Portland test screening indicates altered ending???

[the_tortel]

**** on a cracker.

The “Squid” is Out.

Zack Snyder confirms that the creature at the end of the original comic series will not be in his movie adaptation


I know — that sucks. We’ve all been hearing conflicting reports over the past several months on whether the “squid” — what fans call the monster at the end of Watchmen — would make it into the film, but now it seems that it definitely will not be making an appearance.
How do we know? Well, Watchmen movie director Zack Snyder said so in a recent interview with Dark Horizons.

The squid was not in the movie when I got the script, the squid was never in any draft that I saw. My point is only that there was this elegant solution to the squid problem that I kind of embraced. I'm a fan of the thing as much as anyone, I was saying what are we going to do about this before I even read the script.
​

The details on what he has specifically changed in the film in regards to the ending are not known at this time, but it seems like he’s going with the “Dr. Manhattan energy beam” disaster that appeared in both the David Hayter and Alex Tse drafts of the script. When asked about details of the film’s climactic disaster, Snyder explained…

I won't say exactly but... Dr. Manhattan has a certain energy signature, it's clearly his thing...so you know.
​

So, at this point some of you might be thinking, “no problem. Maybe we’ll get the squid in one of those multiple endings we heard about a few weeks ago.” Sorry. Snyder also confirmed that there was only one ending shot for his film.

How are fans taking this news? Well, very few fans are happy about it. Their reactions range from outright rage to cautious optimism. One one side there are fans who are absolutely pissed off that Snyder had opted for an ending they feel completely undermines the climax of the story and creates plot holes so deep that rewrites to earlier scenes would likely not even be able to fill them.

Other fans, citing all of the previous reports on how faithful Snyder and his team have been to the source so far, are worried, but are giving Snyder the benefit of the doubt that he’s filled these holes neatly and carefully so that the film would still make sense and maintain virtually all of the themes of the original comic series. Some of the more hopeful fans even cite that if Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons seems happy with the ending, how bad can it be?

Now, for some of the fans it wasn’t just the news of the changed ending that got them upset, but also the tone Snyder took toward them in this interview as well.

The fans, god love 'em, they're all up in arms about the squid. What they should be up in arms about are things like shooting the pregnant woman, 'God is real and he's American', whether THAT's in the movie. That's my point of view, maybe I'm crazy.
​

What seemed to irritate fans about this quote the most was not that Snyder came off as being condescending toward them, but that it amped up their fears that even though Synder was painstakingly including lots of the little details of Watchmen into his film, he was perhaps missing the big picture and creating a movie whose ending will fall flat and ultimately makes little to no sense.

So what’s my take on all of this? To be honest, I haven’t seen fan morale toward the movie so low. Many of the die-hard fans were against this adaptation from the beginning, but as news from the film began to surface each week many of them started to come around; warming up to Snyder and feeling that the film was going to be good — perhaps even epic. Now, many of those converts are back in the “Snyder-hate” camp again.
Am I angry that Snyder took that “tone” in the interview toward us fans? Well, I don’t think it was the best thing he could have said, but I understand why he said it. Let’s face it - as fans we have been extremely critical of Snyder since day one. We’ve put every decision of his under the microscope and picked out any possible flaw we could see. Sometimes, our points are valid, sometimes, we’ve gotten a bit nit picky. In fairness we’re no different than any fandom. The point is, whether we're right or wrong about the decisions he’s made, there were times we lashed out at him. It makes sense that some of that anger would come back to us.
As far as the new ending goes, I’d put myself in the cautiously optimistic camp. You see, I’ve been to the set, met and spoke with Zack and Debbie Snyder, many of the cast, crew as well as Dave Gibbons. I honestly believe Watchmen is in good hands and that the source material is being treated with respect. I understand that the “squid” ending could be very difficult to adapt and that the way the ending unfolds in the comic may not work well on screen.

But, to be honest, I’m not entirely sure how a “Dr. Manhattan energy beam” ending will work well either, especially if it's identical to what has been written in previous leaked screenplay drafts. A new ending does create many plot holes — how does the Comedian find out about the plot if there’s no more “squid” island for him to fly over? If Dr. Manhattan is framed for the destruction why would the Russians believe he was not still working for the US?

