Who Watches the Watchmen? (New Movie Thread)

[MJB]

Went to see this on Saturday with my Brother, his fiance and Ms_MJB. I was the only one in the group that had read the original comic series (in any form). We all loved it. A very satisfying film. Not for the kiddies though. Leave them at home like we did if you want to see this film.

-MJB

[BentonGrey]

There was one thing that happened both in the book and in the movie that I never understood or maybe missed the explanation somewhere, but

Spoiler

how could Ozy catch that bullet? Was it his costume? Or did he use some of that genetic engineering on himself?

Spoiler

If you notice when Ozy looks down at his hand the bullet is sort of lodged in his glove and he pulls it out. This tells me that his costume is bullet proof. Also notice that he looked like he was doing some mental calculations when Laurie was aiming the gun at him. Seems to me that he calculated the trajectory of the bullet and used his superior reflexes to "catch" the bullet. 

In the book he was bleeding, so he actually managed to do it, but only barely.  It seemed he was about as surprised as everyone else.

[detourne_me]

RE: Ozymandias

Spoiler

Essentially i look at Ozy as the same standpoint that Lex Luthor has come to represent in recent years.  He is the human that will truly save humanity, instead of relying upon a superhuman to do so.
Now since he is a human he is not immune to sins, like pride, hubris, murder etc.
He makes mistakes but he can bring humanity together, it's a much stronger faith in humankind than relying upon some god.

now the movie fails because it doesn't set up Adrian enough to be the man that saves humanity,  he just comes across as a pompous jerk. There is his talk of free energy, and that does get realized at the end of the movie,  so i imagine this infers the modern crises we are facing, not a threat from nuclear war, but a threat of overconsumption and environmental implosion.

[TheMarvell]

Spoiler

I guess I'm just finding it really hard to swallow the whole "Adrian is super intelligent and can therefore calculate the exact trajectory of a bullet which somehow makes him physically capable of catching a bullet" explanation. I'm glad he was wearing gloves in the movie since that gives much more plausibility (you can speculate that they're bulletproof), but he's clearly not wearing gloves in the book. In fact he bleeds quite a bit from the impact. So how does being very intelligent make you more immune to a gunshot? I just don't understand how he's more "superhuman" than the others (sans Manhattan), not counting the "uber-ninja-ness" of the movie. I know with everything else going on in the story, this minor part really shouldn't matter, but it just seems odd there's no believable explanation other than what's been said.

[Figure Fan]

I think that there's always been an element of mystery to Adrian and his abilities. For all we know (even in the book), he might be a bit of a superhuman himself. I'm glad that they didn't try to explain away the mystery of it in the movie. As for him being totally pompous, I don't know. He did make an appearance at the funeral, and he was pretty endearing when he was speaking with Dan early on in the movie. Sure, he was sticking up for himself when those suits started harassing him about his past, but that's understandable. It's not until the end that he reveals his true intentions, but even then, he meant well with his actions, explaining that the current ways of the world haven't achieved anything, and that "This is as much your victory as it is mine" (when speaking to Jon). I've always been sympathetic to Adrian, just because he's flawed (and kind of crazy) but he does truly mean well.

[zuludelta]

Well, just came back from seeing the movie, and all things considered, I have to say that I like it quite a bit.

Granted, I'd already accepted the fact that the graphic novel, as is, would have been difficult to translate into a two and a half hour film (or a film of any length, for that matter). Watchmen, as a piece of sequential art, is just too embedded in the medium of comics to survive the transition to film unscathed. A reasonable loss of fidelity is to be expected. I'd already conceded, prior to going to the film, that the underlying literary structure that was the main draw of the graphic novel for me, would in all probability be lost. So with all those things going against it, I think the filmmakers fared pretty well.

Spoilerage follows:

Spoiler

Things I didn't like:

- Nite Owl and Silk Spectre's supreme fighting skills: One of the major themes of the graphic novel is how even just a single super-powered being existing in the real world (in this case, Dr. Manhattan) could shift the balance of the Cold War. And while it was made clear in the film's script that Dr. Manhattan is the only super-powered being in the movie's world (with Ozymandias being the closest thing to a "peak human" hero the world has seen), Nite Owl and Silk Spectre come off as virtuallly super-powerful fighting machines in their fight scenes. I know the action has to be kept brisk to keep the non-comics fan interested in the film, but I think they could have done it without undermining said theme.

