Who watches HBO’s Watchmen? We do! In the preview episode of our Watchmen podcast, Alex, Justin and Pete discuss their experience with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic graphic novel, their thoughts on the movie version and predictions for the TV show, as well as general thoughts on Damon Lindelof’s shows, from LOST to The Leftovers.

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The theme music for Watchmen Watch was written and performed by Jeff Solomon.

Plus, here’s a transcript of the episode for you to read through as you listen:

Alex:                 Welcome to Watchmen Watch, apodcast about HBO’s Watchmen. Who watches Watchmen Watch? We watch WatchmenWatch, as we watch the Watchmen on HBO. I’m Alex.

Justin:              I’m Justin.

Pete:                I’m Pete. That’s a lot ofwatching.

Justin:              That’ll be easy for you to saynext time.

Alex:                 Yeah, no problem. I have it allscripted down and definitely remember all of it.

Pete:                No problem at all.

Justin:              That’s true. For those of youlistening at home, he doesn’t have it scripted. He was just staring at us withcrazy bugged out eyes because it was a lot to say at once.

Alex:                 Now we do have an apology tomake unfortunately, our fourth cohost is not here today.

Justin:              Yeah. Alan Moore is doing thispodcast with us. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be here today and today only. He’sofficiating a wedding between two hamsters in Northern Ireland. So, he has tobe there for that.

Pete:                Love’s love.

Justin:              He does a lot of those animalweddings.

Alex:                 Yeah, he got ordained online.Did you know that?

Justin:              That’s really cool. It’s a greatway to do it.

Alex:                 Yes.

Justin:              Are you an online minister?

Pete:                No. No.

Justin:              I am.

Pete:                Are you?

Justin:              I am.

Pete:                Oh, really?

Justin:              I can marry anything.

Alex:                 Great.

Pete:                Wow. Anything?

Justin:              You guys?

Alex:                 So this is going to be apodcast about Watchmen, the HBO show, which is a show run by Damon Lindelof.That’s going to be viewing some point in October. As of this recording, wedon’t know the exact date, so here’s how we’re going to run the show. We aregoing to recap every episode of Watchmen as it happens on the podcast. Butleading up to it, we’re going to do a recap. We’re going to do a review bothfor ourselves and for you guys of the Watchmen comic book of all 12 issues.

Justin:              It’s a crash course in Watchmen foreverybody who wants to know what’s up with Watchmen before we get into theseries. Because the series, unlike the movie, the Zack Snyder movie was a veryfaithful presentation of the comic.

Alex:                 What?

Justin:              So we’re going to get into that aswell, but the HBO series is sort of a re-interpretation.

Alex:                 Right. We don’t know a lotabout it at this current time. David Lindelof and company have been very cageyabout it. They’ve called it, as you said, a re-interpretation. Maybe it’s asequel, maybe it’s a sidequel.

Pete:                Maybe it takes place in betweenthe panels of the movie.

Alex:                 Right, exactly. That’d beclassic Scott McCloud, understanding comic style.

Justin:              Very exciting.

Alex:                 So we’ll see what happens withthat. But it is worth reviewing because clearly based on the footage that theyreleased of Watchmen, it’s going to have a lot of visual touchstones, characternames, other things going on there. It’s certainly been awhile since I readWatchmen, so I’m excited to get back into it.

Justin:              Yeah, me too.

Pete:                I would like to say though thatthe teaser they released looks really amazing. I’m excited.

Alex:                 It does look that fantastic.Here’s what I think we could do on this first episode here. Let’s talk aboutour experiences with Watchmen and then also thoughts on Damon Lindelof as ashowrunner because he’s definitely the driving force behind it. So let’s startoff with Watchmen. Pete, what is your experience with Watchmen? Obviously youlove the Zack Snyder movie.

Pete:                No.

Alex:                 You watched that on a loop.

Pete:                I did love the choice forRorschach in the movie. I thought everything else was kind of slightly garbage.I like most people, the first time I read Watchmen, my mind was blown and I wasreally impressed by the writing and the art of that, and I thought it wasreally phenomenal.

