2000 AD Online Forum

here is good choice for Moloch in Watchmen!

Link: good choice...

I agree

He looks haggered since his Max Headroom days.




V

The official site

Link: Movie sight

You can just barely see some character sketches on the wall in the background of the "War Room" on that site, but they're all out of focus. The teasin' bastards!

It says they'll reveal all some time in November.

Speaking of the great mage, the episode of The Simpsons featuring Alan Moore (along with Art Spiegelman and Dan Clowes) is due for broadcast on on Sunday, in the US...so those in the UK keep a look out on Youtube!

Link: Husbands & Knives

This is looking more and more like a TV movie!

You can just barely see some character sketches on the wall in the background of the "War Room" on that site, but they're all out of focus. The teasin' bastards!

No worries. My overactive imagination, and ability to jump to conclusions about what i see, more than compensates.

It'd be good as, say the Steven King style TV episodic. Not like Heroes, like a Steven King episodic. Not like Heroes, like a Steven King episodic.

In four parts or less.

it is good in War Room, that they works on each scenes in the book, which is visual important!

***This is looking more and more like a TV movie!***


That's jumping the gun a bit, we haven't even seen a frame of film yet? Plenty of T.V. actors star in movies and many are better than "stars".

Some official Watchmen set pics are now online. They're looking like they're staying very true to the book in terms of set design anyway, right down to the posters in the background. And there's a glimpse of Rorschach to be seen....

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=21558

If I saw that picture of the news stand I would have said "it looks like Watchmen!"
This bodes well.

Link: Look it's Rorshach!

The news stand one was the one that tickled me too.

They do look nice...

I suspect these are just production photoshop composite jobbies

The posters , grafitti etc superimposed on photos

still..

nice touches- Gunga Diner , Black Freighter

"I suspect these are just production photoshop composite jobbies "

I don't think so, they're available on the official site as well.

Got them from the official blog, they are from the New York backlot and the dude in the red leather Jacket is Mr Rorschach!!!

wow looks good! but hope they will add the grafitti of couples???

I'm sure they're official

They just look like production/concept work to me

Could be wrong though

Well if they're concept work then they're pretty in-depth concept work. But since they're filming at the moment I'm pretty sure they're actual set pictures.

Note the "Veldt - Sport" ad on the end of the bus stop.

Aren't those cars putting out a lot of exhaust for electric?  And is that just a regular hydrant beind Bernie?  Maybe there's hope for Hollis yet!

Also, the Holywood ban on smoking seems to be in full effect - where are all those cool glass pipes?

I am however glad to see it's still set in 1985, to judge by the Nixon poster.

I still hate everything about this project, mind.  

"Aren't those cars putting out a lot of exhaust for electric? And is that just a regular hydrant beind Bernie? Maybe there's hope for Hollis yet!"

The electric cars only come into being at the end of the book.

Link: watchmen blog

Ah, dude, give it a chance till you've seen it! It looks freaking excellent so far if you ask me. I'll reserve judgement myself - it could well be shite, but let's wait and see

The electric cars only come into being at the end of the book.

Can't woik yon linky, but I don't think that's the case - isn't the the reason Bernie sits beside Bernard's newstand, because the electric power 'hydrant' is warm?  

I grant you that some of the other scenes could be in the past, and I know that petrol cars are still about (I was looking for negatives cos I hate the idea of the movie), but Jon more-or-less tells Hollis that his car mechanic business is screwed way back at the time of his retirement (early 70's?), and you don't get the impression that he's exactly run off his feet in the 'contemporary' scenes.

Wot Tordelback said.

er... just testing

Incidentally, I should admit that these pictures look really, really good.  Seeing Bernie and the Gunga Diner for real was an odd experience.  I just have a long standing objection to changing the medium of this particular work that won't let me, or it,  be.  It's probably phisiological in origin, a leison in brocca's area, or something.

