As in they both have tubey bits in their made up tech? Steampunk to my understanding is an aesthetic first, second, and third, and a "genre" 4th so unless space westerns have a lot of wood-boiler powered warp gates I didn't know about... I'm skeptical of this statement 😅
I fucking loved the oriental or wuxia inspirations from outlaw star, there really isnt enough sci fi that takes from chinese folklore and apparently i heard it was based on water margin and the warring states period
@@notthis9586they’re both sci-fi concepts with historically inspired aesthetics. One with a Wild West style and the other with an industrial revolution style
One of the best thing about space westerns is how the 'western' parts of it brings up very interesting themes of exploration and morality, but also the Vibes TM. All of the space westerns listed in the video have a certified banger soundtrack, and that is awesome. Thank you for digging so deep into the history of the genre! P.S. Kudos for using I was the Sun, before it was cool and A Proper Story, and mentioning Borderlands and Outer Wilds!
I am so glad you’re giving respect to Tri-gun’s name. It’s surprisingly niche among the broader pop culture despite it being just as impactful to the genre as bebop.
StarCraft was actually older than Firefly. It came out back in '98. Either it, or Brood War, it's expansion. It's still played to this day, and was likely the first televised e-sport.
I absolutely ADORED Outlaw Star as a kid. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Bebop and Trigun too, but something about Outlaw Star really clicked with me. It’s an anime I don’t really hear people talk about much.
Outlaw Star is pretty awesome. Fun fact, it came out pretty close to Bebop, and I think because the two have pretty similar beats, and Bebop became a cultural phenom, Outlaw kinda got left behind. I think it also doesn't get talked about much because apparently it TANKED in Japan (which surprises the heck out of me).
OLS is my favorite out of all of them, none of them have the same sense of adventure. I was gutted there were two false starts on a sequel... and heartbroken again adult swim chose big O and FLCL but not Outlaw Star to bankroll for another season. It was never as successful in Japan as it was in America so after the initial attempt at another season fell through, it probably only could've come from cartoon network funding. Look up Outlaw Star: Sword of Wind and Outlaw Star: Retaliation. These were the names of the two different plot outlines for another season.
The thing about Outlaw Star is that the episode prologues build up this whole huge universe of which we only ever get a small slice. The villain in outlaw star is only the third highest ranking person in Space, and the other two are barely mentioned even.
As someone who has given a number of panels on space operas and space westerns and their relationship, I appreciate how extremely thorough your sources are.
Found this randomly one night not having heard about it before. I played it expecting and wanting to watch a bad cheap scifi movie. I felt like my dog died when this movie was over. Haven't felt that about a show in a long time.
The soundtrack was also absolutely spectacular, and captured the feeling of space exploration incredibly well. It is a heart breaking movie, but the lore, not fully understanding everything of that universe--wish they would make more movies set in Prospect's universe, as I feel their is a lot of potential in it.
Having discovered Firefly only as a result of it's cancellation, it was a bitter realization of how out of touch the networks and studios can be. Despite or because of growing up with Star Wars original trilogy and the Spaghettie Westerns, Firefly was and has been one of the most impactful series I've ever seen, only recently challeged by Andor. While I agree that it plays to it's trope, it goes so deep into the characters, environment, and personalities, that it rises above the more popular and less nuanced treatments in actually bringing you into the world and all of it's grit. Not to say that many others, particularly on the Japanese front don't also aohieve that. I just really lament not having seen where that story could have gone.
I agree with you man. I wanted a deep dive into Book. I wanted to see some more flashbacks to Mal at the end of the war. There was a lot of stories to tell in that 'verse
@@717UT Firefly never worked for me, as I felt that the series revolved too much around Mal, other times I felt that only one joke per episode was funny, the aesthetics tended to clash with one another, a lack of conflict insofar as it felt that there was a mouse, but no cat to really make for a compelling thriller, and that the series felt like it was spinning off of a series but with nothing to spin off of. That is, I felt the backstory was really lacking in the pilot, and that everything in it was crammed, especially the character intros of which I couldn't remember the names of whom. No offense, but I didn't feel a real connection with the characters or the situations. As for Farscape, it had everything that I felt Firefly was lacking as listed above imo. Though another series that I prefer over Firefly is Starhunter, which came out 2 years before, and has concepts and situations that Joss Whedon took a few cues from.
@@CosmoShidan See, and everything you listed is the opposite for me. I would have love half a dozen seasons to tease out more stories and characters. I'll have to look up Starhunter. This is the first time I heard of it.
I definitely enjoy the space western genre. I think the blend really just appeals to that human desire for exploration, wonder, and a sense of freedom while mixed in with danger and hardship. Plus, it makes a lot of sense to blend science fiction and western given the fact that future explorers may very well end up creating a brand new "wild west" throughout the galaxy and universe, setting up unlikely settlements in backwater planets full of danger like how settlers in the west settled in unlikely areas filled with danger, wether it be from the people they displaced to be there or just the harsh environment.
The journey of exploration and struggle on the frontier of human civilization is timelessly fascinating. Match that up with smart but flawed characters, novel discoveries, and tense action, and I'll always be hyped for more.
I think it's more fundamental than frontier life. When you look at the rise and fall in popularity, you can see thay occurred in the midst of turning points in society. Eras of politcal, social and economic upheaval where the "you vs life" themes of westerns (space or otherwise) became very relatable. In the 30s you had the fallout of WWI and the build up to WWII, in the 60s you had the Cold War and in the late-80s to 90s you had a social shift towards antiestablishmentarianism which caused civil unrest and uncertainty about the future. It's no surprise then to see The Mandalorian gain significant traction during a global pandemic,which reignited the vs life sentiment, but to then see it lose appeal as people forget how fragile society is and return to the self-delusion that they're not actually living on the frontier day after day.