Justin:              I remember picking up a Watchmennumber, like seven, whatever the one with the perfume bottle on it is, in thecomic shop when I was just like … I pulled it out of a bin. I was like, oh,what’s this? And I think I bought it and read it and it just didn’t know whatwas going on. And then years later, I read the whole series in a tradepaperback and being like, oh wow, this feels, it just feels so much … There’sso much more going on in this comic than in so many other comics I’ve read.

Alex:                 Yeah, I think I read it prettylate actually. I definitely remember reading it as a trade collection, not inindividual issues or anything like that. I think it was well into my secondlife as a comic book reader. I read-

Justin:              Second life?

Alex:                 Well I read-

Justin:              Because he died all-

Alex:                 Very briefly. Very briefly. Idrowned for a couple of days.

Justin:              Yeah. Yeah. Cause you’re from theislands in Game of Thrones. What is dead may never die?

Alex:                 The iron islander.

Justin:              You’re an iron Islander, Right?

Alex:                 Yeah, exactly.

Justin:              What is dead may never die.

Alex:                 Yup. That’s me. You know me.Add my salt wives. Anyway, so I read comics as a kid, took a break for some ofhigh school and college.

Justin:              To play football.

Alex:                 Yeah.

Justin:              Quarterback hero.

Alex:                 And then I had that injury.

Justin:              Yeah I know.

Alex:                 And then I picked up comicbooks again and when that happened, I started reading a lot more tradecollections, getting caught up on things that I should have read anyway. Andwatching it was one of those that I thought, wow, this is great. Very goodbook. And from there, ended up reading a bunch of other Alan Moore books kindof in a row, including Miracle Man and other things [crosstalk 00:04:42]

Justin:              So you went on a tear. Yeah.

Pete:                You went to on an Alan Mooretear.

Justin:              I think what’s important is-

Pete:                It’s too bad that he’s not here,you could tell that to them.

Alex:                 No, I know, I know. I wasreally looking forward to it.

Justin:              We had so many great questions forhim, he was-

Alex:                 He’ll be here to hear nextweek.

Pete:                Yeah.

Justin:              Yeah, he made A real promise tous. Watchmen, if you haven’t read the comic and you’re listening to this, readsome other comics first.

Alex:                 Yes.

Pete:                This is one thing that a lot ofpeople talk about with Watchmen. They’re like, oh, Watchmen was my first comicbook. I don’t understand it. And it’s like, of course you don’t. Watchmen isreally a postmodern … It sort of breaks down the comic book sort of mythos orthe Justice League or the Avenger’s type characters and really reframes and hasyou look at it in a more realistic context. The Boys that’s just come out onAmazon-

Pete:                Great show.

Justin:              Great show. Sort of has that as amore modern version of that, beyond Watchmen. Watchmen was the first to reallysort of take a critical or postmodern look at comics.

Alex:                 And that’s one of the thingsthat I’m really hoping for from the TV show that in the same way that Watchmenthe comic was looking at comics that came before it and the history of comicsand reframing it in such a smart careful way. I hope they do that with the TVor film the media. But you know, I hope they extend that in some way. Becausefrankly, and I’m curious to see if we’ll have time to get to this accident orfilm before we get into the TV show.

Justin:              We will.

Alex:                 One of the big faults for thatis it straight adapted the comic book and that just didn’t work for me when Isaw it.

Justin:              Yeah, no it was cool to see thevisuals-

Alex:                 Yes.

Justin:              … there. And it was shot wellvisually. But it didn’t have any of the sort … I was just talking about sortof the density of ideas or like the actual take on what we were seeing. It wasjust sort of like a puppet show of the characters from Watchmen.

Pete:                One thing I’m curious about iswhat’s your guys favorite part of Watchmen? Because there’s so much differentstuff. There’s stuff in between chapters, different characters, different takeson things. What was your-

Justin:              Black Freighter.

Pete:                Yeah. What was your favoritekind of part about it or of your favorite character?

Justin:              Tough, tough question. I mean it’ssuch a quilt of these characters. It’s hard to pick out, I guess. I mean, Iguess I like the Owlman, Silk Spectre romance-

Pete:                Nite Owl?

