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Watchmen Movie Trailer Is Out
I forgot to mention the other bit of exciting comic book movie news this week: DaSpudMan noted that the Watchmen trailer is out — from the Director of 300, which spawns mixed feelings at our office. But it looks pretty good.
I have fond memories of my first boyfriend reading me the Watchmen, and many scenes in the trailer looked like they were taken right from the comic panels so I should be excited--but I don't know...
The Comedian didn't look like quite like the vicious rascal I had hoped he would (but I only saw him for a few seconds so we'll see.)
Ozymandius's costume looks completely different (I miss his purple one!), and Silk Spectre's costume is pretty generic looking.
Nite Owl looks too much like Batman. (Sure they are similar characters, but very different also. I feel Nite Owl is not a very "dark" character, and making him into a 2nd rate Batman would not be doing his character justice.)
Also I thought Rorshach's voice was a more distinctive monotone. He sounds just like any random guy whispering in this.
And they didn't show any footage of the "vintage" comic book characters (i.e. the first generation Watchmen) so bummer on that.
But based on the production clips it seems like the director is really trying to be true to the story and look of the comic, so as long as they don't change the ending I don't see that it could be THAT horrible, no matter if Alan Moore has already disowned it (he disowns like ALL his movie adaptations, doesn't he?)
That said, I still wish Darren Aronofsky had taken over the directorial reigns.
Btw, is Smashing Pumpkins doing the soundtrack or is that just for the trailer?
Careful What You Wish For....
If you'd seen The Dark Knight, you'd have seen this trailer.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Looks freaking AWESOME. And Jackie Earle Haley is creepy looking enough to physically portray a great Rorschach (sp?)...
"People" using "unnecessary" quotes should be "shot".
Wish we had a mixed-feelings spawn point in our office.
This is madness!
Who watches the Watchmen trailer?
Oh, right. That would be us.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
The trailer for Watchmen got the E.T. treatment.
Just in case you were afraid that the character on screen was going to shoot you, his gun has been replaced by a walkie-talkie.
I think it's pretty nifty that the dude playing Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) is an actor that already has some pretty decent geek (well, otaku...) cred:
he voiced Ashitaka in Mononoke-Hime.
In Soviet Russia jokes are formulaic and decidedly non-humorous.
Anyone know the name of the song in the trailer? I'm almost positive it's by the pumpkins, but I've never heard the song before (and I have a lot of pumpkins :) ).
"300" had Nine inch nails in the trailer. And then nothing in the film... I was let down!
Every scene shown brings me back to it's corresponding scene in the comic. The characters look spot on. Damn is this getting my hopes up. It's going to be hard.
"You superiour intellect is no match for our puny weapons" - The Simpsons
... you don't have a lot of pumpkins.
Check that, Jingoistic gay porn...
Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
"Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
naaaah - scratch that - 300 sucked giant gobs of poo. I was thinking of Wall-E. Wall-E was cute. I don't know how I got that confused. Prediction: Watchmen will rock the noobs and tards but disappoint the steadfast.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
I saw the Trailer during the midnight showing of Batman, and though I've never read the comic, It looked amazing.
The trailer has pretty much assuaged all my fears -- and the movie is 2.5 hrs long, so I think most of the important plot will be in there. I don't even care about the "Pirate Comic". I also thought V for Vendetta and 300 were great, so to each their own. Wanted should have been aborted. I'm a lot more excited for this than I am the devastation that will be Fallout 3.
"Holy shit! A talking muffin!"
Who watches them?
tells me they don't have a lot of faith in this movie. February and March are typically dumping grounds for films that got made but nobody has confidence in.
Dog is my co-pilot.
...it's also used in "Batman & Robin", arguably the worst big budget superhero movie ever. Ironic, no?
-S
They appear to be doing something similar to what they did with Iron Man. There were many skeptics but it turned out well.
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/wildly_popular_iron_man_trailer
Heard it was the greatest thing ever from other comic book fans.
After seeing the trailer I can't only liken it to The Matrix 3. It felt like watching the end of the Matrix Trilogy.