Link: correct link. Bloody web fu and my crapness

Good link, Larf.  Interesting that the crew drank 1 gallon of water for every donut they consumed, or indeed used 10 nails per donut.  I'd love a ramble around that set!

"Street had to work for 1938, 1945, 1953, 1957, 1964, 1974, 1975, 1977, and 1985" mmmmmmmm!!!

I'll savor this moment when things look good for the movie in case it goes bad later. Remember, there was an earlier Watchmen movie script that leaked onto the net that changed the ending (I seem to recall all the characters appeared in the 'real' non-Watchmen world or something.

I think they'll keep it loyal but whether it translates we'll have to see.

Can someone put up scans of the comic to compare the scenes?

For me, I'm still not impressed, they look like a movie set, something a bit fake looking about them, the buildings don't look 'solid', you can kinda see it's a facade..... or something like that.

They've shown some panels from the comic alongside their photos here...sort of...

Link: Link

Would you look at the picture of the Max Headroom chap beside Moloch. You'd be hard pressed to find a closer match.

Those stills are almost good, but they seem a bit too stylised.

cant wait for this, hope Snyder can pull it off.  I like his movies so far but there both pretty action packed, Watchmen is not an actionpacked story really.

CU Radbacker

As long as he has a box of tissues he will be fine.




V

Oooooh looky look. Apparently this image is hidden in the 300 DVD trailer...

The Rorchach badge shot looks like a publicity shot mocked up in Photoshop probably long before filming.

The other shots look pretty convincing to me, nice that they got all the extras in place.

Yeah, that Rorshach pic was a really early test image, long before they started filming. It wasn't just made for the DVD, it was hidden in one of the 300 trailers that showed up online earlier this year.

Would you look at the picture of the Max Headroom chap beside Moloch

Can't find it.. can you post it here??

Link: Cast and Crew

Just looking at the cast photos..

Dan Dreiberg , Adrian Veidt and Sally Jupiter seem way too young

Well, they do have to play them young and old- so I guess they'll wear make-up to make them look old.

True enough

But is it too much to ask that they couldn't raise Robert Shaw from the dead to play the Comedian?

I hadn't realised that Stephen McHattie was playing Hollis Mason. I like that guy.

Yes, they will be their young versions, and thanks to make-ups, for older versions.

"For me, I'm still not impressed, they look like a movie set, something a bit fake looking about them, the buildings don't look 'solid', you can kinda see it's a facade..... or something like that."

Ah the magic of movies.  Sets and props often look unreal in the light of day or even on TV and in photos.  But film them right and they shine.

If I'd only seen 300 I would have been a bit dubious about Snyder (apart from the skill it should in directly translating a comic book) but I loved Dawn of the Dead, the guy can do characters.

Snyder's 300 at least showed a real committment to getting the visuals of a (fairly vacant) comic onto the screen - as do the stills for Watchmen, right down to the purple tones.  For all its faults, 300 also had some genuinely memorable scenes and lines, with widespread pop-cultural adoption ("This is SPAARTAAAAA...").  

Again though, it's not Watchmen's visuals or catchphrases that are its USP - it's its unprecedented use of the potential of the specific medium of comics for fecking with the reader's perception of time and memory.  So we'll have to wait and see how he handles that.  Personally, I can't imagine how it could be done.  But at least they seem to have got the static visuals right, so that's a start - the same good start that Jackson's brilliant LotR enjoyed.

Sets and props often look unreal in the light of day or even on TV and in photos.

Funnily enough, my experience of visting sets has often been the opposite - they looked very cool in reality, but distinctly ropey on screen.

The monumental set for (nothing at all like) Hadrian's Wall in the recent King Arthur snoozefest was just stunning in the flesh, so huge we took a buggy to drive round it all, but it managed to look like naff flat CGI fakery on the screen.  Equally, the fully-built real-timber stable block looked like someone had knocked it together with polystyrene.

