[TV series] Watchmen

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Moliere
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[TV series] Watchmen

Post by Moliere »

Damon Lindelof to Develop ‘Watchmen’ for HBO
Fresh off the series finale of “The Leftovers,” Lindelof is in talks to develop an adaptation of the comic book series “Watchmen” to the cabler.

This will be HBO’s second attempt at developing a series based on the landmark DC Comics miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The premium channel had kicked the tires on a “Watchmen” project in 2014. Sources say Lindelof’s take on the series would be starting over from scratch independent of that effort.
Which begs the question:

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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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I hope it ends with a golden sewer.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by Brian »

Moliere wrote:Damon Lindelof
Passitty pass pass with a side of double nope.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by Carpet_pissr »

I hear Idris Elba has been cast as Ozymandias.

What?!?! You got a problem with that?! HATER
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by DD* »

Carpet_pissr wrote:I hear Idris Elba has been cast as Ozymandias.

What?!?! You got a problem with that?! HATER
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by Malificent »

Brian wrote:
Moliere wrote:Damon Lindelof
Passitty pass pass with a side of double nope.
Whereas, for me, after watching The Leftovers, I'll give anything he does a look. The fact it happens to be The Watchmen is just a bonus.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by McNutt »

Lindelof is an immediate deal breaker for me too.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by LordMortis »

Looked at Lindleoff's profile and literally the only thing I've seen of his that he was a producer for the Star Trek reboot. I saw it. It wasn't horrible. It was more Star Wars than Star Trek but it wasn't horrible. I also don't really know how much effect he had on the movie as one of six producers who was not the executive producer.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by Brian »

Did you check his writing credits?

Most notably:

Cowboys Vs. Aliens
World War Z
Star Trek Into Darkness
Prometheus
Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland is the only one of these that I haven't seen but by all accounts it was quite terrible.

The rest are inexcusable cinematic abortions that took existing franchises and characters and turned them into aggressively stupid and insulting caricatures of their source material.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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World War Z wasn't that bad if you ignore the fact that it bears the name of a much, much better book.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by Brian »

Have you read Lindelhof's original ending?
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by McNutt »

My biggest problems with Lindelof were Prometheus and Star Trek Into Darkness. Those were the two most disappointing movies I had ever seen. I hated almost everything about those two movies.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by hepcat »

Brian wrote:Have you read Lindelhof's original ending?
Oh, I wasn't defending Lindelhof. I was defending the movie. I think other, better writers/creative people saved the film.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by Brian »

Which is kinda my point. Lindelhof can take something that, while maybe not perfect is at least palatable, and make it exponentially worse.

I have read the original script to Prometheus before Lindelhof was brought on for rewrites and THAT was much closer to what I was hoping for than the steaming turd of existentialist pseudo-Christ-figure bullshit we ended up with.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by LordMortis »

Brian wrote:Did you check his writing credits?

Most notably:

Cowboys Vs. Aliens
World War Z
Star Trek Into Darkness
Prometheus
Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland is the only one of these that I haven't seen but by all accounts it was quite terrible.

The rest are inexcusable cinematic abortions that took existing franchises and characters and turned them into aggressively stupid and insulting caricatures of their source material.
I've turned in to Kraken. I have seen not a one of them.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by hepcat »

I always think of this article from the Onion when I look at my movie collection... :oops:
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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i can't believe this will be anything approaching watchable. i'm sure Alan Moore's thoughts on this would be amusing to read.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by gbasden »

I am super confused about what anything in that trailer has to do with the graphic novel of the same name.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by malchior »

hitbyambulance wrote: Wed May 08, 2019 11:50 pm i can't believe this will be anything approaching watchable. i'm sure Alan Moore's thoughts on this would be amusing to read.
I give HBO the benefit of the doubt (even despite GOT's very Hollywood turn). I agree Moore's usual crank will be at high levels. :)
gbasden wrote: Thu May 09, 2019 3:55 am I am super confused about what anything in that trailer has to do with the graphic novel of the same name.
Same here. The tick tock thing...wtf?
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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Damon Lindelof tries to explain it in a letter:

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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by pr0ner »

I'll watch.

The Book of Nora is one of the finest episodes of TV I have ever watched. Lindeloff doesn't bug me like he seems to bug others here.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by MonkeyFinger »

Funny, just got an email yesterday from a friend of mine with a link to the trailer and the following rant:

"When I was younger, I thought getting a Hollywood adaptation was the pinnacle of achievement. It’s this sort of memory rape nonsense that renders Hollywood dead to me. Ugh. I really enjoyed Snyder’s film. This? It looks like a crime against humanity."

Looks like I need to send him that, ummm... "explanation". :wink:
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by Blackhawk »

gbasden wrote: Thu May 09, 2019 3:55 am I am super confused about what anything in that trailer has to do with the graphic novel of the same name.
I watched it a few times, and the only possible connection I could imagine was that the all the guys we see with the Rorschach masks are the aftermath of
Spoiler:
Rorschach's journal, which, as I recall, he passed off to a reporter before the end.
I also wonder if they'll be any connection to The Doomsday Clock. Between that and the prequel they wrote, there is a lot more to the setting than just the original Watchmen.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by LordMortis »

I don't know what it's supposed to be but the trailer looked like an attempt to cash on Anonymous a bit after Mr Robot did allowing series creator to feel special because Anonymous use Guy Fawkes masks and Rorschach wears a mask, so look, facade motif deep meaning tribute to Moore or maybe to ICP.