Justin:              Nite Owl, yeah. Yes. Right. TheNite Owl, Silk Spectre romance. The way-

Alex:                 Yeah. That’s the thing thatfeels the most human probably, I mean purposefully so.

Justin:              Yeah.

Alex:                 I think I like that as well.

Justin:              They’re sort of the heroes.

Alex:                 Can I make a guess, Pete?

Pete:                Yeah.

Alex:                 Was it Rorschach?

Pete:                Yeah.

Alex:                 Yeah. Okay.

Justin:              What about you?

Alex:                 That’s going to be a problem. Iwould also say Night Owl.

Justin:              Yeah. Yeah.

Alex:                 I think that was the one that Irelated to the most. Certainly because I was like, hey, this is kind of a nerd.

Pete:                I also really liked the piratesstuff. That was really cool.

Justin:              Yeah, all the additional backmatters. Also, the first time in a comic I’d encountered that when I was like,oh look at all this text. It’s really deepening the story.

Alex:                 Yeah. You read the BlackFreighter stuff, Pete?

Pete:                Some of it.

Alex:                 Okay. Okay. We’ll get intothat. We’ll see what happens.

Justin:              It could get interesting.

that’s everyone’s favorite part.

Alex:                 Let’s talk about DamonLindelof. He has worked on a bunch of shows, most notably Lost and TheLeftovers, as you guys know very well, Justin and Pete, Lost is my favorite TVshow of all time.

Pete:                Yup.

Justin:              Even the end?

Alex:                 Even the end-

Justin:              Oddly.

Alex:                 … which I love.

Justin:              Yeah.

Alex:                 Leftovers is great.

Justin:              Yeah.

Alex:                 Did not love the first seasonof that, but it eventually figured itself out in season two.

Justin:              See, I even like the first seasonof Leftovers.

Alex:                 Really?

Justin:              Yeah.

Alex:                 Do you know what held me backabout that is I read the book and I loved the book and it’s so different thanthe book. It tweaked it in weird ways that I wasn’t crazy about where I feltlike-

Justin:              See, I didn’t read the book.

Alex:                 Yeah. It felt like it wasmissing the point that was made in the book. The book is very satirical. It wasvery funny. The first season of Leftovers was extremely serious to a fault.

Justin:              Yes it was.

Alex:                 And then it figured itself out.Like it figured out a more humanity in those last two seasons of Leftovers.Glorious. What do you guys think about Damon Lindelof shows? Pete?

Pete:                Super cool guy.

Alex:                 Have you seen either of them?

Pete:                No.

Alex:                 What? [crosstalk 00:08:48] Youdidn’t even get to see Lost?

Pete:                Nope.

Alex:                 What?

Justin:              I was obsessed with Lost. I feellike, and this is a good thing, I think.

Pete:                Brian K. Vaughan, right? Alsoworked-

Justin:              He worked on that.

Alex:                 Yes he did.

Justin:              I feel like the Lost was sort oflike, I think he’s a great teller of stories, maker of television. Lost feltlike sort of a teenage.

Alex:                 It’s called a tele-maker.

Justin:              Yeah, that’s what it is,telemarketer. Lost felt like a sort of a teenager. The teenage show where hewas like-

Pete:                Lot of angst?

Justin:              Well it’s like, it’s a little bitherky-jerky. It’s those scripts they would write the in the the action lines itwould be like, and then he pulls out a mother fucking diamond and they like allthe in the … Oh the motherfucking hatch finally fucking opened and-

Pete:                Lot of swearing.

Justin:              … that’s not how most peoplewrite scripts.

Pete:                That’s how I write scripts.

Justin:              I know, which is-

Alex:                 You’re talking about the actualscripts?

Justin:              The actual real script.

Alex:                 Okay.

Justin:              Yeah. Had all this crazy languagein the action lines and stuff.

Alex:                 Nice.

Justin:              So it felt like a little bit allover the place, not really knowing what it was the whole time. And that’s why Ithink the ending-

Alex:                 Was so perfect.

Justin:              Didn’t stick the landing for mostpeople.

Alex:                 Oh, okay.