I don't get the story. From what others have told me, it was a bit more "realistic" than other comic book stories yet I'm seeing flying blue people and other World Destroyers.
D~y
It is like nothing else out there and it's worth knowing the story before seeing the film. The comic's author is adamant that it's a different art-form and should be considered as a comic so it's worth seeing the comic first so that your first impression is of the story in its intended form. That said, I'm going to see the movie of course!
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
just my 2 cents...
Could anyone tell about Rorshach's mask? I always pictured it continually in (slow) motion, almost like a lava lamp... but it looks like the blots were unchanging. Maybe it just changes from scene to scene?
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
I haven't read the comic in a couple of years, but that trailer looked VERY good.
We will have to see whether the story holds up or not though.
Slow-Mo Spartan Storybook Time. I'm really looking forward to his interpretation of this critically-acclaimed graphic novel!
Thought the trailer looked quite good - although given how iconic the bloody smiley is, I was surprised I didn't see it there, unless I missed it.
Given the complexity and layers of the book, I don't expect it to be slavishly followed by the movie - in fact I hope it doesn't, and neither should any of the books fans as there's no way a movie could successfully manage that.
I want a good Watchmen movie, one that has the themes and idea of the book, one that always has something new to discover in it and one that entertains.
Simply copying the book would be even worse than van Sant's duplication of Psycho. I want the spirit to be kept true to, not the actual pages.
That what you saw was Meet the Spartans.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
It IS changing.
Try the HD one if you can't make it out.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
"That song" is the Smashing Pumpkins - "The end is the beginning is the End". There are countless remixes of it... and yes, it was used for the Batman and Robin soundtrack!
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
The question is... how much did they have to cut from the words?
Clearly they are trying to do a faithful adaption. I 'll see twice even if it is horrible.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
The comic won a Hugo award, and I believe it may be the only comic ever to have done so. At the least, it's one of a very elite few. In other words, definitely worth reading.
03.06.09....12?
You know... As on the clock...
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
iTunes has a Watchmen "Motion Comic" episode up and it's a freebie.
Now the bizarre thing is that the panels and text balloons are EXACTLY like the graphic novel, with some "motion" applied. It's not animated, per se, but it isn't static either. This is good, very good.
The bizarre part is that the voices...ALL THE VOICES in Chapter 1, including females, are voiced by male "actors". And it's as bad as it sounds. In fact, the terrible voice acting almost ruins this.
I decided that the opportunity to "read" the novel again...on my iPod no less...was worth the price of free.
As for the trailer...I could quibble, but won't. So far, this looks better than I thought it would. If Snyder doesn't wimp out on the ending, this could be the third part of the "superhero movies go mainstream" trifecta, with Iron Man and The Dark Knight being the first two.
We'll see......
I am my own gestalt.
When Ozymandis and Dr. Manhattan are talking at the end, Dr. Mahnattans says, "It is highly unlikily Rorshach will reach the mainland". Moments before, he obliterated him. In other words, he seemingly lied to Ozymandis. There is so much other stuff buried in that novel that I've wondered if that was another one I just haven't figured out yet.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
The trailer came on an no one knew what the heck it was, and it was dead quiet when it ended. Basically all I got from the trailer was "Glowing blue guys".
There's a scene by scene comparison of the trailer and the relevant panels from the graphic novel here. It looks remarkably similar and I'm quite hopeful that this will be a credible conversion now.
Input error. Replace user and press any key to continue.
Wasn't that last week...
When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
c. s. Lewis
... the entire point of that scene is to send up the comic book trope.
In particular: A major issue with comic heroes is the ends/means issue. Comic "heroes" regularly "fight crime" using methods that are forbidden for that purpose. Warrantless surveillance (such as Superman's hearing and vision), terroristic threats (such as Batman's whole schtick), etc.
Ozy's plan just scales up the moral quandary to a global, survival of humanity, scale, and rubs the heroes' noses in it.
