Session 1: Asteroid Blues, is themed on the Robert Rodriguez film Desperado (1995). The bar the young couple enters to sell redeye at in the beginning is nearly identical to the Tarasco bar in the film. A fatal shootout occurs where the bartender dies. The couple Spike is chasing resemble Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.
This episode is the first appearance of the three old men Antonio, Carlos, and Jobim, but not the last. They show up from time to time, just happening to be in the same place at the same time as the Bebop crew.
Kôichi Yamadera ad-libbed all of Spike's whistling in the episode. He was told to do a "listless but cool" melody. Reportedly, he was intimidated by the fact that Yoko Kanno was composing the music for the series but did it on the spot anyway.
This is the only episode where a character does not say the name of the next episode during the preview.
Session 1: Asteroid Blues, is themed on the 1995 Robert Rodriguez film Desperado.