Great topic to pick, especially after you watched Trigun: Stampede. Lex, your content is consistently engaging and I love your deadpan/dry wit. Also, it's always fun to mention how the tropes and ideas behind "Westerns" have leaked into other genres. Breaking Bad, for example, uses a lot of character and scene structure from Westerns. Standoffs in the desert, the hyper masculine 'ideal', a literal train robbery... Great stuff.
I share the love for space westerns. Akira, Blade Runner, Star Trek, Trigun, Firefly, Cowboy Beepop, just to mention my favourites, were masterpieces. If it wasn’t for the Mandalorian I would have forgotten about this genre entirely. As always Lextorias, absolutely excellent video, well documented and passion. Thank you for sharing! 👍❤️
The end where you started talking about the history and current events at the time of creation for each of the examples really made me realize that media and history and culture is more closely tied together than I often think. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of analyzing something in isolation from the world it was created in, but a full and well rounded understanding of everything really brings things into perspective. Thanks for tilting my world view.
Chronicles of Riddick is Conan the Barbarian in space, which is appropriate for this video because a some of the original Conan stories shared a lot with Westerns.
22:45 - Outlaw Star borrows heavily from early pulp sci-fi, made obvious from the "Astounding Tales!"-ish pulp covers in the closing credits. The show's space travel is lifted from E.E. Smith's Skylark series, in which the mysterious extraterrestrial "metal X" makes FTL possible, as well as lingo like ether and sub-ether. There's even an assassin who has a freaking Lens on his hand.
Your style of videos, while not new, are very well put together and very enjoyable considering the range of media you cover. Excited every time I see one of your videos drop! Don't stop man!
Given Kurosawa's influence on westerns, you can throw every space samurai film in there as well. In fact, I'd say that because the tropes that define this identity are both few and specific, you can see it spread in everything from Fantasy to Cop Drama to Teen Dystopia.
One of the best random bargain bin purchases I ever made was picking up a Kurosawa DVD set with Seven Samurai in it. Wow. Shame I don't have a DVD player anymore, but at least I still have it on the shelf.
This is easily one of the greatest and most impactful video essays I've ever learned. This video essay culminates the question that I struggled to realize and could not answer myself, that being why I felt a connection and love between western, science fiction, film noir, and cyber punk genres and ultimately why they meld together so well. I knew I loved them, but I could not understand what it was about them that I loved. This realization without the understanding made finding media that fit this strange but fascinating niche extremely hard to find. Many shows are easily recognizable as "space westerns" however, as mentioned in this informative video essay, there are many films and media that visually are not easily identified for being "space westerns", or perhaps more appropriately identified as "cowboy bebops". Lextorias explained it best when stating that Space westerns (or cowboy bebops) are the culmination of it's parent genres and all their traits and tropes. In closing, this video helped me realize what I was looking for and better understand why I was looking for it. I certainly did not understand every point and argument made in the video essay the first time around, especially since I am still not entirely sure what makes so many space westerns tick, but having watched this essay, I plan to create a log of all the films and media that fit this niche and dissect the commonalities between them so I may easily identify a space western/cowboy bebop when I see one; Which I greatly appreciate the number of films cited in the essay and plan to watch many of them. On another note, I'm happy to have found this video and am excited to see what other videos your channel holds in store (new subscriber). Thank you for organizing my thoughts on the matter and thank you for this amazing informational video essay.
Vampires get seziures when they see right angles not due to the holy cross but they are confused by geometric shames, its like when elipsy happens in humans etc
@@NeostormXLMAX so when they need your permission to enter your home, they’re really distracting themselves from…geometry?..with…social formalities? I’m down for that head cannon, it’s stupid but, so is twi-shite.
I love the smooth black bar transitioning and also the names of media used always present. Obviously the rest of the video needs no separate comment, it's amazing!
This is just an amazing love letter to counter culture's envelope pushing of traditional values and shows the serendipity behind the unlikely emergence of multiple genres and how their tropes cross pollinated eachother and the seamless line threading through Wagon Train, Star Trek, Bladerunner, Akira, and The Expanse. The narrator is great, very knowledgeable and upbeat, with clear love of the subject matter and a wistful enthusiasm to share the knowledge without being dry or lecturing. Probably the most interesting and nostalgic feeling video I've seen in months.
Thank you for making this video. There is so little talk online about Space Western, it's hard to find people seemingly interested in it. I'm about to launch my massive Space Western book series, 'The Raoke Gang', it's good to see some people out there still care about Space Western. And yes, all those films you mentioned are clear influences. You could add 'Cobra' an 80's anime which was extremely popular in Japan and Europe
It's so smooth and easy to watch. I like how you make connections so far into the past. Draws a bigger picture and make you learn more than you came for
Loved this! I'm very much someone who is quite picky when it comes to sci-fi media I consume as the genre is very hit or miss for me but I think space westerns tend to be the ones I got to a lot under the sci-fi umbrella I guess because it mixes some other elements that appeal more to me than a very overall sci-fi adventure; cowboy bebop and trigun being big examples for this and the fact outlaw star has been on my to-watch list for many years now. Keep up the good work, really enjoyed the video!
Thank you for the FANTASTIC siting of all the music used in this video! I'm compiling mood playlists for a space western TTRPG and part way through this I knew I needed to listen to the whole list to add more! Thanks for collecting so many and cataloguing their use so well! I'm honestly about as excited about that playlist as I was this video! Great work!