Justin:              And got a little wonky where itsorta like, oh, I’m ready, I’m an adult. And it’s like, no, you’re not. You’rea weirdly ended teenager. While Leftovers definitely felt like, oh, this ismature, it’s grown up. This feels like maybe it’s an even more experienced-wiseunderstanding of television and how to tell these stories and with this greatmaterial of Watchmen to use as fodder.

Alex:                 Interesting. Yeah.

Justin:              That’s my theory.

Alex:                 Okay. All right.

Pete:                So you’re saying though thatthey didn’t keep all that cool stuff in the script and put it in the show?

Justin:              No, that was literally describingwhat visually you’re seeing when you’re reading the script.

Alex:                 So I will say to your point-

Pete:                To you motherfucking point.

Alex:                 To your mother fucking point,Damon Lindelof put out this bonkers note on Instagram back when they announcedWatchmen, where he was explaining himself and he was talking about how it wasso formative for him as a read. It was something that connected to him, to hisfather.

Justin:              Oh, wow.

Alex:                 He felt like it never should beadapted. They should never do that. That’s not something they should make intoa TV show. But then the more he started to think about it, the more he waslike, I’m so scared of this. I just got to try it, even if I’m going tocompletely fuck it up.

Justin:              Right.

Alex:                 And everything that I’ve heardabout it from the casting to what they’ve done behind the scenes with thewriting and directing staff, they’ve been so careful and cognizant of whatWatchmen means while still knowing … It is 2019 we’re doing this TV show in2019, what does it mean that we are doing it now? And that comes down to one ofthe things that I think is frankly excellent.

Alex:                 And this is why I think it’sinteresting and it’s going to be interesting for you to watch, given that Pete,your Rorschach is your favorite character is Damon Lindelof at the TelevisionCritics Association tour, which is something that happens twice a year out inCalifornia. I gave an interview and he talked about … there is a gang ofRorschachs in here and he was like, oh yeah-

Justin:              Nice.

Alex:                 … they’re the alt-right. Likestraight up.

Justin:              What? Rorschach wasn’t-

Alex:                 He didn’t bounce around it andhe was like, they’re a metaphor for the alt-right. It was like, no, no, they’rean alt-right.

Justin:              Well, I mean we’re going to getinto this in our next couple of podcasts, but rereading the first issue, I waslike, oh yeah.

Alex:                 Yeah.

Justin:              Rorschach’s dialogue, hismonologuing is alt-right shit.

Pete:                What?

Alex:                 You know when I think about it,this is my guess about it, is it’s a lot of people taking his writings andusing it the wrong way.

Justin:              Right.

Pete:                Cause he wasn’t … He’s never-

Justin:              We’ll talk about that-

Alex:                 We’ll talk about that more whenwe get into the issues and everything. Cool. Any other things that you guys wantto say about Watchmen before we wrap up?

Pete:                Well then now then I’m Fuckingpissed. I don’t want to see my favorite character turned to some fucking racistasshole.

Alex:                 Turned?

Pete:                Yeah, turned.

Alex:                 Interesting.

Justin:              Let’s definitely talk about thatin the future. I’m excited. I’m excited to reread Watchmen and re-get into thatwhole thing. Even excited to watch the movie.

Alex:                 Yeah, absolutely. So we’regoing to do all of that on individual episodes as they roll out and then ofcourse once the show starts, we’re really going to get into that as well. Sovery excited to see what that’s all about.

Alex:                 Right now we are getting allthe feeds live for this, but you can subscribe to the RSS atcomicbookclublive.com and we’ll have the feed right there. You’re certainlyprobably listening to it right now after listening to this episode and itshould be live on iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, etc, very, very soon.Couple of other things before we go, you can check us outpatreon.com/comicbookclub if you want to support this podcast and more. Also,we do a live show every Tuesday night at 8:00 PM at the People’s Improv TheaterLoft in New York. Come on by and we’ll watch you watch the Watchmen.

Alex:                 Pete, what do you want to plug?

Pete:                Friend us on Facebook so you getto know about the amazing guests in our live show.

Justin:              Follow us at Twitter@comicbooklive.

Alex:                 Check us outcomicbookclublive.com for this podcast and more, and remember we recorded thispodcast 35 minutes ago.

Justin:              Alan just texted me. He’sdefinitely going to be here next time.

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