Peteypedia: Watchmen Extra Credit!

[Chicago Redshirt]

HBO has set up a website with files out of the world of its "Watchmen." They are collected by a FBI agent and shed additional light on what has happened between the time of the graphic novel and "now." If the first two weeks are an indication, there are going to be 3-5 such bonus looks.

In the tradition of the articles and mini-comics in the "Watchmen" comics, or some of the sites that the "Lost" powers-that-be established.

https://www.hbo.com/peteypedia

So here is a place to discuss stuff that comes out of these files.

[Lantern7]

I’ll need to deep dive before Sunday. Right now, I would like to find the writer who had Godfrey (the reactionary editor of the far right rag The New Frontiersman) speculate on Adrian Veldt having relations with his genetically-modified lynx. Because I kind of want to choke that person out for putting that idea into my head.

ETA: Page Four. Seriously, I know this is HBO, but what the hell?!?

Edited October 30, 2019 by Lantern7

[Mr. Sparkle]

I've read or skimmed through all of it, and I'm completely geeking out. One question: what is the E.D.B.E.?

Also of note is how often the name "Mueller" comes up. 

Edited October 30, 2019 by Superclam

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, Superclam said:

I've read or skimmed through all of it, and I'm completely geeking out. One question: what is the E.D.B.E.?

Also of note is how often the name "Mueller" comes up. 

My guess: Extra-Dimensional Biological Entity/Event or something similar 

[Mr. Sparkle]

20 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

My guess: Extra-Dimensional Biological Entity/Event or something similar 

Makes sense. It'll probably be revealed in the next few weeks. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

Thoughts on the Tulsa Police Chief Feared Slain link:

The author is "Ben Woodward" and the article is from the Washington Post-Intelligencer. In OG Watchmen, the duo of reporters who broke the Watergate story in the real world, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, were killed in a garage before doing so. That paved the way for Nixon to keep getting re-elected. The executive editor of the Post was Ben Bradlee. So maybe this Ben Woodward is Bob Woodward's kid named for Ben? Also, the Post apparently had to merge with another paper, the Intelligencer, perhaps because it did not get the journalistic accolades that came from Watergate and the investigative breakthroughs that Woodward/Bernstein did elsewhere? Also, it is weird that a Washington, D.C. reporter would be writing about the disappearance or even murder of a Tulsa police chief. But maybe that is thinking too much in depth about this. 

As to the article itself, it says that Judd had a number of relatives in law enforcement. So the KKK garb that Angela saw might possibly belong to one of them rather than Judd himself.

The article talks about how there were only three survivors of White Night. Presumably that means him, Angela and Calvin. Also it mentions that Judd served under a Robert Mueller. I wonder if that is meant to be connected to the guy who was thought to be Hooded Justice, Rolf Mueller.

[Mr. Sparkle]

52 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The article talks about how there were only three survivors of White Night. Presumably that means him, Angela and Calvin. Also it mentions that Judd served under a Robert Mueller. I wonder if that is meant to be connected to the guy who was thought to be Hooded Justice, Rolf Mueller.

I think I read somewhere that the German secretary in the beginning of episode 2 was named Mueller, so either the name has some significance or it's a red herring. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

4 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I’ll need to deep dive before Sunday. Right now, I would like to find the writer who had Godfrey (the reactionary editor of the far right rag The New Frontiersman) speculate on Adrian Veldt having relations with his genetically-modified lynx. Because I kind of want to choke that person out for putting that idea into my head.

ETA: Page Four. Seriously, I know this is HBO, but what the hell?!?

Haha! This is the part I skimmed over! 

[Dev F]

3 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Also it mentions that Judd served under a Robert Mueller. I wonder if that is meant to be connected to the guy who was thought to be Hooded Justice, Rolf Mueller.

The name of the alleged Hooded Justice is Rolf Müller, without the first e. Judd's commanding officer is a reference to the real-life Robert S. Mueller, the former special counsel and FBI director, who was a decorated Vietnam War veteran.

[Chicago Redshirt]

11 hours ago, Dev F said:

The name of the alleged Hooded Justice is Rolf Müller, without the first e. Judd's commanding officer is a reference to the real-life Robert S. Mueller, the former special counsel and FBI director, who was a decorated Vietnam War veteran.

Good catch. 

[Dev F]

I was bummed to see a pretty major inconsistency in the Peteypedia materials this week. In the New Frontiersman article lamenting the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation, the paper's ultraconservative editor laments that President Redford is naming "activist attorney" John Grisham to replace recently deceased conservative justice John MacLaughlin. But at the beginning of the episode itself, we see one of the FBI agents staking out the bank reading a newpaper with the headline "GRISHAM TO RETIRE FROM THE SUPREME COURT." I'm at a loss to explain away a discontinuity as significant as the show and the supplements not agreeing on whether Grisham is joining or leaving SCOTUS! (And neither one is obviously incorrect, since Grisham is currently sixty-four, which is pretty old to be appointed to the court, especially by a president who's about to leave office and probably concerned about his legacy, but young to be retiring.)