Phenomenal use of music; I picked up on the Bastion soundtrack right away. I am surprised you didn't mention my favorite anime of the genre from the 80s: Saber Rider and The Star Sheriffs. However, such a good deep dive on Galaxy Rangers did make up for it! Excellent video, high praise!
6:35 Can we all take a minute to appreciate that cover, though? The old man is painting, and the shy alien behind him going: "Is that me? Really? You're doing my portrait? Get out! You shouldn't have..." 😱😚 At least, that's what I see. 😅
The space western endures despite decades of critical panning and derision because it appeals to the frontiersman in all of us who wants to make a life beyond the borders of "civilization," and the little kid in all of us who wants to run away from this middle point in history. It paints complex characters into fantastical renderings of accomplishments that we genuinely hope to achieve, while keeping us grounded in familiar trappings and nuance, allowing us the freedom of imagination coupled with the comfort of the known and beloved. It reminds us that, should we venture into the stars, it will be real men and women-and perhaps androids-who do it, and the reality will be as harsh and multifaceted as human nature. It teaches us that, despite the flaws in that nature there is courage, compassion, fire and fortitude to be found in it.
Robert Heinlein puts a lot of ideas from Westerns into his sci-fi novels- especially the huge portion of "Time Enough For Love" that describes the early stages of establishing a colony on a new planet- basically a western with some bits and pieces of high tech from very infrequents supply drops
I have no problem with a space western being about nothing but a cowboy out in space or on an alien planet fighting robots and aliens. One thing I loved about BraveStarr were the background paintings. Still some of the most beautiful and wondrous to this day.
you cant have such a big section on cyberpunk without name dropping the book that invented the term!! Neuromancer, Gibson's 1984 sleeper hit, invented the term cyberpunk, cyberspace (and that whole concept, 10 years before the internet was a thing) and the matrix (the movie being basically blade runner to electric sheep for this book). That said, great video man!! on my (second) favorite genre!! :D Also, i know Cowboy Bebop is a work of art but why is Trigun not mentioned more??? its such a fun romp!
Absolutely fantastic work, I don't know how to describe it! I loved the transitions you used for the aspect ratio shifts, they were very well-done and let immersion stay intact. The script was top-notch, I can only imagine how many attmepts it must've taken to record those lines 'cause damn hahaha. It's clear you put an absolute frick-ton of research into making this analysis, and boy did it deliver what it set out to find!!! p.s. I didn't see any of the graphical errors you mentioned in the decription while watching. Even if they were there, they weren't noticeable enough to break my immersion or even momentarily distract me. So dw don't overthink it.
In this genre, I recommend Vampire hunter D (the books and movies). It's a SFF western. It has dhampir vampire hunter on a horse dealing with sheriffs sitting in his way of hunting in a western-like world and all that western stuff run through a fantasy lense and it takes place thousands of years in the future, with all those laser guns and technology and forgotten technology and space travel and mechanical horses and weather controllers and mutated monsters.
love space westerns and it was super cool seeing clips of prospect in the background! that movie is super underrated and a great work of space western fiction
It wasnt until i played the “Bounty of Blood” dlc of Borderlands 3 that it hit me that borderlands has always been a space western. They fully dive into the western side of that theme in that dlc but the more i thought about it the more i realized that the borderlands games really are space westerns down to the core, and that just made me love it even more
I have always loved anything with a space western feel to it, but i had never thought too much about what i really liked about it, or even what makes a space western! Really enjoyed the video and learnt a lot. Thank you :)
@@Arassar i dont get why people say that. Book for wasn't bad, and it just got cooler and cooler. I think the last half of the series is superb. If anyone's hesitating about reading the series, READ IT, ITS AWESOME! Edit: im on my third read of the whole series, i love it that much!
holy fuck such a great video, simple enough to understand, yet still makes you think about all of the past and present of space western and cyberpunk in general
watch outlaw star, it's almost criminal to not mention it alongside cowboy bebop and trigun when all three aired on adult swim. i believe outlaw star was the first to be aired out of these series in japan, but i don't know what the adult swim timeline was.
Outlaw Star premiered on Toonami in January of 2001, and Bebop started in September. (The home video releases were produced at the same time. I know because I was given the choice of translating either Outlaw Star or Bebop, and I picked Outlaw Star.) Trigun didn't premiere until 2003.
Just found your channel, and I love all your work so far. Top notch quality. I may be biased since Trigun is one of my favorite works of all time, but kudos. P.s. I know you use game music in the background, but hearing Darren Korb's "A Proper Story" from Bastion as the transition at 26:19 made me very excited, well done!
I'm a little more staunchly in the camp of listing Cowboy Bebop are more of a space noir more than a space western, though as your video's detailed, it would be difficult to tease out any single genre thinking from it and still have the same great show.
This was very eye-opening for me. I feel like we're reliving the 1950's and American filmmaking is suffering under a new Heyes Code. Obviously the 2023 rules are different, but they are, if anything, even more limiting on what thematic explorations are allowed. I don't think I realized how Italian western movies basically ended that Heyes Code era nightmare. Today I see the whole internet heaping praise on a movie from Finland - Sisu - that does stuff that American movies can't do anymore. It's not especially amazing, but it feels fresh because it breaks so many of the California moviemaking rules. I really love the idea that some foreign movie studio can take advantage of the new American political puritanism and actually make good movies and get rich. If it happens, Hollywood will deserve it.
Hey man saw you got rid of a community post. Just wanna say you're the man and I hope all going well. You're like top 3 channels on UA-cam so I'm invested lol.
Killjoys is a really good space western to watch. I'd consider it a very high scifi tv series. It's about bounty hunters. If I said more it would spoil the show.
