Who Dreams the Watchmen?

Saw the movie last night. Late last night. Went to bed a bit before 3am. Watched the ‘sequel’, or a parallel version, in my head.

Laurie was married to Dr. Manhattan. He was working on the quantum engine, but tensions between the two of them distracted him and he made a critical error, resulting in an apocalypse not unlike the one in the movie. At point-blank range, the tachyon storm emitted by the explosion dispersed him through time and space. While it was possible he may eventually have been able to reconstitute himself, Laurie feels she is responsible for his death, as well as those of the innocents destroyed by the blast.

She pleads with Adrian to help her, and together they find a way to send her back in time to when they first met- in this version, in college, before he became Dr. Manhattan. He asks her out on a date, and, knowing the terrible consequences of their future together, she declines.

The two of them live their separate lives. Jon becomes Dr. Manhattan, marries another woman named Bunny, and continues his search for a quantum energy source. Laurie still bears the knowledge of the other timeline, and finds she still pines for him. They are both attending a formal dinner at some point, and Laurie’s mom and brother help her by luring Bunny away so that she can slip Doc a note- she had remembered the equation on the blackboard the night he originally made the error, and Adrian had figured out the flaw and corrected it- but she wanted to give it to him personally so she could at least have a moment with him alone before he got caught up in the experiment again.

It turns out the new formula is still flawed- Adrian never really wanted the apocalypse averted- but Laurie realizes it in time and tries to distract Doc by throwing something at him- the teddy bear she had brought with her from her original timeline as a keepsake. Of course it fails to harm him, but it does distract him- and as he unconsciously analyzes the quantum structure of it, and then her, he understands all that has happened. She hasn’t actually traveled through time, but “across” it to a parallel universe where things had occurred differently. By studying how the spin of her molecules differs from those in this universe, Dr. Manhattan grasps that all possibilities exist simultaneously- the multiverse is unlocked to him.

Reaching out, he draws Laurie to him and offers to make her like him- it will be painful, but he can remove her intrinsic field and reassemble her much more quickly than he did himself, so it will be quick. Tearful, but unafraid, she accepts.

Together, the two new gods leave our dimension, whether to seek out a paradise for themselves, or to create one, is anyone’s guess.

I might post my thoughts on the movie later, if I get around to it. Generally, it was pretty good in the same way LotR was- some bits missing, but the overall feeling was maintained.

~ by oberon the fool on March 13, 2009.