FAQ for
Watchmen (2009) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Watchmen can be found here.

Watchmen is based on a comic series written by English comics writer Alan Moore and Illustrated by co-creator Dave Gibbons. It was originally published by DC Comics as 12 issues from 1986 to 1987 and was later republished in graphic novel format.

To quote Alan Moore from an interview with Bill Baker: "I'd never really been interested in having my work adapted for film. So I decided that the only thing that I could do that would be taking the high ground on the issue would be to refuse any future payments for films that were made of my work. This is for the films such as Watchmen and V for Vendetta (also for Constantine), things that were owned by companies and which I no longer owned, and where I didn't have a say whether they were filmed or not. In the instance where they were filmed, I would not be accepting money for them, and I would be asking for my name in consequence to be taken off of the films."

Yes. Although earlier drafts of the script had a present day background, replacing the Cold War with the "war on terror," it was ultimately decided to retain the 1985 Cold War setting, as the film's producers decided that, as is, there are already enough eerie parallels between the world of the graphic novel and our own. One modern touch that appears in the film is Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) and Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup) attempting to create a new fuel source. This is very briefly touched on in the comic: Dr. Manhattan is having a conversation with Hollis Mason (Stephen McHattie), the original Nite Owl, at his retirement party. Mason says he has become obsolete as a hero now with Manhattan coming on the scene, so he's going to retire and repair cars. Manhattan tells him that the new electric cars will soon be everywhere; there never was enough lithium to power them before, but since he can easily synthesize it, gasoline-based cars will soon be obsolete. After this point in history, there are electric cars seen frequently in the background, and one scene has a delivery man recharging his truck at a news stand.

Watchmen is based on a graphic novel which emulates and satirizes the history of characters from the Charlton Comics company, which had been acquired by DC Comics. Many of the modern superheroes people know today, like The Flash or Green Lantern, are actually the second bearers of those names and, in the Charlton Comics world, there were two Blue Beetles. The first were characters from the "Golden Age of comic books" of the 1930s and 40s, when superheroes first became a growing fad. The trend eventually died away, but was revived in the late 1950s by the introduction of new characters with new costumes and altered powers, bearing the names of their wartime counterparts, thus beginning the "Silver Age," which led to superheroes becoming a permanent part of Americana. In the world of Watchmen, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre represent this pattern, with their more modern-time incarnations being the main characters, having taken off from the Greatest Generation. Nite Owl I is Hollis Mason, a policeman who became a masked crusader and helped start the Minutemen. Eventually, he retired, and Dan Dreiberg took his place as Nite Owl II. The two characters are largely inspired by Blue Beetles Dan Garrett and Ted Kord, specifically the gadget driven nature of the second Nite Owl. Sally Jupiter as Silk Spectre I was also a member of the Minutemen. After her retirement, she pushed her daughter Laurie Juspeczyk into becoming a crime fighter as Silk Spectre II. While Silk Spectre is based on Charlton Comic's Nightshade, the generational theme is more commonly considered a reference to the DC Comic's heroine Black Canary, whose Silver Age incarnation is the daughter of her Golden Age counterpart. Watchmen delves into these types of relationships more deeply.

The full quote is: The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!' And I'll look down, and whisper 'No.' The line is from the first issue of Watchmen and is a piece of narration voiced by Rorshach (Jackie Earle Haley), which describes his views of society. The line is spoken fully in the film but has been altered for the trailer.

It is a symbol that represents an atom of hydrogen. The film (the theatrical cut, at least) doesn't explain why Dr. Manhattan creates this image on his forehead. The graphic novel and motion comic explain that the media was trying to make him more public-friendly, and initially they gave him his own costume. With it was a hat with a symbol of a generic crystal atom, however, Manhattan believed a hydrogen atom would be more proper (a symbol he could "respect.") When the media photographers pushed him to have a symbol, it was at this point that Manhattan burned the image of the hydrogen atom into his forehead. This scene appears in the Director's Cut of the film.

This scene is based on Dan Dreiberg's dream sequence which appears in the graphic novel.

In the graphic novel, Laurie explains that she mistook the button for the cigarette lighter. The movie does not depict Laurie (Malin Akerman) smoking, likely due to Hollywood's increasing pressure not to depict protagonists as smokers, thus her reasons are never clearly explained; she merely claims to have "pressed the wrong button," with no indication of what the "right" button might have been. It could be inferred that she was simply curious as to what the button did and pressed it to see what would happen. The second time it is pressed, when she and Dan are having sex, it's an accident. However, it is symbolic of an orgasm. As Laurie moans, fire bursts out of the ship.