I love that you used so much music from bastion that game has such a strong sense of style and the soundtrack is just a masterpiece glad to see some love for it
Thank you for this! Im currently in the process of writing a book and this gave me an idea for it while I was on my commune from work. Awesome work and keep it up!
Season 1 of the Mandalorian was built on a idea Lucas had for a Boba Fett film or TV show. Disney bought the idea for the show when they bought Star Wars from Lucas. The Expanse works because the belters are the cowboys (but could be the native Americans) and Earth and Mars are the sheriffs. Or Earth and Mars could be the North and South in the civil war.
heres a better question: Why's there barely any steampunk westerns? that'd be such a cool combo that when is done is so obscure. Steampunk just needs more attention in general.
Because there are issues such as having to explain how technology that didn't exist in the 19th century such as aeroplanes are possible, and to do so would mean to incorporate time travel or visiting space aliens. So it's hard to pull off.
@@NZLion Now that show is a rare case where wireless telegraph, acetylene torches, smoke bombs, television, radio transmitters are present, though it's not really explained how those technologies are able to exist in 1878. Although there was one episode with the late Ricardo Montelbond that involved time travel, so that may be were Dr. Loveless and Aretamis Gordon got their tech.
Just started watching the clip, so will have to edit my comment later, but I really liked the Trigun rebootmakeprequel - maybe even more than the original - but yeah, hopefully we get a bit more of the space western genre
Great video! I would definitely add Vampire Hunter D to the list. It’s a unique mix of western, sci-fi and a gothic vampire story. A really good anime too. A must watch for sure
I love how Trigun Stempede is more fast pace compared to original Trigun series. Studio orange is really outstanding in making the show from a decade ago fit perfectly with modern standards and style.
The best implementation is by being counter-culture. Anti-conservative, anti-capitalist in fundamental nature because it exists on the fringe of society, where the policing of the status quo is weakest. It reflects the oppression of the natural world, outsiders, and the individual. As long as conservative/capitalist culture remains dominant the "spacewestern" type of genre will repeatedly revive.
Had a great feeling about this one when I heard the shipbreaker music, one of my favorite OSTs of all time. Excellent video, really captures the genre c:
One thing I love is the overlap between Space Westerns and Steampunk. Trigun has a ton of Steampunk influence as well.
would love to see something like steamboys background used on a more "dark" story
Two versions of retro-futurism, with a lot of overlap.
As in they both have tubey bits in their made up tech? Steampunk to my understanding is an aesthetic first, second, and third, and a "genre" 4th so unless space westerns have a lot of wood-boiler powered warp gates I didn't know about... I'm skeptical of this statement 😅
I fucking loved the oriental or wuxia inspirations from outlaw star, there really isnt enough sci fi that takes from chinese folklore and apparently i heard it was based on water margin and the warring states period
@@notthis9586they’re both sci-fi concepts with historically inspired aesthetics. One with a Wild West style and the other with an industrial revolution style
Bro, at your age I couldn't have made an analysis like this if a PhD wrote the script for me and put a gun to my head. Love your stuff man.
Well said.
This is oddly specific. Is that postdoc holding you hostage? Blink twice if you need help!
I love extremely over hyperbolic statements
Calling other people "Bro" might have something to do with it...
@@Dr.MSC.W.Kruegerno it doesn't
One of the best thing about space westerns is how the 'western' parts of it brings up very interesting themes of exploration and morality, but also the Vibes TM. All of the space westerns listed in the video have a certified banger soundtrack, and that is awesome.
Thank you for digging so deep into the history of the genre!
P.S. Kudos for using I was the Sun, before it was cool and A Proper Story, and mentioning Borderlands and Outer Wilds!
You can spun the fans,
Spoil the scenes,
But you can't take the sky from me.
I am so glad you’re giving respect to Tri-gun’s name. It’s surprisingly niche among the broader pop culture despite it being just as impactful to the genre as bebop.
StarCraft was actually older than Firefly. It came out back in '98. Either it, or Brood War, it's expansion. It's still played to this day, and was likely the first televised e-sport.
@@z28yeti I'm pretty sure it was an ongoing thing at that point. It might even be where G4 got their idea for showing competitive play in 2004 or so.
I absolutely ADORED Outlaw Star as a kid. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Bebop and Trigun too, but something about Outlaw Star really clicked with me. It’s an anime I don’t really hear people talk about much.
Outlaw Star is pretty awesome. Fun fact, it came out pretty close to Bebop, and I think because the two have pretty similar beats, and Bebop became a cultural phenom, Outlaw kinda got left behind. I think it also doesn't get talked about much because apparently it TANKED in Japan (which surprises the heck out of me).
😊
I have Outlaw Star on DVD. It is still amazing, and I really want a Caster Gun from it.
OLS is my favorite out of all of them, none of them have the same sense of adventure. I was gutted there were two false starts on a sequel... and heartbroken again adult swim chose big O and FLCL but not Outlaw Star to bankroll for another season. It was never as successful in Japan as it was in America so after the initial attempt at another season fell through, it probably only could've come from cartoon network funding. Look up Outlaw Star: Sword of Wind and Outlaw Star: Retaliation. These were the names of the two different plot outlines for another season.
The thing about Outlaw Star is that the episode prologues build up this whole huge universe of which we only ever get a small slice. The villain in outlaw star is only the third highest ranking person in Space, and the other two are barely mentioned even.
As someone who has given a number of panels on space operas and space westerns and their relationship, I appreciate how extremely thorough your sources are.
"Prospect" is such a hidden gem. The movie that started as a short, and was crowd funded into existance and done on insane budget.
That is one of the best human centered space western films ever made, and is up there with Space Truckers, Space Sweepers, and Outland.
