u/JayXtended_Edition

If you have the link to my gofile already you gonna find it there. If not, ASK ME VIA CHAT FOR IT. I won't respond if you only ask in the comments.

The 4K is already online, the 1080p is still rendering but will be there too in some hours.

What is this edit all about? & Changelist:

„We think we are through with the past, but the past isn’t through with us.“ One Year after the „final“ release of this edit (V2) comes another update WHICH IS HUGH. So updating to V3 is VERY MUCH RECOMMENDED. I call it the Anniversary Edition of my edit to celebrate 40 Years of the Graphic Novel.

If you don’t know this version of WATCHMEN and want to know what this edit is all about start reading this change list from the bottom up (V1 explains how it’s different to ANY version of WATCHMEN you’ve ever watched, V2 & V3 how it evolved). If you just wanna know what V3 is all about, here you go:

V3 (Final version):

- No new scenes added. (The edit is structurally the same as V2 and of course it arrives with English subtitles & 100 Chapters for fast navigation too.)

Why you should update anyway (in short):

- WAY better sources for at least 80% of the edit (video & sound)

- Two files to chose: 4K with TrueHD 5.1 & AAC 5.1 (768kbs) - 42GB OR 1080p with AAC 5.1 (768kbs) - 11 GB (The TrueHD file is separately in the download folder for all who want to mux it to the 1080p file by themselfes).

- More Open Matte (because of the extraordinary 4K version I used this time)

- A better synchronicity between the animated- and the Snyder-Voices through AI voice cloning.

- Because Snyders & Gibbons audio commentary on Ultimate are boring (for the most part) I added an audio commentary with yours truly JayXtended himself that explains what, how and why I did what I did with this edit.

- I included the audio commentary of Snyder and Gibbons anyway too for the completists of you (and to truly make my edit the ULTIMATE one). Of course edited to fit my edit.

The long list:

V3 has so many changes, I don't think I can list them all. But the main things are these:

- better lip sync of the animated stuff (worked really hard to achieve this)

- More animated stuff integrated (some snippets had to go too because their flow didn't felt right anymore, but as a whole there are way more in it now).

- Made some really cool split screens (animated/ real live footage) with which I could integrate more animated AND more real live footage through out the edit. I don't over use this effect but there are some so cool transitions and it just looks amazing to have Open Matte real live footage on the one side and the animated counterpart on the other with a comic panel like frame that separates them.

- Cooler chapter titles (sometimes animated instead of static, sometimes just better integrated in the picture)

- Integrated at special points some cool frame break effects (animated & real live footage) which enhances the comic book movie feel.

- The two Hooded Justice Sequences from the TV Show have now the "75"-TV-Station -Symbol of the Under the Hood Documentary on them to feed the illusion that they are a part of it.

- Some nice transition effects between different aspect ratios.

- The flashback when Manhattan shows Lauri who her father was is now not only in black & white like before but with parts of it in color. AND THIS LOOKS FRIGGING AMAZING (really proud about that one).

- The text screens of the prologue are now read by the voice of Larry Culpeper (Moderator of Under the Hood) which eases the reading and makes it even funnier too (AI voice cloning).

- The Comedian is now born in 1924 again like in the Comics and how it reads on the gravestone (and not in 1918 like in the Snyder film). AI Voice Cloning.

- The voices from the animated sequences I used were before obviously different ones than in the Snyder movie. Via AI Voice Cloning they sound now like their real live counterparts: Bernard the News vendor, Rorschach, Manhattan, Veidt.

- A LOT of audio & visual improvements/ bug fixes.

- Flipped some more animated or real life footage to get them to play better together.

- The "night"-scenes when the squid arrives look more believable now (remember those are day scenes in the Snyder movie which I converted to night scenes as they should be from the comic- & timeline perspective). I made them darker, eliminated every car headlight (that broke the illusion before for me - where are the lights of the cars if it's night? I even painted some red backlights on a car that drives by). The whole Squid-Arrival looks so much better and nightish now.

- Added some blue tint to the animated part when the Squid arrives to fit better with the blueish real life "night"-footage.