Ozzy made his choice. But he isn't sure he made the right one. So he wants a sanity check from his peer group - and suitable punishment if they decide he did wrong: "... on the mercy of the court.". To keep them honest he puts them in the same position he was in. If they decide the other way they can punish him - and in the process undo what he did. If they decide the same way they're accessories after the fact. And if some decide each way the ones that side with him are left with murder of the others as the only way to maintain the achievement of the "good end".
And thus are they enlightened - about him, about each other, and about themselves. Big shock.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
The one used in the Watchmen trailer is "The Beginning is The End is The Beginning" from The Smashing Pumpkins on the Batman & Robin soundtrack.
They show Nite Owl doing a jump kick to some prisoners face. Nite Owl is supposed to be a pudgy, middle aged loser at this point in his life.
The action looks to be from the highly stylized school of superhero movie violence, which might look dated after seeing Dark Knight.
It looks like the coloring has been played with a lot, making it look more surreal. If anything, making it look like one of those 70s cop movies would fit the comic better.
This is not a "No" vote or anything. I'm going to reserve judgment on whether or not to see it after the story trailers come out. This was just some of the stuff that occurred to me while I was watching the trailer.
Of course, I could just be hyper-paranoid that they will make a crappy movie out of an outstanding comic book.
It's a live action graphic novel, gawd!
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Won't be in the theatrical movie, but will be on the DVD once it's released: Tales of the Black Freighter.
We could all wear this hat to the movie!
Also SPOILERS:
Ozzy made his choice. But he isn't sure he made the right one. So he wants a sanity check from his peer group - and suitable punishment if they decide he did wrong: "... on the mercy of the court.". To keep them honest he puts them in the same position he was in. If they decide the other way they can punish him - and in the process undo what he did. If they decide the same way they're accessories after the fact. And if some decide each way the ones that side with him are left with murder of the others as the only way to maintain the achievement of the "good end".
Not just that. They can either undo what he did, or keep quiet and effectively be accomplices. They all are now in the same boat.
Understandably, Rorschach realizes this and refuses to be complicit in Ozy's crime. He's a zero-tolerance type. Burn the world down if you must, but crime must be punished. That is why he refuses.
It's also probably why he dares Dr. Manhattan to destroy him. He knows he has to go public and that will most likely be the end of the world. Better he should die than bring about Armageddon.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/hd/
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye.
Shame, shame, shame on all of you. It is well past time to put away childish things and grow up.
Graphic novels bear the same relation to novels as stage plays/movies/TV shows bear to live storytellers.
If one form is inherently "childish" than so is the other.
Time to grow up and "put away" plays, opera, and movie theaters. Throw out that TV and those DVDs. It's all kid stuff. You're an adult now - you should be getting your live entertainment solely sitting at a campfire with somebody who can spin a good yarn.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Come on, can I get something other than cool FX shots and people striking poses?
Although I certainly didn't put 2 & 2 together enough to realize this when reading, Ozymandias gives a hint of his attitude when he repeatedly compares himself to Alexander the Great.
Alexander the Great wasn't called that because he was a great guy. He was called that because he ruled a vast piece of territory and brought prosperity to those he ruled. He achieved that rule by killing lots of people who hadn't done anything wrong other than oppose being ruled by him.
I just need enough to be interested... the current trailers giving the plot, the story, the main action sequences, and the fricken ending are a bane.
Just a little setup, teases of the special effects maybe, action, or just the main problem the lead needs to overcome are enough for me. I'd rather get the plot in the theater.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
But I unpacked most of them when I got there
I have some watchmen comics as well, but to expect that the movie will match the comic verbatim is unrealistic.
Peter Jackson worked some SERIOUS magic to get LOTR on the screen as close as he did. Give this director a chance and don't mash him because the tights on your favorite character is a shade of blue different than your comic.
D.R. and Quinch got made, but you wouldn't recognize it -- it's a film called O.C. and Stiggs, and takes place in Arizona or something. Made in the 80's I think and it's weird. Still, it's worth watching.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Doctor Manhattan kills Rorschach!
I know, heresy. But I always thought Watchmen was vastly overrated.
