[MB] Who watched the Watchmen?

[Stray Taoist]

Greetings,
A little off topic, but I'll ask it anyway: Did anybody over there in England go to the Watchmen premiere?

I saw it was on, was invited (media connections, dahling) but alas had other
things on.

What did you think? How was it, especially compared to the graphic novel?

Well, I will go see it next week, first time in front of moving images in,
oh, about a year.

I am not sure why they changed the ending, indeed, it negates most of the
philosophical counterpoints therein (I won't mention what it is, as that is
probably spoiler enough.)

My favorite Alan Moore adaptation thus far has been From Hell, and I liked V for Vendetta despite the poor reviews. I'm really hoping that the Watchmen gets the treatment it deserves and the Dr. Manhattan doesn't break into song wearing a blond wig...

From Hell was good, V was fine, too.

;-)
Happy Mardi Gras!

I have always wanted to go to New Orleans ever since reading the 'Confederacy
of Dunces', oh, and the Gambit mini series from years ago...

m.

[Alex Frazer-Harrison]

Hi Diane and all

Being in Canada I have to wait another week before I get to see it, however
I wanted to mention that there are two very cool tie-in DVD releases coming
out in the next few weeks connected to Watchmen. (Whether they're available
in the UK or Europe is another question). What follows might be considered a
bit of a spoiler, but not much of one.

Due to the necessities of doing a film that was less than 3 hours (as it is
it's apparently 2 1/2 hours long), the story-within-a-story, the Black
Freighter, is being released on DVD on March 24 as a separate animated
feature starring Gerard Butler (but made by the same people doing the
movie). Also included is a spin-off short film called Under the Hood, again
expanding on material from the graphic novel:

http://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Tales-Black-Freighter-Under/dp/B001QTWC0K

And on March 3, Warners is doing something that I think is really
interesting: it is releasing the DVD "Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic"
which is an animated adaptation of the complete original graphic novel,
running some 5 1/2 hours.

http://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Complete-Motion-Tom-Stechschulte/dp/B001QFYLJ
Y/

Which means even if the live-action movie turns people off, there will be
some format that will appeal to die-hards.

Reportedly the DVD release of the movie itself might be a directors cut
incorporating Black Freighter and other material not in the theatrical
version. I hope it doesn't stop people from going to see it in the theatres
because it looks spectacular.

Oh, and then there are these clips that suddenly appeared on Youtube a few
weeks ago:

A news story from 1970 about Dr. Manhattan:

The public service announcement the US government issued in 1977 warning
people about superheroes:

From the VMN music video network, 1983:

And for those who are going "Huh? What?" Watchmen is a 1988 graphic novel by
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons that takes place in an alternate 1985 where the
US won the Vietnam War, Nixon is beloved and still in office, and
superheroes have fallen by the wayside (except for Dr. Manhattan). A
disbanded group of aging crimefighters reunite to find out who has been
killing retired heroes and villains. The story is much more complex than
that. Here are two trailers:

(Just don't be planning to take the kids to see this. This is not a kids
film.)

Cheers!

Alex

Greetings,
A little off topic, but I'll ask it anyway: Did anybody over there in England
go to the Watchmen premiere?
What did you think? How was it, especially compared to the graphic novel?
My favorite Alan Moore adaptation thus far has been From Hell, and I liked V
for Vendetta despite the poor reviews. I'm really hoping that the Watchmen
gets the treatment it deserves and the Dr. Manhattan doesn't break into song
wearing a blond wig...
;-)
Happy Mardi Gras!
Diane