Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Apparently HBO subscribers, as the network is giving the landmark 12 issue Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons series another go at the televised treatment.
While, following the 2009 Watchmen film and Man of Steel, Zack Snyder was originally spearheading a longer form adaptation of the comic; this time around sees The Leftovers creator and showrunner Damon Lindelof taking the reins, in what is being called an effort that’s completely independent of the 2014 Snyder push.
I’m trying to parse out whether I should be surprised or not regarding Lindelof’s involvement. His first big splash, Lost, was very indebted to Watchmen, and openly so, in the use of its flashback structure. Lindelof himself is a huge admirer of the comic, and it’s been reported here and there that whenever he was working on scripts for the show, it was one of the key texts he always had on his desk (along with The Stand). But, it also seems perhaps just a tad too obvious, perhaps?
I also just wonder, and perhaps this is just after years of an already existing live action adaptation, a ton of prequel comics, and now an effort to bring these characters into the DCU proper, what else is there to uncover with Watchmen? What hasn’t been said? I’m sure a better adaptation would be nice, but there’s just a sense of exhaustion around it all. At least for me at this very point in time.
I’m sure I’ll enjoy this, as I tend to appreciate Lindelof at his most unfettered, without necessarily loving the final products that have gone through the hands of others. Please do wow us, Damon.
They’ll be hard-pressed to find a better Dr. Manhattan than Bill Crudup though, seriously.
i’m interested, but like you i’m wondering what they’re going to be able to say that wasn’t covered in the movie? Maybe they do side adventures?
Plus i’m worried about SFX budget. I mean you wouldn’t want this to be a lite version of the movie.
I’m amazed how they keep squeezing blood from that stone. I love Moore, but no book is good enough to go through all these adaptations and toasters.
Just please don’t set it in 1985. Update it to the present. I think setting it in an alternative past was the biggest misstep the movie made (I used to hate the movie but now I’m somewhat more receptive to it since seeing the Director’s Cut). The only reason the book is set in the mid-1980s is because that was when it was written. There is nothing inherently essential about that year to the story. Simply update the global tension to terrorism or something more of the moment.
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