- Added 2 seconds of silence after the squid hit.

- A lot of color correction throughout the edit to fit the different sources better together.

- Added some Black Freighter credits at the and of the credits where the „Meltdowns-Add“ from the animated version Chapter 2 is playing (before the screen was black at this point until the post credit scene arrives).

Runtime:

Theatrical Cut: 2h 42m

Directors Cut: 3h 6m

Ultimate Edition: 3h 35m

The Squid Cut: 3h 43m

The Ultimate Graphic JayXtended Squid Cut (V3): 4h 32m 12s

V2

Added another Hooded Justice Clip from The TV Show (played to a great song)

Fixed some audio bugs,

flipped some animated parts in the first fight to fit better

Edited the subtitles with the contend of the two new scenes.

V1.5

Added a Hooded Justice Clip from the TV Show

V1.4 (initial release)

The special features of my edit are the following:

1. You've never seen WATCHMEN like this.

By crosscutting the movie of Zack Snyder (DC) from 2009 with the animated Version of Watchmen from 2024 you will experience this epic story in a very unique way. At the same time that makes it possible to bring the movie much more in line with the Comic.

2. The Return of the Squid!

If you know the Graphic Novel, you know that the Snyder movie misses out on one giant squid. I took care of this.

3. Xtended Scenes

A lot of new and extended scenes are added to take WATCHMEN closer to the feel of the Comic (i.e. we learn now how Rorschach came to his moving mask, get to see a message to future president Redford from the TV Show and MUCH more). Overall this edit brings the Snyder movie much closer to the postmodern and deconstructive approach of the Graphic Novel too without crippling its narrative strength.

4. Under The Hood

The pseudo documentation "Under The Hood" is placed throughout the movie in small 1 to 3 minutes slices as if it were running on TV while the plot happens. The first time it appears we see someone watching it on TV so every time another slice comes up, it's just a natural continuation of that. This unfolds the history and back story of WATCHMEN in great detail and gives the world building a much stronger sense of realness (like the book chapters, newspaper clips etc in the comics).

5. Tales of the Black Freighter.

By using mainly The Black Freighter subplot from the 2024 animated Film AND adding the best parts of it from the Ultimate Edition it feels again MUCH more like we experienced it in the Graphic Novel as Ultimate could provide on it's own feet.

6. OPEN MATTE (more picture).

Open Matte (and at occasion other variable aspect ratios) is used a lot throughout the edit to enrich and expand the picture beautifully with the 16:9 format. You get to see more of what was filmed. But those format changes are treated with care and are only used if it provides more picture as the theatrical ratio (almost no pan & scan scenes are used) and ONLY if it serves the movies visual at least as good as the theatrical ratio (which wasn't always the case).

7. Music

Some time and comic appropriate music additions were made (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Harry James, Thin Lizzy, Blue Öyster Cult and of course DEVO). Additional Movie Scoring arrives from the animated film of 2024, from the Motion Comic of 2008 and from WATCHMEN the TV series.

8. Chapters

The movie is structured into the 12 chapters of the comics with its titles added. The quote slides with the moving watch of the "Motion Comic" is used to conclude them (as seen in the comics). Some scenes of the movie were rearranged to fit better, but it wasn't always possible to catch the sole line of narration from the comics (i.e. Manhattan on Mars is split up over more than one chapter). Don't forget, film works with a different set of rules as a graphic novel and getting the material to light up in motion is more important than Dogma or ass-kissing the Comic-Fundamentalist. Snyder understand that quite well (for the most part), this edit wants to complete and perfect that mission. This edit takes the freedom to add a prolog and an epilog and even some post-credit extravaganza - it's WATCHMEN for The Comedian sake. Deal with it WATCHMEN-ISIS.

9. Every filmed Incarnation of WATCHMEN to date is used.

Even every release of the Snyder movie (Theatrical, Directors Cut, Ultimate Edition, Open Matte), the animated WATCHMEN Chapter 1&2, UNDER THE HOOD and WATCHMEN The TV Show (with big additions), The Motion Comic and even a part of the computer game gets a short appearance. And I put the full “The Keene Act and You” comercial in the Prologue. All of that was selected and implemented with care (never to just get it in). That makes this edit the most complete overview of the WATCHMEN Universe on film today.