- Matthew Goode's performance: One of the big surprises in the graphic novel is the revelation that Ozymandias is the big baddie (or as close to a supervillain one can get in Watchmen),  but it seems to me that a viewer who hadn't read the book would see that particular plot twist being telegraphed by Matthew Goode's performance. He seemed smarmy, sleazy, and just plain "supervillain-y" even in his first appearance (when his character should be gaining the viewer's trust), and the designers' choice of costume for him (the dark tones) didn't help keep the reveal a surprise either.

Things I particularly liked:
- Jackie Earle Haley's performance: Great performance as Rorschach. A little hammy at certain points, but I think he really pulled the character off. I just checked out his filmography prior to Watchmen and he's been in some pretty horrible films (I've seen a few of them). Hopefully, this performance helps him get a better pick of future roles.

- Jeffrey Dean Morgan's performance: Not as good as Haley's, but it's almost right up there.

Changes from the graphic novel that I (surprisingly) didn't mind:
- Doc Manhattan being the threat with which Ozymandias tricks the US and USSR into declaring a truce: Considering how integral the "fake giant squid with a vagina eyeball" thing is to the graphic novel, I'm surprised that I didn't mind its excision from the film. Then again, I always considered that one of the weaker points of the graphic novel's story. In this case, I guess, one deus ex machina is as good as any other.

Stuff I found a tad distracting:
- The soundtrack: I would normally like the film's soundtrack (since it features some pretty good songs), but either the mixing was bad in the theatre I went to, or there was just too much focus on some of the selected songs playing in the background.

[detourne_me]

Finally someone else who disliked the soundtrack!!!!
watching it in IMAX, it was just entirely to loud and jarring when a song came on.  Especially the hendrix.
But the Dylan song in the opening was a stroke of genius.  i'd love to watch that opening as a seperate music video in high def.

[zuludelta]

watching it in IMAX, it was just entirely to loud and jarring when a song came on.  Especially the hendrix.

I know what you mean. Hendrix's "All Along The Watchtower" is probably my favourite cover song of all time, but they had the music entirely too loud in the "flight to Karnak" sequence. It was so prominent that I assumed that Nite Owl had the song playing inside his ship, and I went "oh, cool, in this version, he's got a cassette player installed in Archimedes" but when the song faded away as the scene progressed, I realized that it was "background" music that was playing so loud relative to the other sounds in the film that it became part of the "foreground" audio (and thus, my assuming that it was an organic part of the scene, when it in fact, wasn't).

But the Dylan song in the opening was a stroke of genius.  i'd love to watch that opening as a seperate music video in high def.

I'll gladly splice the video when the DVD comes out. I thought the opening was one of the best parts of the film, and was an excellent way to get around the exposition needed to ground the viewer in the film's universe (again, I don't know how useful it was in introducing the world of Watchmen to people who haven't read the book, but I thought it did a good job of succintly summing up the alternative world history leading up to the events in the movie).

[C4]

Went to see it with my Girlfriend. I liked it and read the novel before. She slept almost halfway into it and was bored out of her skull.

It looked like pretty much everyone who was not familiar with the novel was bored in the theatre as far as I could tell. And on opening night there was 25 people in the threatre.

I really did not like the soundtrack. I was introduced to this amazing atmosphere with the music of the promo vid and I got boring music in the movie. I only liked the Halleluja music on the nite owl and laurie part.

Spoiler

Also preferred blaming Doc Manhattan instead of alien squid.

really did not like Rorschach killing the guy with the clever opposed to giving him a saw in the novel.

My favourite was the way Doc Manhattan was done. his look and fx etc. Though his man part could have been hidden more maybe.

Also enjoyed how Rorschash's mask moved in real time.

[zuludelta]

I think the way I can sum up my experience with the film is that as a huge fan of the book, on an emotional and visceral level, I was just thrilled that a somewhat decent Watchmen movie got made. My opinion might change after repeat viewings once the DVD comes out, but all in all, I think it was an entertaining look at the Watchmen story as filtered through director Zack Snyder's sensibilities (I don't agree with many of his directorial and storytelling choices, but I appreciate his efforts nonetheless... as I've mentioned before, the process of adapting the particular source material to film, I think, is just fraught with so many potential pitfalls).