Prospect ran in theaters in my area for only one night, but because I follow Dust, I got the tip off, and got to see it on the big screen.
came here to say this. the world building, set design and performances were incredible
Found this randomly one night not having heard about it before. I played it expecting and wanting to watch a bad cheap scifi movie.
I felt like my dog died when this movie was over. Haven't felt that about a show in a long time.
The soundtrack was also absolutely spectacular, and captured the feeling of space exploration incredibly well. It is a heart breaking movie, but the lore, not fully understanding everything of that universe--wish they would make more movies set in Prospect's universe, as I feel their is a lot of potential in it.
Having discovered Firefly only as a result of it's cancellation, it was a bitter realization of how out of touch the networks and studios can be. Despite or because of growing up with Star Wars original trilogy and the Spaghettie Westerns, Firefly was and has been one of the most impactful series I've ever seen, only recently challeged by Andor. While I agree that it plays to it's trope, it goes so deep into the characters, environment, and personalities, that it rises above the more popular and less nuanced treatments in actually bringing you into the world and all of it's grit. Not to say that many others, particularly on the Japanese front don't also aohieve that. I just really lament not having seen where that story could have gone.
I agree with you man. I wanted a deep dive into Book. I wanted to see some more flashbacks to Mal at the end of the war. There was a lot of stories to tell in that 'verse
@@717UT Farscape will always be better than Firefly imo.
@@CosmoShidan Honestly, I wasn't as big of a fan of Farscape. Just didn't do it for me the same way Firefly did.
@@717UT Firefly never worked for me, as I felt that the series revolved too much around Mal, other times I felt that only one joke per episode was funny, the aesthetics tended to clash with one another, a lack of conflict insofar as it felt that there was a mouse, but no cat to really make for a compelling thriller, and that the series felt like it was spinning off of a series but with nothing to spin off of. That is, I felt the backstory was really lacking in the pilot, and that everything in it was crammed, especially the character intros of which I couldn't remember the names of whom. No offense, but I didn't feel a real connection with the characters or the situations.
As for Farscape, it had everything that I felt Firefly was lacking as listed above imo.
Though another series that I prefer over Firefly is Starhunter, which came out 2 years before, and has concepts and situations that Joss Whedon took a few cues from.
@@CosmoShidan See, and everything you listed is the opposite for me. I would have love half a dozen seasons to tease out more stories and characters.
I'll have to look up Starhunter. This is the first time I heard of it.
I definitely enjoy the space western genre. I think the blend really just appeals to that human desire for exploration, wonder, and a sense of freedom while mixed in with danger and hardship.
Plus, it makes a lot of sense to blend science fiction and western given the fact that future explorers may very well end up creating a brand new "wild west" throughout the galaxy and universe, setting up unlikely settlements in backwater planets full of danger like how settlers in the west settled in unlikely areas filled with danger, wether it be from the people they displaced to be there or just the harsh environment.
The journey of exploration and struggle on the frontier of human civilization is timelessly fascinating. Match that up with smart but flawed characters, novel discoveries, and tense action, and I'll always be hyped for more.
I think it's more fundamental than frontier life. When you look at the rise and fall in popularity, you can see thay occurred in the midst of turning points in society. Eras of politcal, social and economic upheaval where the "you vs life" themes of westerns (space or otherwise) became very relatable. In the 30s you had the fallout of WWI and the build up to WWII, in the 60s you had the Cold War and in the late-80s to 90s you had a social shift towards antiestablishmentarianism which caused civil unrest and uncertainty about the future.
It's no surprise then to see The Mandalorian gain significant traction during a global pandemic,which reignited the vs life sentiment, but to then see it lose appeal as people forget how fragile society is and return to the self-delusion that they're not actually living on the frontier day after day.
Great topic to pick, especially after you watched Trigun: Stampede. Lex, your content is consistently engaging and I love your deadpan/dry wit.
Also, it's always fun to mention how the tropes and ideas behind "Westerns" have leaked into other genres. Breaking Bad, for example, uses a lot of character and scene structure from Westerns. Standoffs in the desert, the hyper masculine 'ideal', a literal train robbery... Great stuff.
The choice of Rimworld background music is amazing and fits thematically. Great video Lex!
Also noticed that, along with Bastion's soundtrack
Hardspace: Shipbreaker too! Absolute banger soundtrack.
I share the love for space westerns. Akira, Blade Runner, Star Trek, Trigun, Firefly, Cowboy Beepop, just to mention my favourites, were masterpieces. If it wasn’t for the Mandalorian I would have forgotten about this genre entirely. As always Lextorias, absolutely excellent video, well documented and passion. Thank you for sharing! 👍❤️
I love space westerns too, but blade runner really isn't one.....
Its cybernoir (cyberpunk + noir), But it's not in space.
@@mr_indie_fan - I guess you’re right. It just had that futuristic vibe that inspired other sci-fi movies and such.
Psycho-pass season 1, ghost in the shell, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
are really good cyberpunk anime
Akira is more sci-fi or just cyber punk then precisely a space western. but it definitevly is a cool anime fr
I too love space westerns like 'Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True' 'Weekend at Bernies, and 'Outlaw Star'
Babe wake up, Lex posted a vid 🗿
IM UP!.... 😾
This isn't Mr T Lexify
Lol you're an incel
The end where you started talking about the history and current events at the time of creation for each of the examples really made me realize that media and history and culture is more closely tied together than I often think. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of analyzing something in isolation from the world it was created in, but a full and well rounded understanding of everything really brings things into perspective. Thanks for tilting my world view.
Chronicles of Riddick is Conan the Barbarian in space, which is appropriate for this video because a some of the original Conan stories shared a lot with Westerns.
Considering Robert E. Howard was a Texan, that tracks.
