Just saw Watchmen - questions for fans of the Graphic Novel

Cafe Society
1

OK, so I finally saw Watchmen last night. I have never read the graphic novel, so I had some questions for people who have. I actually enjoyed the movie, so I’m hoping these things are more easily explained if you’re more familiar with the source material.

[ul]
[li] Do they all have super powers? I think they want you to think that only Dr. Manhattan does, but then I’m seeing Rorschach jumping vertically really high, (I don’t mean using his grappling hook; I mean when he jumped up the fire escape outside Molock’s apartment), all three of them being extremely strong, including paunchy out-of-shape Nite Owl punching through people’s arms, and Ozymandias catching bullets. I was a little confused.[/li][li] Why doesn’t everyone recognize Silk Spectre? She doesn’t wear a mask, and she’s famous as Sally Jupiter - famous enough to be painted on the Enola Gay. Shouldn’t she have been wearing a mask?[/li][li] How / why does Rorschach’s mask move around like that?[/li][li] Why didn’t all the other scientists turn into Dr. Manhattan-like beings when they got zapped like he did? (I thought that’s what was going to happen - that he’d have to fight ten similar blue-guys).[/li][li] What the hell was that white and blue tiger with ears that looked like it was bred with a Chagrian supposed to be? Is it that there’s alternate animals in this alternate universe?[/li][/ul]

I think that’s all I have for now.

2

Massive spoilers, obviously.

No. The stuff with Rorschach and Nite Owl is exaggerated for the movie. The stuff with Ozymandias is also exaggerated; he does the bullet-catch in the comic, but it’s more of a big deal (and he wasn’t actually sure he could do it).

Neither of 'em bothered with a secret identity, and they weren’t Enola-Gay-level celebs.

It’s ink between two layers of fabric, pressure and temperature sensitive.

If it was that easy, wouldn’t the Pentagon already have a whole Doctor Manhattan Corps? No, the book specifies that it was an “unrepeatable” fluke, without spelling out why.

In the book, Ozzy’s plan isn’t a fake Doctor Manhattan attack; it’s a genetically-engineered “alien” attack. To set the stage for this, we early on get to see that he’s big into genetic research; hence, his genetically-altered lynx.

3

By the standards of the universe, only Dr. Manhattan has super-powers. But the standards are different there than here. As you note, Ozymandias does some impossible stunts, and the others are all super-human by real life standards, though none of them is a match for Ozy.

[QUOTE]
[li] Why doesn’t everyone recognize Silk Spectre? She doesn’t wear a mask, and she’s famous as Sally Jupiter - famous enough to be painted on the Enola Gay. Shouldn’t she have been wearing a mask?[/li][/QUOTE]

Sally began her career with no secret id. She began her career as a money-making venture and needed publicity, so a secret id was contraindicated. Likewise Laurie.

[QUOTE]
[li] How / why does Rorschach’s mask move around like that?[/li][/QUOTE]

The mask was made of a special fabric which responded to very minute changes in body temperature that accompany mood. As a young man Rorsharch worked for the company that developed it and stole samples from them. The company abandoned the product because they found women didn’t like teh notion of wearing skintight dresses which changed in that way.

[QUOTE]
[li] Why didn’t all the other scientists turn into Dr. Manhattan-like beings when they got zapped like he did? (I thought that’s what was going to happen - that he’d have to fight ten similar blue-guys).[/li][/QUOTE]

No explanation is given. The best thing I can fanwank is that Manhattan, as a mortal, had some genetic difference similar to the DC Comics supergene; he always had the potential for superpowers, and the accident is what activated his potential.

And having Manhattan fight over super-beings would have not been in keeping with the tone of the series.

[QUOTE]
[li] What the hell was that white and blue tiger with ears that looked like it was bred with a Chagrian supposed to be? Is it that there’s alternate animals in this alternate universe?[/li][/QUOTE]

That was Bast, a genetically engineered lynx. Genetic engineering is more advanced in the WatchVerse because it, like several other sciences, got an assistance from Dr. Manhattan.

4

The idea was that Ozy had pushed what it meant to be human by his mental/physical training regimen.

As I recall it was a specific woman who ordered it and never picked it up.

The book goes into detail that Manhattan put himself back together, and it was in some part his mental abilities and experience as a watchmaker.

Bubastis, I think your knowledge of Egyptian mythology and history is working against you. :smiley:

And in the book Ozy’s plan was to create a giant fake alien and kill all of New York. The idea would be that people would believe that a Lovecraftian monster came in and that Earth would unite against the outside threat.

5

Lobohan, what have I told you about bothering me with facts?