[BWPS]

Spoiler

Stuff I forgot: Ozymandias was terrible. And it wasn't just his stupid costume, stupid hair, bad acting. They played ominous music in every scene he was in, which made me laugh. That was too ridiculous, I think anyone who didn't know he was the "villain" (which he certainly did seem completely like in the movie) probably picked up on it. Who made that decision?
The soundtrack was bad too. I think that sex scene was probably the stupidest part in the movie especially with the loud soundtrack. I did like the part at the beginning though I don't like Bob Dylan music. The rest was just bad, and as the end credits came up, I think the worst possible jarring out of the movie in which I was definitely not immersed but some people may have been was My Chemical Romance. And I'll even admit that they're one of my favorite bands (but that song isn't too good to begin with). I left immediately so I didn't get to hear First We Take Manhattan which is Leonard Cohen's best song by far and is kinda relevant at first but seems more like it was added as a joke. Ride of the Valkyries in Vietnam and 99 Luftballoons were stupid enough to make me go "WTF?" at a time that I was trying like the movie.
Did I mention the movie was too long and was boring at the beginning? Why so long? Why cut so many more important scenes from toward the end of the movie to have word-for-word scenes at the beginning? Why make it so faithful to the book to change the ending?
I would've actually liked it better if it were a total reworking of the characters as Zack Snyder thought they should be: Superheroes who beat the crap out of people violently nonstop, he could have added all the sex scenes and stuff that he wanted, made the costumes black leather or whatever, and Ozymandias could have been a super villain that I would love to hate instead of hate to hate. Rorschach could have stayed exactly the same and there could have been loads of bullet time and people getting shot and flying into walls. I really only liked it for the fight scenes and Rorschach which tells me it was a bad adaptation. The length and boredom I felt for most of it tells me it was a bad movie. I just think it was a bad idea.

[detourne_me]

Spoiler

I guess I'll whine a bit more, before i go to watch it again later tonight. i wasn't too pleased with Dan's character on first viewing,  he was too much of a loser in the "trying to relive glory days" way, and not enough of a loser in the "i'm a huge nerd and uncomfortable in my own skin" way.
Him watching Rorshach die, then "NOOOOOO!" and little spaz at the end.... ugh,  at least i'm glad Zach Snyder did away with the proposed ending of nite owl killing adrian.
Now, lets see how i'll like the movie on second viewing! hahahah (of course if i'm watching it in theatres twice, i can't hate it that much right?

[phantom stranger]

I think that there's always been an element of mystery to Adrian and his abilities. For all we know (even in the book), he might be a bit of a superhuman himself. I'm glad that they didn't try to explain away the mystery of it in the movie. As for him being totally pompous, I don't know. He did make an appearance at the funeral, and he was pretty endearing when he was speaking with Dan early on in the movie. Sure, he was sticking up for himself when those suits started harassing him about his past, but that's understandable. It's not until the end that he reveals his true intentions, but even then, he meant well with his actions, explaining that the current ways of the world haven't achieved anything, and that "This is as much your victory as it is mine" (when speaking to Jon). I've always been sympathetic to Adrian, just because he's flawed (and kind of crazy) but he does truly mean well.

In the original Watchmen series Adrian's 'powers' were never clearly stated ,however as he was based on Peter Cannon Thunderbolt I think it is reasonable to assume that he shares the same powers and characteristics .



This is from the International Superheroes website (my emphasis)

After attaining the highest degree of mental and physical perfection,he was entrusted with the knowledge of the ancient scrolls ,that bore the secret writings of past generations of wise men !From them he learned concentration, mind over matter the art of activating and harnessing the unused portion of the brain,that made seemingly fantastic feats possible   

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/charthun.htm

[tommyboy]

I haven't seen the film, so my "belief" in the bullet-catch is solely based on the book.

Spoiler

Before it happens, when Nite-Owl asks Ozy about the staged assasination:
Dreiberg; "What if he'd shot you first, instead of your secretary?",
Veidt smiles and answers; "I suppose I'd have had to catch the bullet, wouldn't I?"
Dreiberg; "You..? Nahh come on. That's completely... You couldn't really do that?"
Veidt smiles silently.
So it's something Veidt has considered, and planned for.

