Watchmen

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barryconvex
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Re: Watchmen

#26 Post by barryconvex » Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:35 am

I'm guessing that Lady Trieu is planning her revenge against Dr. Manhattan for his role in the Vietnam war. Whatever it is she's building is a means to help her achieve that.

black&huge
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Re: Watchmen

#27 Post by black&huge » Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:38 am

barryconvex wrote:
Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:35 am
I'm guessing that Lady Trieu is planning her revenge against Dr. Manhattan for his role in the Vietnam war. Whatever it is she's building is a means to help her achieve that.
I did not even think about that. Makes sense
SpoilerShow
anyone think the crashing ball of light in the beginning of the ep is Veidt? Either that or Dr. Manhattan sent something down. I figured he wouldn't make such a spectacle of arriving on earth whether he actually came down himself or was trying to be in two places at once. It's clear Veidt is not on earth and I think his scenes in this recent ep still take place a year before the current events.

Second, are we supposed to take away that Angela's grandfather is working with the Kavalry or the Kavalry was set up and operated by him and/or Trieu as part of whatever bigger picture there is?

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barryconvex
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Re: Watchmen

#28 Post by barryconvex » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:20 am

SpoilerShow
I agree about Veidt not being on Earth, not sure about the time frame as I think he's in an alternate dimension and traditional time frames may not be applicable. I'd also be surprised if that was Manhattan that fell to earth, I was also thinking it was Veidt or something Veidt related. Your second theory about the Kalvalry and Angela's grandfather is probably more likely but I honestly hadn't considered it until I read your post.

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barryconvex
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Re: Watchmen

#29 Post by barryconvex » Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:39 am

HBO must've spent a fortune on this show. I don't know what its ratings are like but I can't believe that a show this strange is going to be renewed for the same budget it was granted its first season. If it's renewed at all. After six weeks it's not much closer to where (I think) it's headed than at the outset and the most compelling character-Dr. Manhattan-has yet to make a single appearance. I'm not complaining, I love this show, but it just doesn't seem like it's giving the casual viewer much to latch onto.

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Big Ben
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Re: Watchmen

#30 Post by Big Ben » Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:08 am

It was designed to be a one off deal if that puts things into focus. Linedlof has stated that it could technically be renewed but that he may not be involved if that's the case.

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Re: Watchmen

#31 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Nov 25, 2019 12:43 pm

Westworld has to have a bigger budget than this, and that's going on it's third season now. Lindelof unsure of it's life outside of this season aside, I don't think HBO would have much problem renewing this, given that this is getting some major positive critical notices so far (last night's episode particularly). They used to not care about ratings, is that not the case anymore now?

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Roger Ryan
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Re: Watchmen

#32 Post by Roger Ryan » Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:18 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Mon Nov 25, 2019 12:43 pm
...They used to not care about ratings, is that not the case anymore now?
Well, Vinyl was an expensive series cancelled one season in due to poor ratings, and Enlightened was a not-very-expensive series cancelled prematurely. Luck was cancelled after its first season due to the bad publicity surrounding the treatment of the race horses (according to IMDb, the series was given the go-ahead for a second season before the cancellation which resulted in the production of a Season Two pilot episode that never aired).

Better scenarios arose with David Simon's Treme and The Deuce in which both series were cancelled, but the production team was allowed one additional season to bring a conclusion to the various story arcs.

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Re: Watchmen

#33 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:41 pm

None of them property of DC. Not that if this had such calamitous production issues or poor ratings and critical value that it wouldn't be potentially under the ax either, but the name value helps in this case certainly.


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miless
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Re: Watchmen

#35 Post by miless » Thu Nov 28, 2019 4:28 pm

they could always just adapt the comics

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barryconvex
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Re: Watchmen

#36 Post by barryconvex » Mon Dec 09, 2019 3:08 am

Tonight's episode confirmed I've been totally wrong about everything I thought was happening. Wrong, wrong, wrong! In my defense I would say that I don't think anybody could've predicted all the curveballs HBO threw at us these last couple of weeks. Tonight also reconfirmed that Dr. Manhattan is the most inspired idea for a superhero ever. HBO should do whole series on him doing ten different things at the same time and air it in a Timecode-esque, multi split screen format. I'd pay good money to watch that. For everybody who's resisted watching so far, next week will be your first chance to binge (definitely the best way to experience this, watching it in weekly installments is maddening) on this slice of tv ultragenius in its entirety.

