Trigun...

A few days ago, I picked up the new Trigun movie, Badlands Rumble...

In town surrounded by quicksand, an outlaw from Vash the Stampede's past has resurfaced after twenty years. His name is Gasback - and he's looking to cause a little trouble. It seems Gasback has a serious beef with the town's mayor, who's paying dozens of bounty hunters to protect his turf.

One of those hired guns is a beautiful woman with a vendetta against Gasback. Will she get a shot at revenge? Maybe, if she can get through Gasback's bodyguard, Wolfwood. And what's Vash got to do with this mess? Nothing much - except for the fact that he personally set off the entire chain of events two decades ago!

To refresh your memory, the original Trigun series plot summaries follow...

Volume 1
The $60,000,000,000 Man
The legendary Vash the Stampede is a gunfighter so ruthless he has a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head and entire towns evacuate at the rumor of his arrival. Fortunately, the real Vash the Stampede is more heroic - even if he does act like a complete idiot.

Volume 2
Lost Past
A city is dying, but when they decide Vash's bounty is the cure, will they find it comes with too high a price? The reckless pursuit of rewards or revenge sometimes leads away from the true goals of life - love and peace. It's time for Vash to show what he can do when his past comes back to haunt him.

Volume 3
Wolfwood
Wolfwood, the man of the cloth with the cross, is also a gunman with a past. Like Vash, Wolfwood travels to find redemption in the desert but continually finds that confrontations with one's past can be far more deadly than a duel with pistols. Will these two kindred souls walk the same path or find each other obstacles to survival?

Volume 4
Gung-Ho Guns
Which is the real face of Vash? The clown, the saint, or the killer? Vash reveals more of his character and more of his secrets as he takes on a contract to kill, and then faces a man whose sole purpose in life is to destroy Vash! When a man is programmed to kill, can he deny his destiny?

Volume 5
Angel Arms
Bonds of love and friendship are strong, but some can only be preserved when they are severed. Vash must leave his friends and happiness behind as he walks the treacherous and bloody path prepared by Legato. The body count begins to rise as Gung-Ho Guns enters the picture, but Vash will do anything he can to preserve life!

Volume 6
Project Seeds
The seeds of life also spawned the seeds of death, but it is human nature to survive. Despite his urge for a simple life, Vash's past and his present continue to collide, and with Wolfwood's help, Vash resumes his crusade to save the world. Knives, puppets, and revenge versus love and peace!

Volume 7
Puppet Master
Vash leaps into the heart of the storm and leads Wolfwood to the space ship that failed to crash. Unfortunately the Gung-ho Guns have also invaded paradise with two purposes - destroy a sanctuary for humans, and to inflict as much pain to Vash as possible. Wolfwood chooses to side with Vash, but questions his ability to win - will Wolfwood walk the path of destruction again?!

Volume 8
High Noon
The choices one makes. The excuses one uses. What do they mean in the end if you don't get what you want? The time for the ultimate showdown has arrived, but will Vash be able to save everyone?

The first half of the original Trigun series has a light comedic tone. Vash doesn't reveal much about himself early on, preferring to be seen as an embarrassing dork or idiot savant. As the series progresses we learn a bit more about Vash's past and the series takes a decidedly dark turn. There is some violence and bloodshed, but, no naughty bits. I wasn't too sure about the series at first, but, after catching a few episodes on Cartoon Network, I grew to like it.

The movie takes place in the same world as the original series, but, is a self-contained story in an of itself. You don't need to have seen the original series to enjoy the movie. The movie is classic Vash at its best and we get to be reunited with all of our long lost friends from the original series. The movie is a good addition to the Trigun series.

Dot, on the AnimeNation forum, comments on a change to the English voice cast...

Following is a letter from my fellow cast member of the original Trigun series, Jeff Nimoy. It sucks that Funimation did this to both me (Meryl, original series) and Jeff. He posted it on animenewsnetwork… here ya go!

"Sorry to all the fans, I would have loved to play Wolfwood again and dub the Trigun movie, but Funimation dubbed it already without me. They called me and wanted me to fly myself out to Texas from Los Angeles and put myself up in a hotel while they paid me less than the original series paid. I would have lost money on the deal.? Then when I asked for more money, they went ahead and replaced me. Pretty cheap, huh? I guess they don’t care about the fans. Sorry, guys, I would have loved to play Wolfwood again, but remember, I’ll always be the original! -- Jeff Nimoy"

Yup, in the midst of negotiating we suddenly got radio silence -- and found out (from someone else!) that they went ahead and recorded it without us. I thought we were reaching a final compromise – apparently Funi did not. Anyway, sorry guys, I just had to spew! xoxo Dorothy Fahn (Melendrez)

But, since I prefer to read my anime, I didn't really notice the change. These things happen. Don't read too much into it. Money is still green and will always have a thing or two to say in business decisions. But, even so, I'm still happy to have had the opportunity to re-visit Vash and the world of Trigun. The series, as a whole, gets a 4 out of 5 and the movie fits in very nicely with that score.