I have faith that Snyder and company have thought about and worked out all of these issues to make a new ending work, but I’m still worried. In the interview Snyder explained that at the test screening anyone who saw the film who read the graphic novel rated the film as “excellent” and that as far as Snyder was concerned the film is “done.” However, one source of mine who claimed to be at the Portland screening told me he was a big fan of the comic and definitely did not rate the film as “excellent” and reported the problems he had with the ending in his questionnaire.

No matter what we hear It always seems to come down to a “he said, they said” situation with conflicting information and reports. So what is a fan to do? All we can do is wait until March 6th… and pray.

http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/111008-watchmen-movie-zack-snyder-ending-changed.php

isn't this post the basis of this thread?

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=314387

 

[Axtech]

isn't this post the basis of this thread?

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=314387

Yeah, but Plissken's just trying to bring back his thread with the ridiculously biased poll options.

 

[the_tortel]

Yeah, but Plissken's just trying to bring back his thread with the ridiculously biased poll options.

ah, should've noticed that

 

[S.D. Plissken]

isn't this post the basis of this thread?

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=314387

No. This is the final word on the ending. More of a deathblow so to speak...

Yeah, but Plissken's just trying to bring back his thread with the ridiculously biased poll options.

It hadn't occured to me, but sure. I've got 41 in the 'closet fanboy *****ebag' category joining me though.

ah, should've noticed that

Tortel, you agitator, you.

Go drink your hemlock and be done with it.

t:

 

[the_tortel]

No. This is the final word on the ending. More of a deathblow so to speak...



It hadn't occured to me, but sure. I've got 41 in the 'closet fanboy *****ebag' category joining me though.



Tortel, you agitator, you.

Go drink your hemlock and be done with it.

t:

It's my slogan, Agitation, is my business!®

 

[Killing Joke926]

Okay, so here's my theory of the replacement of the squid:

We all know the squid's out as S.D. said earlier; thing is, there is some sort of explosion that will happen that'll blow up half NY, just like in the novel. In this awesome picture of Ozzy, I think he maybe using the teleportation machine to teleplort all the missing scientists (the ones on the island from the novel and apperantly the same dead ones in this picture) and explodes. Either he'll do that or I think it's gonna be the machine Doc Manhattan was working on earlier in Chapter 1.

So how did I come to this conclusion you ask? Well in some of the recent pictures we got, notice how all the scientists are holding champagne/wine glasses? The ones Ozzy was celebrating with his guards/workers and poisoned them with in the Vivarium? And we have a picture somebody scanned of Ozzy holding the same glass in that article. Instead of those three asian butlers/servants/workers, I think Synder replaced them with all the missing scientists that were working on the island, has them poisoned, and instead of freezing them in a blizzard in the Vivarium, he get's them all on the teleportation device, and uses them as the bomb instead of the squid.

As you can see, this is the scanned pic of Ozzy holding a champagne glass:

And the same champagne glasses near all the scientists I think he poisoned instead of the 3 servants in the novel:

 

[Hurm...]

Why did you revive this thread? It's a good theory, but...

 

[Raiden]

I'll withhold my judgement until I see the movie, but the revised ending is something that I'm worried about, and it could drag down the entire movie, no matter how good the movie is before the ending.

 

[gdw]

I'm completely fine with this, as I always felt the giant squid to be a bit absurd. However, does this mean that they also cut the missing scientisit and artists? One of the greatest things about the book was the doomsday clock also being the timer on the ship the "missing" people are on.

I hope that they still kept this in some form.

 

[Hurm...]

I'll withhold my judgement until I see the movie, but the revised ending is something that I'm worried about, and it could drag down the entire movie, no matter how good the movie is before the ending.

If the squid's development scenes were incorporated into the movie, that would definitely slower the pace of the film. So even if the new film's ending isn't as exciting as the old one's, it will at the very least keep the movie flowing properly. Considering this is the reason why they changed the ending.

 

[Hurm...]

