Topic: Who'll watch the Watchmen series?

[Glebe]

'Watchmen' TV Series From Damon Lindelof in the Works at HBO.

I'm sure Alan Moore will be setting his DVR for this... anyway, what do you reckon? The movie was quite faithful to the source material in many ways, but also quite corny and leaden.

[samadriel]

Lindelof is shit, so my hopes are pretty much dashed. People say The Leftovers is good, but I'm suspicious.

[hermitical]

yes and with Damon Lindelof involved I am even 'Moore' excited. Especially as Lindelof is a huge fan of Watchmen

http://www.cbr.com/re-reading-watchmen-with-lost-co-creator-damon-lindelof/

[Catalogue Trousers]

It all strikes me as rather pointless. You can't really do a sequel to Watchmen, and the prequels that DC put out didn't exactly go down a storm even with the less discerning fans. You could maybe get a decent mini-series out of 'what the Watchmen did before Watchmen', maybe giving more air-time and love to the Minutemen, but that's about all. The simple truth is that the Watchmen universe really isn't very ripe for expansion.

[kittens]

leftovers is best tv i ever seen. so will watch this

[Ja'moke]

Lindelof is shit, so my hopes are pretty much dashed. People say The Leftovers is good, but I'm suspicious.

The Leftovers is fucking fantastic. Especially Season 2 and 3.

[spock rogers]

Didn't Terry Gilliam want to do Watchmen as a miniseries? Someone get him on the blower asap.

[Glebe]

Didn't Terry Gilliam want to do Watchmen as a miniseries? Someone get him on the blower asap.

Never heard that he wanted to do it as a series, but he was working on a movie at one point (I believe Michael Palin gives mention in his diaries to popping in to Gilliam's one day and chatting about it)... Alan Moore himself apparently talked him out of it. Paul Greengrass had a shot too, before Zack Snyder finally made it a reality.

[KennyMonster]

Snyders film was too faithful that it came out a bit bland and yet at the same time seemed to miss a lot of the feeling of the original story, things taken at face value etc.

Plus needless slowed down action sequences which seemed a bit gratuitous.

If I was adapting it I'd make it a TV mini series instead of a movie so I could include the interviews, Tales From The Black Freighter as well as the main story.

I also don't know why people seem to insist on it having to be 'real action' as if it in some way validates the adaptation, I've always imagined an animation in the style of Akira would work best.

Having said that I have know idea how to make TV programmes or Movies or what sells, usually the stuff really I like is not enjoyed by the mainstream so what do I know.

Also HBO stuff tends to go straight onto Sky Atlantic so I won't be watching it on there so why are you even listening to me?   

[Mister Six]

Snyder's Watchmen movie was a total load of point-missing shit but I still think it's probably rendered this redundant if they're planning to do a straight-up adaptation, as good as (say) a 12-episode, faithful miniseries sounds on paper.

Plus, much of what made Watchmen work was that it did things that you can only do in comics. So a straight adaptation in any medium is going to be a bit pointless.

Similarly, though, I wouldn't want to see the comic adapted then padded out with extra guff to warrant multiple seasons. I don't want a bunch of 1960s/70s scenes added just so they can fill out a three-season order.

I think the best play would be to take characters, atmosphere and basic plot mechanics and update them so it's set in an alternative modern day rather than an alternative 1986 (or whenever).

Nobody's scared of nukes outside of North Korean craziness; nobody's scared of a US/Russia conflict outside of people caught up in their Syrian proxy war. There is a sense of grim foreboding and existential fear but that comes more from Global Warming, divisive politics, the rise of terrorism, the moron in the White House and the general feeling that post-WWII developments are collapsing.

So have Dr Manhattan be formed in the 1960s, make his triumph in Vietnam into a triumph in the Cold War, and update Ozymandias's sinister plot to make it about curbing Global Warming complacency and splintered humanity rather than stopping the bombs falling. Bosh! Sorted. (Respect due.)

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

One of the oddest things about Snyders version was that, for remaining so slavishly faithful to much of it - at least cosmetically - he seemed to be labouring under the impression that they were all Superheroes, when the majority were just pillocks who dressed up.

[Nobody Soup]

here's me being a bit of a dick, and this is potentially a rubbish opinion but ok.

watchmen has dated pretty badly and is kinda over-rated. when it came out it was great, but only because it took the comic industry and subverted the hell out of the perception of superheroes in comics and the whole comic form. as an actual story about some characters it's a bit meh, rorscharch is the only really interesting one among them, the rest are bozos. and the whole idea of the threat being some outside foreign power just seems so 80s now. it gave the comic book industry a kick at the time but it responded to that kick and has since taken those experiments and concepts and done them better.

as an aside, I'm still annoyed the smartest man in the world used his public obsession as his password.

[Glebe]

So this has started filming...

[Shaky]

here's me being a bit of a dick, and this is potentially a rubbish opinion but ok.

watchmen has dated pretty badly and is kinda over-rated. when it came out it was great, but only because it took the comic industry and subverted the hell out of the perception of superheroes in comics and the whole comic form. as an actual story about some characters it's a bit meh, rorscharch is the only really interesting one among them, the rest are bozos. and the whole idea of the threat being some outside foreign power just seems so 80s now. it gave the comic book industry a kick at the time but it responded to that kick and has since taken those experiments and concepts and done them better.

