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HBO Watchmen

Started by JayzusB.Christ, 08 May, 2019, 11:59:15 PM

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Tiplodocus

Just found out Tiny Tips is still paying for Now TV so managed to catch the rather excellent first episode of this.

I'm as surprised as anyone!
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

blackmocco

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 10 December, 2019, 10:21:08 PM
Just found out Tiny Tips is still paying for Now TV so managed to catch the rather excellent first episode of this.

I'm as surprised as anyone!

Wait til you get to the most recent one...
"...and it was here in this blighted place, he learned to live again."

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Bolt-01

I really liked the word play in the episode title and I thoroughly enjoyed the episode itself. I've put the shark back on hold...

blackmocco

Yeah, the end of last week's episode had me nervous. Lindelof's gonna Lindelof! But thankfully, miraculously, they pulled it off.

A couple of thoughts:

[spoiler]- Eggs. In episode 1, attention is brought to Angela's use of eggs while baking for a class of kids. In episode 2, once he's freed himself from his handcuffs, we see Will cooking eggs. He reaches into a boiling pot of water to gather them with no consequences. Is it crazy to think Dr. M has imbued Will with his powers...? Is that why Dr. M sends Angela's kids to him for safety?[/spoiler]
"...and it was here in this blighted place, he learned to live again."

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Tiplodocus

I still feel dirty for watching it though.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

pauljholden

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 11 December, 2019, 05:40:46 PM
I still feel dirty for watching it though.

in a rare instance of two wrongs making a right - the best way to fix this is to watch a pirated copy...

-PJ

(I'M JOKING)

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 11 December, 2019, 05:40:46 PM
I still feel dirty for watching it though.

I know what you mean. I'm only four episodes in, and while I don't know exactly what's going on, I'm enjoying it a lot.  It absolutely wipes the floor with that Doomsday Clock thingy, and of course Before sodding Watchmen.  Also it makes the Snyder movie look like the subtlety-free effects-fest that it is.

I say that knowing there's a big plot twist coming up (no spoilers pleae), and that when I die, a blond-haired sock-puppet will drag me into Hades and finger-bite me Emu-style for all eternity.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

blackmocco

And that's a wrap. Looks like Lindelof is out for a season 2, meaning most likely what we got is what we got. I'm actually okay with that, even if I also say Watchmen was my favourite show of 2019. Think I'd be as nervous about a season 2 as I was when I heard about a season 1!
"...and it was here in this blighted place, he learned to live again."

www.BLACKMOCCO.com
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Keef Monkey

Just finished this last night and my trajectory with it was the same as a lot of people's seemingly - didn't like the idea of it existing, didn't have any interest in seeing it and so ignored it completely until some trusted friends started raving, watched it and absolutely loved it.

Definitely one of the best (and most densely crafted) seasons of TV I've ever seen, was utterly hooked throughout and I don't think it dropped the ball at all ([spoiler]I was initially disappointed they were going back to the eggs at the end of the finale rather than leaving it as something for viewers to theorize on their own and speculate about, but as it was happening I decided I'd be happy as long as they ended it Nolan-style, and they Nolanned it so I was good)[/spoiler] and stuck the landing confidently.

Love that it was conceived as a single season of TV rather than something they intend to spin out as long as possible, that's really rare and this way it'll go down as a great cool thing that happened rather than overstay its welcome and fizzle out or get cancelled like many shows with strong first seasons tend to (funnily enough Lost is probably the best example of that kind of frustrating milking, and to think these were written by the same person is odd).

judgeurko

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 11 December, 2019, 05:40:46 PM
I still feel dirty for watching it though.
I don't. Alan Moore has used pre-existing characters plenty of times. He is a hypocrite & this show was great!

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: judgeurko on 24 January, 2020, 03:22:44 PM
I don't. Alan Moore has used pre-existing characters plenty of times. He is a hypocrite & this show was great!

Either out-of-copyright characters, or with the express permission of the IP owners and sometimes also with the active blessing of the original creators (Swamp Thing, at the very least).

The copyright issue on Watchmen is very murky — the reversion clause in Moore & Gibbons' original contract strongly implies that they retained ownership and that it was effectively 'leased' to DC for as long as the book remained in print.

'Before Watchmen' and then 'Doomsday Clock' were essentially a flagrant IP grab by DC, first diluting Moore & Gibbons claim to sole authorship and then folding the property into the shared universe of IP DC did own... I'd be very surprised if Moore hadn't taken legal advice on this, but if Warner wanted to dig their heels in, they have pockets deep enough to bankrupt anyone trying to take them on in the courts.
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JayzusB.Christ

Watched the last one last week. If I was a teenager, it would be my divorced Mam's new boyfriend - I really didn't want to like it, but we ended up getting on famously.  Though, of course, the source material will always be my real dad.

I really loved how the initial weirdness gradually made more and more sense, in a way that was very reminiscent of, well, Alan Moore (but more Marvelman than Watchmen really).  Case in point: [spoiler]The revelation of where exactly Veidt's home is, and where his staff came from.[/spoiler]  Brilliant.  Also quite Moore-ish were the breathtaking identity reveals. You know the two characters I'm talking about.  Up there with the unmasking of Rorschach.

A couple of small quibbles:
[spoiler]
1.  The hypnosis thing.  It really, really doesn't work like that.  Wish I could put that strobe thing down to Manhattan spin-off tech, but of course it preceded his arrival by decades.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]
2.  Veidt.  Jeremy Irons is a great actor and his Veidt was a great character, but it wasn't the Veidt I know.  Moore's Ozymandias was self-sacrificing and above ego.  For all the awful things he did there was a kind of nobility about him and he did it all, at least in his view, for the good of others.  The Irons version was petty and boastful; seemingly in constant need of praise and reverence.  Also his eventual arrest was far too reminiscent of the movie Laurie's ridiculous glowering sulk after learning of his genocidal act, rather than tbe comic version's awestruck moral confusion.[/spoiler]

But feck it. HBO took an idea that should have been terrible and made it a success, and I'm impressed.

"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

matty_ae

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 31 January, 2020, 09:31:16 PM
Watched the last one last week. If I was a teenager, it would be my divorced Mam's new boyfriend - I really didn't want to like it, but we ended up getting on famously.  Though, of course, the source material will always be my real dad.

Brilliantly expressed and my feelings as well. I know I'm late to the party.

broodblik

I also recently watched Watchmen and i wanted to stop watching by episode 3 but I am glad I kept watching because everything comes together nicely at the end. Juts be patience with the story and you will get your reward at the end.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

repoman

Quote from: broodblik on 17 August, 2020, 01:49:56 PM
I also recently watched Watchmen and i wanted to stop watching by episode 3 but I am glad I kept watching because everything comes together nicely at the end. Juts be patience with the story and you will get your reward at the end.

Exactly this.

I quit watching after 2 episodes but a friend told me to stick with it and by the end I quite liked it.