22:45 - Outlaw Star borrows heavily from early pulp sci-fi, made obvious from the "Astounding Tales!"-ish pulp covers in the closing credits. The show's space travel is lifted from E.E. Smith's Skylark series, in which the mysterious extraterrestrial "metal X" makes FTL possible, as well as lingo like ether and sub-ether. There's even an assassin who has a freaking Lens on his hand.
That's a show that would have been nice to have another season.
I appreciate you for mentioning Outlaw Star along side Cowboy Bebop and Trigun.
Your style of videos, while not new, are very well put together and very enjoyable considering the range of media you cover. Excited every time I see one of your videos drop! Don't stop man!
Thank you! I appreciate it 🙏
Given Kurosawa's influence on westerns, you can throw every space samurai film in there as well. In fact, I'd say that because the tropes that define this identity are both few and specific, you can see it spread in everything from Fantasy to Cop Drama to Teen Dystopia.
That's a big part of Star Wars. What are Jedi if not Samurai space Wizards?
The Mandalorian also sees the influence of lone wolf and cub
One of the best random bargain bin purchases I ever made was picking up a Kurosawa DVD set with Seven Samurai in it. Wow. Shame I don't have a DVD player anymore, but at least I still have it on the shelf.
Gintama my beloved
This is easily one of the greatest and most impactful video essays I've ever learned. This video essay culminates the question that I struggled to realize and could not answer myself, that being why I felt a connection and love between western, science fiction, film noir, and cyber punk genres and ultimately why they meld together so well. I knew I loved them, but I could not understand what it was about them that I loved. This realization without the understanding made finding media that fit this strange but fascinating niche extremely hard to find. Many shows are easily recognizable as "space westerns" however, as mentioned in this informative video essay, there are many films and media that visually are not easily identified for being "space westerns", or perhaps more appropriately identified as "cowboy bebops". Lextorias explained it best when stating that Space westerns (or cowboy bebops) are the culmination of it's parent genres and all their traits and tropes.
In closing, this video helped me realize what I was looking for and better understand why I was looking for it. I certainly did not understand every point and argument made in the video essay the first time around, especially since I am still not entirely sure what makes so many space westerns tick, but having watched this essay, I plan to create a log of all the films and media that fit this niche and dissect the commonalities between them so I may easily identify a space western/cowboy bebop when I see one; Which I greatly appreciate the number of films cited in the essay and plan to watch many of them. On another note, I'm happy to have found this video and am excited to see what other videos your channel holds in store (new subscriber). Thank you for organizing my thoughts on the matter and thank you for this amazing informational video essay.
Space Western and Vampire Western are both criminally underrated and underutilized genre
Don’t think I’ve seen/read a Cowboys vs. Vampires story, but, that actually sounds badass AF!
Recommend suggestions?
@@Harbard369 for movies I suggest A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Vampires (1998) and Near Dark (1987)
Dont forget space sci fi vampires like with the book blindsight
Vampires get seziures when they see right angles not due to the holy cross but they are confused by geometric shames, its like when elipsy happens in humans etc
@@NeostormXLMAX so when they need your permission to enter your home, they’re really distracting themselves from…geometry?..with…social formalities?
I’m down for that head cannon, it’s stupid but, so is twi-shite.
I love the smooth black bar transitioning and also the names of media used always present. Obviously the rest of the video needs no separate comment, it's amazing!
This is just an amazing love letter to counter culture's envelope pushing of traditional values and shows the serendipity behind the unlikely emergence of multiple genres and how their tropes cross pollinated eachother and the seamless line threading through Wagon Train, Star Trek, Bladerunner, Akira, and The Expanse. The narrator is great, very knowledgeable and upbeat, with clear love of the subject matter and a wistful enthusiasm to share the knowledge without being dry or lecturing. Probably the most interesting and nostalgic feeling video I've seen in months.
couldn't agree more
Thank you for making this video. There is so little talk online about Space Western, it's hard to find people seemingly interested in it. I'm about to launch my massive Space Western book series, 'The Raoke Gang', it's good to see some people out there still care about Space Western. And yes, all those films you mentioned are clear influences. You could add 'Cobra' an 80's anime which was extremely popular in Japan and Europe
So thrilled to see The Expanse getting some love
It's so smooth and easy to watch. I like how you make connections so far into the past. Draws a bigger picture and make you learn more than you came for
Loved this! I'm very much someone who is quite picky when it comes to sci-fi media I consume as the genre is very hit or miss for me but I think space westerns tend to be the ones I got to a lot under the sci-fi umbrella I guess because it mixes some other elements that appeal more to me than a very overall sci-fi adventure; cowboy bebop and trigun being big examples for this and the fact outlaw star has been on my to-watch list for many years now.
Keep up the good work, really enjoyed the video!
Thank you for the FANTASTIC siting of all the music used in this video! I'm compiling mood playlists for a space western TTRPG and part way through this I knew I needed to listen to the whole list to add more! Thanks for collecting so many and cataloguing their use so well! I'm honestly about as excited about that playlist as I was this video! Great work!
The Adventures of Brisco Country Jr is 100% Sci-fi western with zero space involved so I could understand why they'd count as separate categories
I'd say it counts since Westworld is also cited. Great series that I wish lasted more than one season.
I love space western too much to let it die. I'm writing my book right now in this genre, and it will be amazing!
Phenomenal use of music; I picked up on the Bastion soundtrack right away.
I am surprised you didn't mention my favorite anime of the genre from the 80s: Saber Rider and The Star Sheriffs. However, such a good deep dive on Galaxy Rangers did make up for it!
Excellent video, high praise!