10. The technical aspects.

The edit arrives in gorgeous 1080p and with 5.1 OV sound. English Subtitles and chapter markers are provided too (not only to the main 12 chapters but to a lot of different subchapters, so you can simply jump to the Xtended parts, Under the Hood, Black Freighter and so on).

11. Last but not least, this edit uses "The Squid Cut" by Chris Willson (u/TriggeredPuppy) as its baseline. A lot amazing stuff in my edit is actually his work. I worked on this edit several hours every day for nearly 4 month. To achieve this cut of the movie without his work to build on would have taken easy double the time. I can’t recommend his work and edit enough. I changed a lot (rebuild most of the DC, added and integrated the animated parts, rearranged some scenes, added A LOT more OPEN MATTE, chapters and some music additions/ changes too). Check his edit out too. It's amazing.

I had the 4K file on my gofile and had to delete it because of a rendering issue I just found out. I feel dumb, making so much noise the last days and have to postpone the release now. So sorry, friends. New rendering will take some days again. V3 IS coming. I promise.

„Hey I thought your watchmen edit rocked!“

„That was fantastic, I just finished watching. One of my new favorite fanedits, and definitely my new favorite way to experience Watchmen. Thank you for making this, it's pretty much my dream Watchmen movie.“

„I just finished watching your Watchmen extended fanedit  and it was awesome.  So much better than the original,  so many new details that wasn't reviewed before. I was glued to the screen for 4 hours and the time flew without me noticing how long the movie were. I knew it's going to be amazing just like all of your edits, now I regret that I didn't watch it earlier.  Great job.“

„Just finished watching it. I found the prologue you put edited together really fun and the painstaking effort and time it must have taken to properly sync the audio with the animated segments. Really solid stuff. 👍“

„Excellent work.  9.5/10“

„This was incredible“

„The cutting between the live action and the animated was jarring at first, but lent it this beautiful almost Spider-Verse kind of quality.  An absolute blast to watch.  This'll be my new go to for this movie“

„Bro video audio quality was top notch..“

„Just watch it and it is amaaazing. I didn't for a second think "how much time is left?" I never watched animated nor normal movie nor read the comics, I only watched Watchmen tv show so take that into account. At first I found animated a bit weird like why include them and then (I'm presuming since I didn't watch either of movies earlier) - then I noticed you would often use better scenes from animated movie to better show character emotions and even some action scenes and imo you blended them very nicely except few ones that weren't super consistent. It's very cool that I can have something like this in my movie library so thaank you very much again.“

„As I mentioned to u/JayXtended (and obvious kudos to u/TriggeredPuppy as well), this edit of Watchmen is super-immersive. It's a hell of an approach to world-building and narrative style. I really enjoyed the 2-part animated version, but it always felt redundant to me after the live-action version. No more! Now it feels complimentary, as if we're seeing glimpses of maybe Rorschach's perception of events.“

„i couldn't imagine that with the constant switching between animation s live action, the ending would be good. but i was surprised by the execution. it was well done.“

Review for Watchmen Ultimate Graphic JayXtended Squid Cut (by a Reddit user):

I finally got to watch this last night.  Now I find out that  a V2 is available, so this review is for V1.4; which means my review would be even better.  :)  

I had only ever seen the original when it was first in theaters, and aside from a couple cool scenes, it hadn't really made a big impression on me.  Bear in mind i had no knowledge of the original comic/source.  and normally i wouldn't be interested in a movie that flip-flops between live action & animation.  but the description of this project sounded like an exception, and the fan base of the overall source IP had me convinced to give it a shot.  i was not disappointed.  