Yeah you right about Snyder and his characters, as with Dawn of the Dead, his way with character of "CJ" to become very classic character in the film!!!!

"Funnily enough, my experience of visting sets has often been the opposite - they looked very cool in reality, but distinctly ropey on screen."

Well, that's down to the cinematography I imagine.  I'd hate to judge all films by King Arthur.

Well, that's down to the cinematography I imagine.  . I'd hate to judge all films by King Arthur.

Darn tootin'.

Matt Frewer was in Dawn of The Dead, I've always liked him and he's perfect casting for Moloch.

Oh, so he was.  I never realised before.

Watched Max Headroom again when it was on a month or so back.  Still love it to bits.

Has anyone ever actually mapped out the whole area Watchmen takes place in? Gibbonds clearly knew how it all fitted together, I wonder if they're keeping to that.

***Watched Max Headroom again when it was on a month or so back. Still love it to bits.***


Max Headroom: 20 minutes into the future is a minor classic of the 80's. Pity there wasn't more of these kind of cheap, imaginative telly movies back then.

Three parter, staring them in the face...

It shouldn't be a film but it is. In which case it needs to be a trilogy. Make cinema viewing top of its game again.

well Max Headroom is back on Channel 4 now!
he on Channel 4 advert for Digitals, it brilliant as he aged now. very brilliant!

Dave Gibbons visits the set - part 1 of 2:

It's perhaps the most surreal experience of my life.

There they are, in a shadowy clubhouse, standing around a map of the USA, just as we'd imagined them. The smoke of the Comedian's cigar hangs in the air as I drink in the details of the scene. Framed old copies of The New York Gazette tell stories of past exploits; trophies glint in glass-fronted display cases; Moloch's solar weapon shines in a dusty corner and over there, on its mannequin stand, the faded costume of the original Nite Owl keeps silent vigil.

Then, a sudden flash of unearthly blue light announces the arrival of Dr. Manhattan and the tableau comes to life. The voices of quarreling heroes rise and fall, a Zippo flares and the map catches fire.

Somewhere, someone shouts "Cut!"

And I'm standing amongst them. Nite Owl shakes my hand. The Comedian slaps me on the back. Silk Spectre smiles a dazzling greeting. I'm overwhelmed by the depth and detail of what I'm seeing.

But more than that. I'm overwhelmed by the commitment, the passion, the palpable desire to do this right.

I'm starting to feel a glow that eclipses even Dr. Manhattan's...

-Dave Gibbons
December 2007

Below: Looks like Dollar Bill's faded old costume to me ,and is that a Comedian mask? (my book is currently lent out).

Link: Latest

Hummm based just on the fact that there are no electric card when there are supposed to be and how every other Moore based film has turned out dispite what the makers have promised.
IMO Watchman has already...

Saw that picture and thought that Dave Gibbons had taken up crime fighting again!

Yeah, when you think about, who knows more about being a retired superhero than Mr. Gibbons!  (Well, Dave Prowse, maybe).

While a fascinating read, I've heard artists wax lyrical about the faithful visuals of an adaptation before, and so maintain my nerdish pre-judgement.

Where does it say something about electric cars?

I judge the very idea of making a Watchmen movie simply because...well, it just DOESN'T NEED to be done. It was the absolute heights of the comic medium, to just put the story on the screen is a waste of time - the only way it can be 'authentic' and 'true to the source material' is for it to just remain a comic. I'm sick of these studios and their adaption frenzies - sod the lot of them

Iron Man looks quite fun though ;)

not a million miles from being right lol

A lot of comic fans are determined not to enjoy this film.
Yeah, I'm sure the comic will be better, but for me the novelty value of looking at the characters actually moving and talking on the big screen, in way that's faithful to the comic, will make it an enjoyable experience in its own right.
A History of Violence was apparently a better book than film (I haven't seen it), but it still won awards.
Watchmen, as I said before, could well be shit. But an open mind won't hurt anybody. If you think it should only be a comic, then don't watch the film, simple as that. In any case, it's bound to make a non-comic readers look at Watchmen, which will hopefully help the comic industry in general.  

see the example of 300! :)

and they are saying Dave Gibbons approves...

