HBO Series: Watchmen

[3GenClone]

Due to recent news, I figured it was time to start a new thread about the upcoming HBO series based on the Watchmen graphic novel.

Damon Lindelof (Co-Creator of Lost & The Leftovers) will be the showrunner for the series. He published an instagram post that consisted of 5 pages of thoughts about the project. He really laid a lot out there about how attached he is to the original material.



The largest takeaway is that this new series will take place after the events of the original graphic novel.

Casting news was announced earlier today. No characters have been revealed yet, only actors:

Regina King will be in the lead role
Don Johnson (yes, the one from Nash Bridges and Miami Vice)
Tim Blake Nelson
Louis Gossett Jr
Adelaide Clemens
Andrew Howard

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/wat...king-don-johnson-louis-gossett-jr-1202819966/

 

[srjclone]

Due to recent news, I figured it was time to start a new thread about the upcoming HBO series based on the Watchmen graphic novel.

Damon Lindelof (Co-Creator of Lost & The Leftovers) will be the showrunner for the series. He published an instagram post that consisted of 5 pages of thoughts about the project. He really laid a lot out there about how attached he is to the original material.



The largest takeaway is that this new series will take place after the events of the original graphic novel.

Casting news was announced earlier today. No characters have been revealed yet, only actors:

Regina King will be in the lead role
Don Johnson (yes, the one from Nash Bridges and Miami Vice)
Tim Blake Nelson
Louis Gossett Jr
Adelaide Clemens
Andrew Howard

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/wat...king-don-johnson-louis-gossett-jr-1202819966/

100 bucks I can guess who Andrew Howard's gonna play.

 

[TXCyclones]

He had me at "In the words of the immortal P.W. Herman...". F'ng beautiful.

 

[BoxsterCy]

HBO r-rated with lots of violence and a sprinkling of gratuitous nudity like the movie?

Liked the movie better than most rated it. Liked that it was serious and adult without ******* catering to a soft superhero movie audience.

Going to have a hard time viewing others as these characters.

 

[CycloneErik]

HBO r-rated with lots of violence and a sprinkling of gratuitous nudity like the movie?

Liked the movie better than most rated it. Liked that it was serious and adult without ******* catering to a soft superhero movie audience.

Going to have a hard time viewing others as these characters.

I liked the movie myself.

 

[Rabbuk]

Also enjoyed the movie

 

[Sigmapolis]

I actually think the Snyder movie is...

(1.) The best Snyder movie, even if the rest of them basically suck.

(2.) About as good of an adaptation of Watchmen could be.

 

[harimad]

Love the Lindelof letter. Great narrative style there. I never knew he aspired to be Dr. Manhattan.

 

[dahliaclone]

I am excited for that but I'm more excited for the HBO new series Sharp Objects with the can-do-no-wrong Amy Adams.

Also, for anyone NOT watching the BBC America new series Killing Eve...GET ON IT! It's fantastic.

 

[mapnerd]

I am excited for that but I'm more excited for the HBO new series Sharp Objects with the can-do-no-wrong Amy Adams.

Also, for anyone NOT watching the BBC America new series Killing Eve...GET ON IT! It's fantastic.

I thought the book was awesome. And Amy Adams cannot do wrong, that is true.

 

[cyhiphopp]

HBO r-rated with lots of violence and a sprinkling of gratuitous nudity like the movie?

Liked the movie better than most rated it. Liked that it was serious and adult without ******* catering to a soft superhero movie audience.

Going to have a hard time viewing others as these characters.

It sounds like it's not a reboot of the original Watchmen story, but a continuation after the events of the comic and the in turn, the movie. So new characters with the same tone.

I actually loved the movie. Dark and genuine. Rorschach;s monologue is the best part of the movie in my opinion.

I never read the comics though, so that probably would affect my opinion on the movie.

 

[3GenClone]

Jeremy Irons has joined the cast of Watchmen. No other details have been revealed.

https://deadline.com/2018/06/watchmen-jeremy-irons-cast-damon-lindelof-hbo-pilot-1202417623/

 

[247cy]

If you've read the original 12 issue story crafted by Alan Moore and brought to life by Gibbons/Higgins, then you don't need this. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and find a copy. The movie wasn't trash, but it pales in comparison to the story laid out in the comics, and could do nothing but fall far short.

