Watchmen in 1994- A Pop-culture TL

But should he get away or not?

The threat only works if he does in fact get away. What Mr. Bondoc is saying is that instead of faking an alien invasion the guy sets himself up as something so evil peace must occur to fight him.
 
Okay, let's make a list of plot changes to the movie from the book, referencing changes already mentioned.


-Dr. Manhattan, being a great pan-dimensional being, will just be portrayed without genitalia. His skin is more liquidy blue (think T-1000 from T2) than the comics would probably imply, but that's okay, because it'll keep the budget down.

-The Comedian's assault of the first Silk Specter is reduced (yes Fenwick) to the Comedian trying to kiss her while drunk, she slaps him, they quarrel a bit, and just as things are about to get ugly, Hooded Justice steps in and diffuses it.

-The sex scene, of course, is merely implied.

-Rorschach is still brooding and a bit disturbed, but the his backstory is heavily simplified- no mention, or at least not directly, of his mother's prostitution, his motives for turning more ruthless can be attributed to his hatred of the counter-culture, etc.

-Veidt's motives are more selfish than the comic. He's in it for the cash, and so he creates a supervillain alter-ego for himself (the Menace, we'll say). The USSR and USA are just about ready to launch the nukes on each other, then their respective launch sites inexplicably explode. "The Menace" broadcasts to the world some generic supervillain crap, keeping him and his Ozymandias alter-ego separate from that, so no one would suspect. When Rorschach and Nite Owl confront him one this, Veidt justifies himself saying "it's the last best hope for peace".

Whaddya think?
 
I see the worst film ever made. 1994 was right at the high point of movie marketing. Those who make the film will want Watchmen action figures, collector cups, and more. As such the idea of "dark" or "edgy" heroes gets toned down just enough so parents can take their kids to the movie. Everyone is in shape, Dr. Manhattan is either wearing pants or only filmed from the waist up, and worst off Watchmen is split between those who liked the movie and those who stick to the book.
I could see it going the other way. 1993 was the height of the comic Dark Age, a time of Grimdark for Grimdark's sake, "XTREME" gimmicks, and "THE BADASS BLOODGUNZ BATALION" style naming. This is the time period that gave the world Spawn people! Picture this, nite owl loaded to the gills with pouches, bandoliers, and with huge gattling guns stolen right out of Rambo.
 
I could see it going the other way. 1993 was the height of the comic Dark Age, a time of Grimdark for Grimdark's sake, "XTREME" gimmicks, and "THE BADASS BLOODGUNZ BATALION" style naming. This is the time period that gave the world Spawn people! Picture this, nite owl loaded to the gills with pouches, bandoliers, and with huge gattling guns stolen right out of Rambo.

You are connecting what occurs inside the comic world, as what occurs in the film industry. I keep looking to how Warner Bros felt that Batman Returns could have earned a great deal more money (anywhere from twice to three times the earnings depending on who you ask) had the film not been so "dark."
 
You are connecting what occurs inside the comic world, as what occurs in the film industry. I keep looking to how Warner Bros felt that Batman Returns could have earned a great deal more money (anywhere from twice to three times the earnings depending on who you ask) had the film not been so "dark."
I posted that before reading the rest of this thread. Now that I have, I now have a healthy hate of the 90s film industry. :eek:
 
I posted that before reading the rest of this thread. Now that I have, I now have a healthy hate of the 90s film industry. :eek:

Even as an Indy film the Watchman would be very, very toned down.

I see 1994 Watchmen as two things...

The Watchmen!
Warner Bros produced, directed by Joel Schumacher, starring an A-list cast including Bruce Willis as Nite-Owl, Val Kilmer as Rorschach, Sandra Bullock (in her second action role following Speed) as Silk Spectre, and Gary Oldman as Ramesses (as writers felt Ozymandias was too strange). It is an action packed, witty film about three aging superheroes who go to save the day from an old ally who has turned into a villian. Dr. Manhatten has been removed due to budget, story, and more, while much of the backstory is limited to two minutes in the intro. It was released to mixed reviews, and while called a "financial success" it made only thirty million more than it cost to film.

