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Watchmen: Black Freighter – Trailer

Watchmen: Black Freighter – Trailer

In conjunction with the theatrical release of the Watchmen film there will also be a DVD release of the animated film “Tales of the Black Freighter.” In the original comic book of Watchmen, The Black Freighter was a comic within a comic that was being read by a street urchin at a news-stand. It’s dark story of a man cast adrift by a band of marauding pirates paralleled and mirrored aspects of the main plot of the comic story.

Unable to maintain the story-within-a-story aspect in the theatrical release of Watchmen, Zack Snyder has decided to release the Black Freighter at first as a stand alone animated story, and then it will be cut back into a much longer “Directors Cut” of the feature only available on DVD. Interestingly the Black Freighter is being developed by an animation house here in Australia.

Gerard Butler (who last worked with Zack Snyder on 300) voices the hapless castaway whose journey on a raft made from the dead bodies of his shipmates, causes his descent into terror and eventually madness.

Also on the DVD is a second feature called “Under the Hood” a Documentary that takes its cues from another piece of story-within-a-story, the fictional tell-all Novel “Under the Hood” written by the original “Night Owl” Hollis Mason. It details the older generation of superheroes, such as Hooded justice and the first Silk Specter, as seen briefly in the Watchmen film.

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I personally love this kind of tie-in material, much like the Animatrix and even Batman: Gotham Knight they serve to further the depth of the main story. In recent times we’ve seen tie-in’s like Get Smart‘s Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control, a direct to DVD film which tried to tie iteself into a theatrical feature with limited success. I enjoy supplementary content so long as it serves to enhance the experience of the main feature, and not undermine it. What do you think? Should a film stand alone or can it be improved by additional story elements?

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About The Author

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David Quinn is a writer, artist, film-maker, performer and general all-round-nice-guy who lives and works out of Launceston, Tasmania. He's lived in Tasmania all of his life but is lucky enough to have been to the UK, France, and South Africa in his younger days. He has written short films, co-authored video games, advised on feature scripts and television shows as well as advertising campaigns. He is also a regular performer on both stage and screen. One day he will make his fortune out of all this malarkey. ONE DAY......

Article Information

  • Posted: Monday, February 16th, 2009
  • Author: Q-Dog
  • Filed Under: Trailers & Clips
Tags: , , , , , ,

Comments

5 Responses to “Watchmen: Black Freighter – Trailer”
  1. avatar Bruce Moyle says:

    This I may say, looks like the tits. I cannot wait to get a copy of this bad boy.

    February 16, 2009 at 10:43 am
  2. avatar Lunatyk says:

    I have mixed feelings on this… on one hand, it looks like it might be interesting and on the other, I liked it because of the way it related to the main plot within the graphic novel… being a different medium, separate from the film, I’m not sure if I’ll still like it the way it is…

    To me, the film should stand alone. Additional story elements are good, if they truly are additional and not a requirement to understand what’s going on in the film…

    February 16, 2009 at 7:23 pm
    • avatar Q-Dog says:

      Certainly the Black freighter is not essential to the understanding of the film in the least. But it is an interesting side story which mirrors what is happening and is a much loved part of the text. Where some directors would just cut it and be done with it, i am impressed that Zack has at least made the effort to see it included in some way or another.

      i think of it as being like the extended cuts of LOTR, the films work fine as they are, but are more detailed and have a different level of meaning with the additional content.

      It kinda reminds me of all the “Tales from” book in the star wars universe. Tales from the cantina etc. they give interesting back story but are by no means essential.

      i’m also happy that it will be cut back into the film in a directors cut. thats awesome!

      February 17, 2009 at 10:43 am
  3. avatar Scott From LA says:

    While I love the idea of Snyder actually doing the Black Freighter, I think I’ll wait for the extended Director’s Cut to see it. As you say, Q-Dog, “it’s dark story of a man cast adrift by a band of marauding pirates parallel[ing] and mirror[ing] aspects of the main plot of the comic story.”

    While I’m certain that it can and will stand by itself as a story, a great deal of the subtext to both narratives (this and the Watchmen film) will be lost viewing the animated feature separately. Cutting the animated bits back into the film will hopefully bring that thematic reflectivity back into the film.

    The difficult part with this work has always been the density of Moore’s storytelling. I don’t expect the film to be the comic, nor do I want it to. Film is a far different medium that comics and as such you will never be able to capture the same kind of experience that Moore spends so much of his time crafting (one only needs to pick up a copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier to see this premise in action).

    I look forward to watching the Black Freighter, but I will prefer to watch the theatrical release by itself as one experience. Then I’ll see the Director’s Cut as a completely different experience with the Black Freighter spliced in.

    February 17, 2009 at 12:30 pm

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