Watchmen at Comic-Con: Video and Pictures of Nite Owl's Ship

Brad Brevet from Rope of Silicon has landed a killer video and pictures of "Archie," the Nite Owl's ship from the upcoming "Watchmen" movie. Be sure to check out his entire gallery of the ship.

The Watchmen Crash Comic-Con

Many disappointed Watchmen fans were turned away from a full crowd as the Watchmen panel further explored the alternative world of the 1980's at the 2008 Comic Con in San Diego. Last year the crew unveiled a poster for the movie. This year they showed more detailed clips and talked about the mature aspect of the movie.

One notable point is that Zack Snyder claims the Watchmen is hovering around the 3 hour mark right now. He mentions that the Warner Bros. Studio wants that trimmed down to 2.5 hours by release date which already has die-hard fans mentioning a director's cut.

Snyder's doing a fantastic job of P.R. with the movie by keeping interest for the fans who are aiming for the moon. Many consider the original graphic novel of the Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons to be the Citizen Kane of their world. A movie version has been in the works for years and many will not tolerate anything less than the best movie possible.

MPAA Edits Watchmen Trailer

Steven Spielberg edited out guns in his movie "E.T" to be more "P.C" with the times. Personally, I'm not a fan of that move but I guess that's Steven's choice. Zack Synder, the director of "Watchmen," was faced with a similar situation with the release of the first trailer for his movie. The MPAA thought it would be too risky to show a person aiming a gun at the audience and he had to replace said gun with a digital walkie-talkie.

*sigh* ...that's pretty sad. If you watch the trailer you'll never notice what the dude is holding. The scene lasts less than a second (about 12 frames) and goes by so fast you have to freeze frame it to even notice. It happens about 1:33 in the Watchmen trailer below.

"Still, the Motion Picture Association Of America doesn't want to take any chances, which is why they told the director of Watchmen, Zack Snyder, that he couldn't have a guy pointing a gun at the audience in the trailer.

Snyder replaced the gun with a walkie-talkie. This way, if anyone from 1903 watches the trailer, instead of ducking and/or running for their life, they'll just drop their bowler hat, curl up into a ball, rock back and forth, and mumble into their shirtwaist, "What world is this? What is happening to me? Where am I?" (source)

The Watchmen Trailer Song: Music by Smashing Pumpkins

Official Watchmen Trailer
One of the more interesting points that came out of the recently released Watchmen Trailer is the music that accompanies the preview. What's that Smashing Pumpkins song in the trailer?

While there's no doubt that it was Billy Corgan and the Pumpkins doing the song in the Watchmen trailer, I couldn't help but think that I had heard this song in another movie but I just couldn't remember where.

After a quick research I discovered a shocking tidbit. The song was used for another movie about 10 years back and it turned out to be another comic book inspired flick. It also turns out it's from a pretty bad one. The song is from one of the worst films ever, "Batman and Robin."

Yes, the movie that tried to killed the Batman franchise and gave us the now famous 'nipples' on the Batsuit is lending a song from its soundtrack to the adaptation of one of the best graphic novels ever. How great is that!

Basically, "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by Smashing Pumpkins is a remix of their song "The End is the Beginning is the End" which was made for the "Batman and Robin" Soundtrack. Here's a video below for each of the two songs and you'll noticed the slower version "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" is the one you'll hear in the "Watchmen" trailer. I only have found a fan-made video for this one so far that's set to some "Final Fantasy" clips. But it has the whole song to listen to.


"The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by the Smashing Pumpkins

Now, here's "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" from the "Batman and Robin" Soundtrack.


The Smashing Pumpkins - The End Is the Beginning Is the End
from Batman and Robin

MTV took notice, too. They asked Watchmen director Zack Snyder about why he used the Smashing Pumpkins in the trailer. They also dusted off their archives to bring out a story where "Batman and Robin" director Joel Schumacher and Billy Corgon of the "Smashing Pumpkins" talk shop about the song and video for the Batman movie.

