Hey, gang-
As you probably know I’m a big WATCHMEN fan. I love the comics, the movie, the toys, the statues, the podcasts, cosplay, etc.
Well, now I’m a big fan of the HBO TV show as well.
While my wife Nicki and I were visiting New York City back in October I got to see a lot of Ghostbusters filming locations (lots of future blogs on those), catch our first show on Broadway (another future blog about that coming up), and eat some great cheesecake, pizza, and bagels. We also experienced some cool Watchmen related things. Right after we got out of our shuttle from the airport I immediately noticed a familiar yellow logo…
It was an HBO WATCHMEN TV show billboard featuring Regina King as Sister Night- near Times Square and our hotel. We walked by it at least a couple times a day while we were there. The last night we were there it was raining and I sooooo wished I had my Rorschach costume with me so Nicki could have taken some wet street pics of me.
I really got a kick out of seeing this billboard each morning and evening while we were there. As soon as I saw it on our way back to our hotel I knew we were getting close to being back in our room.
I was really looking forward to the new show, and was bummed I wasn’t going to catch it on TV that weekend. I was curious how much it was tied to the comics, if anything from the movie would be in it, who were the new folks in costumes/masks, why were the cops wearing masks now, and why was Watchmen set in Oklahoma..? I honestly didn’t know what to think from the trailers I had seen. Wasn’t sure if it was gonna be great, or a complete misstep.
I did know that Sister Night looked pretty bad-ass, though.
The show premiered that weekend and I finally got to watch that first episode when we got back home. The whole series didn’t disappoint.
It was really tough trying to avoid spoilers online. Thankfully we were busy being tourists so I didn’t spend much time online on my phone and they didn’t really give away too much in the ads and TV spots. “Tick-tock, tick-tock…”
Saw a smaller version of the billboard just off Broadway as we were leaving the Winter Garden Theatre after seeing the Beetlejuice musical there- which was an amazing show!
Even though this billboard was smaller it was on a wall across from a squid fallout shelter..! I was never a big fan of the big giant psychic squid in the comics, and I’m probably one of the few folks who preferred Ozymandias’ plan in the movie to frame Manhattan over the comics’ giant squid scare. The show finally made me love the squid idea. That Looking Glass episode blew me away.
In the “fallout shelter” there was a pinhole camera just above the squid logo on one side that showed what the street looked like on the other side of the bus bench.
From time to time it would go from the yellow shelter image to the live shot of the street. While it was showing the “live view”, a few seconds in it would look like it was raining squids! It was a pretty cool effect and totally unexpected. Had to watch it a few times.
One day while walking back from the Empire State Building I saw a bus with the HBO Watchmen promo art turn down a street in front of us. Luckily for me it got caught in traffic just long enough for me to catch up and take a couple shots of it.
Oh, while riding the subways we ran across a few countdown clock ads on 10/20/19- the day of the premier. These each were larger movie poster sized each, and there were a few smaller ones on poles as we entered. Would have liked to have seen if they did anything cool once it reached zero…
Since our trip I’ve gotten to watch the Watchmen series twice on HBO, plus now own it on BluRay. I really dig the show and thought it tied into the comics well. I would have liked to have seen at least a little bit of Dan/NiteOwl, but was happy to see Archie(Owl-ship) some. Was also amazed at how they tied real life events into the story and taught us some American history most folks just didn’t know about. I know I had never heard of “Black Wallstreet” or the “Tulsa Massacre“. As a Lone Ranger fan it was also cool to see Bass Reeves featured in the story, too.
Got the soundtrack albums on vinyl and was able to get some of the SDCC pins, but was hoping for more merchandise from the series- Funko POP!s, action figures, comics, or even an art book- but so far I haven’t found much.
Not even Watchman brand eggs or beans.
Hurm…
HBO WATCHMEN official site
HBO WATCHMEN Facebook page
Peteypedia Files
Some of my previous WATCHMEN blog entries:
“Rorschach’s Journal: April 1st, 2017. How I Created My Rorschach Cosplay- No Foolin’.”
Hitting The Pavement For Free Comic Book Day 2017 (Rorschach cosplay)
Rorschach’s Journal- Custom POP! Created By Me…Hurm.
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