OVERALL STORY:  i was invested the entire time, and this wealth of extra material i had not seen before added so much needed depth.  i better understand why there is a fanbase for this IP.  and the intersplicing of animation did not bother me at all.  rather it gave it a very cool nuance, that wouldn't work in most other films.  i would actually say the film is better for it, as it adds to the constant premise of alternate realities, alternate timelines, propaganda and how it affects different perceptions of truths, both present & past.  the switching of perspectives & messages was never confusing, and all together make for a great mystery, that ends with such a bittersweet solution.  

if there was a single thing i could point out that i wouldn't rate as "really good", i guess it would be the full length of the comic book side story analogy "the Black Freighter".  it does go on & on a bit long for MY taste.  but i also see it's inclusion (in entirety) as a good balance between fans that want every shred of decent material, versus casual viewers that just wanted an entertaining flick.  and it's message is valid, as well as pertinent to the mindset of a major character.  

EDITING QUALITY:  i wasn't able to watch it with my surround sound, but all audio sounded top notch.  any moments in the intro that may possibly get some side-eye also seemed appropriate, with all the intentional aged-media intercutting, and came across as "on purpose", rather than "unfinished."  all visual transitions were seamless, as was the juxtaposing of the animated parts.  i was surprised at just how smooth the film worked with the animated intersplicing, even in the middle of fight sequences.  

i feel it is important to mention not only u/JayXtended_Edition , but also u/TriggeredPuppy who did so much of the live-action work that Jay added onto.  a ton of work on both peoples' part.  I applaud you both.  this edit is a welcome addition to my library.  

Hi Folks,

I know, I said by now the updated Version of my beloved WATCHMEN edit (V3) would be out. I'm sorry but it will take a little additional time. Rendering took 3 Days for the 4K (remember it's a 4,5 hours long movie). I was ready to shoot but decided to watch it front to cover first to check the quality and if I missed something.

The good news is the 4K looks simply FRIGGING AWESOME! And the 5.1 TrueHD sounds BLASTING AMAZING. The 4K file with TrueHD is around 45 GB, but believe me it's worth it (there will be an 1080p file too with AAC 5.1 that will be around 12 GB). The "bad" news is, I spotted some errors and things I still wasn't satisfied with and so I had to go back and work on the edit again. And I even made some new changes/ inventions on the way too (Haha, I'm one of those perfectionist I guess). Glad I did because there were some odd errors (a sound file popping up at a point it shouldn't, some animation files that weren't activated (this edit combines over 10 different complete movie files, going back and forth between them, plus a ton of other additional files - I guess some errors along the way are expected)). I also recorded an audio commentary that will be included too for the people among you that are interested in my thoughts about the movie and edit and why and how I did the many things I changed.

It renders again now. Again 3 Days for the 4K and another one for the 1080p.

Now to my QUESTION. How do you do it with your edits? Do you make a complete sit through when you finished and rendered your edit for quality control reasons? And do you think, I should do another one after this (hopefully) final render is done?

So for today it's just some screenshots again (to make you exited about the edit) that focus mainly on the the Open Matte side of the presentation (but shows some split screens too). Hopefully next week I can finally announce the release date.

Hi friends,

THE SQUID COMES BACK - and it's gonna be EPIC!

Since I found that astonishing 4K Open Matte source of the DC of Watchmen I'm redoing my edit as a whole with much better sources. V3 gonna be 4K and comes with TrueHD sound. I fixed a lot of stuff, could implement even more Open Matte and made A LOT of new creative additions. I know a lot of you liked my JayXtended edit of WATCHMEN a lot and It was a great edit before. V3 won't be longer, just even A LOT cooler.

I'm even including the audio commentary of Snyder and Gibbons and will record my own where I talk about the edit and will explain how and why I did with it what I did.

II guess it will be out in one or two weeks, for now I just wanted you to know that it's nearly finished and that I'm really exited about it. I'm putting some screenshots out for you to get an impression. They concentrate on the Open Matte stuff, but as you know I like to play with the AR of movies and Xtend them where I can. So this is just a little foretaste.

If you want to know more about the edit and it's idea read the release post of the old version: https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/comments/1jd7zxu/out_now_watchmen_the_ultimate_graphic_jayxtended/

And here is the old trailer too, which shows you the idea:
https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/comments/1jivqjq/update_v2_watchmen_the_ultimate_graphic/

CU on release day.
JAY