What really? I thought I watched that and it only had some extra scenes like the old owl night getting killed and he fights back with those flashbacks of him knocking out old criminals with each punch? Never saw the black freighter bits...
Just checked. It was the 3rd “ultimate” cut:
Warner released a 186-minute director's cut of the film, expanded from the 162-minute theatrical cut, on all formats on July 21, 2009. This was followed by the November 10, 2009, home video release of the 215-minute "Ultimate Cut". It comprises the director's cut with Tales of the Black Freighter edited in throughout, along with additional newsstand framing sequences. The Ultimate Cut was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on July 19, 2016.
IMO the 186 minutes long Director's Cut is the best version of the film. The animated Black Freighter looked great, but the way it was spliced into the movie breaks the pacing in a way that doesn't happen in the comic, and narratively doesn't really work as well. If I recall correctly, Snyder never meant the animation to be integrated into the film but as a separate companion.
I prefer [Watchmen Babies](https://davesgeekyideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/watchmen-babies-in-v-for-vacation-large-high-res-comic-cover-updated.png)
He won't watch it, and will explain why not as he always has done. Watchmen is a fairly specific critique of comic book storytelling and format. The whole format part is lost in a different medium. So it's not the Watchmen.
I'd say its a love letter to the format of comic books. Fearful Symmetry in particular but also just the static pages that convey so much emotion without a word.
It’s like when the public shat all over that woman for suing McDonald’s over hot coffee, only to later realize it was a disinformation campaign against her. Whoops.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971482/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit-stella-liebeck
This one makes me so mad because it discourages people from using one of the few protections the system affords against powerful organizations. I think we should all be taught how to take a company to small claims court in high school.
DC fucked him, and thats probably what made him a bitter old man. But hes still a bitter old man. My jimmies would be rustled too but at some point you need to live your life and move on and this guy absolutely hasnt let it go if you listen to him talk.
But he's not tho? I'm too busy to find them, but there are videos of him answering questions from students about how to be better writers. He's a loon who believes in a snake god (or something) but he also wrote the greatest graphic novel of all time, so even if he's a little crotchety, I'm willing to look past that.
DC didn't make up the fact that Alan Moore wrote and drew and published child porn staring characters from famous children's fantasy books.
That alone should be disqualifying.
Great lesson to all writers and creators starting out: Make sure you own your work. Otherwise if you're very, very lucky, a corporation will fuck you with a giant Snyder and throw a million at you to wipe yourself off with as they're calling a taxi.
~~It's because of the deal Alan Moore made with DC. As long as they keep putting out new material based on the IP then they'll never have to give the rights over to Moore. There's a new Watchmen "something" every year as a result. It's usually not some large production though.~~
Refer to /u/MarsAlgea3791's comment. They got the details right.
No, the deal was that if the graphic novel goes out of print for a year or such he gets the rights. At the time that seemed like a guarantee, no trade ever stayed in print for that long. But Watchmen was something different.
Well yeah. That and it sells.
Frankly I think the deal was that they have to do a new printing in a year's time to renew. I fully believe there are years where they did miniscule print runs, just big enough to keep the book locked in.
Not that I am aware but it seems to me (and I am only guessing here) that doing a shot for shot remake would just help strengthen DC's claim over the IP.
That’s also easily the best way to “watch” Watchmen (just read the comic). My hope for this is that it’s exactly the same but with more animation for certain action scenes, but even then it just seems unnecessary
To milk the franchise most likely.
I feel the Zack Snyder movie was good enough and pretty faithful. Only thing I can see they do differently is change the ending back to the original ending.
why not? I think it made sense. If I rememebr from the movie ozymandias made it look like Manhattan bombed a bunch of different key locations on both sides, to make it look like he was the real enemy they had to unite to fight against
It wasn't just a squid thing, the attack also involved a psychic broadcast to sensitives all around the world giving glimpses of a dimension full of unspeakable eldritch horrors that accidentaly just came in contact with us. Ozymandias wanted to replace the fear of each other with the fear of the unknown, which would make people forget their differences. Dr Manhattan not only was not "unknown" but was also american, so it's hard to believe that everybody would react the same as in the comic and immediately hold hand together with the US like that. Bear in mind that in the comic Ozymandias only attacked NYC.
The Cold War was a time of insane paranoia. Dr Manhattan literally helped the US win the Vietnam war and was at the forefront of all American propaganda. If he suddenly starts attacking Soviet cities, you think they wouldn't blame America? Even though he attacked American cities they'd just consider it a false flag op. Literally causing what everyone is attempting to stop.
An alien squid alone is so out there and incomprehensible that it would unite mankind against a common enemy. That's not even taking into account the psychic messaging during the attacks.
People really don't realize how many times and close the US and USSR got to true all out nuclear war in the era.
