Watchmen- HBO-(Spoilers)

Skerries · 21-07-2019 10:21pm

did you notice the headline saying that Veidt officially declared dead?

pixelburp · 22-07-2019 10:35am

Skerries wrote: »

did you notice the headline saying that Veidt officially declared dead?

Yup; so presumably he retreats into the background and manipulates again from behind the scenes? That same headline had "KKK vandalism forces Statue of Liberty Closure", so I'm wondering if perhaps this alt-world has more pronounced & violent racial tensions. They were always vigilantes even in our timeline, so would make sense they would be more emboldened in this one (maybe that's who those Rorschach types are?)

People are also speculating if Agent Blake is

a grown up version of Laurie, aka Silk Spectre II, older and living under her father's surname

Penn · 22-07-2019 11:21am

pixelburp wrote: »

People are also speculating if Agent Blake is
a grown up version of Laurie, aka Silk Spectre II, older and living under her father's surname

Haven't been paying much attention to this bar the two trailers, but when I saw that I assumed it must be the case and maybe was previously announced or something.

Acosta · 23-07-2019 10:40pm

Trailer looks fantastic. However I didn't realise Lindelof was involved. That's changed things unfortunately.

pixelburp · 26-07-2019 11:57am

Only now reading there were some juicy world-building details revealed at the Comic-Con panel; am in two minds whether to spoiler-text them or not, though will defer in the name of caution.

One item that I won't hide is the issue of comic vs. movie & which has primacy: Lindelof confirmed that the events of the comic are canon. The psychic squid is intact!

Re the state of this show's "2019":

“Robert Redford is the president of the United States and has been the President in the world of the show since the early ‘90s since they’ve abolished term limits,” Lindelof said. “We’re interested in exploring what would happen if a very well-intentioned liberal white man was President for way too long. Nixon was still president in ‘85. He remained president, was re-elected in ’88. He died in office. Gerald Ford became President as Nixon’s Vice President and then was defeated in ’92 by Robert Redford.”
[...]
“We’ve created a world that does not have an internet,” Lindelof said. “People do not have smart phones. Even though it’s set in 2019, the Redford administration saw the writing on the wall and stepped in to make sure we could not troll each other.”

If they could swing a cameo for the above, that'd kinda be amazing - and entirely doable.

(Taken from https://www.slashfilm.com/watchmen-series-details/)

Mr Crispy · 03-09-2019 7:33pm

Premiere date has been announced as October 20th. Nine episodes in the first season.

Agent Coulson · 09-09-2019 9:30pm

pixelburp · 13-09-2019 8:12pm

New trailer, bit more story and context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33JCGEGzwU

JP Liz V1 · 19-09-2019 12:25am

Darch Nemesis wrote: »

Premiere date has been announced as October 20th. Nine episodes in the first season.

21st October for Sky Atlantic

JP Liz V1 · 05-10-2019 12:08am

Sky Atlantic on Monday October 21st at 9pm

Mr.Nice Guy · 05-10-2019 12:37am

Don't like the look of this. I can imagine Alan Moore going into a rage watching that.

pixelburp · 05-10-2019 11:41am

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Don't like the look of this. I can imagine Alan Moore going into a rage watching that.

Meh, Moore hates every adaptation by default; as great a writer as he was, he has a very dismissive, myopic view of adaptations. Once bitten n' all, but most talented writers understand the compromise of translation to screen.

kerplun k · 10-10-2019 9:58am

11 days to go.
I think this is going to be epic.

Agent Coulson · 21-10-2019 5:16am

That was an excellent opening episode.

Really looking forward to where they will take this.

Unearthly · 21-10-2019 6:01pm

Seems like it's upset people online as the main villain group are white supremacists :pac:

I thought it was a decent start. Lots going on and I'm interested to see where it goes

pixelburp · 21-10-2019 6:31pm

Always found it weird how liked Rorschach was, and certainly the Synder film couldn't hide its view of him as its flawed hero figure. He was a vicious psycho with a heavy nihilistic / anti-establishment streak (so maybe that was part of his appeal?), So I could totally see how supremacists might adopt his iconography. Looking forward to seeing this, and how they approach this world.

For those that HAVE seen it, will those who aren't familiar with the comic be lost? How accessable is it to newcomers: Might be the OHs bag, but as she hasn't read the comic she might be utterly lost.

fitz · 21-10-2019 8:47pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Always found it weird how liked Rorschach was, and certainly the Synder film couldn't hide its view of him as its flawed hero figure. He was a vicious psycho with a heavy nihilistic / anti-establishment streak (so maybe that was part of his appeal?), So I could totally see how supremacists might adopt his iconography. Looking forward to seeing this, and how they approach this world.

For those that HAVE seen it, will those who aren't familiar with the comic be lost? How accessable is it to newcomers: Might be the OHs bag, but as she hasn't read the comic she might be utterly lost.

A high-level recap like this should be enough for a bit of context: https://youtu.be/X28Iysf63t0

Watched the first episode, and thought it was great. Really looking forward to the rest of the season.
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross at their finest on the score too, can't wait for that to be available to listen to.

Slydice · 21-10-2019 9:53pm

Not knowing much about the Watchmen universe ..

