Your Thoughts on Ending being Possibly Changed (The Squid)

[Hurm...]

What do you think? Do you care if they keep the squid? Or is it okay if they change the squid but keep the same overall concept? Or F*** it all together? Let's find out...Vote.

 

[joke]

Yes, I care.. because it's Watchmen. But other than that, the squid is important because it's an unknown force. It's the height of the Cold War, every government is so paranoid they check their toilet paper for anally-administrable poison. Let's say Veidt makes it seem like Doc Manhattan attacked New York, St. Petersburg and Tokyo. No one is going to believe he acted on his own, they'll say the US pulled that **** and sacrificed one of their own cities. Russia will flip out, rockets will fly and everyone will die. An alien will be something so completely over-the-top and unimaginable, everybody will be ****ting their pants thinking there's going to be an invasion.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I'm surprised most people voted for the second one. As did I.

 

[darkseid26]

okay with, as long as they keep the overall concept, and Rorschach's journal

 

[Motown Marvel]

i would strongly prefer the squid, because its just awesome....but i can see how a diffeent ending can keep the concept so overall i'd be okay with it....

 

[Luchastyle]

the ONLY way the ending can be the same is with an alien attack. doesn't HAVE to be the squid (although i prefer it), but it could be like a crashed alien spacecraft or something. to me that's the same. this whole

Spoiler

Framing dr. manhattan is ****ty to me because even though he attacks several countries, you can still blame america because he was the god of america. so i don't like that. i never liked the idea of making it look like manhattan did it. and i still don't. will it ruin the movie for me? no. but it will ruin it as an adaptation, that's for sure. to me, it not being an outside, alien, invader, it changes the entire idea.

so i don't know. that's disappointing. but maybe the only reason they are having such early test screening is to test different endings. oh well. i guess we'll see. i'm still excited to see footage on the 21st =)

 

[Rain Dog]

I chose the first answer but after thinking about it for a bit, I guess anything similar to the squid would work. I do hope that it has nothing to do with Doc Manhattan though.

 

[CaptainGenerica]

Second option. "It's okay"

Before I explain my opinion to anyone who cares, I'd just like to add one thought: it doesn't add much to debate about whether or not an alternate plan such as the Manhattan-framing plan would work in real life, or whether the squid plan would work better. While it's true that realism is a very central part of Watchmen, Veidt's plan, regardless of the details, is a very outlandish plot device that we kind of just have to accept. It works for the sake of conveying the themes and ideas of the story; it works because Alan Moore (or Zack Snyder) said so.

And soo...

What is actually important, then, is whether the Manhattan plot has the same thematic implications as the squid idea. I think it mostly does. For one, there's the idea that anarchy (the lack of a higher/outside power) in international relations is a cause of war; and by giving the impression that such a power exists peace might be brought about. There's also the idea that "saving the world" is not the noble gee-whiz sort of thing that most stories make it out to be; it has tragic consequences, and requires drastic measures. If a superhero is defined as one who saves the world, then in some cases a superhero might have to be a mass murderer, a villain--and this paradox is pretty central to Watchmen, where the blurring of the line between "hero" and "villain" is a central point.

So I think, thematically, the Manhattan plot covers most of the same points as the squid plot. Therefore it's okay in my book. The reason it's not "great" is because the squid had some aesthetic qualities that the Manhattan plot does not... that is, it's much more "out there", radical plot twist, and that was appealing to me. The Manhattan plot by comparison is a little more mundane. However these are secondary concerns.

 

[Compi716]

"Eh" is my feeling on the change. It's not great, but it's not spectacular.

 

[Bubastis]

As long as its something otherworldly, I'm fine.

 

[S.D. Plissken]

I hate to be a dick, but doesn't a thread about changed endings already exisit?

and also--the ending has not "possibly" been changed. It HAS been changed. What you have heard is true, and the news is consistent with what they are using for script material.

There is no squid. The end.