In its day, it may have been novel - though the groundbreakingness is overrated. But I think it's coasting on the teenage memories of a lot of people who haven't read it in 20 years.
The writing isn't that great. The stories aren't that good. The characters are not that interesting. Everything is overdone - in fact, to me it reads like high school prose. Not much subtlety to anything and quite a bit of boring violence. I have nothing against violence, but for example the rape scene is reminiscent of what a young teenage writer would think about if he was trying to write a rape scene. That is one example of many.
And God if there isn't a lot of really tedious exposition!
It's not tripe. It's just not nearly as impressive as everyone thinks.
Side note: I've noticed that the things people remember about the Watchmen are mostly the artwork - Rorschach, the Owl's craft, Doc Manhattan, etc. The art is much better than the writing...I will be nice and refrain from extending that analysis to the rest of Alan Moore's work ;-)
Advice: on VPS providers
You know, it suddenly occurs to me that Rorschach is the closest thing in Watchmen to a classic comic-book character; four colour morality, only kind of in the opposite direction. Where Superman is always good and right, Rorschach is the mirror image of that; black and white, the negative side of utter uncompromise.
And he dies for it. It's all a metaphor for the old style of comics being killed off for being utterly unable to adapt.
Or something.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
They can either undo what he did, or keep quiet and effectively be accomplices. They all are now in the same boat.
Well I don't think they really have a choice at that part; he did a series of horrible things, and got one good result. The only thing they can really undo is the good result. In their position I probably would have done the same thing.
Superman's hearing is not warrantless surveillance. You can't tell someone not to use their own freakin' senses. (the passive ones, that is)
Now, if he used his heat vision to vaporize lead-lined undies, or his hypnokisses to manipulate memories, or his super weaving to unjustly imprison someone in a "wicker" basket made of rebar, that would be a pretty unethical use of his powers.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Have you ever done that, though? 'Cause that's actually pretty awesome. At least.. I thought so when I was younger...
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
You know, it suddenly occurs to me that Rorschach is the closest thing in Watchmen to a classic comic-book character; four colour morality, only kind of in the opposite direction.
Rorschach is a Psychopath, attempting to compensate by becoming rule-bound (and doing it poorly). Moore has the personality dead-on.
(It's interesting that the inspirations for Rorschach were apparently Steve Ditko's "Mr. A" and "The Question" - attempts at Objectivist superheros. Objectivism is a philosophy that starts from pure selfishness and derives the nonaggression principle and motivation for other behavior traits that keep its adherents within the law and make them people who, while often not likable, can be gotten along with. As such it's accessible to psychopaths. Teaching Objectivism to career criminals, motivating them to adopt its behavioral ruleset as a compensation, may be the only consistently successful rehabilitation program that has ever been studied.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I fail to see why anyone besides the niche fanboy community who read this comic book will show up to pay to see this. But oh well.
I also love how this site gives you the option of posting as an "anonymous coward"--because requiring a working email is SO non-anonymous.
Whatever, jackasses. Flame away.
Exactly. Ozy is a genius and maneuvered things just that way.
Now all those millions of deaths don't rest solely on his conscience alone. He has co-conspirators. It validates what he's done.
He did have doubts. Recall his final conversation with Dr. Manhattan. The way things ended though he was spared those doubts.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I have read Watchmen sometime around September 2001, so having it talk about Afghanistan and destroying NYC was disturbingly on topic.
McCartney fans pay bus tickets. [...] Lennon fans too, with discretion.
Watchmen needed to be a 12episode tv show, with insight, not a movie from Hollywood.Seeing those CGI effects in the trailer makes me bitter. I really understand Alan Moore's decision not to be part of the movie, and not supporting the script. This is outrageous. Come this novel is magic at work! Who else would have envisioned the US being involved in Afghanistan and Vietnam(Irak) in 1986? This book is the Bible of everyone of us who has ever felt different from the mainstream media, and official history. Its the alpha and the omega, it really defines the very best that can come out of human imagination and litteracy:borderless. Why giving it to the brainless guy who did the odeous fascist adaptation of the 300 comic? SABOTAGE! We will not tolerate this, ALAN MOORE IS A MAGICIAN, and we will not fall for the work of some pervert and ignorant director/producer. I just wish (and I know)this movie will not be a hit(by Hollywood standards), just like V 4 Vendetta or From Hell, because they lack the deepness and insight of the original author's scripts.