According to Hollis Mason's book in the graphic novel, Captain Metropolis was decapitated in a car accident, while Hooded Justice vanished and was possibly killed by the Comedian shortly after. It's mentioned that this couple of masked adventurers were lovers. However, some people find a resemblance between the masked heroes and two background characters in the graphic novel, which could mean they faked their departures and are still alive in the time the story takes place. Except for Captain Metropolis' accident mention by Rorschach, nothing of these is addressed in the theatrical cut of the film. The Comedian continued being a crimefighter. Night Owl and Silk Spectre retired. The Silhouette was murdered by an adversary seeking revenge. Dollar Bill was killed in a bank robbery after his cape got stuck in the revolving door. Mothman succumbed to alcoholism and unstable mentality and was sent to an asylum in Maine. All those situations are at least briefly shown or mentioned in the film.

Rorschach was born Walter Joseph Kovacs on March 21, 1940. After he assaulted two kids who were bullying him, an investigation revealed the environment in which he lived (his mother being a prostitute who abused Kovacs physically and verbally and allowed her customers to mistreat him). He was taken away from his mother and placed into a foster home for problem children, where he lived until 1956. When he left the foster home they gave him a job in the garment industry, which he found "bearable, but unpleasant," as he had to handle female clothing. In 1962, a girl, who turned out to be real-life crime victim Kitty Genovese, ordered a dress made from a special fabric made possible by Doctor Manhattan. The fabric was made of viscous fluids between two layers of latex, sensitive to heat and pressure. The dress was never reclaimed because it was "ugly." Kovacs thought otherwise and kept the dress, after cutting it enough so "it didn't look like a woman anymore." In 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered outside her apartment building. Several neighbors heard her scream and plea for help but didn't do anything. Such apathy disturbed Kovacs, who began to perceive mankind as rotten. After learning of the murder, Kovacs went home, took the remnants of Kitty's unwanted dress and created his mask, "a face [he] could bear to look at in the mirror." Though it is not explicitly stated, it is very likely Kovacs took up crimefighting as a reaction to the Kitty Genovese murder. But, as he admits in the comic, he was just "Kovacs pretending to be Rorschach." The Rorschach personality wouldn't materialize until 1975, during the Blair Roche kidnapping case.

The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is portrayed as a cynical, nihilistic and ruthless superhero. There is little if any explanation to his actions in the comic. The closest it gets to giving a definitive answer is when a drunk Comedian tells Moloch: "When I started out, when I was a kid, cleanin' up the waterfronts, it was like real easy. The world was tough, you just [had to] be tougher." The most significant bits of information come from Rorschach, who says: Blake understood. Treated [life] like a joke, but he understood. He saw the cracks in society, saw the little men in masks trying to hold it together... He saw the true face of the twentieth century and chose to become a reflection, a parody of it. And Doctor Manhattan, who, reflecting upon his time with Blake in Vietnam, says: Blake is interesting. I have never met anyone so deliberately amoral. He suits the climate here: the madness, the pointless butchery... as I come to understand Vietnam and what it implies about the human condition, I also realize that few humans will permit themselves such an understanding. Blake is different. He understands perfectly, and he doesn't care. The book does at times imply that Blake's actions may be an attempt at testing the bounds of society: that he acts in despicable ways hoping that society stops him, which it ultimately never does. His involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, as well as the deaths of reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, is implied to be part of his government-sponsored activities. He was in Dallas nominally as Nixon's "bodyguard" the day JFK died (and he is actually shown as the second gunman in the film), and it's likely Nixon ordered the deaths of Woodward and Bernstein to keep Watergate from becoming public, thus cementing his popularity after winning the Vietnam war and enabling him to be re-elected for five terms after a constitutional amendment.

In 1975, Richard Nixon (Robert Wisden) proposes a constitutional amendment to allow him to run for a third term and also has The Comedian assassinate Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two journalists who investigated the Watergate scandal that eventually lead to Nixon's resignation in 1974, preventing the information from being made public.

