Damon Lindelof's Watchmen

I suspect we're going to get a fair bit more American Hero Story.

did someone say American Horror Story?

American Hero Story, a serial adventure featuring an anthropomorphic Subway sandwich trying to avoid being eaten by Whiney

quick spoilery question about the content of the actual episode

was the car that fell from the sky angela's car? or was it just another random car?

Was wondering the same thing myself, I wasn't sure. The various recappers seem to believe it was.

yeah i assumed it was. it was the 'brick' that was thrown up .... in the last episode.

I am looking forward to the continuing discourse between people who like and have seen this show and ppl who hate it and have not seen it

this show sucks buddy

(i haven't seen it)

I will say one thing for certain, like him or not, Lindelof -- and Jean Smart -- understands the person Laurie is a hell of a lot better than Snyder and Akerman did.

that is the faintest conceivable praise

So this is the year's show that people who dislike it are going to be really loud and persistent in reminding us about how much they hate it, huh?

so Jean Smart is / was also on Legion, so she's 2/2 for fucking weirdo auteur comic book tv series.

Playing a woman whose boyfriend/husband has left earth in both!

Someone has probably mentioned it upthread, but at the New York Comic Con they had pictures of the cast, and it said that Jeremy Irons was playing 'Probably who you think he is'. I absolutely loved the reveal, which was so silly and over the top for something that everyone who had read the comic must have figured out, or otherwise didn't make a lick of sense. 'Ps, glad you enjoyed the tomatoes'.

The thing about Lost was that so much of it was basically postmodern meta about storytelling, knowledge, the lack of knowledge, mysteries, the unknowable, but it was mostly presented like a regular tv show, so people got annoyed when in the end it failed to pay off like a tv show is supposed to. And since then Lindelof has seemed pretty determined to make clear that he understands the rules of the games, and when he breaks them, it's on purpose.

Snyder has never understood a human being in his life

My partner used to have a blue vibrator that we called Dr Manhattan, so we dug that scene

Soooo story time

So this is the year's show that people who dislike it are going to be really loud and persistent in reminding us about how much they hate it, huh?

― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 14:12 (yesterday) link

Like, on the “this show shouldn’t exist” level, I understand why some people aren’t in a charitable frame of mind about it.

That said, I’ve really enjoyed the show so far. It’s funny and weird and the world building feels very true to the comic. It could all easily fall apart by the end but for now, I’m on board.

First chunk of the soundtrack is up on streaming services.

in my tireless quest to ruin the music of every single HBO show, i have to point out the music for episode 3 of Watchmen sounds a lot like "Mo Bamba" pic.twitter.com/NdPadfCL8x

— demi adejuyigbe (@electrolemon) November 7, 2019

Lol I had that same thought

So this is the year's show that people who dislike it are going to be really loud and persistent in reminding us about how much they hate it, huh?

https://i.imgur.com/4k8ZDEi.jpg

All of this has reminded me how stellar Bolland’s drawing is on the series.

It literally says 'Dave Gibbons' in the post above yours.

proof that stealing literally hundreds of millions of actual dollars from artists pays off for them after all, in exposure

yes! Just saying that I’m seeing Gibbons’ illustrations more than I have in many years and am reminded of everything I liked about him when I used to spend my days poring over the work of comics artists.

do you like different things about Mr Mamoulian?

Over in the mainstream timeline, the movie adaptation that Moore & Gibbons were pursuing in 1987 got made and was a big success; they’re now three film trilogies deep in the Watchmen Cinematic Universe; and Warner Bros. CEO Alan Moore is defending the rollout of yet another animated spinoff series, Watchmen Babies.

xpost to sic, I’d never heard of it til now.
I like Bolland’s extension of Gil Kane’s balance of lightness & economy and solidity of form, combined with a sense of knowing where you are when you look at a panel. When he inks himself it gets a little rich for my taste.

...so the only thing you have ever liked by him is Camelot 3000? bold challop.