...and welcome to last week.
I don't know if Ror qualifies as a psychopath. For example, he's ready to kill his landlady for lying about them, until he sees the kids and, well, feels mercy.
Or the way he toys with old man Moloch; in his own way, he's teasing the old guy. They're old, not exactly buddies, but, well, of an age.
And again, shows mercy when he learns that Moloch is dying of cancer.
Let alone showing concern for all of his friends when he thinks they might be targets of a serial killer.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
and i have to say i was a bit disappointed. The overwhelming feeling I got was of 12 issues of Alan Moore screaming "WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE IN A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST!!!!". Very loudly. While Moores stuff was popular at the time (80s), it was because we all thought the same thing. Same for V for Vendetta. Take all that out and what have you got left? A hollywood superhero film about people who used to be superheroes. Thats more of a film like the Ang Lee Hulk one, not the X-Men ones.
Still, could be good.
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
I don't think it was actually used in that horrible excuse for a movie. As far as I know, it only appeared on the soundtrack. It's sister song, which is really just a fast version of this one, The End is the Beginning is the End, might have been in the movie, though. About 10 years ago when I first heard The Beginning is the End is the Beginning (I was in middle school) I thought that song would be perfect for cinema. Took awhile to see it happen, but here it is!
The trailer has caused the song to to top the charts on iTunes.
It's more than that. Rorschach wandered outside in Antarctica and didn't come back. Dan knows he didn't take the owlship. One way or another, they're all complicit in Rorschach's death -- they didn't ask questions when he disappeared, and there's no sign that they even looked for him.
They gave up being heroes, gave up any pretense of changing the world for the better, because they were overwhelmed and outclassed. Probably for the best, in their situation. ...but me, I would have been Rorschach.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
and this seems wholly too exciting for a story that I didn't know existed 4 months ago. I'm reluctant to get my hopes up, but I will anyways. It's the fatal flaw of the geek.
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." -Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
O.C. and Stiggs were characters from the old 1970s National Lampoon magazine... when it was still just an east coast college rag, long before they became known to the general public for the chevy chase fraud "vacation" movies. The original magazine characters were a riot - the movie was a travesty that was years past it's relevance. Nothing to do with DR and Quinch.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." ~The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan
orschach wandered outside in Antarctica and didn't come back. Dan knows he didn't take the owlship.
How does he know?
I know nothing of The Watchmen, so if I sound a bit harsh I'm completely reacting to the trailer and I am not necessarily talking about the content. I am also looking at this from a layperson's POV. That said, I saw the trailer in the theater with The Dark Knight. Feel free to flame away. Here goes...
It looks too much like the 300-style over-the-top CG action sequences. Remember when one movie did the wire-fu karate stuff first and then the next thousand or so movies did the wire-fu? It got old and derivative fast. The Spirit is suffering from the same 'looks just like Sin City' problem.
The problem is it looks less interesting than 300 did. Is it a superhero movie? It didn't tell me anything or interest me in any way. Aren't trailers supposed to make you want to watch a movie, get you excited about a movie? I didn't get any feeling of excitment, and when it said it wasn't coming out until 2009 I cared even less. And I'll be the first to say that a lot of the costumes/character designs looked like shit. The guy who looks like kinda-sorta like Batman? He looks more like Die Fledermaus from The Tick. The electricity guy looked way too CG, and is this just a Batman ripoff because I think I saw Scarecrow in there. Was the electricity guy killing asians and then lifting some glass thing out of the ground? WTF was that?
On a side note - we need a live-action The Tick movie.
I think my problem with all these comic book movies is that a lot of times there's a lot of assumptions made on the audience. I bet a large majority of people didn't know 300 was a graphic novel before it was a movie, and probably still don't know. To splash something like 'The Watchmen' up on screen and have the majority or people care seems a little presumptuous. That preview was made for the fan, not for the average audience member.
