Tales of the Black Freighter: Stuido Money Grab

[Movie Mike]

Tales of the Black Freighter is a 25 minute animated version of the comic within Watchmen is decent by direct to DVD animated standards but nothing special. The voice work provided by Gerard Butler as The Mariner is probably it's best feature (he doesn't do much shouting) and the style is almost reminiscent of Heavy Metal. Of course the idea of dropping $20 bucks on twenty-five minute cartoon seems a bit crazy so they tossed in a fake documentary Under the Hood where a news show (The Culpeper Minute: Under the Hood) looks back at the glory days of the masked superheroes including interviews with Hollis Mason, Sally Jupiter, and Edgar Jacobi. It's kind of neat but at 37 minutes it's really just another thing that should be part of the special edition DVD of Watchmen.

I can't see anybody purchasing this and thinking they got their money's worth, especially if they forked out for the Blu-ray.

[Steve T Power]

I'm willing to be it will be offered as a bonus feature when the "super-de-duper" edition of The Watchmen eventually hits.

[Andrew Forbes]

I'm willing to be it will be offered as a bonus feature when the "super-de-duper" edition of The Watchmen eventually hits.

I hope it has a lenticular hologram cover featuring Alan Moore going apeshit.

[HGervais]

I'm willing to be it will be offered as a bonus feature when the "super-de-duper" edition of The Watchmen eventually hits.

It will be. I have also heard Synder may include the animated feature as part of his director's cut.

[Movie Mike]

I'm willing to be it will be offered as a bonus feature when the "super-de-duper" edition of The Watchmen eventually hits.

It will be. I have also heard Synder may include the animated feature as part of his director's cut.

I'm curious as to how that would work, in the comic it's just a panel or two overlapping scenes with the Newstand guys, now having it switch to an animated sequence in the movie (a rather long movie to begin with) could be rather jarring.

[Stubblecat]

I'm guessing that the Black Frieghter sequences won't be meshed into the film, rather it will be bundled (perhaps along with the motion comic) into a multi-disc set come release time. And I will buy it all then.

[Dan Mancini]

I'm guessing that the Black Frieghter sequences won't be meshed into the film, rather it will be bundled (perhaps along with the motion comic) into a multi-disc set come release time. And I will buy it all then.

I don't know. I read an interview with Snyder somewhere recently in which he talked about integrating the Black Freighter stuff back into the movie for his director's cut because it's an essential thematic component of the story.

[cdouglas]

On the Blu-ray, it is confirmed during the making-of featurette that both "Black Freighter" and "Under the Hood" will be used in the director's cut of the film.

[Movie Mike]

Wow, of my friends I'm about the only one who didn't hate Snyder's adaptation (it's faulty but I found enough in it to enjoy), but to put this stuff in to what is already a long convoluted story is a mistake.

[HGervais]

Seeing as I'm holding out on seeing this because I want the most complete version possible, it's all good to me.

[erich]

I'll hold off on final judgment 'til I see the super complete director's special edition cut, but I was glad they left the BF stuff out of the movie. It would have broken up the already funky pacing. It definitely works in comic book form. In movie form, probably not so much. I hope to be proven wrong.