Why was the squid removed - Watchmen (2009) Discussion

[–] iamtherealbg 8 years ago

Because it would look stupid in a movie in 2009 and people who didn't read the GN wouldn't understand it. I thought the movie ending - that blamed Dr. Manhattan for the destruction - was a better way to go than the goofy GN ending anyway. It worked in the comic but wouldn't work in the movie.

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[–] Milk_Tray_Guy 7 years ago

Because it would look stupid in a movie in 2009 and people who didn't read the GN wouldn't understand it. I thought the movie ending - that blamed Dr. Manhattan for the destruction - was a better way to go than the goofy GN ending anyway. It worked in the comic but wouldn't work in the movie.

Second this.

"A big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff" The Tenth Doctor explains all.

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[–] BrunoAntony 8 years ago

Because there was a complex backstory to the squid involving people being kidnapped, a psychic brain and flashbacks to the comic book writer on the island.

If anything, they should have gotten rid of Bubastis. He was only around in the comic to demonstrate that genetic engineering ... and the creation of "the alien" ... was possible.

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[–] Chopperbubba 8 years ago

Agreed. Despite Manhattan's god like and supernatural powers, the rest of the movie is somewhat grounded compared to the graphic novel however, Bubastis looked completely out of place for the overall tone of the film, especially since there was zero explanation or context given with regards to Veidt's genetic mutations. Completely unnecessary and random character, plus the cgi of him was simply atrocious.

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[–] BrunoAntony 8 years ago

Totally. The entire point of Bubastis was to lead-in to the "alien". Take away the alien, and Bubastis' existence is a pointless addition to the story. Why is Adrian genetically modifying stuff? Uh, because.

I actually liked this film but it HUGELY missed the point of the comic (on a thematic and storytelling level) on numerous occasions.

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[–] Chopperbubba 8 years ago

For sure. I'm one of those few "chicken before the egg" Watchmen fans, who saw the film first and then got into the GN, and yes, they seem to be two entirely different entities(in a good way). But as in most cases, films never do the book justice. I can vividly remember seeing this at the theatre thinking WTF is this oversized, blue bobcat doing in Antarctica that Veidt seemed to be emotionally attached to? And then it raised a bigger WTF moment when he ended up killing it lol!!! Then it all came together on paper.

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[–] BrunoAntony 8 years ago

Vedit, 10 years before the events of the film: "Ok, I have a plan to lure Dr Manhattan into a trap that will subtract his intrinsic field and potentially destroy him ... but this will require me to genetically engineer a giant bobcat to delay him for one second..."

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[–] barrelofmonkey 8 years ago

That actually ties into another big reason the squid was removed - Bubastis was just one of many backstory justifications for Adrian's ability to make the squid. Putting them all, or even a significant number of them, into the film would have extended an already long movie quite a bit.

"Uh, Because" is a perfectly fine explanation for Bubastis, since Adrian is an extremely diversified genius billionaire. But the squid needs a lot more groundwork laid, and the film doesn't have the luxury of fine-print clippings and interview transcripts scattered among a few hundred previous pages in which to lay that groundwork.

<*>

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[–] therefdotcom 7 years ago

best post i have read on this board, yet.

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[–] bbrown2676 8 years ago

While I agree that the Space Squid was too complex to fit into the movie, I think that the substitution they came up with didn't do what they had hoped.

Dr. Manhattan was American in the eyes of the world. He fought in Vietnam for the US. If he destroyed all of those major cities, the rest of the world would not band together, it would blame America.

Sure there might be a brief time of peace, but this wouldn't be the world uniting against a common threat like in the book. This would be "Hey...wait a minute...the US was fine using this weapon when it suited them, but now that it bit them, we are supposed to roll over?"

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[–] howard_w13 8 years ago

I commend the writers for trying to come up with something different from the graphic novel; but I was thinking to myself: "How EXACTLY will they "fight" against the extremely powerful Dr. Manhattan?"

--------
The movie has a plot hole?!?
EVERY FRIGGIN' MOVIE HAS A FRIGGIN' PLOT HOLE!!!!!

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[–] PaladinNJ (20308) 6 years ago

I thought it was for budget reasons. That movie was expensive and another effect would probably have sent it over the edge.

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[–] exatera (3942) 5 years ago

I think it's because the squid ending would have just been too stupid and disappointing. It even sounded ridiculous to me in the graphic novel.

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[–] ace2 (543) 4 years ago

So what was Dr. M's motivation in the movie.... doesn't make sense. Also if they thought the squid was ridiculous they could have always come up with some other type of alien attack.

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[–] Forky (1739) 4 years ago

It's better to be pissed off, than to be pissed on.

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