878. See You Space Podboys - Session #11: Toys in the Attic
Added 2025-06-13 13:00:16 +0000 UTC
Adam Ganser and Abe Epperson discuss the 1998 anime Cowboy Bebop. This time, we talk about session #11, Toys in the Attic. It’s the slime monster one. 3, 2, 1. Let’s jam.
Features:
Adam Ganser: https://bsky.app/profile/ganz.bsky.social
Abe Epperson: https://bsky.app/profile/abeepp.bsky.social
Check our store to buy Small Beans merch! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/the-small-beans-store?ref_id=22691
Comments
A few years ago it occurred to me that "Don't leave things in the fridge"—i.e., revere the past, lest it come back to bite you—is the point of the whole series, and I did a deep dive looking for all the ways that message manifests. It's a lot. Like almost every episode. First, you've got the main examples, which are the unfinished business of the four MCs: 1. Spike and the syndicate. He leaves it to fester, allowing Vicious to take over. 2. Jet and his ex-gf, and his ex-police partner. Alisa even explicitly scolds Jet for acting as if time had stood still. 3. Faye was literally left in a fridge (cryosleep), cursing her to a sad future where she has no home or loved ones, because, again, time doesn't stand still. 4. Ed is "left in the fridge" by her dad, quickly growing up while he's looking away. But here are some of the others: -Sympathy for the Devil - Zebra is frozen in time, with monstrous results. Spike gets him unstuck in time using a single bullet. (This ep is an early mile marker for Spike. With Zebra's dying last words, he asks if Spike "understands." Spike doesn't yet, but by the end of the series, he will. His final "Bang" at the end of the series echoes the climactic gunshot in this ep.) -Bohemian Rhapsody - The gate company's unaddressed transgressions of the past come back to bite them fifty years later. Also, the chess game literally pits young against old, and old wins. -Wild Horses - Fancy modern ships are susceptible to hacking. An old man with a recurring spiel about revering the past saves the day using an old-timey space shuttle, the only craft that can't be hacked. His reward is very old (i.e., very good) liquor. Cowboy Funk - Teddy Bomber's warning about incessant capitalistic advancement is basically a rewording of the fridge lesson. People mindlessly charge forward without ever looking back. He wants to revive the "pioneering spirit." Spike and Andy together also symbolize a past/present dichotomy (past vs. present cowboy). There's also that random bit with the host of Big Shot and his elderly mother, which actually doesn't feel so random at all anymore. His love for his mother and willingness to care for her parallels the conclusion of the MCs' growth arc, where everyone has learned the fridge lesson. I'm sure there are lots of other examples in there, too! Okay byeee
Greg Moore
2025-06-17 04:19:03 +0000 UTC25 years later and I still say “Lesson Lesson - If you see a stranger, follow him” on a regular basis
Maddy
2025-06-14 21:35:47 +0000 UTCLove these episodes.
Taylor Hensley
2025-06-14 19:02:03 +0000 UTC