Link: The man from D'gibbons says yes

Do'h missed that posting above apollies

BlindHuff

"a mannequin draped with the costume of Dollar Bill, one of the original Minutemen who died in an unfortunate cape accident"

Do you think the "dangerous cape" stuff from The Incredibles is a nod to Watchmen?

Most of The Incredibles can be read a nod to Watchmen - indeed, it's been described as the best possible attempt at Watchmen: The Movie.  Check out the similarities between Syndrome's masterplan and Ozymandias':.  Secret island where giant multi-legged 'threat' is designed, plan to covertly elminate retired superheroes who might interfere, faked-up assault on major city etc..  All that, and the realistic depiction of the middle-aged superhero.  

(not being serious here, but still...)

"Do you think the "dangerous cape" stuff from The Incredibles is a nod to Watchmen?"

I always thought so.  I think John Byrne does as well- which is probably why he goes so far out of his way to moan about how terrible 'The Incredibles' is.  That particular scene is usually held up as the best example of the entire film being 'disrespectful' to the super-hero genre.

Disrespectful? It's a damn sight better than a lot of the superhero films we've had in the last few years. (I mean as a comedy it's on it's own obviously, but if you want to look at it as a superhero film, it's miles ahead of some of the others)

yeah but dont forgot some of Watchmen superheroes dont got any powers.

If by "some", you mean "all but one"...?

I started a reread of The Watchmen a couple of nights ago.
It really is very very good, isn't it?
What I love is, when you know the end, is just how much of it Moore reveals in the opening chapters and you don't see on the first read through.I mean...

S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S

... chech out the Crimebusters meeting flashbacks during the funeral- it's all bloody there!

I always thought so. I think John Byrne does as well- which is probably why he goes so far out of his way to moan about how terrible 'The Incredibles' is. That particular scene is usually held up as the best example of the entire film being 'disrespectful' to the super-hero genre.

So the Catweazle of Comics dislikes the Incredibles because they're disrespectful to the work of a man he himself ain't not no fan of?

Interesting, albeit gramatically incomprehensible.

I like John Byrne. I like the direction his stuff has explored. I like his art and writing. And I believe that he should get respect for one of the best and innovative re imagining of a major Super hero (His Superman run post crisis was and is still excellent).

However when he moans about how some other writers do things I get the feeling its more about sour grapes (not coming up with the idea first) then anything else. And I donâ??t think he should moan like he does as his Lex Luthor was and is one of the most dark and nasty characters to come out of the 80s.

Making myself (hopefully) clearer-  Byrne dislikes Moore and his works, as well as anything that even smells like it might have anything to do with Moore and his works, or been influenced by them, because said writer and works are disrespectful to the super-hero genre.

What I love is, when you know the end, is just how much of it Moore reveals in the opening chapters and you don't see on the first read through.

It's great indeed - as you say, the funeral scene actually points the finger right there and then.  

The shock I gotthe first time  when Rorshach's mask comes off and you realise that he was the doomsday guy all along, and start flicking back and there he is, entering and exiting every scene, as plain as day.  Ditto the Gordian Knot Lock guys and the Pyramid Deliveries van.  Great stuff.

"The shock I got the first time when ********* comes off and you realise that he was ******** all along, "

(Spoilers)


Upon rereading, I was surprised that this was revealed on the very first page, when you realise that the diary extracts are doubling up as the internal monologue of the guy wandering along through the pictures.  

There's also a cheeky bit I recall when someone's in the Gunga Diner, I think making the Rorchach ink blot on the menu, while outside the window End-Of-The-World-Guy rummages in the waste bin. The captions say something like "All the clues are there, staring you in the face, you just have to put the pieces together..."

