MONDO EXTRAS

THE BIRTH OF DR. MANHATTAN

This scene, a flashback in which Dr. Manhattan -- who, as a being of almost pure energy, simultaneously exists at all points of his life -- remembers how he became a living God, is almost exactly as it appears in the comic book. The scene begins with Manhattan appearing on Mars, having teleported there upon learning that he may be responsible for giving those closest to him lethal doses of radiation. He looks at a photograph in his hand, and flashes back to when it was taken in 1959, when he was Jon Osterman, nuclear physicist. The photo is of himself and Janey Slater, a fellow physicist, on a date at a local fair. After the photo is taken, they kiss, and just when you start to think that these two people are far too good-looking to be physicists, their mutual physicist friend Wally Weaver, who introduced them, walks by with his date. Wally wears thick-framed glasses and is kind of dorky-looking, which almost balances out the model looks of actors Billy Crudup and Laura Mennell.

Cut to 1981, where an older Wally is lying in a hospital bed, looking deathly ill. Dr. Manhattan's voice-over tells us that he's dying of cancer.

Back in 1959, Jon wins a prize at the fair, and gives the stuffed animal to Janey. I don't know what that stuffed cat is laced with, but we next see the two of them at home in bed together, having the sex. (How do nuclear physicists do it? KA-BOOM!) I don't know if this is the same night as the fair, but it is definitely One Month Before the Accident, according to Manhattan's description of the event, which has far too few details.

At the research facility, we see Jon, Wally and Janey walking down the hall to the cafeteria, when Jon realizes he forgot his watch. He goes back for it, finding it in the intrinsic field generator chamber, where the door closes behind him. The countdown begins, and he realizes he can't get out. Wally and Janey come back to find him, and Wally tells him there's nothing he can do. Lightning is beginning to play across the walls of the box. Janey starts to cry, tells Jon that she can't watch, then runs off to find another boyfriend.