Why are we talking about Bolland again?

well i'll have to revise my theory as to where Ozymandias is

Three episodes in, and I think I'm done with this show. It might be fantastic for all I know, but I don't because the way the audio's been mixed has rendered it p much unwatchable. Every one of Laurie Blake's lines was drowned out by background music. God help my neighbours every time a loud sound effect happened because I had to have my volume turned up so loud the gunshots were as loud as actual gunshots.

And speaking of music, I feel like the song choices are really arbitrary. Like someone's just picking songs to show off their good taste, except they're songs a lot of people will know anyway ('Mongoloid', 'Israelites') as opposed to good deep cuts. Neither do they really have much to do with the plot. They're just inserted kind of randomly a bit like those self-conciously cool 90s action films that were designed to sell CD compilations

"Israelites" at least ties back to Veidt's expressed love of dub, I would think

I don't have any trouble hearing anyone's dialogue tho one friend of mine has the same gripe about the mix.

Maybe I'm just being a snob but it feels like a very obvious reggae song to play. It's only a minor complaint - the sound mixing is my main bugbear

Devo is also a callback to the graphic novel.

This week's was on the slow side but I'm very curious about the Vietnamese angle.

I haven’t seen the show, but you can turn on subtitles if you have trouble hearing the dialogue? (In our house, we generally watch TV this way by default.)

There's a setting on Apple TV that allows for reducing loud noises and increasing the volume of speech. It helps some. My guess is that maybe this problem arises because they are mixing for surround sound? I also think most of us (me included) don't have a sound set up that's optimized for TV/movies. But I just use subtitles now on everything.

I am tentatively enjoying this so far (haven't seen last night's episode yet), but I don't have any prior experience with the comic or movie, so I often feel like I'm missing something or not appreciating it as much as I would if I knew the mythology going in. Partly I feel this way because all the recaps I've been reading make reference to context outside the frame.

the fuck?
THE FUCK!!
I am really hoping Lube Man isn't just a weird throwaway detail but there's a reason for him to be stalking while lubed

Having observed Trieu, I'm pretty sure _she_ is actually a re-embodied Veidt in the present-day timeline; she sure as hell acts exactly like him - grandiose but at the same time focused and pragmatic, biosphere, statues of himself, classical references and idols (once Alexander, now 'the Vietnamese Joan of Arc'), giant sci-fi world-remaking projects and all

Elephants, for 'memory' - something which Reeves needs pills 'to get', something which Bian is having without experiencing

I'm losing track of the egg references in this show but it is a lot, including Veidt's twisted incubator

Stuffed animal offered to Angela was of course Bubastis

Watching Jean Smart play Laurie is at the very top of the pleasures of this show. She makes 'sassy' as large as the world and as varied

"Three episodes in, and I think I'm done with this show. It might be fantastic for all I know, but I don't because the way the audio's been mixed has rendered it p much unwatchable."

I'm not having this issue at all. Are you sure there isn't something amiss with your AV setup? How are you watching this?

I just caught up last night. I liked the first two episodes a lot; the second two not as much. I am not a fan of the show still introducing major characters in episodes 3 and 4. It's not fatal for me, but if there are still new major players

The sequences with Jeremy Irons might be my favorite thing so far.

Time for speculation (n.b. I have read no articles about this show):

I suspect there is some sort of time warp/dislocation element to be revealed based on Trieu's comment that her tower is designed to "tell time." I wonder if this is a call-back to *SPOILERS* the fact that Dr. Manhattan experiences past, present, and future simultaneously and that Veidt used tachyon generators to cloud the future from Dr. Manhattan's knowledge.

I would not be surprised if some part of this show (Jeremy Irons?) is taking place on a Mars with beings set in motion by Dr. Manhattan.

*if there are still new major players being introduced in a another episode or two, that will be a bad sign.*

Irons is absolutely my favorite element. He looks like he's having a ball.

expecting to see Dr. M and Night Owl at least though

I read a fan theory about what Trieu and co. are up to that is almost certainly more fun/satisfying than what's actually going on.

I am really hoping Lube Man isn't just a weird throwaway detail but there's a reason for him to be stalking while lubed

He lubed himself as he was being chased, he pulled two squirt bottles from his belt and doused himself just before he ditched the belt and slid into the sewer. Still weird through.