John Byrne should be in the Guiness Book of Records for missing the point by the greatest distance ever

John Byrne's problem isn't one of missing the point, it's that he's professionally jealous and his increasingly more bizarre and contradictory justifications are like a rather dull version of a career car-crash.  Moore attracts a lot of flak from certain thin-skinned pros that reads suspiciously like plain old bitterness and envy, and Byrne is chief among them, in my opinion.

You're right about his views on Watchmen, Bico. I was talking about his explanation for why the immensely enjoyable 'Incredibles' was actually a bad movie
  I noticed that Byrne disaproved of Gaiman too. Are there any more successful than Byrne comics people he doesn't disaprove of?

"I noticed that Byrne disaproved of Gaiman too. Are there any more successful than Byrne comics people he doesn't disaprove of"

He likes Frank Miller. Apparently.

Cheers!

Jim

He likes Frank Miller.

!! I thought he hated all that grim 'n' gritty, "stealing the magic from our childhood" business?

"I thought he hated all that grim 'n' gritty, "stealing the magic from our childhood" business?"

Yes, but apparently Frank is allowed to do all the stuff that Byrne completely hates because he's a mate of John's.

There's a thread I can't link because it's dropped off the main page called "Definitive Versions" in which Byrne trots out every argument that was unsuccessfully used in defence of Moore's Swamp Thing and Morrison's Doom Patrol, and presents it as a new and valid defence of Miller's reinvention of Daredevil.

It's actually quite funny.

Cheers

Jim

He does.  Except when Miller does it.

That will be this one.  And yes, comedy gold:

Link: Jump through those hoops, JB!

HA! Nothing like a bit of festive Byrne to fortify you for a hard day's Christmas shopping.

Byrne on Byrne: "...there are undeniably certain writers ... who have put an indelible stamp upon particular characters. My own work on FANTASTIC FOUR..."

The ego has landed.

>> The ego has landed.

And he's once more insisting that he's to blame for the whole psycho-superhero craze that swept the '80s.

Even for something he detests so vehemently, Byrne still feels the need to take credit for something of cultural significance in the genre.

Or something.

December 21, 2007
Dave Gibbons visits the set - part 2 of 2
On the movie backlot, like a sailor on shore leave, I gawp in wonder at a New York City that never really was. Once a Canadian lumber yard, it's become a complex of American city streets.

At the corner, a Treasure Island store promises a bounty of pulp thrills; down the block, the Gunga Diner beckons, fully fitted out in chrome and purple leather and, over there, the Rumrunner sign looms luridly. Even the austere facade of the Institute For Extraspatial Studies can't spoil the gaudy fun.

On an upper floor, I spot the windows of the Judomaster Martial Arts Studio. Iâ??m stopped in my tracks. Judomaster? Detail piles on dizzying detail.

Rain's falling hard now and I'm led inside, through a grubby little hovel crammed with dressmaking dummies, past the huge halls of Karnak, into Dan Dreiberg's homely brownstone and down to where the Owl Ship sits. I clamber aboard in giddy delight.

The rest of the visit kaleidoscopes crazily by: I watch footage of Rorschach pulling Nite Owl off a bloodied Knot Top; I flip through an issue of the Black Freighter; on a laptop, I see raw CGI blocking for the Vietnam sequence; I hold a smiley face pin splattered with what looks like real human bean juice; sitting in my own personal director's chair, I sign dozens of books and posters for cast and crew...

Finally, tired but happy, arms around my new buddies, costumed and otherwise, it's my turn to smile for the camera.

A month later, I'm smiling still.

-Dave Gibbons
December 2007

Link: http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/

*gakkh*

I've just clicked on this thread! They are actually FILMING Watchmen?!! I wonder how it'll convert to movie...

I can't really imagine a sex scene between two superheroes all kitted out, but I'll try not to get over excited..