Who Watches the Watchmen?
Directed by Roger Avary, who used what Hollywood clout he had following Pulp Fiction, made the film on a budget of $21 million dollars. The most famous, and expensive actor at a salary of $1 million, was Christopher Walken who played Ozymandias. Avary filmed Watchmen in the style he enjoyed, which made it rather popular by critics due to the complex, yet easy to grasp, plot. Four seperate tales makes up WWtW, with Rorschach hunting down the killer of the Comedian, while the Comedian lives his life from the 1940's to modern day, Ozymandias works out his plan to save the world, while the Silk Spectre deals with her loveless relationship with Dr. Manhatten. Shown only for ten minutes Manhatten cost near $350,000 per minute, and was considered useless footage by many critics. WHile it made little money, it holds some stance in "artsy", and comic book circles given its attempt to be true to the source material. Alan Moore says he does not like the film but, "cannot help but love a man who takes my script, calls it shit, and tries to make it his own." James Spader played Rorschach, and while he found it an enjoyable role, claims it was his most stressful year as an actor having been in four films that year.
 
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I don't know about taking Dr. Manhattan out. I imagine it's hard to market a superhero movie with characters no one's heard of if none of the superheroes have powers.
 

TheCrow__

Banned
This film could be good you'd just have to get a good indie director I reckomend as stated earlier Tarantino or Rodriguez. But the catch is the director is gonna have to still need someone with big finances to produce. I say little interference to the story as much as possible.:D
 
Even as an Indy film the Watchman would be very, very toned down.

I see 1994 Watchmen as two things...

The Watchmen!
Warner Bros produced, directed by Joel Schumacher, starring an A-list cast including Bruce Willis as Nite-Owl, Val Kilmer as Rorschach, Sandra Bullock (in her second action role following Speed) as Silk Spectre, and Gary Oldman as Ramesses (as writers felt Ozymandias was too strange). It is an action packed, witty film about three aging superheroes who go to save the day from an old ally who has turned into a villian. Dr. Manhatten has been removed due to budget, story, and more, while much of the backstory is limited to two minutes in the intro. It was released to mixed reviews, and while called a "financial success" it made only thirty million more than it cost to film.

Considering Joel Schumacher was responsible for the franchise-killing Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, this is going to be a train wreck of epic proportions. Consider the fact that Schumacher said, that Batman Forever lacked enough "butt-shots" and "costume nipples". He also had the Batmobile drive up a wall.... NUFF SAID!!
 
The more I think about it, the more this sounds like the Wildcats cartoon. An atempt to adapt an R-rated comic into a G-rated serries. All you have to do is look it up on Youtube to see how well that turned out.
 
Considering Joel Schumacher was responsible for the franchise-killing Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, this is going to be a train wreck of epic proportions. Consider the fact that Schumacher said, that Batman Forever lacked enough "butt-shots" and "costume nipples". He also had the Batmobile drive up a wall.... NUFF SAID!!

True, but the man was a popular director. His films made money and he understood how to appease studio heads, while working towards his own ideas. Guy seems kinda like a brown noser.
 
You people talk about watchmen like NOBODY KNEW WHAT IT WAS! Which is just plain untrue. Within a year opf it's publishing it was translated into many languages and was being talked about by hip artsy types from Paris to Tokyo. In fact the Akira movie (one of anime's all time classics mind you) referenced watchmen two years later.
 
You people talk about watchmen like NOBODY KNEW WHAT IT WAS! Which is just plain untrue. Within a year opf it's publishing it was translated into many languages and was being talked about by hip artsy types from Paris to Tokyo. In fact the Akira movie (one of anime's all time classics mind you) referenced watchmen two years later.

If you are talking about the issue of whether or not the comic-buying fan, knew about Watchmen, you are right, but they don't represent either the tastes or demographics of most film-going audiences. But for the most part, the influence is overstated by many. Dave Gibbons even pointed out that the graphic novel sold only 5 million copies, between the years 1985 and 2000. To put that in perpective, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone sold that many copies in 1 month....

It wasn't until later that the influencehad built up, to attract mainstream audiences. Comics Journal ranked it only #91 in terms of its "Top 100 English-language comics of the 20th Century" in 1999, 5 years after the film attempt. It won't be until 2005, that TIME listed it amongst the "All-Time Top 100 Novels", 11 years after the POD....
 
How about a different take
Instead of a movie, why not a miniseries on HBO or Showtime?

I think that would be more likely in the 1990s. I think the mini-series treatment on a For Pay channel would allow more of the production to be faithful to the source material.
 
Fenwick said:
The threat only works if he does in fact get away. What Mr. Bondoc is saying is that instead of faking an alien invasion the guy sets himself up as something so evil peace must occur to fight him.
There's another way, & it doesn't require blowing up anything. Steal Monday's approach (or Tim Truman's...:p) from Scout: build a secret orbital missile base (in one of the Lagrange points) & threaten to blow hell out of both sides if they don't make peace now.:eek:

Edit: I just noticed how old this was....:eek::eek:
 
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