(bar that it's an alternative history where the USSR still exists, Heros are out and about, Dr Manhattan is the most powerful being in existence and Heros are not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows)

.. I thought it was a decent intro

Guessing Season One will be a battle between the Cops and the Rorschachs before unveiling a bigger menace* that was behind everything all along!

*which in time and a few seasons won't seem like such a big menace at all

Basq · 21-10-2019 10:03pm

This was decent..

.. always have higher expectations than normal for HBO dramas, so maybe I expected too much.

Any chance they'll have Robert Redford appearing at some stage?

kerplun k · 21-10-2019 10:30pm

Man, that was some punch of an ending. Don Johnson oozing charisma in that all too brief hour of television. So much to digest here, like WTF was that servant doing to Jeremy Irons?... oh and a horseshoe to cut a cake.... They're totally robots, right?

I was on the fence about that opening scene, I hate when story telling uses children to exploit emotional investment, especially if it’s gratuitous, and poorly executed, but my g/f just pointed out that the opening scene was actually based on a real event, F’n crazy.

Music and cinematography was amazing. Some really good performances in here as well. It’s been a while since something this good has come along, even longer since one thats released weekly.

Slydice · 21-10-2019 10:32pm

Basq wrote: »

Any chance they'll have Robert Redford appearing at some stage?

hrmmmm

when I google a phrase and get zero results.. that looks a bit suspicious..
"Robert Redford will cameo"
https://www.google.com/search?&q="Robert+Redford+will+cameo"

About 0 results (0.50 seconds)

Feels paid-for .. so yes, 95% sure he'll cameo!

alchemist33 · 21-10-2019 10:38pm

I only know the film up until now, so I really don't know what I'm watching. But its very good and the soundtrack is brilliant

Basq · 21-10-2019 10:44pm

Slydice wrote: »

hrmmmm

when I google a phrase and get zero results.. that looks a bit suspicious..
"Robert Redford will cameo"
https://www.google.com/search?&q="Robert+Redford+will+cameo"

Feels paid-for .. so yes, 95% sure he'll cameo!

We're now getting 1 result but it's this thread..

.. look what you've done!!!

Slydice · 21-10-2019 10:49pm

Basq wrote: »

We're now getting 1 result but it's this thread..

.. look what you've done!!!

Nos costodimus!

TheIrishGrover · 22-10-2019 10:53am

I enjoyed that. As with Thrones, my (overvalued) tuppence worth:

The Good

Thought Regina King was great. And she is an actor that I can find grating.
Interesting (And understandable) take on Rorschach's legacy. As others have pointed out, in the comic he was a psycho, not a misunderstood hero. So yeah, I thought the white supremacists latching on to him was very understandable.
I liked the style (The sort of chapter headings etc) and the design of the universe (Set in 2019 with electric cars being the norm but people using pagers for example).
Excellent music (Trent Rezner doing the original music)
The opening scene of (the real) Tulsa "Black Wall-Street" massacre was shocking. That this was in the 21st century..... Not the 19th.
Louis Gosset (jnr anymore?). Thought he was dead.

The Bad

Didn't find much outright bad actually

And The Meh

Thought all the nods to the readers especially was a bit on the nose: From the smiley face with the eggs in the class to the blood on the badge at the end. But, first episode. It's entitled to a few winks to the camera I suppose
Don Johnson couldn't have been more dead if he had two weeks to retirement

So yeah, it got me interested. Yeah, I assume Veidt's servants are robots or some form of artificial humans. Also noticed that the credits say "Co-created by Dave Gibbons". No mention of Alan Moore but this is to be expected.

brevity · 22-10-2019 11:04am

I liked it.

It looks good, the actors and pacing seemed right. A good few Easter eggs too which is fine.

youcancallmeal · 22-10-2019 11:09am

I enjoyed the first episode, impeccable productions values from HBO of course.
I've never read the comic books but did see the movie. Is this series a continuation of the events of the movie or are they meant to be 2 different adaptations?

Penn · 22-10-2019 11:28am

I enjoyed it. Might watch that episode again as there seemed to be a lot of key info in news reports on the radio in the background, and I missed a few other things along the way I think. Also the detective with the mirror-type mask was hard to understand, and Jeremy Irons sounds like he just got new teeth and isn't used to them yet.

Really liked Regina King though, and the story seems interesting. Will keep watching anyway.

Acosta · 22-10-2019 11:35am

Very impressive stuff and a great soundtrack from NIN.

johnny_ultimate · 22-10-2019 12:19pm

Intriguing first episode for sure - appropriately for a show based on Watchmen, doesn’t seem like it will be afraid to address and twist American history and contemporary debates. Strong visuals and superb production design.

Part of me wishes it wasn’t laden with the Watchmen name, as I do always feel a bit uneasy with follow-ups to that given Moore’s opposition to them. This is doing lots of its own things clearly, so will be curious to see how much it needs the iconography, characters and themes. But it already feels like a worthier and more interesting take on the source material than the film, so will definitely be checking out where it goes from here.

Watchmen- HBO-(***Spoilers***)

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Watchmen- HBO-(Spoilers)