Damon should trust his initial instincts and leave this alone. Alan Moore is right that the story was created and executed in the medium it was meant for. Producers see this as low hanging fruit, a great story with a built in fan following, and run the formula to get a few easy bucks. It would be much harder, but much more appropriate (and probably successful) if the producers were inspired by Watchmen to create something new, just not set in the Watchmen world.

 

[3GenClone]

If you've read the original 12 issue story crafted by Alan Moore and brought to life by Gibbons/Higgins, then you don't need this. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and find a copy. The movie wasn't trash, but it pales in comparison to the story laid out in the comics, and could do nothing but fall far short.

Damon should trust his initial instincts and leave this alone. Alan Moore is right that the story was created and executed in the medium it was meant for. Producers see this as low hanging fruit, a great story with a built in fan following, and run the formula to get a few easy bucks. It would be much harder, but much more appropriate (and probably successful) if the producers were inspired by Watchmen to create something new, just not set in the Watchmen world.

This is what they are doing. This isn't an adaptation of Alan Moore's comic, but it's connected to it:

"We have no desire to 'adapt' the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created thirty years ago," Lindelof wrote. "Those issues are sacred ground and they will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted."

This is where things get a little murkier, though...

"They will, however, be remixed," he continued. "Because the bass lines in those familiar tracks are just too good and we'd be fools not to sample them. Those original twelve issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along it did not erase what came before it...it all happened. And so it will be with Watchmen. The Comedian died. Dan and Laurie fell in love. Ozymandias saved the world and Dr. Manhattan left it just after blowing Rorschach to pieces in the bitter cold of Antarctica. To be clear, Watchmen is canon. Just the way Mr. Moore wrote it, the way Mr. Gibbons drew it and the way the brilliant John Higgins colored it."

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/watchmen/265854/watchmen-tv-series-cast-release-date-story-news​

 

[247cy]

This is what they are doing. This isn't an adaptation of Alan Moore's comic, but it's connected to it:

"We have no desire to 'adapt' the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created thirty years ago," Lindelof wrote. "Those issues are sacred ground and they will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted."

This is where things get a little murkier, though...

"They will, however, be remixed," he continued. "Because the bass lines in those familiar tracks are just too good and we'd be fools not to sample them. Those original twelve issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along it did not erase what came before it...it all happened. And so it will be with Watchmen. The Comedian died. Dan and Laurie fell in love. Ozymandias saved the world and Dr. Manhattan left it just after blowing Rorschach to pieces in the bitter cold of Antarctica. To be clear, Watchmen is canon. Just the way Mr. Moore wrote it, the way Mr. Gibbons drew it and the way the brilliant John Higgins colored it."

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/watchmen/265854/watchmen-tv-series-cast-release-date-story-news​

Yeah, I read his 5 page letter posted to Instagram.

Why do a remix in the Watchmen universe? The social and moral commentary of the "Old Testament" stand alone and have been made quite well within the Watchmen context by Moore/Gibbons/Higgins. You want to see them "remixed"? I don't. Need to have Mr. Lindelof and co-conspirators paraphrase them and infuse more 'modern times' into the mix? Probably won't go how they think it will.

You don't need to set things in an "after the events of Watchmen" to re-tell the underlying stories by having costumed trope from the Watchmen universe acting them out for programming on HBO. The original material said them so beautifully, and they stand the test of time. Also, several of the main character arcs are wrapped up in finality, and for the right reasons. For example, who plays The Comedian (or Rorschach) role without it being an obvious knock off, or without the risk of cheapening the "Old Testament".

They could pull it off, but I won't hold my breath. A better approach would be to crate a brand new universe and characters who play out the Watchmen inspired themes and commentary. That would be original and a more fitting tribute to what Alan Moore created.

 

[3GenClone]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/its-official-a-full-season-of-watchmen-is-coming-to-hb-1828422141

 

[3GenClone]

 

[Clonehomer]

Interesting. One thing HBO always seems to get right in their shows is the music. GoT and Westworld are amazing in this aspect.

 

[3GenClone]

 

[HFCS]

HBO r-rated with lots of violence and a sprinkling of gratuitous nudity like the movie?

Liked the movie better than most rated it. Liked that it was serious and adult without ******* catering to a soft superhero movie audience.

Going to have a hard time viewing others as these characters.

The graphic novel is incredible. The movie is incredible and quite faithful within constraints. Reviewers are just dead wrong sometimes, most of Kubrick's movies innitially got bad reviews.