After Ozymandias' betrayal is revealed, he states that, by killing millions, he has saved billions. Because both Moscow and various cities throughout the world were destroyed, the USSR and the USA join forces to track down and hunt the real and supposed perpertrator: Doctor Manhattan, as his energy was found at the sites of the explosions. The others agreed to keep this a secret so global peace would be maintained. However, Rorschach refused to compromise and left to tell the world what really happened. Doctor Manhattan then decided to kill Rorschach in order to keep the world at peace. The final scene shows the editor of The New Frontiersman (a far-right newspaper) annoyed at having nothing worthwhile to print, telling a young employee to find an article from "The Crank File," a collection of crank letters, among which is Rorschach's journal. It is left up to the viewer to decide what effect, if any, Rorschach's account of events will have on the world.

There are three known versions of the film, the latter two of which will be released on DVD and Blu-ray after the theatrical release of the film. The versions are:

(1) The Theatrical Cut, which is 2 hours and 42 minutes long, including ten minutes of credits. Without the credits, this version is 2 hours and 32 minutes long, or thereabouts. It does not include any "Tales of the Black Freighter" scenes and is considered the "Basic" version. It will be released on single-disc DVD on 21th July 2009.

(2) A Director's Cut that has all the scenes removed from the theatrical cut restored, but still without the "Black Freighter" scenes. This version will run roughly 25 minutes longer than the Theatrical Cut. This version will be available on 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray on 21st July 2009, the same day as the Theatrical Cut DVD. (The Director's Cut DVD and Blu-ray only include the Theatrical Cut as a Digital Copy.)

(3) The Ultimate Edition. This version is the Director's Cut plus "Tales of the Black Freighter" and live action transition footage shot specifically for this version, which leads in and out of the "Black Freighter" scenes. This cut will be around 3 hours 30 minutes long. This version will also include Under the Hood as well as Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics as bonus features. This could be considered an extended Director's Cut, since this was the original vision Snyder had of the adaptation. Presently it is slated for release shortly before the holidays and will be a limited release, only available until June of 2010.

Ultimately the movie is very faithful to the plot of the novel, hitting most of the major plot elements. Its major changes are cuts due to time, including a major plotline involving ordinary citizens on the streets of Manhattan, extended sequences about the pasts of the superheroes, and the Black Freighter plotline which consists of a story being read from a comic book. There are a few notable omissions or restructures from the original story, including (list does not encompass minor scene trims or changes for pacing, merely major plot points):

-A minor change is the birth date of the Comedian: in the graphic novel he was born in 1924, but in the film he was born in 1918. This change was most likely done to accommodate the actor playing him, who simply could not be passed off as a teenager for the flashback to 1940 and without resorting to hiring another actor to play the younger Comedian.

-A small but significantly notable change is that in the novel, the masked adventurers were never known as "The Watchmen." The name referred to the speech that JFK never got to make in Dallas (due to his assassination), which contained the line "We in this generation are by destiny, rather than by choice, the watchmen on the walls of world freedom." It also refers to the old Roman phrase "Who Watches The Watchmen?" The proposed name for the second-generation costumed adventurers in the novel was "The Crimebusters," although the group never formed, and the name was never adopted.

- It's now Dan Dreiberg, not Rorschach, who breaks the news of the Comedian's death to Adrian Veidt.

- The setup which gets Rorschach arrested is different. In the movie, Rorschach goes to Moloch (Matt Frewer)'s apartment after doing research on Roy Chess (Douglas Chapman), the man who attempted to assassinate Adrian Veidt. At Chess's apartment, Rorschach found Chess's ID card which showed he worked for Pyramid Transnational. Rorschach had seen this logo at Moloch's, and hence went to talk to Moloch and ended up being framed. In the book, Rorschach visits Moloch once more, before Veidt's assassination attempt. He tells Moloch to leave him a message in a trash can if he remembers anything that could help Rorschach with the mask-killer. Rorschach receives a note, and then arrives at Moloch's house to discuss the Comedian, when he is ambushed by the cops.

- Rorschach's hunting down of the kidnapper of Blair Roche. The movie keeps the majority of this sequence the same except for the death of the kidnapper. In the movie, Rorschach simply hacks the man to pieces with a butcher knife; while in the novel, Rorschach gives the kidnapper a choice of cutting through his own arm that is cuffed to a wood stove or burning in the room Rorschach has set ablaze.

