Tales of the Black Freighter
Go beyond The Watchment and see what is bubbling underneath
Tags: The Watchmen Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Mar 20th, 2009
Tales Of The Black Freighter is an animated version of the comic that appears in The Watchmen and serves as both commentary and allegory to the events taking place. While there are real-life superheroes in the world The Watchmen inhabit, it is only natural that something else takes up the comic pages – and in this case it is a pirate story, though one that isn’t as charming and swashbuckling as one might think.
Originally designed to be interspersed with the live action film as it is in the original comic, Tales Of The Black Freighter here is presented uncut as a stand alone feature. It runs just under a half hour and we see everything that we did on the printed page. There are, of course, some changes. Most notably the biggest change is the addition of some dialogue. There are a few other alterations, but nothing that radically alters what we first read 20 years ago.
It is a grisly and brutal comic come to life via animation. The tone was not changed and earns an “R” rating. This is not family friendly viewing. The tale of a man, shipwrecked, doing whatever is necessary to do the right thing, no matter the cost, well, it doesn’t leave much room for niceties.
Under The Hood is an adaptation of the excerpt from the fictional autobiography that appeared in the original comic. Hollis Mason, the first Night Owl, penned a memoir in the fictional universe that The Watchmen inhabits, and bringing this book to life was done via a news special with interviews with those involved.
Coming in at 40 minutes we see a “repeat broadcast” of an interview with Hollis Mason that took place after the publication of his book as well as a few other costumed adventurers. We learn a lot of the back story for the world of The Watchmen, what the characters are that inspired the ones in the main story of the film and how they relate to that plot for example.
This was very well done, and could even have been expanded upon a little bit. I’m not saying that what we get is too short, but instead I mention this as a commendation of its quality, as it leaves the viewer wanting more. This really draws the viewer into the world of The Watchmen and provides great insight.
There is only one special feature – featurettes on or about other products are commercials for those products and not special features. We get an interesting 25 minute featurette examining how these two pieces of literature fit into The Watchmen universe both the original comic and the motion picture. It is a decent piece that gives the viewer an appreciation for the depth and richness of the world that was created for the comic as well as better understanding of the subtleties within these pieces. It is interesting to note that the tagline from a billboard in one of the comic panels (“Oh how the ghost of you clings”) is blurred out. I wonder why that is.
This was an enjoyable disc that many fans of The Watchmen would do well to watch. My personal inclination is towards Under The Hood more than Tales Of The Black Freighter, but both are equally important to the world of The Watchmen.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Under The Hood is a great adaptation of the "book excerpt" from the original comic + Decent special feature gives context to the two pieces here |
8.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- ALterations to what was originally written - Lack of credit to Alan Moore - Full price Blu-ray for less than an hour and a half of content (including special features) |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Watchmen fans need this. | |
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Tags: The Watchmen
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Mar 20th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
