A Brilliant Parody with Superlative Production Values!
It's not often that, what I would consider, a perfect video comes along. This is one of those videos.
Saturday Morning Watchmen is absolutely spot on with it's references to the famous graphic novel and its inspired take on classic Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Some references to Watchmen I see (can you find others?)
We open on "Reds", communists, polluting the city lake in a Captain Planet type caper. The Cold War was heavily featured in Watchmen.
Adrian Veidt is shown in his antarctic headquarters with his faithful hound Bubastis (shown here in a Scooby-type role)
The "suiting up" portion is perfect, with each suiting up. Doctor Manhattan burning his symbol into his head. Rorschach slipping on his iconic mask. Magnifique!
Not sure where they got the idea that Nite Owl "likes to party down" from - it could just be a silly 70s/80s cartoon trope.
Rorschach petting the German Shepherds is a clear reference to the scene where he breaks down giving himself over completely to the Rorschach identity. "I'm nutty!" - I won't spoil the scene for you, go read the book.
The three Doctor Manhattans in bed is hilarious. It's a cute cartoon version of a very adult scene in the book.
They show Veidt's monster, haha, again, very cute and not at all the bloodbath in the book
Silk Spectre as a pop sensation is great. Very Jem and the Holograms.
The Comedian just wanting a kiss a clever way to address the sexual violence in Watchmen. There were always those love struck guys in cartoons that pined after a girl they couldn't get. Link from the Legend of Zelda cartoons is a good example of this (see my other blog on the subject). That's a character trait that wouldn't fly these days.
Ozymandias and Bubastis are totally Scooby Doo characters, in Watchmen Ozymandias was (duplicitously) helping to solve a mystery. The Mummy might be a reference to the origin of the names Ozymandias and Bubastis.
- Ozymandias was a Greek name for pharaoh Ramesses II
- Bubastis was the Greek name for an Ancient Egyptian city
The Doctor Manhatten giving cancer is a bit extreme, haha, jeeze. I guess it could be a superpower, maybe this Saturday Morning Cartoon exists in the actual Watchmen universe. That would explain any heartlessness.
Turning into a car is just silly - pretty much the most goofy way to use his godlike abilities.
Instead of Ozymandias pushing The Comedian out his window, in one of the most iconic panels of any comic ever, he helping him out... with a cheesy wink and thumbs up!
Pizza party = Ninja Turtles for me
"Time up Time's Here!" is the Doomsday Clock. The (actually real world) representation of how close we are to absolute man-made armageddon. It played a major role in the narrative of the story.
Such a damn fine video. I tried to find the HD version, I'm sure I saw it at one point, but my Google-Fu is too weak.
Join me, The Gillos, as I go through my list of YouTube favourites spanning 9 years of content curation. Enjoy!