What is the single best science fiction or fantasy franchise?

[payn]

I like the Watchmen movie for what it is, but it is entirely the wrong tone for that novel. Nobody in that film looks or feels worn out. That is a HUGE part of the novel. The characters are on point philosophically, but even given shot for shot panel remakes, no one looks like they should.

Right. It was not a cold war dread film, which is a problem because it is a cold war dread book. I am just barely old enough to get it. I remember "tornado drills" that absolutely were not "tornado drills." By trying to make it "current" Snyder turned it into the worst interpretation of Watchmen: a super hero deconstruction. That's there, for sure, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. That deconstruction is intimately tied to the feeling of impotence of the cold war. Without that, it's a different thing entirely.

Note: I am an engineer these days, but a lifetime ago I got a English Lit degree and my capstone was a Watchmen paper.

Snyder definitely went for the deconstruction bit over the cold war miasma. Probably a decision for a general audience that likely wouldn't remember the feel of the cold war. I did think it hit the notes from time to time and was more subtle than it likely needed to be. I for sure think that Malin Akerman and Matthew Goode seemed much too young for the roles. Though, Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earl Haley were perfect.

 

[Clint_L]

In another world, he's a beloved director of photography, not the actual director on films.

I feel like this is giving Snyder way too much credit. In another, better world, he's a very successful director of car commercials.

Though I will give him the opening 10 minutes of his remake of Dawn of the Dead. That is a fantastic cold open.

Totally agree about the HBO Watchmen series - it is utterly brilliant and far more faithful to the subversive spirit of the original.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I'm gonna say Watchmen is the only Snyder film I've seen that I didn't hate. In fact, overall, it's okay.

Did he miss the point? Sure. He's a big ol' point misser. But I actually prefer setting Dr. Manhattan up as the scape goat, to the space squid.

 

[Reynard]

I'm gonna say Watchmen is the only Snyder film I've seen that I didn't hate. In fact, overall, it's okay.

Did he miss the point? Sure. He's a big ol' point misser. But I actually prefer setting Dr. Manhattan up as the scape goat, to the space squid.

The space squid is, of course, a direct reference to the zeitgeist of the time that the USA and ASSR could only find peace if they were faced with an outside existential threat.

As to Snyder, I kind of like his Dawn of the Dead, but then I am not partial to the original.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Right. It was not a cold war dread film, which is a problem because it is a cold war dread book. I am just barely old enough to get it. I remember "tornado drills" that absolutely were not "tornado drills." By trying to make it "current" Snyder turned it into the worst interpretation of Watchmen: a super hero deconstruction. That's there, for sure, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. That deconstruction is intimately tied to the feeling of impotence of the cold war. Without that, it's a different thing entirely.

Note: I am an engineer these days, but a lifetime ago I got a English Lit degree and my capstone was a Watchmen paper.

(English degree Product Manager here... Someday, if I ever write my series of linkedin posts on people with humanities degrees who work in a technical field, I may hit you up)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The space squid is, of course, a direct reference to the zeitgeist of the time that the USA and ASSR could only find peace if they were faced with an outside existential threat.

As to Snyder, I kind of like his Dawn of the Dead, but then I am not partial to the original.

Based upon my observations, even an existential threat isn't enough to stop humans killing each other.

 

[Reynard]

Based upon my observations, even an existential threat isn't enough to stop humans killing each other.

Sure but it might keep us from annihilating ourselves, which was what was at issue.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure but it might keep us from annihilating ourselves, which was what was at issue.

Nah. People would refuse to believe it, no matter how strong the evidence was. Of course, in Watchmen, the threat was fake, but that makes no real difference, true or fake, people believe what they want, not what the evidence says.

 

[Reynard]

Nah. People would refuse to believe it, no matter how strong the evidence was. Of course, in Watchmen, the threat was fake, but that makes no real difference, true or fake, people believe what they want, not what the evidence says.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Nah. People would refuse to believe it, no matter how strong the evidence was. Of course, in Watchmen, the threat was fake, but that makes no real difference, true or fake, people believe what they want, not what the evidence says.

It's funny to think of Alan Moore of being an optimist wearing rose-colored glasses, but the pandemic 100% buried the plausibility of the ending of Watchmen.