 

[Axtech]

the ONLY way the ending can be the same is with an alien attack. doesn't HAVE to be the squid (although i prefer it), but it could be like a crashed alien spacecraft or something. to me that's the same. this whole

Spoiler

Framing dr. manhattan is ****ty to me because even though he attacks several countries, you can still blame america because he was the god of america. so i don't like that. i never liked the idea of making it look like manhattan did it. and i still don't. will it ruin the movie for me? no. but it will ruin it as an adaptation, that's for sure. to me, it not being an outside, alien, invader, it changes the entire idea.

so i don't know. that's disappointing. but maybe the only reason they are having such early test screening is to test different endings. oh well. i guess we'll see. i'm still excited to see footage on the 21st =)

While I definitely agree, it occurs to me that perhaps this change doesn't really have much of an effect anyways. I mean, in the long run, Veidt's plan wasn't going to work, right? And whether it would work or not is kind of irrelevant, since that all happens after the movie and the GN. What's really essential is that Veidt has this outrageous plan that falls in this morally grey area. In his own way, he's trying to do something good; he's trying to stop the impending war. But in doing so he's killing untold numbers of innocent people in a complicated plan that may or may not even work.

What Snyder's (alleged) ending does differently (and we'll have to wait to see it to judge how effectively it does this) is

Spoiler

force those who accept Veidt's plan and agree not to turn him in (everyone but Rorschach) to also turn against Dr Manhattan, and essentially force him into exile. An interesting little twist on the position Veidt puts the rest of the characters in.

I'm still not really 100% convinced that the ending will work in this way, and I'm certainly not saying it's better than the original ending (especially without actually seeing the movie). But in the end, all this really changes is the plausability of Veidt's plan actually succeeding. And really, with Rorschach's journal kicking around in the GN (and hopefully in the movie), the plan was doomed to fail from the start.

I would have prefered to see them stick as close to the novel as possible, but the ending might work. Of course, we'll have to see how well it actually works when we finally get to watch it.

 

[The Riddler]

i don't have a problem at all with the supposed omission of the squid so long as the semi-discovery of rorschach's journal by the newspaper company is the final scene of the film.

 

[CrimsonMist]

Spoiler

force those who accept Veidt's plan and agree not to turn him in (everyone but Rorschach) to also turn against Dr Manhattan, and essentially force him into exile. An interesting little twist on the position Veidt puts the rest of the characters in.

Interesting. I like that idea alot actually. It almost heightens Manhattan's God-like status. This may sound really great or really stupid,

Spoiler

but it almost turns Manhattan into a Christ-like character: He burdens himself with the sins of man.

I mean, Manhattan could say "Hey, screw you", but he doesn't. It also makes him that much more tragic.

It also adds effect to my idea that Viedt is trying to impersonate a God, but but fails to see things AS a God.

 

[LegendaryCaleb]

i want the friggin squid...

 

[Mercurius]

If rumours are right, the problem is not the absence of the squid, but the utterly stupid alternative they took.

 

[Lando81]

I like the alternative and i trust in zach's concept of the feel of the film and the direction it goes.

 

[S.D. Plissken]

I voted for watchmen babies. t:

 

[Octoberist]

I'll be honest..I never cared about the squid. If it was in..cool, if it was out, whatever. I think people on 'aint it cool' are overreacting.

 

[[A]]

I voted for watchmen babies. t:

Me too! Either that or..

 

[Delete]

I hated Dawn of the Dead and 300 so Snyder has proven me right that he is a hack.

 

[CaptainGenerica]

Interesting. I like that idea alot actually. It almost heightens Manhattan's God-like status. This may sound really great or really stupid,

Spoiler

but it almost turns Manhattan into a Christ-like character: He burdens himself with the sins of man.

I mean, Manhattan could say "Hey, screw you", but he doesn't. It also makes him that much more tragic.

It also adds effect to my idea that Viedt is trying to impersonate a God, but but fails to see things AS a God.

I like that angle. I like it a lot.

 

[Alex The Bloody]

How can they change the ending without creating a dozen or so plot holes, i guess moore was right (im a huge fan of snyder but this is a major Fk up if true)

 

[Lando81]

I hated Dawn of the Dead and 300 so Snyder has proven me right that he is a hack.

That sounds like a personal problem. you might wanna get a cream for that.

 

[Steyin]

After reading the other thread, if the end has been changed, I feel its a cop out and for myself, completely ruins the whole purpose of the squid. Manhattan just doesn't feel like as big of a threat to humanity as a whole, and it just crushes his view of mankind and why he leaves. I don't care how great the film is, if the ending is different than I will be quite disappointed.