We can all relax. We now have an understanding of the direction Damon Lindelof will take Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ iconic comic book series Watchmen. Few storylines have held such a stranglehold on a particular sect of pop culture, and the dread sparked online by the very notion of an HBO sequel sent me into cold sweats. I get it. The comic was a major force, revolutionizing the industry and redeeming the medium in the eyes of some. But folks, the book came out 34 years ago. Since then we’ve seen prequel stories, Zack Snyder’s theatrical adaptation, his director’s cut, and his ultimate cut. Currently, DC Comics is slowly publishing its own sequel where the Watchmen characters are being squished alongside Superman and Batman. We’re ready for an even more liberal interpretation of this universe. Wow. Ok. While Lindelof is absolutely riffing on the narrative and imagery of the comic book, he appears to be formulating something utterly unique. There is a lot to scrounge through here with many more new characters than old. That’s exciting in its own right. So, let’s hit this trailer shot by shot. A yellow HBO logo fades as the first shot focuses on a masked individual grimly speaking into the camera, “We are no one. We are everyone.” The man counters his blah plaid collared shirt with a very distinctive imitation of the classic Rorschach stocking. In the graphic novel, Dave Gibbons often altered the vigilante’s pattern from scene to scene. Zack Snyder’s adaptation expressed this through an unexplainable technology that allowed the inkblots to shift across the face continuously. Lindelof’s idol worshippers don’t have the money for such fanciful affectations. As the camera pulls back on the first Rorschach, we meet an entire goon squad. Their spokesman resumes, “And we are invisible.” The first issue of Watchmen was published in 1986 and takes place in some alternate version of that decade where Richard Nixon remained in office, and masked individuals waged wars in the streets. At that story’s climax, we learned that businessman and one-time superhero Adrian Veidt falsified an alien invasion to bring world leaders together against a common enemy. However, global peace based on a lie did not sit well with the anti-hero Rorschach, and when he threatened to expose the truth to the public, the god-being known as Dr. Manhattan vaporized him. The final panels reveal that Rorschach recorded his thoughts in a journal and it has arrived in the mailbox of the right-wing newspaper The New Frontiersman. Based on the gathering here we can assume that a few eyes at least received Rorschach’s journal, and his rage endures in these men. Behind them, we see a crucifixion tilted almost like the hand of a clock just past midnight. Above that, we read the words of Psalm 65, “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion.” The basic gist being that the faithful are eager to sing the praise of their God and sever His/Her purpose. In this case, Rorschach and the other “heroes” who fell in attempting to bring truth to the people. We hear the first tick of a clock, and we cut to – – a pocket watch with the hands reading nine minutes to midnight. In Watchmen mythology, midnight on the clock represents doomsday or the threat of total nuclear annihilation as a result of the Cold War boiling between the United States and the Soviet Union. Throughout the series, watches hold tremendous significance forever warning an end to all things. Before he was Dr. Manhattan, Jon Osterman was the son of a watchmaker. He planned to follow his father into the profession, but after the atomic detonation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Osterman threw himself into scientific study. His experiments with the government would eventually grant him control over matter, remove his sense of humanity, and grant him a kind of omnipotence. While the Rorschach leader whispers “tick-tock” on repeat, we cut to a gathering of police officers sporting their own camouflage. Is this a matter of “if you can’t beat them, join them” mentality? Despite having survived the events of Watchmen, characters like Dr. Manahattan, Nite-Owl, and Silk Spectre are absent from this trailer; suggesting that the O.G. crimefighters have gone into hiding. They may have sparked the imagination of the public consciousness, and as a result, government agencies adopt their fashion choices. Chief Judd Crawford (Don Johnson) states that “We convinced ourselves that they were gone, but they were just hibernating.” The Rorschach army is a threat to everything polite society built in the wake of the unifying alien invasion. Crawford’s officers have suffered a loss. The best defense is a strong offense. The “tick-tock” chanting continues. War begins.<doc-sep>HBO has been releasing little glimpses of its adaptation of the classic graphic novel “Watchmen,” but now we’ve got a full teaser trailer. “Watchmen” has already been turned into a big-budget film by director Zack Snyder. While the movie wasn’t a complete disaster, the results were still disappointing, since the original graphic novel (written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons) routinely appears on lists of the best comics of all time. One of the main problems with the movie, at least in my view, is that Moore and Gibbons’ story is so perfectly suited to the comics format that any adaptation is going to feel like a step down. Perhaps “Watchmen” TV creator Damon Lindelof felt something similar, since he said last year that the comics “will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted” on the show. Instead, he suggested that the series would treat the comics as “our Old Testament” and tell new stories about what comes after. While the teaser mostly sticks to cryptic, ominous imagery, that does seem to be approach here — depicting a world where costumed vigilantes have been part of American history for decades, and where the catastrophic events that ended “Watchmen” are just part of the backstory. By the way, Lindelof’s involvement is what makes me excited for the show. While he’s best-known for co-creating “Lost,” his most recent project was “The Leftovers,” which I’d argue is itself a contender for greatest television show of all time. (With an amazing performance from Regina King, who’s also in this trailer!) So even though I’m not convinced the world really needed another version of “Watchmen,” I’m very interested to see what Lindelof does next.<doc-sep>
The first trailer for Damon Lindelof’s HBO take on The Watchmen universe has arrived, and with it are some callbacks to the original Alan Moore graphic novel. This isn’t a direct adaptation of Moore’s 1986 work, which focuses on vigilantes in an alternate United States operating during the Cold War and is widely regarded as one of the most important comic books of all time. Instead, Lindelof’s take is set within the world Moore created, using central Watchmen character Rorschach as a way to springboard into a new era. Superheroes — or costumed vigilantes — are still around in Lindelof’s tale, and it’s clear they aren’t to be trusted. That helps explain why Lindelof’s design includes references to fictional groups based on modern-day organizations like Anonymous. Unlike Zack Snyder’s divisive 2009 film adaptation of Watchmen, Lindelof isn’t looking to re-create Moore’s world panel by panel. Lindelof is aware of the deep connection fans of Moore’s work have to the comic, and he’s addressed concerns that he may mess up the legacy by playing around with Moore’s world. “We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created thirty years ago,” Lindelof wrote on Instagram when the show was in early production. “Those issues are sacred ground and they will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted.” He says the show isn’t a sequel, but it does seem to take place in the world where the events of Watchmen happened: Those original twelve issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along it did not erase what came before it. Creation. The Garden of Eden. Abraham and Isaac. The Flood. It all happened. And so it will be with Watchmen. The Comedian died. Dan and Laurie fell in love. Ozymandias saved the world and Dr. Manhattan left it just after blowing Rorschach to pieces in the bitter cold of Antarctica. The teaser trailer showcases the differences between what Lindelof wants to do and what Moore achieved. It references characters like The Comedian and Ozymandias, but not necessarily how die-hard fans of the series remember them. Watchmen will premiere on HBO later this year. No premiere date has been set.