Watchmen: 8 Questions
HBO’s Watchmen series is pretty dense and just like the comics that came before it comes with supplemental reading that enriches the already tightly packed material. The supplemental material is found at HBO’s Peteypedia page. Every episode includes a couple of documents that enlighten the reader on questions that might arise from the episode or the timeline in general. Here are some of the questions that have come up for me so far.
Is there internet in the Watchmen universe?
Not really (maybe in it’s infancy). They use a lot of pagers.
According to the FBI in a memo to the Anti-Vigilante Task Force from Director James Doyan dated August 29, 2019 with subject heading “The computer and you,” the FBI has received a new computer system called the IBM NetVista X41. This memo reveals that their current analog data is going digital and a new way of communicating between agents, “electronic email (‘El-Mail’),” is now available. Therefore, the infancy of the internet. For email to exist you need basic networking in place.
Why is there no or very little internet?
After the attack on New York a sort of technophobia set in. Doyan states, “I know all of you well enough to know that none of you share the old technophobia that still persists in some sectors of society.” (Peteypedia, File 1)
It seems technology was blamed for the attack on New York. Maybe it is an overt association with Doctor Manhattan and his technological origin. It could be the digital revolution, which Doyan mentions briefly in the memo, which was just taking foot at the same time as the incident. The memo mentions, “then the squid dropped. New technology seemed the most likely cause for whatever opened up the door that allowed such a horrific monster to pass through it. The DEC VAX was junked by Christmas and that was the end of that. Back to the stone age….
The computers, the phones, the towers that would have provided communications without wires — we destroyed it all, hoping it would save us.” (Peteypedia, File 1)
In other words, squid drops, computer tech is blamed, and thus no internet.
Where are the remaining Superheroes from the comics?
As we have seen in the last few episodes, they continue to be outlawed. Doctor Manhattan is thought to be in Mars. The Silk Spectre is working for the FBI. The Nite Owl is in jail, and Ozymandias is in some sort of exile. Rorschach lives on through his journal and fanatics who wear his mask.
What about Rorschach’s journal?
It was published.
“In 1986, New Frontiersman published excerpts from a journal allegedly written by Mr. Kovacs.” However, “the journal was dismissed as either a hoax or the expression of mental illness, though it remains an object of fascination for fringe artists and anti-government extremists.” (Ben Woodward, WPI Content Network)
How are the Seventh Calvary connected to Rorschach?
“The Seventh Kavalry of Tulsa, Oklahoma, white supremacists who have appropriated Kovacs’ mask and see their own warped ideology reflected in the mad swirl of his ink blot face. We have reason to fear how the proverbial cult of Rorschach might respond if the Bureau quits the search for Veidt. These fogged, volatile personalities believe that Veidt is responsible for Kovacs’ disappearance. They want justice for their martyr-messiah; if we appear disinterested in that, we tempt their wrath.” (Dale Petey, “Memo: Rorschach Journal”)
Why does Tulsa PD have Archie (Nite Owl’s Archimedes)?
In the 4th Peteypedia file we got an answer. After successfully preventing the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 Laurie Blake (A.K.A Silk Spectre and the Comedienne) and Dan Dreiberg (Nite owl) are captured by the FBI for violating the anti-vigilante laws. Here is a transcript of Laurie’s conversation with the FBI agent:
Agent: How were you funded?
Laurie: Through MerlinCorp…. It’s a tech outfit… they do weapon and airship design for state and local law enforcement…. [b]ecause Dreiberg is the company, dips##t. Have you ever wondered why the cops fly f####ing owlships?”
Apparently, Tulsa PD bought an owl ship off of MerlinCorp, which was a company Dreiberg had opened up after the New York incident.
Does the government know the truth about the giant squid?
Yes. In File 4 the Interrogation document reveals that once Laurie Juspeczyk Blake is captured she apparently gets released by threatening to tell the truth about 11/2. In other words, the truth about what happened in New York with the giant squid.
“Tell your boss to tell his boss to tell his boss to tell Gatsby that Laurie Juspecyk knows what really happened on 11/2.” Here Gatsby is a reference to the President.
Who is this Senator Keene?
File 3 gives us a little information on the Senator. As has been noted in the show, America is currently governed by left-leaning forces, which have left those on the right feeling unheard and outcast. The New Frontiersman is still alive and well and selling far-right-wing propaganda. They are aggrieved over reparations pejoratively called Redfordations (Victims of Racial Violence Act). However, interestingly the publication calls for support of Senator Keene. “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger.”
