fuckin' awesome...was reading Watchmen the other night and was curious to how they were going to integrate the excerpts from the comic within a comic into the film.

Anyone have a Canadian mirror?

How will "Under the Hood" be presented? Wasn't it just old stories about Mason's days in costume?

yeah, memoirs basically

Do you think it will just be like a digital book, and you "turn pages" with your DVD remote? Or like, pictures with narration maybe? Or perhaps they'll do it like a documentary based on the book, with interviews and stuff.

that's a good guess. kind of like something they'd put in special features.

i don't know though, Under the Hood is supposed to be an entire book, so i don't think they could 'replicate' it in a scroll-through dvd option.

it could possibly show him in the process of writing out his memoirs, and him flashing back, with the audience seeing it through his eyes. that seems to make the most sense to me.

Yeah, good call.

Wait a minute, wasn't Ride of the Valkyries on the movie soundtrack? And wouldn't that imply that at least the garage scene is in the movie? I wonder...

Was the character designs done by the same people who did Deadshot segment from Batman: Gotham Knight?

What a piece of garbage. Moore, you are absolutely right.

i agree with singer this cartoon doesnt look that great, it might be entertaining but it looks like those corny marvel cartoons

It's not the best animation. I would have preferred Peter Chung's animation style or Production IG to do something like this. But I love the story so much for this that I'm willing to let it pass.

Nice.

I wish they went with the less conventional style anime (or anime outright) and went with something a little more classic or even stylized. Peter Chung would of been an excellent choice I think. Or maybe a revamp of the MAXX style animation would of worked. Hell, why not use Dave Gibson's drawings for reference!? I'm still picking it up though.

That's actually a really great idea. Do it like The Maxx series. Animate only so much of the original art that it moves enough to actually feel like it's fully-animated.

Does anybody know what's the music in the background?

Looks pretty good. I'd at least give it a rent or download.

At first I was kind of excited that Gerard Butler was doing the voice work for this, but now, not so much.

This project, including Art direction and character design was done at a company base in Dallas, TX
Reel Fx Creative studios.

Could only imagine what Alan Moore is thinking.

Very Aeon Flux influenced, I must say. Looks awesome.

i wasn't the biggest fan of Tales of the Black Freighter when i was reading the novel. and when i heard that htey were making a movie for it, i couldn't believe it. the story is only really good when embedded within the context of Watchmen. the way the lines play off of eachother, how the story phases in and out of the kids comic book and the watchmen world.


that said, i actually enjoyed the trailer, and would like to see it now. but seriously....how long could this thing actually be? 45 minutes, max? not all that much happened.

I think the animation could be better, but I'm more curious to see what they do with Under the Hood myself. It really says something that they're doing this at all. I certainly wasn't crossing my fingers for it's inclusion in the film. I was resigned to the idea that this would simply remain in print form forever, so when they announced this, that's when stopped nay-saying about the movie. And this combined with all the viral advertising has actually got me excited. Now I'm counting the days.

That trailer kicks ass. Love the music. That is going hot when it is integrated into the film on DVD.

I'm just mad I had to watch a commercial to WATCH A COMMERCIAL.

Fuck. Yes.

Even If the watchmen movie wasn't coming out I'd buy this in a heartbeat.

Pure rage, and cigarettes....

Really? I think this just doesn't look that great; I think stylistically it should have been either more gnarly and realistic in it's animation or a lot more traditional and a direct interpretation of the comic.

Really? I think this just doesn't look that great; I think stylistically it should have been either more gnarly and realistic in it's animation or a lot more traditional and a direct interpretation of the comic.

I guess it's a nice little side-note to the film, but I'd love for it to be a strong visual and narrative film all on it's own. I'll definitely still check it out.

Does anyone know how long this is going to be? Seems like an extra feature not a standalone movie.

i was thinking the same thing. i don't think it could be more than 30-45 min realistically

This looks good. I hope they don't add anything to it to make it more "appealing"...

The most amazing thing about the Black Freighter was how well it paralleled what was going on in the Watchmen. The juxtaposition of the comic within the comic was what made it so brilliant. Without that, it can't be as good.

Nice. It would be sweet if this was included in the eventual DVD of Watchmen. I don't really want to pay $20 for this.

i doubt it. that would be pretty cold blooded to stab your fans in the back by releasing it for free when some many fans paid for it.

i am so torn about this thing. i loved the tale in watchmen, and was so excited about butler's voice at first. but now, I just don't know. i have this sneaky feeling punches are being pulled with this add-on. would it not have been fucking awesome if they had rotoscoped it. but, alas, too much money

Feel free to put forth your ideas on how it should have been integrated into the movie...

I understand it would make the movie run waaay too long. But I still think the whole point of it is to be read/seen through the storyline like in the comic.

you guys are both right, it'd be really hard to integrate this story into the movie, cause it'd disrupt the flow of the narrative pretty badly.

but the whole he's right that the whole point of it is to be read within context of the novel

Wow that does look pretty good for an animated movie. I hope it actually will be good.

The trailer has my attention; however I'm not thrilled with Clive Owen's voice. It simply stands out too much and doesn't blend. Perhaps it will work better on a whole.

Holy crap, the animation looks very slick. I'm still amazed that WB is going the extra mile to make this into a separate film. I'm looking forward to the eventual integration into the full movie.

cash cow. watchmen marketing that people will pay for.

I agree, tales of the black freighter was a unique story only because it served as an ephasis of the morality within the watchmen universe. taken out of the context the story is useless. However, It has an interesting narrative. Im just curious if they purposely wanted to look stupid by making an animation of tales of the black freighter separate of the watchmen movie or not. Its really no wonder Allen Moore didnt give his consent to the comic books film realization.

i haven't taken a look at the soundtrack. i don't see why they would put the Under the Hood stuff in the film.

most of it is presented in-between the books, and it seems to me like the pacing of the movie would be awkward if they threw it in. who knows.

"Tales of the Black Freighter" runs 26min. -- "Under The Hood" will be presented as an interview with Hollis Mason in a show on t.v., running 40min. ca.

The more I get to hear "The most celebrated graphic novel of all time" and "from the visionary director of '300'", I wish they would market the film in a better way... what does "visionary" mean? filming nearly an entire film on green screen and then adding cgi so it gets a unique look?
The material we saw from 'Watchmen' was way more impressive than bringing a comic panel for panel to the screen.

I can't wait to not only see the Watchmen' movie, but also return home and hopefully watch the 'Black Freighter' DVD straight after. The Black Freighter segment read at the Newspaper stand was one of my favourite parts of the graphic novel.

i'm not sure if clive owen voices another part, but the shipwrecked individual is voiced by Gerrard Butler

nice specifics. i was positive the black freighter couldn't be that long. I remember somewhere in the novel Mason goes on tv and is interviewed, so tthat makes a lot of sense the way they decided to do that.

SO, do you guys think they'll even include the newsstand character? i mean, half of his entire purpose in the story, is to be there while the kid reads tales of the black freighter.

and if they cut him, what about the 2 lesbians?

it seems like the kind of stuff they would cut in a movie.