It’s really a cool, enjoyable show mixing jazz instrumentals with great animated visuals. There are loads of action and a light tone (no mean-spiritedness here). Besides, the landlord can wait . . .

We know it is fashionable to complain about Reeves’ wooden acting, but at least he looks (a bit) like the animated Spike. But to be honest we’re not entirely convinced that this movie will ever happen. There are already plans for live action remakes of Akira and Ghost in the Shell in the pipeline and things may get a bit crowded. The last live action anime movie was Speed Racer, which sank like a stone at the box office.

Besides, sooner or later someone is going to mention Serenity . . .