I'm completely fine with this, as I always felt the giant squid to be a bit absurd. However, does this mean that they also cut the missing scientisit and artists? One of the greatest things about the book was the doomsday clock also being the timer on the ship the "missing" people are on.

I hope that they still kept this in some form.

No, the people on the island are gone from the film. But we still have the scientists dying by the hands of Veidt's....champagne.

 

[Killing Joke926]

I'm completely fine with this, as I always felt the giant squid to be a bit absurd. However, does this mean that they also cut the missing scientisit and artists? One of the greatest things about the book was the doomsday clock also being the timer on the ship the "missing" people are on.

I hope that they still kept this in some form.

Well if there's not gonna be a squid, then it's obvious that we can rule the fact that the artists are out too. However the scientists on the other hand are taken a little further than they are in the novel; read my theory above and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Solidus]

I'll withhold my judgement until I see the movie, but the revised ending is something that I'm worried about, and it could drag down the entire movie, no matter how good the movie is before the ending.

Well Smith said it actually to him felt better then the Squid ending. That and Gibbons said it keeps the same themes as the first, just a different SFX. I am not worried about the ending. I'm more worried about when are we going to get the DC with the BF thrown back in.

 

[Killing Joke926]

No, the people on the island are gone from the film. But we still have the scientists dying by the hands of Veidt's....champagne.

And possibly used for the doomsday explosion.

 

[Killing Joke926]

Well Smith said it actually to him felt better then the Squid ending. That and Gibbons said it keeps the same themes as the first, just a different SFX. I am not worried about the ending. I'm more worried about when are we going to get the DC with the BF thrown back in.

LOL Hey, nipples on Ozzy makes more sense that nipples on Batman.

 

[Katsuro]

And possibly used for the doomsday explosion.

No, dude. Sorry, but that's an absurd theory. First of all, we pretty much have conformation on what the ending really is. And second, that's a really bad idea for an ending.

 

[Project862006]

he probably vaporizes them more effective then burying them in snow also it could test out the devise so he could try to kill Manhattan but it doesn't work lol

 

[Patty]

I wouldve loved to see the squid ending on the big screen, simply for the fact that idve paid $9 to see a squid totally wreck s**t in nyc, like some of the old cloverfield rumors said would happen.

 

[Bat-Gasm]

I'm sure it will work out fine, I am curious to see how Blake stumbles upon it all though.

 

[Pablo Parker]

the squid is just a macguffin. i don´t know why so many people got worried about it being changed.
the ending is about what ozymandias has done in the name of world peace. if it´s right or wrong. destroying the city with a giant squid or a big blue explosion doesn´t really change anything.

 

[TheBatman072]

No, dude. Sorry, but that's an absurd theory. First of all, we pretty much have conformation on what the ending really is. And second, that's a really bad idea for an ending.

This answer.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

I do not mind that there is no squid but to frame Manhatten I think is very wrong and changes many aspects of the GN. Manhatten in the end is disinterested with humanity and therefore decides to leave yet here he makes that decision because he was framed to have killed so many and he allows that perfidy to remain.

 

[Hurm...]

I do not mind that there is no squid but to frame Manhatten I think is very wrong and changes many aspects of the GN. Manhatten in the end is disinterested with humanity and therefore decides to leave yet here he makes that decision because he was framed to have killed so many and he allows that perfidy to remain.

No, he still leaves for the same reason as in the GN.

 

[Raiden]

I don't like Dr. Manhattan being framed for it, and it also changes what Comedian discovered that ultimately gotten him killed. I just reread the GN and for now I still think squid is the best possible ending. I'll have to see the movie and perhaps it will change my mind. Or not.

 

[Solidus]

I don't like Dr. Manhattan being framed for it, and it also changes what Comedian discovered that ultimately gotten him killed. I just reread the GN and for now I still think squid is the best possible ending. I'll have to see the movie and perhaps it will change my mind. Or not.

I think most will change their minds. DM being framed never bugged me, because he's outta there anyways. And there will be another way Blake will find out. But I've gone over why the themes remain the same, and some of the advantages of the new ending.