You're right in that it's very much of it's time - even Snyder realised that, although it was also an excuse for him to go all nostalgia-porn with the movie. I still think the graphic novel stands up though in terms of general themes, though, even if in places the execution and grim-dark characterisation has been copied to death now.

But yeah.. there's literally nothing more to mine out of it. Leave it as a period piece worth revisiting from time to time.

[mothman]

Making out Dr. Manhattan to be the threat does make some kind of thematic sense, but I still can't get over the feeling that it was done more to be not so jarring to modern audiences, who, used to the idea of DNA analysis, would scoff at the notion of an "alien" created by genetically engineering a dead psychic's brain.

[Gulftastic]

I remember back in the day, (i.e. the 80's) when talk of a movie first surfaced. I remember one of the fan magazines doing a list of things they thought might happen, with a rating of one to five of how likely they were to happen. One of them was 'Chances that they might improve on the ending', and that was given a 50/50 chance.

[kidsick5000]

Making out Dr. Manhattan to be the threat does make some kind of thematic sense, but I still can't get over the feeling that it was done more to be not so jarring to modern audiences, who, used to the idea of DNA analysis, would scoff at the notion of an "alien" created by genetically engineering a dead psychic's brain.

The Doc Manhattan ending is better than the comic books. Makes much more sense. Adds to the notion that Ozymandias has a failing in that he is vain and jealous/bitter that an accident gave Doc much greater power and that he has had to (and must continue to) work extremely hard to stay at a peak that age will eventually rob from him.

Unless they can find a different light for it, it could be that it's the wrong time to adapt it. The Superhero realm is still pushing to optimism and away from "grim and gritty".

[Urinal Cake]

Moore's ending thematically made more sense. Ozymandias smartest man in the world puts all his effort into a theory of a 14 year old boy that the world would stop fighting and finally come together to defeat a greater threat from outer space. Which of course works temporarily. The idea you had creatives providing the inspiration for the scientists was tongue cv in cheek.
By changing it to Manhattan the irony is lost though you can add some personal animosity between Ozy and Dr M which makes the ending more reasonable to movie goers.

[kidsick5000]

the ending more reasonable to movie goers.

For me it moves in waves. I'm now of the opinion that the mind monster was a big multi-colour blowout necessitated by the nature of comics, just as much as the Doc Manhattan was needed for the cinema.
But I do prefer the Manhattan villain.
That growing sense of paranoia over him, build to a crescendo.

Is Ozymandias in the vein of some iterations of Lex Luthor? He has a distrust of superpowers because he wants mankind to not get lazy and just expect Superman/Doc Manhattan to save the day every time?


Okay, something has just struck me in the brains. I'm going to have an argument with myself.

[Urinal Cake]

I think Ozy believes that everybody has a duty to be their best and help humanity so Dr M having the powers of a god and fucking off to Mars would be annoying.

[mothman]

But, while he couldn't have predicted Dr. M. would fuck off to Mars, the whole cancer plot was to marginalise and isolate him and drive him away so he wouldn't interfere. M's contributions to mankind at that point had been overall positive. Ish.

With that in consideration the movie ending does make more sense. He could have returned at any time and stopped it, or revealed the truth (despite ultimately agreeing with O's motives). Making him appear to be responsible forestalls that.

[Glebe]

SCOOP: Channel 4 Developing A 'V For Vendetta' TV Series.

Fucksake. If they do decide to go ahead with it, hopefully it'll be close to the source material than the movie.

[Urinal Cake]

But, while he couldn't have predicted Dr. M. would fuck off to Mars, the whole cancer plot was to marginalise and isolate him and drive him away so he wouldn't interfere. M's contributions to mankind at that point had been overall positive. Ish.

With that in consideration the movie ending does make more sense. He could have returned at any time and stopped it, or revealed the truth (despite ultimately agreeing with O's motives). Making him appear to be responsible forestalls that.

A bit late but that was Plan A, he also had Plan B which was to disintegrate him again in case M decided to become a hero again.

[mothman]

And that was even more blatantly stupid. Dr. M. even says so - why would anyone think that killing him using a method he’d recovered from previously was on a hiding to nothing.

[MojoJojo]

Well, yes - I never really thought that was Plan B, it was just a delaying tactic till he could show off his new world order.

[Glebe]

'Watchmen' Enlists 'The Leftovers' Favorite to Direct Pilot.

That is all.

[Mister Six]

Having finally seen The Leftovers, I actually have some hope this could be a good show. Even excellent. Fingers crossed they diverge from the source material though.

[Famous Mortimer]

If they're going to diverge, update, whatever, why not just do something different? At that point, it just becomes a name, a few characters and a vague sense of mood you're borrowing. And every article about it will reference the not-great film, the fact the creator wants nothing to do with it, etc. Just leave it be.

I fully admit that I love the comic, think it's worth every bit of praise it's ever received and was cock-a-hoop with excitement when I first heard about the film. Heck, I still think there were some great bits to it, some amazing casting (although it feels like it had two casting directors, one of whom was a genius, one of whom was an idiot); but so much of it is tied up in its medium that it feels sort of pointless adapting it for another one. It's like doing an exactly faithful version of "If On A Winter's Night A Traveller".

If you're desperate to adapt another comic, how about "Invincible"? Or "Incorruptible" and "Irredeemable", running side by side?

[Dr Rock]

I would watch more Rorschach saying Rorschach things and doing Rorschach stuff.

[Dr Rock]

Ultimately Rorschach is the only one who is right, as he is the only one capable of thinking things are right or wrong.