MisterWhiplash This is a curio, simple as that. And yet it's hard to ignore the work that went into it. This is a one-of-a-kind occurrence. Normally a book is translated into an audio format, like a radio play (at best) and with a narrator or sometimes actors playing various roles (i.e. Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas the audio book has this). With Watchmen, unlike the movie by Zack Snyder, this is absolutely faithful to the source, with every panel included (the only thing it lacks, somewhat sadly, are those novel-type in-between chapters in Watchmen, such as the excerpts from Under the Hood), and with Dave Gibbons and the original colorist included.It's a pleasure to watch the images come to life, and with a level of vibrancy that does make one see the recreation of an entire masterwork. As with the book, you can get sucked in and want to read/watch the entire thing. The only big difference, however, and the most glaring deterrent, is that when reading the Watchmen book you can fill in the gaps and the characters with your own voices and accents and things, as with any book, and pause at will. With this, it's continuous and with one voice only. This isn't to decry Tom Stechschulte too much, since he bounces between the male characters reasonably well (he even puts on a clever Nixon accent). But when it comes to the women, or with certain minorities (i.e. the pregnant Vietnamese woman), it doesn't work nearly as well. It's a matter of taste, perhaps, but they should have tried for a few more actors or voice-people to cover the book-on-video.But if you're a big fan of the book, and you have an interest in seeing something like this that hasn't been done before, do check it out, if only for a few episodes. It's an approach that could pave the way for more... which depending on point of view is a great thing or a terrible thing. At the least it's an admirable experiment.

Reynaldo Alvarado I have never rated anything a 1, but this is completely unwatchable.The motion comic concept is great - take the original art and material and product something faithful to the original with lite animation enhancements, sound, music and voice overs. The voice overs are the problems here - there is only one voice talent, and so the feel is like an audio book... Just imagine Silk Spectere's lines being read by a man, and you'll know why I have rated this as completely unwatchable (OK maybe if you turn the sound off).Again, a great concept, but a complete failure due to using the audio-book style convention which is completely jarring in this genre and utterly ruins the effect. The production company should have spared the budget for an expanded voice cast, and this would been MAGNIFICENT.

mandrake05 Like everyone else, I couldn't wait to see the "real" Watchmen movie come this March, and was pleasantly surprised when I heard of this animated series.Let me tell you, just about everything here is perfect. It's pretty much a panel-by-panel adaptation (though even with 12 half-hour episodes I could notice a few scenes here and there were trimmed for time). However, every single page comes to life thanks to the wonderfully epic musical score and the little touches added in - such as the character's clothes flapping in the wind, their changing expressions, or the camera work that often focuses on all the interesting details we might have missed in the real novel.But I'll reserve special praise for the narrator. Even though it's a bit jarring at first to have one guy doing ALL the voices (even women's!), you soon realize that it's basically how it would sound if you read it aloud to yourself, for example. You'll quickly notice that every character is done differently (and perfectly!) - Rorschac with his monotone, gravelly voice, God-like Doc Manhattan and even the whiny Night-Owl just sound exactly like I would expect them to.So definitely give this a try. I would maybe even recommend this to someone who hasn't read the novel before or hates comic books in general, as on the first read-through all the other extra material (journals, articles, etc) that is included in the printed version (and left out here) would probably just fly over most people's heads anyway. And trust me, like the other poster before me said, if the opening shot and monologue don't draw you in, I don't know what will.

fonerg It is something everyone should see. I don't understand why isn't it more advertised. I think this is as close to books as it ever will be.The animation is fantastic. The production values a high. Just watch the very first scene where the camera zooms out from the comedian's badge.Nothing is missing from the real watchmen experience. I will be honest I never liked comic books. Maybe because growing up I did not read just occasionally one or two. But if you are like me who appreciate style and great story but cannot be blown away by looking at small pictures in row, you are in for a treat.A must see! A must experience! I think it is superior to the soon to be released movie. We will see. I will.