The Watchmen!

by HP

I think that this is a good way of finally getting all this Watchmen stuff out of our system.

So, what are your feelings on the book, the movie, or the Saturday morning cartoon?

17 Comments »

  1. An outstanding comic.

    Comment by Supergenius — March 8, 2009 @ 11:01 am

  2. The comic was brilliant, well written. I probably won’t see the movie because of the violence (bone-breaking violence one review wrote). I never got into the Watchmen back in the 80s when it was more relevant, but I enjoyed it nonetheless as a product of that time.

    Comment by Dan — March 8, 2009 @ 1:19 pm

  3. The cartoon is great. The comic is fantastic, the movie was pretty good. Everything in the movie is just a bit much when compared to the comic. The comic was pretty dark and the movie captures that. I think the violence was more extreme than necessary, my wife would have hated it.

    Of the three people I went with, the two who had read the book liked the movie much more than the guy that had never read it.

    Comment by jjohnsen — March 8, 2009 @ 1:51 pm

  4. Ok, I’ve never seen that cartoon, but from the clip embedded here it looks like the goofiest, worst animated, most pathetically scored cartoon of all time. It’s like a bad Scooby-doo parody. Does anyone watch that cartoon, and is it as bad as it looks? Yikes!

    Comment by MCQ — March 8, 2009 @ 4:53 pm

  5. It’s a parody, McQ, but I think a good one.

    Comment by HP — March 8, 2009 @ 5:10 pm

  6. Ha! MCQ has obviously not read the book. The cartoon is hilarious if you know the character’s backstories.

    I’ll probably see the movie, even though it’s getting very mixed reviews. I liked (but didn’t love) the graphic novel.

    Comment by BTD Greg — March 8, 2009 @ 8:46 pm

  7. I liked the graphic novel when I first read, but didn’t love it, either.

    but, with the renewed interest of Watchmen, I picked it up over the past few months and reread it. I was amazed at how much subtext I had missed on my initial reading. I have reread various parts of the comic probably 2-3 times over the past few months.

    I appreciate its depth more.

    Oh well. The movie won’t come to Japan for awhile, but I will be seeing it when it does.

    Comment by Hayes — March 8, 2009 @ 9:31 pm

  8. You’re right, I haven’t read it (if that’s the right word for a comic book), but I’m talking about the quality of this cartoon. It looks like it’s just badly drawn and the music is just plain terrible. Parody or not, isn’t there some level of quality you hope for? This just looks plain poor. Maybe I just don’t get it. I was planning on seeing the movie, but the mixed reviews have put me off a bit. Is it worth seeing if you aren’t already a fan of the comic book?

    Comment by MCQ — March 9, 2009 @ 12:52 am

  9. I read two articles from Ebert, who was a Watchmen virgin, as it were.

    First crack:
    http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090304/REVIEWS/903049997

    After the revelation of “The Dark Knight,” here is “Watchmen,” another bold exercise in the liberation of the superhero movie. It’s a compelling visceral film — sound, images and characters combined into a decidedly odd visual experience that evokes the feel of a graphic novel.

    The film is rich enough to be seen more than once. I plan to see it again, this time on IMAX, and will have more to say about it. I’m not sure I understood all the nuances and implications, but I am sure I had a powerful experience. It’s not as entertaining as “The Dark Knight,” but like the “Matrix” films, LOTR and “The Dark Knight,” it’s going to inspire fevered analysis. I don’t want to see it twice for that reason, however, but mostly just to have the experience again.

    Second time (saw it on an iMax)
    http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/03/were_all_puppets_laurie_im_jus.html

    Comment by Hayes — March 9, 2009 @ 1:35 am

  10. You’re right, I haven’t read it (if that’s the right word for a comic book), but I’m talking about the quality of this cartoon. It looks like it’s just badly drawn and the music is just plain terrible.

    Yeah, it’s supposed to look terrible. It’s fake. The premise behind this cartoon is: what if the Watchmen, this incredibly complex and adult comic was turned into the worst kind of Saturday morning cartoon? To someone who’s read the book, the cartoon has some utterly ridiculous in-jokes (I’ll refrain from telling more because it would involve spoilers).

    Comment by BTD Greg — March 9, 2009 @ 7:39 am

  11. Oh, ok. I get it.

    Comment by MCQ — March 9, 2009 @ 7:46 am

  12. This one from Slate is worth checking out too.

    Comment by BTD Greg — March 9, 2009 @ 7:54 am

  13. I think the Watchmen comics provide a very complex story – but it’s quite brutal and depressing in its conclusions about human beings. Definitely interesting/intriguing for a comic books fan but at the end of the story I’m wondering if the conclusion/end is really all that helpful or illuminating. But maybe that was never the point … (?)

    (shrugs)

    Comment by danithew — March 9, 2009 @ 8:44 am

  14. I felt the movie was disappointing because it was too faithful to the source material (which is slightly overrated to begin with). By the last act it begins to plod precisely when it should ramp up. And the acting was really uneven. Jackie Earle Haley was great as Rorschach. In fact, for most of the movie I was wishing I was watching RORSCHACH: THE MOVIE, not WATCHMEN. Nite Owl and the Comedian were also solid, but Silk Spectre? Don’t get me started. I think she was cast almost entirely for her looks.

    And although I’ve seen great stuff from Billy Crudup in other films I don’t think he pulled off Dr. Manhattan. While the comic gives you a tragic sense of a man on the verge of happiness that is accidentally wrenched into an existence where he’s helplessly distanced from humanity, the film just gives you a cold, emotionless, uncaring god. This proved to be a key difference in making the story work.

    Comment by Brian G — March 10, 2009 @ 8:00 pm

  15. Ouch, Race to Witch Mountain beat Watchmen this weekend. Totally surprised by that…

    Comment by Matt W. — March 14, 2009 @ 2:13 pm

  16. I’m not. It’s been a long time since a good kids movie was out and a lot of people have fond memories for the original. (Although I hear the remake sucks)

    Comment by clark — March 14, 2009 @ 2:15 pm

  17. I’m not. It’s been a long time since a good kids movie was out and a lot of people have fond memories for the original. (Although I hear the remake sucks)

    Go back and watch the originals sometime (or don’t). They are terrible. I had fond memories, too. When I rewatched with my kids, I thought, “This? This is the movie I liked? Really?” Truly awful. If the new one’s as bad as it looks, then at least it’s not out of line with the franchise.

    Comment by BTD Greg — March 14, 2009 @ 7:41 pm

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