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Re: Watchmen

#37 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Dec 11, 2019 4:12 pm

There's fertile ground for potential later seasons to cover. One solely devoted to Vietnam as our 51st state could be really interesting if done at the same level as this.

I think the show is okay, not something worth shouting from the rooftops about but there are several elements at play that make it good enough to have followed all this time.

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domino harvey
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Re: Watchmen

#38 Post by domino harvey » Wed Dec 18, 2019 1:18 am

I haven’t seen this but was surprised to learn the show is responsible for finally shining a public light on the Tulsa Race Riots after a long absence from media representation or even acknowledgement

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knives
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Re: Watchmen

#39 Post by knives » Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:43 am

Is that why there's been a ton of articles about it in my newsfeed lately?

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Roger Ryan
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Re: Watchmen

#40 Post by Roger Ryan » Wed Dec 18, 2019 9:14 am

Yes, the 1921 Tulsa massacre (perhaps more accurate than "race riot" since the victims weren't doing much rioting) is the impetus for the entire season, which takes place largely in Tulsa and has references to the event in nearly every episode. I was skeptical at first that such a real-life horror, combined with the more fantastic (and, frankly, goofier) comic book elements, would produce successful results, but this series turned out to be very impressive. As a deft blend of tragedy, science-fiction, thriller, satire, and Looney Tunes-inspired mayhem, HBO's Watchmen is what I wanted Netflix's MANIAC to be.

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Watchmen

#41 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed Dec 18, 2019 9:38 am

knives wrote:
Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:43 am
Is that why there's been a ton of articles about it in my newsfeed lately?
To some extent, though the attempt to identify sites of mass graves of victims that yielded some results this week pre-dates the show.

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barryconvex
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Re: Watchmen

#42 Post by barryconvex » Sat Dec 21, 2019 2:29 am

Although I didn't love the finale this is still a great show. HBO didn't cut any corners here and they deserve any praise that comes their way. I'm looking forward to binge rewatching this over the xmas break.

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Re: Watchmen

#43 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:09 pm

This never wound up happening. I think I saw his face a few times, but just in still photographs throughout the show. Seems like they just asked permission for his likeness.

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swo17
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Re: Watchmen

#44 Post by swo17 » Thu Jun 18, 2020 4:52 pm


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Persona
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Re: Watchmen

#45 Post by Persona » Mon Jun 22, 2020 5:04 pm

So I binged this while it was free and I dunno, I think I might have been more forgiving of the plot and the storytelling if each episode wasn't fresh in mind. Because as it was, I found the narrative unnecessarily awkward and by the time you hit Ep. 7 you just know it's not going to stick the landing completely.

It does make some bold and interesting moves and the performances and direction were really what carried the show. The way Lindelof contrives his stories and his constant stabs at cleverness or trying to trip his audience out in certain sequences (like most everything involving Ozymandias here) are always going to grate me the wrong way, but of all the main creatives involved with Lost, he at least seems to have found a way to plug his sensibility into a couple projects that at least half work, if perhaps more because of the quality of his collaborators.

But I've learned that if I want to keep liking his shows, I must avoid his interviews.

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jbeall
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Re: Watchmen

#46 Post by jbeall » Thu Jun 25, 2020 7:15 pm

I watched it over the weekend and loved it, with reservations. Regina King and Jean Smart deserve Emmy nominations, Tim Blake Nelson's character is excellent, and I think the show does a good job of connecting, within the constraints of a masked vigilante drama, the opening sequence to persistent structural racism.

There are lots of individual moments where the show gets too cute: moments after we meet "Pirate Jenny," there's a shot of a hotel called the Black Freighter, and some of the musical choices were almost as heavy-handed as those in "Suicide Squad," but the overall storyline is easily the best work Damon Lindelof's ever done. (I have not been a fan; I hate Lost, Prometheus, and Star Trek: Into Darkness, to put it mildly. And no, I haven't watched The Leftovers yet.)

I would watch a second season, but honestly, I think this lone season says everything it needs to say. I'd be fine with it ending now.

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