And really, if anyone can do it, Veidt could, I think. I know it’s a comic book, but I don’t buy the “watchmaker’s mind” explanation. Could a trained anatomist or biochemist do the same? I submit that they could. Veidt is the smartest man on Earth–with enough study, I can think of no reason why he could not accomplish this.
Which raises the question of what kind of Dr. Manhattan II: Electric Boogaloo he would be. Would his interest in mankind decline? Or, would he play the god role with the zeal that Dr. Manhattan never would?
The problem as I see it is that you can’t really have anyone young as they’ll sound wrong, and you can’t really have anyone old as the doctor needs to be perfect in appearance - not a wrinkle. Maybe - am I ever going to despise myself for suggesting this - CGI?
Sorry for the third post in a row, but I’ve always sort of dreamed of a movie that is directed in segments by several directors and then edited together in as seamless a way as possible–this seems as good a candidate as any for that kind of approach. I want David Fincher on “The Abyss Gazes Also.”
Someone theatrically trained in decent shape in their forties wearing a modified body suit and facial make up, using minimal CGI effects. I’d vote for going outside Hollywood altogether to cast Doc Manhattan.
Minor nitpick: there is no organization or team in the series called “the Watchmen.” Nite Owl, Rorshach, and Silk Spectre have an alliance based on convenience and affection, but they’re even less of a team than the Defenders ever were.
Well, yes, as far as we know, there is some factor that Doc. Manhattan cannot forsee: the tachyons are still screwing up his future-vision. I don’t think that he can see the future perfectly, so he kills Kojacks to try and salvage the future, but still leaves Veidt in uncertainty as to whether or not his plan has suceeded. It might be helpful to think of Doc Manhattan’s vision as seeing what the reader sees: he can flip ahead a few pages to see his actions, but not necessarily know their context until he gets there. And, like us, he can see the journal- but not know what that means because he, like us, has departed the narrative forever.
I’ll admit to not knowing much about rotoscoping- as I understand it, it is a process of drawing over footage of real actors to create “photo-realistic” animation, right? If this is the case, couldn’t you just have Doc played by the nearest male model, and have his voice dubbed in by some excellent voice actor (not sure I agree about him being “emotionless”, btw- that’s Rorschach’s schtik- just detached)?
I understood the tachyons to be like static in Manhattan’s vision. Manhattan gets snatches of the future, but not the full picture. Veidt does not want Manhattan’s interference in his plans, not trusting in the pre-ordained future Manhattan sees.
I also hope a movie doesn’t come to pass, after V for Vendetta, but wouldn’t mind a prequel comic.
Actually, if he meant what he said during that last chat, he can’t flip ahead a few pages and see the journal. He left some two months before those events, and so they aren’t part of his experience; he’s only precognitive about his own life. (Same reason he never figures out the identity of that guy he saw at Blake’s funeral; it doesn’t come up again, and so he only ever knows as much as he did when he couldn’t place the man’s face.)
He can tell you in 1965 who’ll win the 1966 World Series – because he’s going to read about it in the paper. But he can’t tell you who’ll win it in 1986 if he’d by then left for the stars, never to return.