Ahhh the use of the Hardspace Shipbreaker OST is so good. I'm going to go complete a few now
Gahhhh I’m obsessed with Trigun again after watching Stampede so can’t wait to watch this 🙌
6:35
Can we all take a minute to appreciate that cover, though?
The old man is painting, and the shy alien behind him going: "Is that me? Really? You're doing my portrait? Get out! You shouldn't have..." 😱😚
At least, that's what I see. 😅
The space western endures despite decades of critical panning and derision because it appeals to the frontiersman in all of us who wants to make a life beyond the borders of "civilization," and the little kid in all of us who wants to run away from this middle point in history.
It paints complex characters into fantastical renderings of accomplishments that we genuinely hope to achieve, while keeping us grounded in familiar trappings and nuance, allowing us the freedom of imagination coupled with the comfort of the known and beloved. It reminds us that, should we venture into the stars, it will be real men and women-and perhaps androids-who do it, and the reality will be as harsh and multifaceted as human nature. It teaches us that, despite the flaws in that nature there is courage, compassion, fire and fortitude to be found in it.
Robert Heinlein puts a lot of ideas from Westerns into his sci-fi novels- especially the huge portion of "Time Enough For Love" that describes the early stages of establishing a colony on a new planet- basically a western with some bits and pieces of high tech from very infrequents supply drops
I have no problem with a space western being about nothing but a cowboy out in space or on an alien planet fighting robots and aliens. One thing I loved about BraveStarr were the background paintings. Still some of the most beautiful and wondrous to this day.
Came out of curiosity.
Stayed for the surprisingly insightful and inspiring breakdown.
Thanks for making this.
Gotta love the blending of Westerns and Scifi. Great stuff
Nice use of the Bastion soundtrack. A couple of American shows that were missing from the 80s/90s are Earth 2, and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr
Seeing StarCraft II on the showcase of space western in the footage examples opened a spur of joy and nostalgia that is hard to fully explain.
you cant have such a big section on cyberpunk without name dropping the book that invented the term!! Neuromancer, Gibson's 1984 sleeper hit, invented the term cyberpunk, cyberspace (and that whole concept, 10 years before the internet was a thing) and the matrix (the movie being basically blade runner to electric sheep for this book). That said, great video man!! on my (second) favorite genre!! :D Also, i know Cowboy Bebop is a work of art but why is Trigun not mentioned more??? its such a fun romp!
Also a huge fan of space westerns so I'm glad you made a video about it!
Firefly and The Dark Tower, two of my favorite things ever, mentioned in the same video.
Happy place.
Absolutely fantastic work, I don't know how to describe it! I loved the transitions you used for the aspect ratio shifts, they were very well-done and let immersion stay intact. The script was top-notch, I can only imagine how many attmepts it must've taken to record those lines 'cause damn hahaha. It's clear you put an absolute frick-ton of research into making this analysis, and boy did it deliver what it set out to find!!!
p.s. I didn't see any of the graphical errors you mentioned in the decription while watching. Even if they were there, they weren't noticeable enough to break my immersion or even momentarily distract me. So dw don't overthink it.
Incredible video! I learned a lot and was engaged all throughout.
Nice. I just started watching trigun and cowboy bebop. I love space westerns.
Fantastic video. Instant sub. I love firefly and the genre as a whole. Cowboy beebop is on my list of things i must watch!
The way you used a Bastion song to bring in the Mandalorian section caught me so off guard lol
It worked so well.
4:35 The Dark Tower is one of my favorite book series
In this genre, I recommend Vampire hunter D (the books and movies). It's a SFF western. It has dhampir vampire hunter on a horse dealing with sheriffs sitting in his way of hunting in a western-like world and all that western stuff run through a fantasy lense and it takes place thousands of years in the future, with all those laser guns and technology and forgotten technology and space travel and mechanical horses and weather controllers and mutated monsters.
Agreed! Always saw D as a western at heart
love space westerns and it was super cool seeing clips of prospect in the background! that movie is super underrated and a great work of space western fiction
Great video, I was kinda curious if there are Space Westerns you have seen that aren't as well known but are definitely worth watching
Space Agent Cobra should be added to this video.
Solid content
It wasnt until i played the “Bounty of Blood” dlc of Borderlands 3 that it hit me that borderlands has always been a space western. They fully dive into the western side of that theme in that dlc but the more i thought about it the more i realized that the borderlands games really are space westerns down to the core, and that just made me love it even more
Dude this is so good! Been looking forward to this one and hot damn did you knock it out!
I have always loved anything with a space western feel to it, but i had never thought too much about what i really liked about it, or even what makes a space western! Really enjoyed the video and learnt a lot. Thank you :)
just droping in to say the bastion song connected so well with the pacing of the video
Man if I could re-experience The Expanse all over again I'd be so happy, probably my favorite show ever to date.
I've been meaning to start this show.
Read the books! They're freaking awesome!
Don't get too attached to it. Or stop reading after like book 4.
@@Arassar i dont get why people say that. Book for wasn't bad, and it just got cooler and cooler. I think the last half of the series is superb. If anyone's hesitating about reading the series, READ IT, ITS AWESOME!
Edit: im on my third read of the whole series, i love it that much!
Damm. I spent a good few werks listening to the lofi album that you've been playong throughout thos video amd every chord is making me nostalgic.
holy fuck such a great video, simple enough to understand, yet still makes you think about all of the past and present of space western and cyberpunk in general
Had to sit through work til lunch break waiting to watch this, great vid and all hail the mighty space western.
watch outlaw star, it's almost criminal to not mention it alongside cowboy bebop and trigun when all three aired on adult swim. i believe outlaw star was the first to be aired out of these series in japan, but i don't know what the adult swim timeline was.
