I guess the third time is what it takes to get an accurate read on some things. I just finished watching The Ultimate Watchmen. This DVD takes the Director’s Edition of the movie and combines the Tales of the Black Freighter segment and adds it to the film. This is to be the definitive vision of Watchmen.

It’s debatable if TOTBF needed to be added to the narrative of the film. From a fan point of view it makes sense. It adds to the complexity of the novel. On the other hand, to a public that doesn’t know the material; they would wonder why this animation is in the middle of the film and how it relates. With today’s public, you can’t expect them to think too much.

On the whole Ultimate Watchmen reminded me of a play and that’s why I think, ultimately, so many people had mixed reactions to the film. I couldn’t see it in other versions because it was, let’s be fair, Watchmen. Many a modern comic book career started because of this comic. I personally got people interested in comics by slapping the graphic novel on people and said, “Read this and understand.”

Ultimate Watchmen shows that being so tied to the source material can be a detriment when put into other media. Everyone has to be on board, has to be in tune with the material. If not it comes off not being quite right. There are lines that are straight from the comic that when said by the actors you get a sense they don’t get the context of what they are saying. They are words, but just words.

From a fan POV, getting the Ultimate Watchmen is great, getting as close to the source material as you can on the moving screen. As a viewer not knowing the material, it’s confusing and just a little stilted.

Now, as a bonus the set does include the motion comic. By far this is the best adaptation though my fault with it is having one person read all the characters. My cynical voice figures if they had done proper voice acting on the motion comic, comparing it to the movie would even give a harsher light to the film, because with everything in tact the motion comic would reveal the shortcomings of the movie.