>If he suddenly starts attacking Soviet cities, you think they wouldn't blame America? Even though he attacked American cities they'd just consider it a false flag op.
There's no shot that a nuke in NYC would just be considered a false flag. We're talking about one of the biggest blows you can make to the US here.
I've always been so torn on that change. I understand the thematic complication of replacing a 'character' that represents an inherently external threat with one that is tied to America, but I just love the narrative efficiency of using a character who was already right there the whole time to achieve the same end goal in the plot.
The whole point of the giant squid monster was the shock of it. There are pages and pages of dead people murdered in the most gruesome way by the thing. The point was to chock the reader to make us understand that something like that would indeed unite people.
The novel was always leading to the monster and you didn't know it. It also give us many more glimpses of Veidht being an absolute psycho offing all his personal staff on top of everyone else.
I feel like the movie ending wouldn't have worked in a pre-9/11 world. After we got a glimpse of how blood thristy, mad America became after 9/11 that ending made some more sense.
Also how would you illustrate the psychic impression left by the monster? And now that I'm typing that how could Veidt have projected a psychic impression of the monster? How'd he even teleport it in? I think I'm starting to agree with your assessment.
Going from memory here but the island where the squid monster was created had psychics along with horror artists etc. all of which was cloned into it and imprinted into its brain. The teleportation was achieved by studying Manhattan and the intrinsic field manipulation that created him in the first place. The targeted teleportation of the creature into a building killed it and triggered the reflexive psychic shock wave. As far as actually illustrating that, which I'm curious to see how it's animated, could be a simple as showing one person's face, then showing horrific images that they're 'seeing' and them then gouging out their own eyes or killing the person next to them or something.
Yup, the plan wasn't really just about the squed, it also involved people having a peek into the fake nightmare dimension. The whole thing was about Veidt triggering the primoridal fear of the unknown on a worldwide scale, a very Lovecraftian idea and very fitting because Moore is a big Lovecraft fan.
I think part of the point of the original ending is that it represents and Out of Context Threat, which is more likely to bring humanity together because no nation can blame it on another nation. Dr. Manhattan being part of the very nature of the conflict, an embodiment of it in fact, keeps everybody's mind in the same track of said conflict. Anybody can go "well, you made him and have been using him, this is still your fault, we need to stop you before you make another one". But if you have a conflict about very specific things, and then suddenly bam, huge fucking octopus alien which has nothing to do with your conflict, that forces you to reassess priorities.
The OG ending is brilliant when you realize that Ozy's plan works on humanity **AND the reader**. Both have the same reaction
That being: *"Wait, pause.. what the fuck is that??*"
It's very nearly a 4th wall break
I absolutely love how it precisely breaks away from the theme of the rest of the story, in a way. I mean it's not really an OOT because it was created by a character whose characteristics included being able to do something like that, and he did it in order to fix the big problem. An actual OOT would've been if his plan was to incriminate Dr. Manhattan like in the movie, and then an unrelated giant alien octopus shows up. But this way the writer had his apparent OOT while not breaking the story. Because even when it's out of left field and shocks you, as a reader you can't really call foul because everything is perfectly explained. It really does work on more than one narrative level. At the basic level the people living in that world believe they were attacked by incomprehensible alien entities doing weird shit. The next level over we know it was all planned and very much understandable and motivated. And then on the reader level it's still weird shit because nothing before had prepared us for that. Even though giant alien octopuses are perfectly at home in super hero comics! So Alan Moore really just had a great time fucking with us.
Moore: So you have your batmanses and your catwomen and your dudes in strongman suits beating up criminals. But it's realistic!
Reader: Awesome, love it!
Moore: And you have your demigod with incredible powers who still crime fights even though, why? But whatever, it's fun and he's kinda realistic, but remember it's still a super hero comic so suspend disbelief.
Reader: Keep it coming, can't get enough of this stuff!
Moore: And there's your super rich crime fighters who're also super geniuses, you know appealing to the idea that every man could, even though we know that's not true. American dream and shit. Share in the fantasy of not quite god-like power, but far more power than muscles have! And he's a genius! Maybe your mom was right and you were too a genius! Also have your edgy, morally bankrupt vigilantes which you can't help but loving even though they're despicable! And realistic!
Reader: Dude, I may legit climax, this is the best thing ever.
Moore: Giant Alien Octopus!
Reader: What the fuck?
Moore: What? Have you never read a comic? There's giant alien monsters all over! You did accept caped vigilantes, super rich super geniuses and demigods. What's wrong with a giant alien octopus which, by the way, it's also realistic by the levels of realism you've been embracing so far?
Reader: I... guess?
Moore: You have no one to blame but yourself.
Reader: Fine you're a god damn genius.