Then, when Laurie shoots him, he starts to leap towards her, making a "martial arts" type noise. These are used to focus chi and power.
After he gets back up he says; "There. Something else I wasn't sure would work."
It's not a spur of the moment thing, it's a move he has planned and maybe practiced for to some extent.
Do I believe that in real life a normal human could catch a bullet aimed at them? I'm extremely dubious about that, but willing to believe it if I ever see it. Within the context of the book, I believe Veidt could do it. Not again and again. Maybe even only once with some luck. But I believe it that once. Same way I believe Osterman can rebuild himself after being disintegrated, or teleport stuff. I suspend disbelief in order to enjoy superhero stuff.
Of course, an easier thing to believe would have been kevlar body armour under the tunic...I'm just sayin'...

[lugaru]

My opinions, having seen it last night:

Cons
- The extra violence was unecesary. I love the director but I think his mind could not process the idea that the movie had a lot of sex and swearing yet only a moderate number of violent scenes.
- Also was not fond of watching Night Owl and Silk Spectre kill and maim goons. Isint that what makes Rorschack so awful?
- The music was too loud and too obvious.
- I love it when sex actually looks like sex (see The Wire) but the sex scene aboard Archie was painful to watch, I keep hearing that it was "played that way for laughts" but the entire audience was dead silent.

Pros
- Very nicely compressed, edited and adapted. Exactly what an adapatation should be, keep what is good and change the things that dont work in the theater such as the original "global threat" at the end.
- Good performances from actual actors instead of stars.
- Excellent visual effects, camera work and direction.
- The added intro sequence with the heroes through the ages was brilliant.
- They did not shy away from presenting where our country would be had certain people gotten their way, in other words in a conservative one party dictatorship.
- The period celebs where great, I especially loved seeing Henry Kissinger and even David Bowie.
- Comedian was great, in the comic I just never got  him but on screen he was a great bipolar monster.
- Dr. Manhattan is great, very much the ultimate expression of purely pragmatic, scientific thought and how it takes nothing of human nature into account.

[zuludelta]

- Also was not fond of watching Night Owl and Silk Spectre kill and maim goons. Isint that what makes Rorschack so awful?

Excellent point

- I love it when sex actually looks like sex (see The Wire) but the sex scene aboard Archie was painful to watch, I keep hearing that it was "played that way for laughts" but the entire audience was dead silent.

Could have been worse. The undersexed fanboy sitting beside you could have been breathing way too hard and getting too heavily into that scene 

- The period celebs where great, I especially loved seeing Henry Kissinger and even David Bowie.

Oh man, I loved Lee Iacocca's "cameo" as the leader of the conglomerate going up against Ozymandias. I thought it was hilarious. Although I guess he was one of the more obscure 1980s period "celebrities" featured in the film.

Also, I was surprised at the maturity of the audience I saw the movie with. I was worried that I'd have to spend most of the movie tuning out loud juvenile and/or drunken and/or stoned comments about Dr. Manhattan's electric blue junk being displayed in panoramic widescreen, but outside of a single peep of "man, if I had his powers, I would've made mine bigger," that earned a few chuckles, they were pretty quiet throughout the movie. So thank you for your restraint, anonymous audience at the Empire Studio 12 Guildford 4:30 PM Watchmen screening. 

[lugaru]

Ah, the wang of Dr Manhattan. The best moment it produced was after the movie, when my friends girlfriend said that she found it very tasteful.

Hehe.

Edit: wanted to add a question:

Spoiler

Was the movie really obvious? Having seen it I knew what was going to happen, but I was watching it with my own girlfriend who guessed pretty much everything. Within like 10 minutes she was like "Wow, is she the comedians daughter?". She does this with every movie (It creeps me out sometimes), but I would of thought the big reveals in Watchmen where a little bit more hidden than what you see in other films. Like also pretty much right off the bat she figured that Ozzy was behind everything...

[zuludelta]

Ah, the wang of Dr Manhattan.

I think the proper term is "Dong Manhattan"

Edit: wanted to add a question:

Spoiler

Was the movie really obvious? Having seen it I knew what was going to happen, but I was watching it with my own girlfriend who guessed pretty much everything. Within like 10 minutes she was like "Wow, is she the comedians daughter?". She does this with every movie (It creeps me out sometimes), but I would of thought the big reveals in Watchmen where a little bit more hidden than what you see in other films. Like also pretty much right off the bat she figured that Ozzy was behind everything...