HBO have a pretty good track record, going back 30+ years for making series, though, so it would easy to see that I am way off base.

I also don't think of Moore as cranky. :oops: I think of him as the guy gigging with David J

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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by hepcat »

hitbyambulance wrote: Wed May 08, 2019 11:50 pm i can't believe this will be anything approaching watchable. i'm sure Alan Moore's thoughts on this would be amusing to read.
Alan Moore's opinion on anything other than Alan Moore is amusing to read.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by gbasden »

Hrothgar wrote: Thu May 09, 2019 8:49 am Damon Lindelof tries to explain it in a letter:

That letter does explain it pretty well. I'm definitely interested in seeing where they go with it.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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remix
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by Little Raven »

Eh...I'll give it a watch before I declare it to be awful. I agree that there's plenty of reason for doubt, but the trailer didn't send me running for the hills.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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I know nothing about the comics, or what it's even about, so I'm sure I'll enjoy watching this as I don't have to worry about any differences between the show and the comic.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by McNutt »

You should read the comic. I'm not a comic guy at all and only got it because Time listed it as one of the top 100 novels of the 20th century. It really blew me away.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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naednek wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 11:41 am I know nothing about the comics, or what it's even about, so I'm sure I'll enjoy watching this as I don't have to worry about any differences between the show and the comic.
You're looking at it the wrong way. Looking at the differences between a source material and its adaptation can be part of the enjoyment of watching a show. Unless you're one of those people who clamor for adaptations but then claim your childhood has been raped if a TV show pronounces a character name differently than you did in your head when reading, it's quite possible for each medium to enhance the other. I think Game of Thrones is a good example of this. (Much of the complaining about the last few seasons isn't because of differences - the books haven't been written this far out yet, so there are no differences to complain about.)
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by LordMortis »

My two favorite examples are Clockwork Orange and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I've never read Princess Bride but I'm told it's much different as well. OTOH, Fellowship of the Ring was so faithful it made the next two movies differences a distraction and some director's visions (*cough* Time Burton *cough*) absolutely brutalize other people's visions with their imaginings of other people's source material. I'm usually willing to to give the benefit of the doubt and I try to divorce my preconceptions from something new. I don't always succeed. I remember Blade Runner sequel had me running away. I eventually rented it anyway. It was well enough. I still think it would have been a great movie if it ended at the end of Joi's story line.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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LordMortis wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 1:15 pm some director's visions (*cough* Time Burton *cough*) absolutely brutalize other people's visions with their imaginings of other people's source material
Stanley Kubrick, discuss!
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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LordMortis wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 1:15 pm My two favorite examples are Clockwork Orange and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Cuckoo's Nest is probably the best example of how the original and its adaptation can enhance each other. Each is a brilliant work in its own right, and they tell essentially the same story. How they tell that story is so wildly different, though, that taken together they really are better than taken individually.
hitbyambulance wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 2:07 pm
LordMortis wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 1:15 pm some director's visions (*cough* Time Burton *cough*) absolutely brutalize other people's visions with their imaginings of other people's source material
Stanley Kubrick, discuss!
Kubrick may be a good reason to discount Moore's concerns. He did a phenomenal job with The Shining, even if King can't recognize that.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by hepcat »

Little Raven wrote: Thu May 09, 2019 8:33 pm Eh...I'll give it a watch before I declare it to be awful. I agree that there's plenty of reason for doubt, but the trailer didn't send me running for the hills.
I thought a TV series based on the character Hannibal from Silence of the Lambs would be god awful. It turned out to be one of the greatest television shows of all time. So I'll give Watchmen the benefit of the doubt.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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ImLawBoy wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 2:13 pm Kubrick may be a good reason to discount Moore's concerns. He did a phenomenal job with The Shining, even if King can't recognize that.
Kubrick is a director that takes other people's source material and pretty thoroughly 'Kubrickizes' it - for better or for worse. i think it's safe to say he has a distinctive style and method and can/will make the interpretation (fairly definitively) his own. 'Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange', 'Stanley Kubrick's Lolita', 'Stanley Kubrick's The Shining', 'Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey', etc

Tim Burton, for example, does the same thing, but i don't believe the results are interesting anymore - it's long been predictable to the point of cliche.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

Post by msteelers »

ImLawBoy wrote:Kubrick may be a good reason to discount Moore's concerns. He did a phenomenal job with The Shining, even if King can't recognize that.
I know I’m on an island here, but I have never liked the Kubrick version of The Shining. I remember liking the TV mini series a lot more, because it was more faithful to the book.

But Kubrick is just one of those popular directors that I don’t get. None of his movies have connected with me, and I tend to actively dislike them.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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hitbyambulance wrote:Tim Burton, for example, does the same thing, but i don't believe the results are interesting anymore - it's long been predictable to the point of cliche.
I agree. I’ve gone from being excited about Burton movies, to being indifferent, and now actively avoiding his movies.
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Re: [TV series] Watchmen

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naednek wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 11:41 am I know nothing about the comics, or what it's even about, so I'm sure I'll enjoy watching this as I don't have to worry about any differences between the show and the comic.
That's not even a concern. The comics, at least the two main ones, covered a specific sequence of events. This just takes place in the same setting. Everything is original, so the 'differences' are pretty much everything. The only concern that was really brought up is that there doesn't seem to be much yet connecting what we've seen to the world we know.
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