So I quickly watched it again and it was alright. I'm still not sure about how an average audience person might take it.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
And the fact that he was pushed over the edge by the murder of a child. Also, laffo at the lame Objectivism digs.
Rorschach is a Psychopath, attempting to compensate by becoming rule-bound (and doing it poorly). Moore has the personality dead-on.
I don't think Rorschach is a pure psychopath, more someone with a combination of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and Dissaciative identity disorder, with his personal issues compounded by closeted homosexuality. Awesome character, my favorite in Watchmen, though I wouldn't want to meet him in real life.
you should be getting your live entertainment solely sitting at a campfire with somebody who can spin a good yarn.
Have you ever done that, though? 'Cause that's actually pretty awesome.
Yep.
But it's labor intensive and doesn't scale. B-(
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Not just sending up comic books: also the inevitable scene at the end of James Bond movies where the baddie outlines their plans, and Bond declares, "You'll never get away with this!", and then uses the information gained to thwart the plot. Watchmen has a more competent villain who appears to be falling for the same trick, but turns out to have thought things through in a rather crushing way, so as to have his cake and eat it. He gets to do the Big Reveal without jeopardising the Plan. (Actually, I thought that "Goldfinger" was a good movie because it does a different spin on the Big Reveal. Bond works out that the plan to steal Fort Knox's gold can't possibly work. Goldfinger has neglected the economic angle. The bad guy can't win! But Goldfinger hasn't just considered the economic complexities, his plan actually relies upon them. He's thinking on a different level of sophistication to Bond).
Eric Baird
Yeah, Ozzie is desperate for absolution for his sins. He's been keeping this secret for years, and he needs the others to tell him that he did the right thing. So he puts them in an impossible situation, whereby they have to agree to be retrospective accomplices to mass murder and massive fraud, or bring down the whole house of cards and have it on their consciences that all those people have already died for a scheme that they've then been responsible for destroying.
Rorschach, supposedly the most morally ambiguous character amongst them, is the only one who refuses to be blackmailed into going along with the plan. He's the only one who says, no, this is wrong, I'm not going to agree to be a part of this, I'm not going to be corrupted like that. Kill me if you have to, but I'm not going to make things easier for you by signing up and saying that it's all okay. If you kill me to save the plan you'll have to live with the knowledge that that's the level that you've had to sink to. It's your plan, you never asked anyone else's permission, and you're responsible for whatever happens as a result.
And at that point we jump back to the first sentence on the first page of the book.
Eric Baird
The ==exact== nature of the catastrophe isn't a necessary part of the plot, and if anything, I thought that that was perhaps the weak point of the original book. The original Masterplan was a little ornate and was stretching disbelief a little further than necessary. When you think of all the invented technologies required for The Plan as described in the book, when all you'd actually have needed to create the same effect would have been a little hydrogen bomb and some faked incriminating evidence ...
If they've slimmed the components of that that original Plan down a little to cut down on exposition, I probably won't miss them.
Post 9-11, we know how easy it //really// was to plunge the world into turmoil, and how easy it was for some people to exploit that to their own ends. Hell, just use a small asteroid and precede it with a garbled transmission saying "Die Earthling Scum!" and the Plan would be complete. You wouldn't need actual alien technology. Fear and paranoia would allow people to fill in the gaps for themselves. People who are scared and are fed a suggestive line don't need concrete evidence to believe in it.
Hell, a significant chunk of the US population still believe that Iraq was somehow behind 9-11. If you're gonna do a Plan, keep it simple.
Eric Baird
At some point, Nite Owl's going to go pick it up. Besides, he probably has it wired to alert him if somebody tries to access it.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
'Omen' remake had a blunt launch date of 6/6/6 (666 is the number of the beast/devil in some Christian doctorines).
Consider the symbolism of 03-06-09, which are the compass points 3,6,9 of the clockface/watchface. It has a nice rhythm since the next in the sequence is 12 [the 'advance toward midnight' is a plot theme].