It's also notable the the previous Peteypedia articles have suggested that the Washington Post is now the Washington Post-Intelligencer, while the paper the agent is reading is called the DC Post-Times. It's frustrating, because I was really enjoying the supplemental materials, but now I have to wonder how authoritative it's meant to be, or whether the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing with all this stuff.

Edited November 5, 2019 by Dev F

[Chicago Redshirt]

The NF article is dated Sept. 9, 2019 and doesn't explicitly name Grisham as the author of "The Pelican Deposition." It could be that it was a short tenure. It could be that in the Watchmen Universe "The Pelican Deposition" is written by someone different than Grisham, who wrote "The Pelican Brief." I suppose it could be that the Grisham who is retiring is different from John Grisham.

There could be more than one paper in DC. The Washington Post-Intelligencer and the DC Post-Times could have both been offshoots of the old Washington Post.

Edited November 5, 2019 by Chicago Redshirt

[Catfi9ht]

I'm just now catching up on Peteypedia's contents. There is some good stuff and some not-so-good stuff.

I don't know why I'm complaining about a show providing bonus content outside of a tv show. I think this crankiness is coming from the fact that if a show chooses to put out optional content like this, they shouldn't half-ass it. I'll keep my grumblings brief.

My main gripe is the tone with which Petey's memos are written. They're written like tabloid articles or gossip columns instead of the "factual, historically accurate" memos in which he tries to present them. I think the American Hero Story memorandum is probably the most egregious of the files provided thus far. He actually uses "Whatever" akin to a teen-aged girl to dismiss a plot point of the AHS tv show. The tone is just wrong, and it makes me dislike the character even though this is all supplemental information that exists outside of the actor's performance on the actual show.

The one item I do like is the Four Letters evidence document. Written by Keene Sr., it talks about "Achaians" and has an all-seeing eye type of symbol at the end of the document. My guess is this is this world's Illuminati, Free Masons, or some equivalent where the world's power rests with a few, very wealthy families. The greater mystery of bringing in an overarching organization that controls the world is an interesting concept to me for this world since everything in the comics was obviously from an American perspective. I always thought there was such a large, interesting world that could have been expanded upon, and I hope this show does just that.

[arc]

From the Laurie Juspeczyk interrogation: "Note: Agents Latimer and Dinwitty confer outside the interrogation room for approximately seven minutes. During this time, subject sings to herself. Agent Dinwitty identifies song as Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives""

Man, Laurie Blake is committed to always being the smuggest one in the room.

Then again, considering the FBI never connected police airships to Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl, I can see why.

Edited November 12, 2019 by arc

[Chicago Redshirt]

We also learn that it was Nite Owl who made the Dr. Manhattan-esque vibrator and that he named it "Excalibur" in keeping with his obsession with Arthurian stuff. 

I loved how Laurie nicknames President Redford "Gatsby."

[arc]

per ep 6's Peteypedia, Lady Trieu's mom was named Bian!!! I was (probably) right when I guessed in the ep 4 thread that Bian was a clone of her mom rather than a clone of herself!!!!!!!!

Also she's a billionaire from Nostaliga, a trillionaire for developing fusion-powered space flight, and she managed to synthesize lithium (necessary for electrifying cars*) without having Dr Manhattan's powers.

* or I guess one could just start a coup in Bolivia

[Chicago Redshirt]

Peteypedia touches on Lady Trieu getting HDTVs for all the locals (the better to hypnotize you, my dear) and possibly being a kid of the Comedian.

[Lantern7]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

. . . and possibly being a kid of the Comedian.

First instinct from me was that she's the daughter of the woman Eddie Blake killed after she sliced his face. When you think about it, though, Comedian probably had a lot of bastards in Vietnam.

[Catfi9ht]

A couple of small opinions:

1. I looked up the Harlem Riot of 1943 referenced in Petey's memo and there was a real event, but it didn't really seem to have much resemblance to episode 6's events.
2. I tried to call the number in the Nostalgia advert and received a busy signal.
3. The EDA brochure was produced by the "Veidt Institute for Extra-dimensional Studies" because of course he would. 😁
4. I'm suspicious of Trieu being The Comedian's daughter because that just seems too convenient of an answer. My current theory is she a first gen clone of her mother with her mother's lifetime of memories implanted in her. Hence, the advanced degrees at such a young age and Bian would be a second gen clone, but maybe that's too out there even for this show.
5. From Laurie's memo linked under Episode 6, "...it’s pretty fucking strange that of all the people who could be responsible for offing Crawford, it would be the same guy who beat the shit out of my dad when he tried to rape my mom. The thermodynamic miracle strikes again..." I love this excerpt because that single line ties them both together using the phrase "thermodynamic miracle", and the title of episode 6, "This Extraordinary Being" is meant about Will Reeves in the tv show, but is about Laurie in the comic.

[arc]

Trieu’s accomplishments and brains aren’t at all like Eddie Blake. They are, however, rather reminiscent of Adrian Veidt. And tbh the way her mom set out to raise a super-achiever does feel kinda comic booky. Or pulpy, even.

or yes, she could have inherited her smarts and (apparently deserved) megalomania from her mother, or maybe her father isn’t from the comics. But if they’re gonna tie things together, that’s my bet about Trieu’s parentage.