- The absence of the flashback sequence wherein an angry Laurie, having just learned (through Hollis Mason's book Under The Hood) that the Comedian tried to rape her mother, confronts him at Mason's honorary party. This scene is considered reasonably important by some as helping to establish Laurie's deep hatred of him, and why she spurns the knowledge that he's her father so strongly.

- The absence of the flashback sequence where Veidt invites Jon and Laurie to dinner at Karnak. This scene is important for being the introduction of the genetically-engineered lynx Bubastis, whose unexplained presence in the film has confused some.

- The omission of the background story of Rorshach's psychiatrist. In the novel we see how the psychiatrist's home life and emotional equilibrium is wrecked by his intimate contact with Rorshach, because "when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." The Director's Cut adds some material to this scene, but does not depict scenes of the psychiatrist outside of his interview with Rorshach.

- Rorschach's second costume, and the confrontation with his landlady. Whilst the comic mentions Rorschach's landlady many times, including having a TV interview with her when he's captured, there's no mention of her in the film. As such, there's no scene of Rorschach retrieving his journal and spare costume, only to confront his stricken landlady. The theatrical cut has Rorschach simply retrieving his old costume from Dr. Long during the prison riot, and Snyder has made reference to this being a cut he somewhat regretted, which also does not appear in the Director's Cut.

- The death of Hollis Mason. It has definitely been confirmed that this has been shot (footage of this scene does appear in the Japanese trailer), and appears, along with several additional scenes of Mason, in the Director's Cut.

-Tales of the Black Freighter. In the graphic novel, there is a second narrative weaved into the main one in the form of a pirate comic a young boy is reading on a New York street corner. The plot is allegorical to Veidt's quest to stop the coming war: a shipwrecked man, believing pirates are headed to his home town, undertakes a grueling journey to reach his home and sound a warning, committing increasingly horrific acts as desperation drives him. He ultimately discovers that the pirates never went to his home after all, and deciding that "I was a horror; amongst horrors must I dwell," he consigns himself to join the Black Freighter's crew. This is significant in that the story reaches the opposite conclusion as Veidt, who stops just short of telling Dr. Manhattan that he dreams of swimming towards the pirate freighter, indicating his deep-seated worry that his actions may have been unjustifiable. An extended cut of the DVD will interpolate an animated version of this story, which is slated for a holiday 2009 release. Rumor has it that Alan Moore put the Tales of the Black Freighter in to represent his own personal struggle with DC comics.

- The finale. Instead of a genetically-engineered squid-like life-form passing off as an alien landing in the heart of New York, Veidt instead releases a series of "energy bombs" (for lack of a better term) based on Dr. Manhattan's powers in cities around the globe, making Manhattan appear responsible. The consequences, the Watchmen's decision to take on a code of silence, and Rorschach's death all pretty much play out the same, though this time Nite Owl sees his death, and loses it at an unconcerned Veidt, who merely tells him "a world at peace, Daniel. There had to be sacrifice."

The director's cut was released to DVD on July 21st.

The first trailer features The Beginning is the End is the Beginning by the Smashing Pumpkins. The second trailer contains 3 songs. Prophecies and Pruit Igoe from the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack by Philip Glass and Take a Bow by Muse. There are additional trailers that feature the song Angel by Massive Attack.

The tracklist of the OST goes as follows: (1) Desolation Row (My Chemical Romance), (2) Unforgettable (Nat King Cole), (3) The Times They Are A-Changin' (Bob Dylan), (4) The Sound Of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel), (5) Me & Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin), (6) I'm Your Boogie Man (KC & The Sunshine Band), (7) You're My Thrill (Billie Holiday), (8)Pruit Igoe & Prophecies (Philip Glass), (9) Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen), (10) All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix), (11) Ride of the Valkyries (Budapest Symphony Orchestra), and (12) Pirate Jenny (Nina Simone). The movie also features Nena's 99 Luftballons, Waylon Jenning's Clyde and a "musak" version of Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World. It does not feature, however, the soundtrack's track 12, Pirate Jenny. This track is used for the credits of the animated adaptation of "Tales of the Black Freighter".