Furthermore, anticipated fanboy blockbusters like this are sure to have advance midnight screenings on their launch date to promote buzz (with inflated opening day box numbers) and have a run at opening box office records for March month.
So having the opening of 03-06-09 at 12AM is perfect since get all four clock compass points and hits the midnight theme of the movie plot.
Those familiar with the attention to recurrent puns/themes/symbolism small details in the book.
A 3/6/9@12 launch? Couldn't think of a better way to start.
-----
Cast a Cold Eye
On Life, on Death
Horseman, pass by
--W.B. Yeats' gravestone
I know that the Smashing Pumpkins song used in the Watchmen trailer was not created specifically for Watchmen, but it seems to me like it very easily could have been. Back when it was on the Batman and Robin soundtrack I never really listened to the lyrics, but looking at them now I find them chillingly appropriate to Watchmen. I think the song's selection may actually have been intentional and well thought out (which, if that is true, bodes well for the movie.)
There are some spoilers in my analysis of the lyrics, I would suggest the following only for those who have read the comics.
"Send a heartbeat to/The void that cries thru you"
Really fits the forlorn and romantic moments of the Dan Drieberg/Laurie Juspeczyk subplot.
"Relive the pictures that have come to pass"
The flashbacks that make up so much of the story, and the comics medium in general (which is, after all, "pictures that have come to pass" as you read through them).
"For now we stand alone/The world is lost and blown"
Rorschach, the determined loner with a pessimistic view of the current state of the world.
"And we are flesh and blood disintegrate"
The beginning of Jon Osterman's transformation into Dr. Manhattan.
"With no more to hate"
The villains of old are, like the heroes, retired. Hollis Mason describes one of his former adversaries as "a nice guy."
"Is it bright where you are/Have the people changed?"
Ozymandias' hope that his actions will have had a positive effect on the future.
"Does it make you happy you're so strange?"
The first part makes me think of the Comedian's dark and ironic attitude, and the cast of heroes is indeed strange. Aside from Dr. Manhattan, they have all become what they are by choice, and must now live with the consequences.
"And in your darket hour/I hold secrets flame"
Darkest hour = when the doomsday clock reaches midnight; Secrets flame = Veidt's conspiracy, and the climax he is working toward
"We can watch the world devoured in its pain"
Watching the world; who watches the watchmen? Rorschach's journal entry, "The world will look up and shout 'save us', and I'll whisper, 'no'." Each of the characters have their own response to the seemingly inevitable nightmare of nuclear destruction.
"Delivered from the blast/The last of a line of lasts"
Ozymandias, again.
"The pale princess of a palace cracked"
Dr. Manhattan creates the flying palace on Mars for Laurie.
"And now the kingdom comes/Crashing down undone"
The phrase "kingdom come" is frequently associated with nuclear armageddon, hence Veidt's plan to bring it crashing down and have it undone.
"And I am master of a nothing place/Of recoil and grace"
Dr. Manhattan, for the majority of the story, prefers the company of subatomic particles and cold space to that of humans. Also, the emptiness surrounding Ozymandias' arctic retreat.
"Time has stopped before us"
Dr. Manhattan has stopped seeing time as a normal human for part of the story. Also, the doomsday clock has been stopped.
"The sky cannot ignore us"
The media coverage of the owl ship's rescue at the burning building maybe?
"No one can separate us/For we are all that is left"
Dan Drieberg and Laurie Juspeczyk at the end of the story. They are the only ones remaining of the cast of heroes, and the only ones remaining who know what really happened in New York.
"The echo bounces off me/The shadow lies beside me"
Veidt has escaped the condemnation of history, but must forever live with the knowledge of his actions.
"There's no more need to protect/Cause now I can begin again"
At the stories end, the threat of nuclear war has been averted, and Dan and Laurie begin new lives.
Finally, the title of the song, "The Beginining is the End is the Beginning" calls to mind Dr. Manhattan's final admonition to Ozymandias, "Nothing ever ends."