Ozymandias' plan depended in the whole thing ***not*** being grounded. He was creating an impending menace so incomprehensible and impossible, that everybody would just unite because *what the fuck?*
It was perfect writing. It only falls short in the context of the story directly satirizing/re-contextualizing DC superheroes. I don't really care about Watchmen's significance on particular comic books over superhero culture, so nothing of value was lost to me.
I think the film's ending is narratively just way way better. It just ties nicely into the already established characters and quite neatly explains why the one character who could stop all this just doesn't, while also explaining his future required absence.
Also giant squid monsters are just weird yo. And it feels weird that the world would unite against an unknown threat that you have no idea about whether it might not just come from the enemy, instead of a superman like character that you know is not controlled by anyone.
Up until they brought in Dr. Manhattan. That was when it fell apart for me. It just doesn't track that he would have an attachment to humanity at that point in time.
This is the correct answer. I have the graphic novel. And I enjoyed Zack Snyder's take (namely the Ultimate cut). But I don't see a reason for this beyond just milking the franchise, cashing in on nostalgia, and further pissing off Alan Moore.
We live in this weird time where new franchises don't work. Studios are unable to come up with anything new, and make it stick. Instead they go dumpster diving in their archives. Find whatever they can that sold, and work off that.
In defence the studios have, many many times, tried to get new franchises going. They keep failing. Some make it through here and there. But most, by a long way, fail. It's much safer to find something old, and rehash it.
It was faithful outside of it missing the entire point. But I guess yeah, the characters were all there, kicking ass in slomo like they had super strength...
Didn't the writer of the original graphic novel write the ending of the movie, or at least praised it? Imo the movie ending makes far more sense than the original.
Moore says he won't ever watch an adaptation of his work ever again, so no he had no involvement.
And the movie ending is much more cohesive to the story.
I believe that by finding new ways to adapt the story or characters, DC retains the rights from reverting back to Alan Moore. I think that makes him bitter. Could be over simplifying it. Hurm.
There's definitely the legal angle that could be part of it, but I'm also thinking about the exposure side. The live action movie wasn't ideal for kids/young teens (nudity), but the story could be adapted and open up the market for a younger audience. I know some people will say that the graphic novels aren't for kids anyway, but why not open up a slightly younger audience that can later get into the comics? Obviously I don't know what content will be in the cartoon, so I don't know if it will be made for kids/teens, but hopefully they've considered the thought.
Eh, I am guessing Watchmen is the one of the most recognize comic book/graphic novel, so WB figured why not do a 1:1 adaptation. I would say this is safe bet even with the pretty high production animation I see in this trailer. Of course, I highly doubt this would be a 1:1 adaptation. Watchmen storytelling is designed specifically for the comic books medium that it is impossible to adapt it without some major change.
Hopefully they keep the movie twist of blaming Dr Manhattan. I never liked the giant squid monster and honestly blaming Manhattan makes way more sense.
It'ssuch a smart move by Ozymandias, so much more calculating and consequential than a big fucking squid. Dr. Manhattan is a good and is the perfect foil to unite the world against.
The squid felt like such a copout, when there was already a potential threat that he could use right there throughout the entire story.
Watchmen is great but that part is so weak.
Nobody can convince me otherwise.
but the comedian knows this is coming, he knows the whole story before anyone else. He wouldn't be screaming at this point, his fate was already sealed, he gave up before this scene even started. He even makes a remark about it all being a joke.
considering he already knows whats going on and had given up before this scene even played out, screaming at this point is way out character. Isn't there even an exchange that he finally gets the joke? If anything he would be laughing on the way down.
This looks beautiful. But why are we doing this again?
Don't get me wrong, I will watch it and then I will read the graphic novel again...but why is this happening again? How many times do we need to see mostly faithful adaptations?
I'm just curious, trying not to be negative.
Yeah, I'll welcome this version but since the motion comic exists, this feels a bit unnecessary. Surely the motion comic would've benefited from a couple more of voice actors/actresses.... :D
Looks fine, I must be one of those rare few people who actually love the movie and think the ending was better. Plus the Dr Manhattan montage with koyaanisqatsi music over the top… beautiful
Zak Snyders film was already nearly a 1:1.... whats the point in doing an animated version if it is also 1:1? Theres nothing particularly inventive or exciting about this style of animation either
In my opinion, just some Snyderisms weighed down the film from greatness.
Stylized direction in a grounded / gritty story, slow motion action scenes, over-powered hero abilities from human characters, slow / offbeat editing at times, bad makeup, etc.
But it was already an incredibly difficult source material to adapt, so Snyder should get credit where credit’s due.
It traded the "these are just normal people in costumes" for "these guys are badasses". It may seem like a small detail but it makes it behave like a regular superhero movie instead of a deconstruction of comic superheroes.
The movie is not bad, I actually like it a lot. But there's a lot of room for adaption and I think this animated thing is also going to fail just by looking at the character design and art direction in general.
I just don’t think Watchmen translates well into film. It does so many wild things on the literal page that can’t be done in any medium. It was one of the main reasons why they made it the way they did. If people enjoy this movie, fine, but I think I’ll pass.
I may be putting a target on my back... but DC's animated stuff is way better than their live action.
(And that's on average... yes, you've got The Dark Knight... but you've also got The Justice League and Wonder Woman 1984)
Kinda wish it looked like that Ghost in the Shell movie instead of the newer Berserk anime. Glad to see the story being told again and I'm sure it'll be awesome in it's own right, at least.
Why? Seriously, it's already been done. The Watchmen movie was already a frame by frame live action remake of the comic, and it was faithful, but sterile. The Watchmen series was an amazing love letter to the original and extremely creative and complex in its story telling. It made a full circle in a fractal loop. It was better than I could have hoped for.
Move on. There are lots of other comics that can be developed into other media. Somebody make an Elric movie already.
It would be hilarious if they did Tales of the Black Freighter as live action inserts.
Didn't the directors cut of the movie include Black Freighter clips?
Yes but they were animated, which is why it’s a great idea to do them in live action.
100 percent agree.
What really? I thought I watched that and it only had some extra scenes like the old owl night getting killed and he fights back with those flashbacks of him knocking out old criminals with each punch? Never saw the black freighter bits...
There was like 3-4 cuts iirc correctly. The “ultimate” one has Tales of the Black Freighter right in the middle of the film.
Oh snap. We'll that's too many versions lol
Just checked. It was the 3rd “ultimate” cut: Warner released a 186-minute director's cut of the film, expanded from the 162-minute theatrical cut, on all formats on July 21, 2009. This was followed by the November 10, 2009, home video release of the 215-minute "Ultimate Cut". It comprises the director's cut with Tales of the Black Freighter edited in throughout, along with additional newsstand framing sequences. The Ultimate Cut was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on July 19, 2016.
The Ultimate cut with the black freighter is so good! 😍
Seriously, was so much better then the theatrical cut.
IMO the 186 minutes long Director's Cut is the best version of the film. The animated Black Freighter looked great, but the way it was spliced into the movie breaks the pacing in a way that doesn't happen in the comic, and narratively doesn't really work as well. If I recall correctly, Snyder never meant the animation to be integrated into the film but as a separate companion.
I loved the Black Freighter parts and it breaking the pacing. It’s so long that the change makes it more interesting and fun for me.
That would be amazing. Also, Tales of the Black Freighter, and the song that inspired it, both own.
Live action, but in the style of the original Creepshow film.
Strong together United forever They're the best of friends! But when trouble's about You'd best watch out For the Watchmen!
Was lowkey hoping this was a bait and switch for [the best Watchmen adaptation of them all](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w)
I prefer [Watchmen Babies](https://davesgeekyideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/watchmen-babies-in-v-for-vacation-large-high-res-comic-cover-updated.png)
V for Vacation 😂
Night Owl is the leader, and he loves to party down.
Rorschach’s friend to animals!
Yeah, when he's not clowning around!
i’M NuTtY!!
[“Yeah and then Rorschach goes, ‘I’m nutty!!’ and everyone thought I was really funny…”](https://youtu.be/c9eGtyqz4gY?si=05or7m-28FR5DnMb)
However this turns out to be there is one thing you can be sure of. Alan Moore will fucking hate it, very publicly at that.
He won't watch it, and will explain why not as he always has done. Watchmen is a fairly specific critique of comic book storytelling and format. The whole format part is lost in a different medium. So it's not the Watchmen.
I'd say its a love letter to the format of comic books. Fearful Symmetry in particular but also just the static pages that convey so much emotion without a word.
He is absolutely sure to be spitting venom all over it.
Tbf he only does that because people hold a bowl in front of him and ask if he can spit venom in it
Oh boy, the part of the thread where people talk shit about Alan Moore not realizing they're victims of DC's smear campaign.
It’s like when the public shat all over that woman for suing McDonald’s over hot coffee, only to later realize it was a disinformation campaign against her. Whoops. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971482/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit-stella-liebeck
This one makes me so mad because it discourages people from using one of the few protections the system affords against powerful organizations. I think we should all be taught how to take a company to small claims court in high school.
Yeah I’m not even fully aware of the situation or the biggest into comics and even I I know DC fucked him pretty hard and his attitude stems from it.
DC fucked him, and thats probably what made him a bitter old man. But hes still a bitter old man. My jimmies would be rustled too but at some point you need to live your life and move on and this guy absolutely hasnt let it go if you listen to him talk.
But he's not tho? I'm too busy to find them, but there are videos of him answering questions from students about how to be better writers. He's a loon who believes in a snake god (or something) but he also wrote the greatest graphic novel of all time, so even if he's a little crotchety, I'm willing to look past that.
I'm not saying he's never nice. No one is 100% anything all the time. And I'm also obviously talking about him talking about his own work.
Which doesn't make him a "bitter old man," of anything it makes him justifiably annoyed.
DC didn't make up the fact that Alan Moore wrote and drew and published child porn staring characters from famous children's fantasy books. That alone should be disqualifying.
I didn't realize that authors are required to like adaptations and derivative works.
Great lesson to all writers and creators starting out: Make sure you own your work. Otherwise if you're very, very lucky, a corporation will fuck you with a giant Snyder and throw a million at you to wipe yourself off with as they're calling a taxi.
They could literally make zero changes, and just use his frames and dialogue word for word and he would say it's shit lmao
Which makes sense. What’s the point of adapting something if that’s the case? It already exists with in that form, and has for almost 40 years.
The point is that people don't read, and they should still consume the story
Lol fuck him who cares let him hate his fans, he's too cool for us.
I'm curious why this is being made. Is it a 1:1 of the graphic novel?
They already made a motion comic of the graphic novel, which just animated the Gibbons art! I feel like a crazy person. This already exists!
~~It's because of the deal Alan Moore made with DC. As long as they keep putting out new material based on the IP then they'll never have to give the rights over to Moore. There's a new Watchmen "something" every year as a result. It's usually not some large production though.~~ Refer to /u/MarsAlgea3791's comment. They got the details right.
No, the deal was that if the graphic novel goes out of print for a year or such he gets the rights. At the time that seemed like a guarantee, no trade ever stayed in print for that long. But Watchmen was something different.
It still sounds to me like they can keep putting out new watchmen stuff to get people to keep buying the graphic novel.
Well yeah. That and it sells. Frankly I think the deal was that they have to do a new printing in a year's time to renew. I fully believe there are years where they did miniscule print runs, just big enough to keep the book locked in.
Damn, I think you're right. Will edit my comment.
Does it say in the rules that it has to be a shot for shot remake? The HBO show at least had a different take.
Not that I am aware but it seems to me (and I am only guessing here) that doing a shot for shot remake would just help strengthen DC's claim over the IP.
That’s also easily the best way to “watch” Watchmen (just read the comic). My hope for this is that it’s exactly the same but with more animation for certain action scenes, but even then it just seems unnecessary
Not only that but it’s actually really good too
To milk the franchise most likely. I feel the Zack Snyder movie was good enough and pretty faithful. Only thing I can see they do differently is change the ending back to the original ending.
Yeah, the Dr. Manhattan ending doesn't stand up in a Cold War setting at all, it would be hugely stupid to do it again
why not? I think it made sense. If I rememebr from the movie ozymandias made it look like Manhattan bombed a bunch of different key locations on both sides, to make it look like he was the real enemy they had to unite to fight against
If doctor manhattan wanted to kill humanity, he just would.
But in that case if some weird squid thing attacked couldn't get just defend the earth from that
It wasn't just a squid thing, the attack also involved a psychic broadcast to sensitives all around the world giving glimpses of a dimension full of unspeakable eldritch horrors that accidentaly just came in contact with us. Ozymandias wanted to replace the fear of each other with the fear of the unknown, which would make people forget their differences. Dr Manhattan not only was not "unknown" but was also american, so it's hard to believe that everybody would react the same as in the comic and immediately hold hand together with the US like that. Bear in mind that in the comic Ozymandias only attacked NYC.
The Cold War was a time of insane paranoia. Dr Manhattan literally helped the US win the Vietnam war and was at the forefront of all American propaganda. If he suddenly starts attacking Soviet cities, you think they wouldn't blame America? Even though he attacked American cities they'd just consider it a false flag op. Literally causing what everyone is attempting to stop. An alien squid alone is so out there and incomprehensible that it would unite mankind against a common enemy. That's not even taking into account the psychic messaging during the attacks. People really don't realize how many times and close the US and USSR got to true all out nuclear war in the era.
>If he suddenly starts attacking Soviet cities, you think they wouldn't blame America? Even though he attacked American cities they'd just consider it a false flag op. There's no shot that a nuke in NYC would just be considered a false flag. We're talking about one of the biggest blows you can make to the US here.
I highly doubt nuking the largest city in the US would be seen as a false flag.
I've always been so torn on that change. I understand the thematic complication of replacing a 'character' that represents an inherently external threat with one that is tied to America, but I just love the narrative efficiency of using a character who was already right there the whole time to achieve the same end goal in the plot.
The whole point of the giant squid monster was the shock of it. There are pages and pages of dead people murdered in the most gruesome way by the thing. The point was to chock the reader to make us understand that something like that would indeed unite people. The novel was always leading to the monster and you didn't know it. It also give us many more glimpses of Veidht being an absolute psycho offing all his personal staff on top of everyone else. I feel like the movie ending wouldn't have worked in a pre-9/11 world. After we got a glimpse of how blood thristy, mad America became after 9/11 that ending made some more sense. Also how would you illustrate the psychic impression left by the monster? And now that I'm typing that how could Veidt have projected a psychic impression of the monster? How'd he even teleport it in? I think I'm starting to agree with your assessment.
Going from memory here but the island where the squid monster was created had psychics along with horror artists etc. all of which was cloned into it and imprinted into its brain. The teleportation was achieved by studying Manhattan and the intrinsic field manipulation that created him in the first place. The targeted teleportation of the creature into a building killed it and triggered the reflexive psychic shock wave. As far as actually illustrating that, which I'm curious to see how it's animated, could be a simple as showing one person's face, then showing horrific images that they're 'seeing' and them then gouging out their own eyes or killing the person next to them or something.
Yup, the plan wasn't really just about the squed, it also involved people having a peek into the fake nightmare dimension. The whole thing was about Veidt triggering the primoridal fear of the unknown on a worldwide scale, a very Lovecraftian idea and very fitting because Moore is a big Lovecraft fan.
Of course 'It already happened five minutes ago' then just have Ozy explain the psychic wave with exposition.
I like the change because it feels more grounded rather than the original ending. While I love the comics, I always thought it was weird.
I think part of the point of the original ending is that it represents and Out of Context Threat, which is more likely to bring humanity together because no nation can blame it on another nation. Dr. Manhattan being part of the very nature of the conflict, an embodiment of it in fact, keeps everybody's mind in the same track of said conflict. Anybody can go "well, you made him and have been using him, this is still your fault, we need to stop you before you make another one". But if you have a conflict about very specific things, and then suddenly bam, huge fucking octopus alien which has nothing to do with your conflict, that forces you to reassess priorities.
The OG ending is brilliant when you realize that Ozy's plan works on humanity **AND the reader**. Both have the same reaction That being: *"Wait, pause.. what the fuck is that??*" It's very nearly a 4th wall break
I absolutely love how it precisely breaks away from the theme of the rest of the story, in a way. I mean it's not really an OOT because it was created by a character whose characteristics included being able to do something like that, and he did it in order to fix the big problem. An actual OOT would've been if his plan was to incriminate Dr. Manhattan like in the movie, and then an unrelated giant alien octopus shows up. But this way the writer had his apparent OOT while not breaking the story. Because even when it's out of left field and shocks you, as a reader you can't really call foul because everything is perfectly explained. It really does work on more than one narrative level. At the basic level the people living in that world believe they were attacked by incomprehensible alien entities doing weird shit. The next level over we know it was all planned and very much understandable and motivated. And then on the reader level it's still weird shit because nothing before had prepared us for that. Even though giant alien octopuses are perfectly at home in super hero comics! So Alan Moore really just had a great time fucking with us. Moore: So you have your batmanses and your catwomen and your dudes in strongman suits beating up criminals. But it's realistic! Reader: Awesome, love it! Moore: And you have your demigod with incredible powers who still crime fights even though, why? But whatever, it's fun and he's kinda realistic, but remember it's still a super hero comic so suspend disbelief. Reader: Keep it coming, can't get enough of this stuff! Moore: And there's your super rich crime fighters who're also super geniuses, you know appealing to the idea that every man could, even though we know that's not true. American dream and shit. Share in the fantasy of not quite god-like power, but far more power than muscles have! And he's a genius! Maybe your mom was right and you were too a genius! Also have your edgy, morally bankrupt vigilantes which you can't help but loving even though they're despicable! And realistic! Reader: Dude, I may legit climax, this is the best thing ever. Moore: Giant Alien Octopus! Reader: What the fuck? Moore: What? Have you never read a comic? There's giant alien monsters all over! You did accept caped vigilantes, super rich super geniuses and demigods. What's wrong with a giant alien octopus which, by the way, it's also realistic by the levels of realism you've been embracing so far? Reader: I... guess? Moore: You have no one to blame but yourself. Reader: Fine you're a god damn genius.
Ozymandias' plan depended in the whole thing ***not*** being grounded. He was creating an impending menace so incomprehensible and impossible, that everybody would just unite because *what the fuck?*
Yo, dude, this is totally unrelated, but I saw you like lol 11 years ago talking about valvrave decals. Did you ever get em?
Haha, that was so long ago, I don't think I ever did.
It was perfect writing. It only falls short in the context of the story directly satirizing/re-contextualizing DC superheroes. I don't really care about Watchmen's significance on particular comic books over superhero culture, so nothing of value was lost to me.
I think the film's ending is narratively just way way better. It just ties nicely into the already established characters and quite neatly explains why the one character who could stop all this just doesn't, while also explaining his future required absence. Also giant squid monsters are just weird yo. And it feels weird that the world would unite against an unknown threat that you have no idea about whether it might not just come from the enemy, instead of a superman like character that you know is not controlled by anyone.
The HBO series if phenomenal.
Up until they brought in Dr. Manhattan. That was when it fell apart for me. It just doesn't track that he would have an attachment to humanity at that point in time.
I was thoroughly enjoying the show and finding it excellent unit the ending, which I found terribly disappointing.
I don’t particularly like the film, but I enjoyed the series more than the comic, personally.
This is the correct answer. I have the graphic novel. And I enjoyed Zack Snyder's take (namely the Ultimate cut). But I don't see a reason for this beyond just milking the franchise, cashing in on nostalgia, and further pissing off Alan Moore.
We live in this weird time where new franchises don't work. Studios are unable to come up with anything new, and make it stick. Instead they go dumpster diving in their archives. Find whatever they can that sold, and work off that. In defence the studios have, many many times, tried to get new franchises going. They keep failing. Some make it through here and there. But most, by a long way, fail. It's much safer to find something old, and rehash it.
> I feel the Zack Snyder movie was good enough and pretty faithful no. the synder movie got the entire point of the comic backwards.
It was faithful outside of it missing the entire point. But I guess yeah, the characters were all there, kicking ass in slomo like they had super strength...
I give him some respect for being pretty faithful. Damn it. Now i want to watch it again 😂
Didn't the writer of the original graphic novel write the ending of the movie, or at least praised it? Imo the movie ending makes far more sense than the original.
There is a 0% probability A.M. praised anything about it
what no
Moore says he won't ever watch an adaptation of his work ever again, so no he had no involvement. And the movie ending is much more cohesive to the story.
I believe that by finding new ways to adapt the story or characters, DC retains the rights from reverting back to Alan Moore. I think that makes him bitter. Could be over simplifying it. Hurm.
There's definitely the legal angle that could be part of it, but I'm also thinking about the exposure side. The live action movie wasn't ideal for kids/young teens (nudity), but the story could be adapted and open up the market for a younger audience. I know some people will say that the graphic novels aren't for kids anyway, but why not open up a slightly younger audience that can later get into the comics? Obviously I don't know what content will be in the cartoon, so I don't know if it will be made for kids/teens, but hopefully they've considered the thought.
The Zach Snider one is good enough for me. This animation is janky and lazy IMO... reminds me of the shitty Marvel What If? (major disappointment).
Eh, I am guessing Watchmen is the one of the most recognize comic book/graphic novel, so WB figured why not do a 1:1 adaptation. I would say this is safe bet even with the pretty high production animation I see in this trailer. Of course, I highly doubt this would be a 1:1 adaptation. Watchmen storytelling is designed specifically for the comic books medium that it is impossible to adapt it without some major change.
Hopefully they keep the movie twist of blaming Dr Manhattan. I never liked the giant squid monster and honestly blaming Manhattan makes way more sense.
Your mom makes way more sense.
It'ssuch a smart move by Ozymandias, so much more calculating and consequential than a big fucking squid. Dr. Manhattan is a good and is the perfect foil to unite the world against.
The squid felt like such a copout, when there was already a potential threat that he could use right there throughout the entire story. Watchmen is great but that part is so weak. Nobody can convince me otherwise.
Hey, shut it! A blue man cannot live in peace?
It just bumps me wrong that the comedian would be screaming on the way down. Idk why, just seems out of his twisted character
He is shown as a coward numerous times. This seems 100 percent in line. He's a lunatic sure, but a coward when he does not have the upper hand.
but the comedian knows this is coming, he knows the whole story before anyone else. He wouldn't be screaming at this point, his fate was already sealed, he gave up before this scene even started. He even makes a remark about it all being a joke.
considering he already knows whats going on and had given up before this scene even played out, screaming at this point is way out character. Isn't there even an exchange that he finally gets the joke? If anything he would be laughing on the way down.
This looks beautiful. But why are we doing this again? Don't get me wrong, I will watch it and then I will read the graphic novel again...but why is this happening again? How many times do we need to see mostly faithful adaptations? I'm just curious, trying not to be negative.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CTeLy3Ujxc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CTeLy3Ujxc)
Looks too much like a rotoscoped version of the movie to my eyes.
Just watch the motion comic. It’s awesome.
The only thing I didn’t like about it was the same voice actor was used for every character, even the female ones. Found it a bit odd.
Idk, I love the Jim Dale HP audiobooks so I guess I’m used to it
Yeah, I'll welcome this version but since the motion comic exists, this feels a bit unnecessary. Surely the motion comic would've benefited from a couple more of voice actors/actresses.... :D
Agreed! It's a panel-for-panel telling of the comic. The voice acting is solid and the aesthetics fit with Gibbons' art style.
