The Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 1 DVD includes the first five episodes of the series: “Asteroid Blues,” “Stray Dog Strut,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Gateway Shuffle,” and “Ballad of Fallen Angels.” The “remix” version of the Volume 1 DVD includes new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes of the episodes, and also includes bonus features not included on the original release of Volume 1.

During the five episodes contained on this volume, the viewer is introduced to the first two main characters, Spike Spiegel and Jet Black. During the remaining four episodes, they pick up Ein the dog (in “Stray Dog Strut”) and Faye Valentine (in “Honky Tonk Women”). The episodes follow this motley gang of bounty hunters as they travel the solar system hunting for bounties.

There are animated interactive menus on the DVD, although the navigation on the main menu can be a bit troublesome. Once you get into the sub-menus, however, navigation is a lot easier. Even with the navigation of the main menu, the menus on the remix DVD look better than the menu of the original pressing of the Cowboy Bebop DVDs.

When the DVD comes up on the main menu, you can choose to play the episodes, go into the setup menu, or watch the bonus features. In the setup menu, you can choose one of the following audio options: English Stereo, Japanese Stereo, English Dolby Digital 5.1, or Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1; in this menu, you can also choose whether or not you want to see the subtitles.

Bonus features on the disc include commentaries by the Japanese voice actors for Spike and Jet, as well as Yutaka Maseba (the ADR English Director) and Wendee Lee (the English voice for Faye Valentine). Wendee Lee is also featured in an interview included on the disc. The bonus features section also includes a Cartoon Network promo collection and a trailer collection (which also includes the trailer for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie). You can also see a “textless ending,” which is just the footage from the ending credits without the credit roll running over it. There are also some promos for other Bandai properties (Mars Daybreak, Planetes, and Gundam Seed).

I thought the interview with Wendee Lee was fairly well done. The Cartoon Network promo collection was decent, although I thought one or two of the promos were a little “over the top.” The trailer collection was all right, although some of the trailers did feel rather similar to each other. Also, I didn’t think the “textless ending” was really worth adding to the bonus features.

Overall, Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 1 is a decent release. However, if you already have the original pressing of Cowboy Bebop Volume 1, this may not be worth it to you unless you really want the bonus features or the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.