Outlaw Star premiered on Toonami in January of 2001, and Bebop started in September. (The home video releases were produced at the same time. I know because I was given the choice of translating either Outlaw Star or Bebop, and I picked Outlaw Star.) Trigun didn't premiere until 2003.
Just found your channel, and I love all your work so far. Top notch quality. I may be biased since Trigun is one of my favorite works of all time, but kudos.
P.s. I know you use game music in the background, but hearing Darren Korb's "A Proper Story" from Bastion as the transition at 26:19 made me very excited, well done!
I'm a little more staunchly in the camp of listing Cowboy Bebop are more of a space noir more than a space western, though as your video's detailed, it would be difficult to tease out any single genre thinking from it and still have the same great show.
Thank you for the in-depth look at space westerns and how we got here
This one’s gonna be a banger
A damn good breakdown of the genres.
This was very eye-opening for me. I feel like we're reliving the 1950's and American filmmaking is suffering under a new Heyes Code. Obviously the 2023 rules are different, but they are, if anything, even more limiting on what thematic explorations are allowed. I don't think I realized how Italian western movies basically ended that Heyes Code era nightmare. Today I see the whole internet heaping praise on a movie from Finland - Sisu - that does stuff that American movies can't do anymore. It's not especially amazing, but it feels fresh because it breaks so many of the California moviemaking rules. I really love the idea that some foreign movie studio can take advantage of the new American political puritanism and actually make good movies and get rich. If it happens, Hollywood will deserve it.
I love that this is over music from Bastion. Such a good game
Trigun and Cowboy Bebop are two of my all time most favorite shows.
Hey man saw you got rid of a community post. Just wanna say you're the man and I hope all going well. You're like top 3 channels on UA-cam so I'm invested lol.
Bro watched tri gun once and made a whole video on the genre
I dont know why this vid felt so good but it was easily one of my favorite for a long time on UA-cam. Thanks a lot Lextorias for this great analysis.
Killjoys is a really good space western to watch. I'd consider it a very high scifi tv series. It's about bounty hunters. If I said more it would spoil the show.
Man, i had forgotten about brave star, i used to go around shouting out the powers
If there is one thing that I learned in this video it is that Trigun was remade in the 2020s and I never heard about it.
you might like my last video
I love that you used so much music from bastion that game has such a strong sense of style and the soundtrack is just a masterpiece glad to see some love for it
The Dark Tower is definitely my favorite set of novels.
Thank you for this! Im currently in the process of writing a book and this gave me an idea for it while I was on my commune from work. Awesome work and keep it up!
I'm not convinced this isn't an excuse to spread the Hardspace OST. Great stuff all the same
Trigun is my ultimate favorite anime. It popularized the crouching moron hidden badass trope and the story is amazing
Season 1 of the Mandalorian was built on a idea Lucas had for a Boba Fett film or TV show. Disney bought the idea for the show when they bought Star Wars from Lucas. The Expanse works because the belters are the cowboys (but could be the native Americans) and Earth and Mars are the sheriffs. Or Earth and Mars could be the North and South in the civil war.
i’m half way through this video and its soooo good, keep it up bro
What Happened to the Space Western? Same thing that happened to every other Western.
yeah I say that in the video
@@Lextorias Forgive me, I have a habit of commenting as soon as the video starts.
@@Lextorias Also deep cut X-Men reference: "what happens when a toad is struck by lightning?"
Yo this video came up on the algorithm. Never watched your stuff before, but this was awesome man. Thoroughly enjoyed your delivery. I'm subscribing!
heres a better question: Why's there barely any steampunk westerns? that'd be such a cool combo that when is done is so obscure. Steampunk just needs more attention in general.
Because there are issues such as having to explain how technology that didn't exist in the 19th century such as aeroplanes are possible, and to do so would mean to incorporate time travel or visiting space aliens. So it's hard to pull off.
The only one that immediately comes to mind is Wild Wild West
@@NZLion Now that show is a rare case where wireless telegraph, acetylene torches, smoke bombs, television, radio transmitters are present, though it's not really explained how those technologies are able to exist in 1878. Although there was one episode with the late Ricardo Montelbond that involved time travel, so that may be were Dr. Loveless and Aretamis Gordon got their tech.
never thought I'd hear Firefly and High Plains Drifter mentioned in the same video. Nice work. 😻
Gene Roddenberry might be the only person who considers Star Trek a Western
Good to see the relevant film clips with the narrative.
Just started watching the clip, so will have to edit my comment later, but I really liked the Trigun rebootmakeprequel - maybe even more than the original - but yeah, hopefully we get a bit more of the space western genre
Great video! I would definitely add Vampire Hunter D to the list. It’s a unique mix of western, sci-fi and a gothic vampire story. A really good anime too. A must watch for sure
I love how Trigun Stempede is more fast pace compared to original Trigun series. Studio orange is really outstanding in making the show from a decade ago fit perfectly with modern standards and style.
I just found you but it was awfully nice of you to make you channel and videos SPECIFICALLY for me apparently.
so thank you for that!
The best implementation is by being counter-culture. Anti-conservative, anti-capitalist in fundamental nature because it exists on the fringe of society, where the policing of the status quo is weakest. It reflects the oppression of the natural world, outsiders, and the individual. As long as conservative/capitalist culture remains dominant the "spacewestern" type of genre will repeatedly revive.
dude, I love your use of hardspace: shipbreaker and rimworld tunes. perfection
I found Trigun recently on DVD and got the whole series. I absolutely loved watching it late nite on cartoon network. Is a must watch anime.
Had a great feeling about this one when I heard the shipbreaker music, one of my favorite OSTs of all time. Excellent video, really captures the genre c: