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Who'll watch the Watchmen series?

Started by Glebe, June 24, 2017, 08:33:19 AM

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kidsick5000

Have they said which Watchmen this follows? The film or the comic? What was the disaster that 'saved' the world?

Mister Six

I don't think they've said, but I would assume the comic.

Although they could gloss over it, I suppose, if they're careful about how they discuss the event, and people's views of Dr Manhattan.

mothman

Just think, a whole new generation gets to say "Hur hur, you can totally see the blue dude's penis."

mjwilson

Comic, there are squid mentions in the trailer.

Zetetic

"...set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws"

Um.

Ferris

I loved the Watchmen graphic novel - how absolutely devastated will I be by this?

Mister Six

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on July 21, 2019, 09:58:46 PM
I loved the Watchmen graphic novel - how absolutely devastated will I be by this?

If you're willing to accept someone who isn't Moore doing a sequel, then probably not very. The showrunner is Damon Lindelof, whose work on The Leftovers - another adaptation from a book, albeit a prose novel - was exemplary. I didn't think a follow-up to Watchmen could have any value at all, but I'm seriously reassessing that now.

Dropshadow

If they don't bring Rorschach back from the dead, I'm not really interested. His bits in the film are my favourite. I could watch him beating the shite out of people all day.

mothman

Quote from: Mister Six on July 21, 2019, 10:08:58 PM
I didn't think a follow-up to Watchmen could have any value at all, but I'm seriously reassessing that now.

You could debate it endlessly. If you think that Moore's work in general, or Watchmen in particular, is sacrosanct in some way and can or should never be extrapolated on by another, then you're probably gonna hate this however good or bad bit turns out to be. But the thing about comics universes is they don't belong to any one person. Moore himself worked with others' material.

Or if you view Watchmen as a variant fictional world created to explore certain themes - power, responsibility, what have you - then you might feel it's all done with and this doesn't need to exist.

The counterpoint to that though is that the characters created, the world laid out, the situations portrayed and their likely ramifications, are arguably worth exploring. "Nothing is ever over" says Dr. Manhattan before he leaves. What happens if Rorschach's journal is read and believed, by some or many? And what happens if it isn't? Can Veidt's brave new world truly thrive when it is built on a lie? He attempted to subvert and derail the antagonistic nature of humanity by fabricating an Outside Context Problem; but there's a tide in the affairs of men, what happens when the aliens don't come, or Dr. M. doesn't return (depending on which version they're basing it on)?

Mister Six

I don't think Moore's work is sacrosanct and I don't think (as tacky as DC's Doomsday Clock is) that writing more Watchmen stories devalues the original at all. I just view Watchmen as being a self-contained story that set out to do certain things and did them, and that there isn't much to contribute to that story or world, or anywhere to take those characters that isn't basically pointless. The lady-or-the-tiger ending is deliberately ambiguous, so collapsing the waveform and saying that, yes, Rorschach's diary was published kind of misses the point a bit.

But what Lindelof is doing here - looking at that world 20 years on, and using it as an opportunity to explore problems that are prominent and relevant today, such as police violence, the growing extreme partisan divide in American politics etc - actually looks worthwhile.

Mister Six

Just glanced through the Watchmen trailer to see how much worldbuilding is in there - pleased to note the electric cars are present. Also at 1:19 the poster in the background says that Robert Redford is currently president of the USA.

Ferris

Quote from: Mister Six on July 21, 2019, 10:08:58 PM
If you're willing to accept someone who isn't Moore doing a sequel, then probably not very. The showrunner is Damon Lindelof, whose work on The Leftovers - another adaptation from a book, albeit a prose novel - was exemplary. I didn't think a follow-up to Watchmen could have any value at all, but I'm seriously reassessing that now.

Hmm, alrighty then!

chveik

still really looking forward to it. there seems to have a bit much action for my taste though.

Puce Moment

Yeah, does seem actiony but I always assumed that they would simply string the whole shit out for a number of seasons, or end the first season at the end of the last comic (like The Handmaid's Take, Big Little Lies, and of course The Leftovers etc). However, this does look like it extends out way beyond the comics. I will watch it - but then I get quite exhilerated by rampant infidelity in adaptations.

mothman

Quote from: chveik on July 22, 2019, 10:22:48 AM
still really looking forward to it. there seems to have a bit much action for my taste though.

Well, it is a trailer...

(and, I wasn't explicitly counterpointing anything Mr. 6 said, just using it as the jumping-off point hit my own nonsense ramblings...)

mjwilson

Quote from: Mister Six on July 22, 2019, 04:14:15 AM
Just glanced through the Watchmen trailer to see how much worldbuilding is in there - pleased to note the electric cars are present. Also at 1:19 the poster in the background says that Robert Redford is currently president of the USA.

"American Hero Story" is my favourite.

Quote from: Puce Moment on July 22, 2019, 12:32:40 PM
Yeah, does seem actiony but I always assumed that they would simply string the whole shit out for a number of seasons, or end the first season at the end of the last comic (like The Handmaid's Take, Big Little Lies, and of course The Leftovers etc). However, this does look like it extends out way beyond the comics. I will watch it - but then I get quite exhilerated by rampant infidelity in adaptations.

I get the impression it's starting after the end of the comics.

Mister Six

Yeah, looks like it's set in the present day (or some time in the last few years) but in the comic's universe. Which is about the best possible way to tackle it, I think.

kngen

The bloke at the start with the mask pulled half up audibly gulping beans from a can might be the oddest bit of fan service I've ever come across.



Unless all the Rorschach devotees eat like that in tribute to their hero (but how would they know?).


Mister Six


kngen

Quote from: Mister Six on July 23, 2019, 05:12:11 PM
Maybe they read the comic.

So in the Watchmen world, the Watchmen is also a comic after the Watchmen comic ends?

Mister Six

Yes. And there's a HBO show that occurs concurrently with the events of the show. And, in real life, a camera spying on each viewer.

(Nah, I was just being whimsical.)

phantom_power

That looks pretty great, and definitely more Leftovers Lindelof than Prometheus Lindelof.

Glebe


Ja'moke

I've seen the first two episodes... it's pretty damn good. Not your typical superhero guff, which is a good thing for me, as I'm burnt out on superheroes.

chveik


kitsofan34

To my absolute lack of surprise, Damon Lindelof has once again knocked it out the park. The sheer discrepancy between his film work and (bar series 6 of Lost) his tv work is insane. When it comes to television the man can do no wrong for me.

It was never in doubt.

Trent Reznor and Atticus ross' score was great too.

Head Gardener



Mister Six

It's a completely different thing, so not really comparable.

Watched the pilot and was thoroughly impressed. Amazingly confident storytelling, mostly new characters and situations but still accessible, some gorgeous visual flourishes and the potential to really expand and broach all kinds of present-day issues. I do sort of wish it would stop aping the visual language and structure of the comics (as much as I liked the smiley eggs) but that's my only real complaint.

I was already confident, being a fan of The Leftovers, but now my expectations for the rest of the season are through the roof.

Ja'moke

I'm recapping the series at TV Insider, if anyone is interested: https://www.tvinsider.com/823618/watchmen-season-1-premiere-recap-its-summer-and-were-running-out-of-ice/

I've really enjoyed what I've seen so far, and I'd say it gets better as it goes on.