As I mentioned in a prior post, I think Matthew Goode's portrayal of Ozymandias very clearly telegraphs his ultimate role in the film, and strangely enough, I think everything from the direction to the costume design sort of alluded to it. Thing is, I can't "un-read" the book in my mind so I don't know if I'm just overlaying my expectations onto his performance and the film's direction and design. I'd have to hear the opinions of more people who've seen the film but haven't read the graphic novel to see if my observation rings true with them as well.

[Ares_God_of_War]

I still have never read the comic and yes he seemed like the type of hero who becomes a villian due to arogance throughout the whole thing. Also I thought he did have superpowers. So in the end only Dr. Manhattan does none of the others have any super powers? Especially since they were talking about the force needed to throw him through that specific type of window.

[kaflinkle]

I saw it last weekend and was a bit disappointed. I felt the film was rather flat and lacked the soul and heart of the novel.

I didn't feel it worked as a film at all or rather it may have done under a different director.

-The violence was too graphic and unecessary
-I didn't like the ending at all and one of the important parts of the book, the bit where Jon tells Veidt that 'nothing ever ends' was completely butchered and Spectre ended up paraphrasing Jon and saying it to Dan!!!??? Why?

There's other points as well but they were cosmetic or not worth mentioning.

It's a shame as I have been looking forward to a Watchmen movie for a very long time. Not a bad film by any stretch but not brilliant either. Maybe my expectations were too high. Probably a bit spoilt as well as the previous film I watched was The Wrestler and that was fantastic.

[thanoson]

I actually enjoyed this better than Dark Knight. Dark was good, but it was a really good Die Hard film. This felt like an adult super hero movie. Bones breaking and what not? This is the kinda stuff that happens to people when they attack superior fighters. There are many self defence styles that break bones and make it so that you never want to try that again.

The thing about the bullet. Dan said right before they enterd that Ozy thought he could catch a bullet because he was that fast.

[lugaru]

Yeah, in the comic Ozzy seems a little more amazed, like "I always thought it was possible but I did not know it could be done until now". I guess catching the bullet is a great metaphor for this movie... it is painful at times but who would of thought it could be done.   

About the violence I loved the prison scene, it was a well choreographed and exciting kung fu battle. But that alley scene felt lifted from an entirely different movie, not just that bones break but the degree to which he worships the violence, with broken bones poking through skin in slow motion. I watch plenty of horror movies so I'm ok with gore but here it was way out of place. Like I said, he was wondering how a movie with dongs and swears did not have extreme graphic violence.

[Panther_Gunn]

Ah, the wang of Dr Manhattan.

I think the proper term is "Dong Manhattan"

There's an excellent viewpoint on today's Shortpacked comic. (no link due to occasional offensive language on the site)

[Talavar]

I find it interesting the number of people - and there have been several in the thread already - who have the superpower of Audience Sense: the ability to know how everyone else in a theatre is reacting to a film.  Unless you and the whole theatre went and had a film discussion group afterwards, I'm calling shenanigans on that.

If you didn't like a film, that's fine, but saying "I didn't like it, and neither did anyone else in the theatre" doesn't necessarily make your point of view the right one, and doesn't add any strength to your argument.

Same deal with saying the theatre you were in was mostly empty, implying that hardly anyone went to the film.  Even if it were true, it wouldn't necessarily mean it was a bad film, but it's pretty easy to disprove.  Watchmen made 55 million dollars over the weekend, with a per screen average of $15 000.  That's solid business for any movie, but when you consider it was an R-rated, nearly 3 hour movie opening in March, it did pretty well financially.

Does that make my opinion, that it was a pretty good film, the correct one?  No, but then I didn't say along with my opinion that the theatre was packed and everyone loved it.

[zuludelta]

I still have never read the comic and yes he seemed like the type of hero who becomes a villian due to arogance throughout the whole thing.

Ah, finally, somebody who hasn't read the book but seen the movie. The viewer whose opinions I've been looking for to validate (or not) my somewhat minor quibbles with the film (since everyone I saw the film with had read the book).

