It's been a long time and I recently re-watched the show, so I started looking for youtube videos about Watchmen. So glad I found yours. Excellent. My favorite exposition device was definitely the Nostalgia pills, what an awesome concept for worldbuilding
Excellent video essay! School's been busy so even this Lindelof stan has missed Watchmen so far but I'm planning on catching up on Saturday and I couldn't be more excited
That question about zero gravity for one second a day is more interesting than I first supposed. Since zero gravity is not reverse gravity, many, many things in the modern world would be the same. For instance, a glass of water on a table would just be a glass of water on a table. The water would bob very slightly as it's shape was, for a moment only subject to it's own surface tension and adhesion to the glass. It might not move at all depending on size. However, anything man-made that depends on both precision kinetics and gravity would be disrupted. Satellites, train tracks, traffic (esp. highways) and factory processes where something slips into place because of gravity, would all have to be retooled. Although a second seems quick, it is plenty of time for train to derail, or for your car to bounce off the road because it was taking an exit ramp at 50 mph. Especially when gravity kicks back in, and not only are NOT all 4 tires on the pavement, but your car no longer has the same heading as your path of travel. And most non-correcting satellites would become useless in a week.
I'd compare this to Blade Runner 2049; taking an established cannon and expanding it into a hitherto unforeseen future of it, and absolutely nailing it without beating you up with exposition or leaving 'too' much to the imagination. Personally I think there's a special kind of skill as a writer to be able to build castles in someone else's mental sandbox successfully. Although in the case of Blade Runner it was Hampton Fancher doing the writing duties both times. But for Lindeloff to hop into Alan Moore's imagination-mobile and drive it responsibly and deftly without just mimicking the original work is such a credit to his abilities as a writer.
Do you believe HBO decided to include elements from their cancelled project by GoT creators? Would explain why the Oklahoma incident was exaggerated. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_(TV_series)
I definitely thought of CONFEDERATE while watching the show, but I think the similarities are purely coincidental. Lindelof has said one of the major inspirations for this series was "The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
While some of the things in the show I question, like characters, abandoned plot points (a guy literally spraying himself in oil after stalking the main char and sliding into a sewer, which is never to be brought up again), etc., I think they did a phenomenal job on worldbuilding, effects, and music. While a lot of aspects of the writing I questioned, I still felt like all this helped redeem the show in my eyes at least.
They brought him up again but very subtly. He was the agent who was assigned to help Laurie Blake. When she blew him off that's what he decided to do to take up the investigation on his own. I think they just never had a real follow-through with him because they wanted to illustrate an example of one more random asshole putting on a mask and trying to be special like back in the day. But yeah they probably didn't bookend the punchline well enough. But it's not like this was written on the fly. It was all one pre-planned story. Just a matter of the writer's intent probably not being well-enough conveyed. Lindeloff wanted people to just figure that out on their own.
Lots of interesting motifs and bits of ideas. But no real overarching theme or even a clear question ( let alone proposed answers). I know the zeitgeist is that narratives are oppressive - but why are we going to remember this series in 5 years?
I think it tells a fantastic and gripping story in a very creative and engaging way. Even if the overarching themes aren't its strong suit, it is a very high quality piece of media both visually and creatively. Plus, even if not very obvious, you can find plenty of overarching themes.
I have to disagree because I think the world builder here was Alan Moore and these guys are just expanding on it. That was the first thing that popped into my head with out actually seeing the HBO series.
Don't get me wrong, Gibbons and Moore deserve major credit and I mentioned them early on. Their book is one my all-time favorites. For the purposes of this video I wanted to focus on the HBO show and how they both expand upon the source material and bring plenty of new building blocks to the table to tell a story for existing fans and new audiences alike. I highly recommend checking the show out if you get the chance. At the making of this video I had only seen the first 3 episodes. I'm happy to say they absolutely followed through and nailed the ending.
@@cineflect You are so kind for responding to that, I didn't expect you to. Sadly my location is so remote we don't have things like HBO. ( We don't even have a train who comes up here and there used to be a small landing strip but its all over grown now ) I do plan on seeing the Watchmen TV series when the opportunity presents itself. I'm hoping they will make it on blu ray soon. When I lost my parents I inherited my dads collection of books and comics. I have the original Watchmen comics but I also have a hardbound print of Watchmen. In the back it has Alan Moore's original script for the first issue. He describes every single detail that's in every panel, right down to things like the color of the neon light signs blinking outside of Rorschack's window. It's really amazing how much thought Mr. Moore gave this. When I see the Watchmen film, I realize its not nearly as rich and detailed as Mr Moores original script, and I'm guessing the same can be said for the TV series. As a matter of principal, Moore won't allow his name to be attached to either film or TV show. Also as you know they changed details from Moore's original Watchmen. To Alan Moore they are destroying the world he created. That's where I was coming from when i made that comment.
What are your favorite examples of worldbuilding in WATCHMEN and what do you think of the show so far? Let me know in the comments below!
It's been a long time and I recently re-watched the show, so I started looking for youtube videos about Watchmen. So glad I found yours. Excellent. My favorite exposition device was definitely the Nostalgia pills, what an awesome concept for worldbuilding
Lindelof is such a master at this, I highly recommend his previous show The Leftovers as the world building in that is insanely good
Excellent video essay! School's been busy so even this Lindelof stan has missed Watchmen so far but I'm planning on catching up on Saturday and I couldn't be more excited
Thanks, Josh. You’re in for a treat. I think anybody who loves THE LEFTOVERS will feel right at home with this show. Let me know what you think!