"What compelled Zack Snyder, the, um … watchman … behind “Watchmen” to use the track? Was it because there’s that shot in the trailer of a guy (I’m sure he has a name, but seriously, people, the last graphic novel I read involved the name “Jughead”) falling from the sky that vaguely resembles something Batman might do? Is “Watchmen” sort of like watching “Batman & Robin” in slow-motion — much like how listening to “The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning” is somewhat of a stretched-out version of the original tune? Here’s what Snyder had to say:

“Smashing Pumpkins we picked for a couple reasons. For one, I felt like in mood, it was correct for what we were trying to do. We were trying to sort of get at the unwashed masses who don’t know anything about ‘Watchmen’ and find something provocative that makes you go, ‘What is that?’ … And then, also, I felt like the song itself spoke a little to the ‘Watchmen’ world. And then on the third hand … it will create controversy a little bit in the fanbase because they’re going to be like, ‘Wait, is that going to be in the movie? That ain’t 1985!’ ”

All good reasons, we suppose. But it doesn’t answer the bigger question: Did he have any idea that Corgan wrote the song expressly for that other nocturnal superhero?" (...more)

Zack Snyder Talks Watchmen Trailer

The Watchmen Trailer hit the web hard this weekend as fans of the acclaimed graphic novel were eager to get a glimpse of the movie adaptation. Director Zack Snyder has been good to the fans so far by allowing glimpses behind the scenes at sets and characters. He also wisely took into consideration that the first trailer would set the opinion for many die-hard "Watchmen" fans and he chose to stick as close to the original material as possible.


The Watchmen Trailer

MTV had a chance to sit down with Snyder to talk about the making of the movie of Alan Moore's classic and the release of the trailer to the public. Here are some samples of the interview (read the full interview here):

MTV: When we interviewed you for "300," you said the "Watchmen" moment you were most eager to film was Manhattan's deployment to Vietnam, when he becomes enormous and slaughters the enemy on behalf of the U.S. Now, we can finally see a bit of it!

Snyder: Yeah that's super fun, and it gets better and better. I've got to be honest: The version we're able to show in the trailer is cool, but it's the version that's been approved for all audiences. The R-rated version, when he blows those guys up, it's a little rougher.

MTV: That's how he kills people?

Snyder: In the movie, their guts explode — it's a little rougher.

MTV: And at the end of it all, we get an eye-popping shot of Dr. Manhattan's crib. What was it like to create this oasis on Mars?

Snyder: Well, what happens is that Manhattan exiles himself to Mars, and he builds that glass palace. Because his father was a clock-maker, he uses that big structure as a metaphor for the clock of the universe. In some ways, it's his own place of meditation. He's taken Laurie there at that point in the movie, and they're talking about how they're going to resolve their differences. That's how he does it: When he wants to talk to you, he takes you to Mars and he puts you in a giant glass.

MTV: What else is in the trailer that you're most proud of?

Snyder: You see a little bit of the Keane Act riots — that's the guy throwing the Molotov cocktail through the window. The Keane Act was an act of Congress that outlawed the vigilantes originally. ... That little image of that little bottle being thrown through the window, and also the shot of the Owl Ship floating there with Blake the Comedian standing in the window and all these people cheering, that's [the riots that ensue].

Yes, It is live. Watch The Watchmen Trailer !!

The time has come to rejoice and sing in the streets. The Watchmen Trailer is live and online. Until I can find an embedded link, you can Watch the Watchmen Trailer via their official website. That will link you to Apple where Steve Jobs and Zack Thomas will come out, holding hands, and toss iPhones in the air in joy. That will link you to another Apple link. So, I guess what I'm saying is that to bypass all that just click here to watch the Watchmen Trailer.

Edit: here's the embedded Watchmen Trailer. Enjoy!

Watchmen - Trailer
Uploaded by hawkbcn

Here are a few snips from the trailer to wet your appetite! Some of these scenes look like they were taken straight from the graphic novel. Beautiful...

New Home?

Howdy! As you know, Dave and Thomas have a new home at Dave and Thomas.net (bookmark the new location) To help mark the move we're giving away some DVD's! This week's winner was Terry from Ohio.

Be sure to head over and catch this week's contest and see if you can win. Also, the fate of the remaining sites are being decided. All the movie sites (Watchmen, Cloverfield, Speed Racer,...) will be rolled into a new site in the next week. More to come...