Also I thought he did have superpowers. So in the end only Dr. Manhattan does none of the others have any super powers? Especially since they were talking about the force needed to throw him through that specific type of window

See, in the book, not only is Ozymandias supposed to be the world's smartest man, he's also perhaps the peak physical specimen. He's trained for most of his life in martial arts and gymnastics, something that was, I think, glossed over in the film's dialogue. As I mentioned, he's probably the closest thing to a superpowered being in Watchmen's universe next to Dr. Manhattan due to his combination of genius intellect and Olympic-level physical conditioning.

Ozymandias' catching the bullet however, at least in the graphic novel, was played up as a most fortuitious thing: It's something that surprises even Ozymandias, not to mention Nite Owl and company... it's something they've suspected he could do by virtue of all his training, but it's not something that is supposed to be a repeatable feat in the context of his natural abilities.

Unfortunately, the hyper-stylized fight scenes did give off the impression (to me and to you, at least) that every one of the "Watchmen" (they never called themselves that in the book) had heightened physical abilities. In truth, apart from Doc Manhattan, Ozymandias, and the Comedian (a trained spook/covert operative), only Rorschach could be argued to be anything but an average physical specimen (and even Rorschach probably derives his physical abilities from the unhinged sociopath's dedication to exercise and inurement to pain and physical hardship, and not from any actual physiologic advantage over normal humans).

I haven't seen the film, so my "belief" in the bullet-catch is solely based on the book.

While the veracity of the claim can be disputed, it's been documented that a human can calculate the trajectory of a bullet and respond evasively to its flight. Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda (the last Japanese officer to surrender after World War II ended, he spent the next 29 years after Japan's defeat in WWII hiding out and acting as a one man guerilla army in the jungles of the Philippines) could allegedly dodge semiautomatic rifle fire on occasion (the story was that he only ventured out at dusk, when the light from the setting sun would be more likely to reflect off of the jacketed bullets and give him a visual cue as to their trajectory).

[zuludelta]

Watchmen made 55 million dollars over the weekend, with a per screen average of $15 000.  That's solid business for any movie, but when you consider it was an R-rated, nearly 3 hour movie opening in March, it did pretty well financially.

Yeah, the R-rating is typically considered the "kiss of box-office death" these days, especially when one considers the number of theaters in North America that refuse to play R-rated films or will only play them for a limited run.

Funnily enough, here in BC, I think the film is rated 18A (I don't think there's an American equivalent to that rating), meaning minors can watch it as long as they're accompanied by an adult: I got carded at the entrance (happens a lot, as I'm "Asian short" and I guess I look, dress, and talk like I just stepped out of a particularly bad inner city high school), and while I was reaching for my driver's licence, the lady at the door waved me in anyway when she saw that I was with my older brother (who'd already flashed his ID). There were also a number of "comic book dads" bringing in their tween and teen kids to see the film in the theatre I went to.

[Figure Fan]

I'm a die-hard fan of the book, and I just can't bring myself to understand much of the pointless griping about changes to the film, etc.

I can say without much reservation that I loved the movie. Speaking with non-fans, I found that they would have liked to have known how Rorschach got his mask and not too much else. Maybe Bubastis, but based on one of the uninitiated I spoke with, they just assumed Adrian had bought or created her. They didn't suspect that he was the villain, either.

[stumpy]

Another take on Watchmen

Okay, we all have our own interpretations of the movie, but can we at least agree that this is awesome?

[Gremlin]

Another take on Watchmen

Okay, we all have our own interpretations of the movie, but can we at least agree that this is awesome?

Yes. Yes we can.

[The Enigma]

I finally saw it last night in a somewhat empty theatre. For the first half I was just so enthralled, I loved every second. It was almost exactly what I'd dreamed since reading the book. Around the scenes in the prison, the cracks started to show. I was just so happy with the songs (cheesy and cliche, just like the idea of a comic and what Moore was semi-parodying in his work) and the style. Seeing minor things like the Gunga Diner come to life in front of me was amazing not to mention the extremely realistic work done to recreate Dr. Manhattan and especially Rorschach's mask. I might have to go and see it again - something I can't afford to do but am very tempted to regardless.
It was obviously not perfect, for a whole bunch of reasons, but I didn't care - which is something pretty major in itself considering every single person I know expected me to complain throughout the whole thing. The obsessive attention to detail (which I can understand being very offputting for those who haven't read the graphic novel) was what I wanted and what I got and I'm still riding the wave of excitement that arrived with the opening credit sequence.