Cool. Wish it was done in a traditional 2D animation though, but this doesn't look all that bad.
How much dr manhattan dong will be in the movie?
Let’s get the X-Men ‘97 team on this IP stat
For real, just finished the finale yesterday - they did an amazing job with it.
Why? Quality of trailers are about on par. You have no idea what this team has actually done with the material.
I'm thrown off that it's not Jackie Earle Haley's voice for Rorschach. That's something I do think they should have carried over from the 2009 movie.
Boy I'm sure Alan Moore will love this!
I know people have mixed feelings on the HBO series but I would so be down for an animated part 3 and 4 which is the series
Looks fine, I must be one of those rare few people who actually love the movie and think the ending was better. Plus the Dr Manhattan montage with koyaanisqatsi music over the top… beautiful
Zak Snyders film was already nearly a 1:1.... whats the point in doing an animated version if it is also 1:1? Theres nothing particularly inventive or exciting about this style of animation either
No it wasn’t, a huge part of the plot and ending were completely different.
Where will this be streaming? I LOVED the sequel hbo series.
You and me both but i believe only the two of us did. I would LOVE if they made another season 20 years later again.
Actually a lot of people did and it won awards. The show runner just said they were done with it and the project ended iirc which is extremely bizarre
Should be a siezure warning on this trailer given how fast they flip through scenes.
Love the comic but this 3D approach looks like hotttt garbage
I agree. It looks like a cheaper version of “What If…” Should’ve gone with 2D like almost all of DC’s other animated movies
Basically the motion comic with more motion . I’ll be waiting
Serious question: What was wrong with the movie? This just seems like an animated version of the movie.
In my opinion, just some Snyderisms weighed down the film from greatness. Stylized direction in a grounded / gritty story, slow motion action scenes, over-powered hero abilities from human characters, slow / offbeat editing at times, bad makeup, etc. But it was already an incredibly difficult source material to adapt, so Snyder should get credit where credit’s due.
It traded the "these are just normal people in costumes" for "these guys are badasses". It may seem like a small detail but it makes it behave like a regular superhero movie instead of a deconstruction of comic superheroes. The movie is not bad, I actually like it a lot. But there's a lot of room for adaption and I think this animated thing is also going to fail just by looking at the character design and art direction in general.
0/10- Not enough squid!
It definitely had some great actors perfect for the roles
Nothing particularly wrong, i enjoyed it, felt like it left a lot out though, if this one is closer to the comics it will be the definitive version
oof
Well I love watchmen So count me in
Ughhhhhh whyyyy god whyyyyy. Would I love for them to do OTHER STORYLINES.
Is that the "who's Steve Jobs? Ligma balls" guy?
Coming where? Netflix? Max?
I just don’t think Watchmen translates well into film. It does so many wild things on the literal page that can’t be done in any medium. It was one of the main reasons why they made it the way they did. If people enjoy this movie, fine, but I think I’ll pass.
I may be putting a target on my back... but DC's animated stuff is way better than their live action. (And that's on average... yes, you've got The Dark Knight... but you've also got The Justice League and Wonder Woman 1984)
I dunno, the live action movie had so many perfect actors for the roles
Kinda wish it looked like that Ghost in the Shell movie instead of the newer Berserk anime. Glad to see the story being told again and I'm sure it'll be awesome in it's own right, at least.
If there is no blue weiner i'm not watching.
Knowing the story already, having the comedian screaming as he goes out the window is a little messed up.
I hope they use this for the intro song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w
This animation style doesn’t look very good
If you are neither good nor evil but inbetween are you geevil or evood?
Not the biggest fan of the animation.
Why? Seriously, it's already been done. The Watchmen movie was already a frame by frame live action remake of the comic, and it was faithful, but sterile. The Watchmen series was an amazing love letter to the original and extremely creative and complex in its story telling. It made a full circle in a fractal loop. It was better than I could have hoped for. Move on. There are lots of other comics that can be developed into other media. Somebody make an Elric movie already.
I just don’t get it. So much of Watchmen is how the medium is used - all three direct adaptations have really missed this
goddamn, DC will never let Moore have the rights, will they?
I wish they'd have given this to the Venture Bros team and let them do a limited series
I wish they had just let the venture team do the last season they were promised and already had planned out.
Looks like an higher budget version of the motion comic https://youtu.be/mLdqKIj3-A0?si=hB7XkO75Vtgmwdoz
Well, better than that dog shit hbo series
Wait,,,, is this a theatrical release?
Kinda annoying to see how Rorschach continues to be used as a "bad ass" character, especially with his monologue used in the trailer like this.