6

I’d call them “comic-book super-normal”, as in Batman or the Punisher or other characters who, otensibly unpowered humans, nevertheless possess above-Olympic skills. As in any comic-book movie (indeed any action movie in general), it’s a disbelief I’m prepared to suspend.

I’m not sure if you’re referring to the mother or the daughter here, but in either case, there was never any intent to have a secret identity. It’s implied at the end of the graphic novel that Silk Spectre 2 will indeed change her superhero name and start wearing a mask.

Explained in the comic as the fabric being of sealed latex that it heat- and pressure-sensitive, as well as being one of the spinoffs of the scientific and technological leap forward occasioned by the appearance of Dr. Manhattan. The fabric was intended as a custom-made dress, but the buyer rejected it, saying it was ugly. Rorschach, then employed in the garment industry in his civilian identity, took the fabric home becasue he liked the integrity it represented - black and white constantly moving but never mixing - no shades of gray, no ambiguity.

What other scientists? Jon Osterman was alone in the test chamber during the accident, sealed off from the others. It’s implied in the comic but not explained why there was never a successful repeat of the accident, but I figure it’s due at least in part to Osterman’s early training as a watchmaker - he has a particular understanding of precise machines and how to reassemble them, which helped his disembodied consciousness reassemble his body.

A genetically-engineered lynx, also a spin-off of Osterman’s recreation as Dr. Manhattan.

If you prefer a lighter take on the subject, I recommend this.

7

Specifically, Kitty Genovese.

8

Walter Kovacs thought the woman who ordered the dress was Genovese but was uncertain. In any case, her murder inspired his vigilante career.

9

Others have provided some answers, but there’s a little more to add.

Sally Jupiter was the Silk Spectre when “heroing” was legal, and in her case, mostly staged. She wanted to be recognized - so she could springboard into a better movie career. Laurie would have been recognized by anyone who cared about a former minor crimefighter many years after she was last in action.

In the movie there were other references to genetically altered animals - in the restaurant someone mentions the four legged chicken (or something like that). Dr. Manhattan’s technology did change things.

10

Don’t forget that Ozymandius killed the scientists before zapping their bodies.

11

I recall something about basking sharks, 12 ninjas of the Hand and an Orbital Laser. The details elude me however.

12

Heh, when I responded to the OP’s question earlier, I admit I’d blanked out on how Veidt killed (and disposed of) his confederates. especially since it was quite different than the analogous bit in the comic. I thought the OP was asking about the scientists who were watching in horror as Osterman got disintegrated.

13

For my part, as much as I enjoyed the film (but didn’t love it) the powers of the other capes bothered me. In the comic they are normal people. I knew something was going to go wrong in the opening fight in The Comedian’s flat when people started punching through stone.

Still enjoyed the film though and will pick up the souper-douper version at Christmas. You never know, it may solve the poor pacing where it stuck just too rigidly to the sequence and length of events in the comic.

14

The punch through stone did seem a little OTT to me (based on the comic), but as other posters have touched on, there are shades of “normal”.

To use a DC comics example, is Batman “normal”? Or Green Arrow? (my fav) :slight_smile: From memory of the comic Ozzy is probably Batman-like in his physique / prowess / smarts, with the other capes less so, but still tougher than us common folk (And Dr M. gets to be Superman by analogy). :slight_smile:

15

How long will that cut be?

16

The issue that’s not addressed anywhere in the book is, “How does he see through his mask?” He’s got ink spots over his eyes!

17

Regarding Ollie, just to show how far comic books push ‘normal’:

At one point, during the first arc of his last series, Ollie’s son, Connor, was shot, and ended up in hospital. Ollie gave blood - a lot of blood - because they were short on his and Connor’s type, and type O.

He gave so much that when they took the needle out and gave him his juice, he was slurring his words. (His son was on the table, after all.)

Then he notices that the killer’d come to finish Connor off.

Ollie heads to the operating room, and finds the killer before he kills all the surgical team and Connor.

Ollie pull his bow on the killer - his bow, btw, has a canonical 200+lb draw, this will be important - and tells the surviving surgeons to finish saving Connor, while he holds the bow on the killer.

He holds the bow, for half an hour, at full draw, starting mere minutes after giving enough blood that he was slurring his words.

And he’s got no superpowers, at all.

18

Fabric that looks quite opaque can often easily be seen through when held right over the eyes. I admit this shouldn’t work with an opaque liquid like ink, but hey, it’s a minor detail in a world with working teleportation and antigrav.

19

The way I see it Dr Manhattan has super powers, while Ozymandias has super-human powers in both the movie and the books. It’s not possible for a human to catch a bullet in the same way it’s not possible for a human to bench-press 1000kg. One requires powers that humans don’t have, and the other requires surpassing limits of the human body.

20

How does he see? In black and white, according to Ozzy.