That question about zero gravity for one second a day is more interesting than I first supposed. Since zero gravity is not reverse gravity, many, many things in the modern world would be the same. For instance, a glass of water on a table would just be a glass of water on a table. The water would bob very slightly as it's shape was, for a moment only subject to it's own surface tension and adhesion to the glass. It might not move at all depending on size.
However, anything man-made that depends on both precision kinetics and gravity would be disrupted.
Satellites, train tracks, traffic (esp. highways) and factory processes where something slips into place because of gravity, would all have to be retooled.
Although a second seems quick, it is plenty of time for train to derail, or for your car to bounce off the road because it was taking an exit ramp at 50 mph. Especially when gravity kicks back in, and not only are NOT all 4 tires on the pavement, but your car no longer has the same heading as your path of travel.
And most non-correcting satellites would become useless in a week.
question is posed at 8:45.
I'd compare this to Blade Runner 2049; taking an established cannon and expanding it into a hitherto unforeseen future of it, and absolutely nailing it without beating you up with exposition or leaving 'too' much to the imagination.
Personally I think there's a special kind of skill as a writer to be able to build castles in someone else's mental sandbox successfully. Although in the case of Blade Runner it was Hampton Fancher doing the writing duties both times. But for Lindeloff to hop into Alan Moore's imagination-mobile and drive it responsibly and deftly without just mimicking the original work is such a credit to his abilities as a writer.
I FW U HEAVY BRO❤REALLY ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS ON THIS SHOW!
Do you believe HBO decided to include elements from their cancelled project by GoT creators? Would explain why the Oklahoma incident was exaggerated. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_(TV_series)
I definitely thought of CONFEDERATE while watching the show, but I think the similarities are purely coincidental. Lindelof has said one of the major inspirations for this series was "The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
This new show isn't a sequal to the 2009 film right?
Well, it's more of a sequel to the graphic novel.
@@cineflect Oh. I haven't read or seen anything Watchmen related. And I don't have HBO so...
I cannot recommend the comic enough.
While some of the things in the show I question, like characters, abandoned plot points (a guy literally spraying himself in oil after stalking the main char and sliding into a sewer, which is never to be brought up again), etc., I think they did a phenomenal job on worldbuilding, effects, and music. While a lot of aspects of the writing I questioned, I still felt like all this helped redeem the show in my eyes at least.
They brought him up again but very subtly. He was the agent who was assigned to help Laurie Blake. When she blew him off that's what he decided to do to take up the investigation on his own.
I think they just never had a real follow-through with him because they wanted to illustrate an example of one more random asshole putting on a mask and trying to be special like back in the day. But yeah they probably didn't bookend the punchline well enough.
But it's not like this was written on the fly. It was all one pre-planned story. Just a matter of the writer's intent probably not being well-enough conveyed. Lindeloff wanted people to just figure that out on their own.
Loved Rorschach and understood his reasoning. He would slaughter those who distorted his words and the truth.
Lots of interesting motifs and bits of ideas. But no real overarching theme or even a clear question ( let alone proposed answers). I know the zeitgeist is that narratives are oppressive - but why are we going to remember this series in 5 years?
I think it tells a fantastic and gripping story in a very creative and engaging way. Even if the overarching themes aren't its strong suit, it is a very high quality piece of media both visually and creatively. Plus, even if not very obvious, you can find plenty of overarching themes.
I have to disagree because I think the world builder here was Alan Moore and these guys are just expanding on it. That was the first thing that popped into my head with out actually seeing the HBO series.
Don't get me wrong, Gibbons and Moore deserve major credit and I mentioned them early on. Their book is one my all-time favorites. For the purposes of this video I wanted to focus on the HBO show and how they both expand upon the source material and bring plenty of new building blocks to the table to tell a story for existing fans and new audiences alike.
I highly recommend checking the show out if you get the chance. At the making of this video I had only seen the first 3 episodes. I'm happy to say they absolutely followed through and nailed the ending.
@@cineflect You are so kind for responding to that, I didn't expect you to. Sadly my location is so remote we don't have things like HBO. ( We don't even have a train who comes up here and there used to be a small landing strip but its all over grown now ) I do plan on seeing the Watchmen TV series when the opportunity presents itself. I'm hoping they will make it on blu ray soon.
When I lost my parents I inherited my dads collection of books and comics. I have the original Watchmen comics but I also have a hardbound print of Watchmen. In the back it has Alan Moore's original script for the first issue. He describes every single detail that's in every panel, right down to things like the color of the neon light signs blinking outside of Rorschack's window. It's really amazing how much thought Mr. Moore gave this. When I see the Watchmen film, I realize its not nearly as rich and detailed as Mr Moores original script, and I'm guessing the same can be said for the TV series. As a matter of principal, Moore won't allow his name to be attached to either film or TV show. Also as you know they changed details from Moore's original Watchmen. To Alan Moore they are destroying the world he created. That's where I was coming from when i made that comment.
Do you prefer the movie or this show?
The show is better imo
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@@aidanclarke6432 no. You are a prick though. Bye.
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