* Unforgettable (Nat King Cole) (Nostalgia commercial and The Comedian/Edward Blake's death)

* The Times They Are A-Changin' (Bob Dylan) (Opening Credit Sequence)

* 99 Luftballons (Nena) (Laurie/Silk Spectre enters Rafaels to meet with Dan)

* The Sound Of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel) (The Comedian's funeral)

* Ride of the Valkyries (Budapest Symphony Orchestra), (Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian fighting in Vietnam)

* Me & Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin) (Vietnam bar with The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan)

* I'm Your Boogie Man (KC & The Sunshine Band) (Keene Act riots)

* You're My Thrill (Billie Holiday) (Laurie and multiple Dr. Manhattans having sex)

* Prophecies (Philip Glass) (Dr. Manhattan's flashbacks on Mars)

* Pruit Igoe (Philip Glass) (Dr. Manhattan's flashbacks on Mars)

* Prophecies (Reprise) (Philip Glass) (Dr. Manhattan's flashbacks on Mars)

* Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears) (Muzak version) (Veidt's foyer just as Roy Chess attempts to assassinate Veidt)

* Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) (Laurie and Dan having sex)

* Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana (famously referred to as Theme from Raging Bull (1980) (Pietro Mascagni) (Hollis Mason/Nite Owl's death scene) (Director's Cut only)

* Clyde (Waylon Jennings) (Rorschach's interrogation in Happy Harry's)

* All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix)(Rorschach and Dan arrive in Karnak)

* Desolation Row (My Chemical Romance) (End Credits)

* First We Take Manhattan (Leonard Cohen) (End Credits)

1. Rorschach encounters a couple of cops at Blake's apartment and fights them briefly before we move onto Dan and Hollis talking about the Minutemen.

2. Before Dan leaves Hollis's place, they see Rorschach on the news as it is reported that he attacked the cops.

3. There are a few extra shots of Dan walking home from Hollis's.

4. Dan tells Rorschach that he saw him on the news.

5. After Rorschach leaves Dan's place, he is shown walking through the street giving another one of his journal entries.

6. As he enters Rockefeller Research Center, Rorschach says "Veidt just as bad. Possible homosexual? Must investigate further."

7. The opening of Blake's funeral is slightly extended; we see the soldiers hoist Blake's coffin out of the hearse, and Dr. Manhattan shaking hands with Dan and Adrian.

8. The Vietnam War introduction has an extra part with Blake shooting out of a helicopter. Once the helicopter lands, we see him walk towards the man on the ground and burn him.

9. Adrian's flashback involving the Watchmen meeting shows Dr. Manhattan arriving with Janey, and Dan and Laurie exchanging a smile. The Comedian's speech is also slightly extended; he details how "justice is coming to all of us."

10. The riot flashback is extended, with several of the people in the crowd shouting at the Comedian and throwing obects at him before he says "Goddamn it; all right, that's how you want to do it?"

11. The end of Blake's funeral is slightly extended after Dan flips the badge into the grave.

12. Moloch is shown checking his letterbox before after he enters his house.

13. When Dan and Laurie are walking to Hollis's they pass the newsstand, where Bernie briefly talks to himself and then talks to Walter Kovacs as they walk past. Dan then suggests to Laurie that they catch a cab.

14. The cuts between Jon's interview and the alley fight scene are slightly reorganized.

15. After Jon yells "LEAVE ME ALONE!" he is shown standing alone in the TV station, implying that he teleported everyone out of the room.

16. Directly after this we see Dan and Laurie standing together panting in the alley, before they walk out to the street and Laurie decides not to go to Hollis's.

17. Dan then arrives at Hollis's, where he and Hollis see Dr. Manhattan shouting at the television people. This is directly followed by Dr. Manhattan's origin story.

18. The shot of Dr. Manhattan high in the sky with the leaves falling around him is incorporated into his origin story.

19. Dr. Manhattan's hydrogen logo is explained in detail during his origin story.

20. Following the origin story, We see Laurie being interviewed by the FBI agents about the whereabouts of Dr. Manhattan. During the interview, one of the agents mentions Jon's importance to the national security, and she has a flashback of the Comedian during the Watchmen meeting saying that "Once those nukes start flyin', we'll all be dust." She then remembers standing outside the meeting hall talking to the Comedian with her mother, and then is brought back to reality when a scientist runs in yelling "We found him! He's on Mars."

21. The following scene with Nixon and his men discussing the nuclear fallout drift is about twice as long.

22. Laurie is then shown injuring the FBI agent and handcuffing him to a pipe in the bathroom, stating that she's "been a prisoner in [her] life long enough."

23. During Adrian Veidt's assassination attempt, Roy Chess shoots Veidt's secretary's fingers off.

24. Rorschach is shown retrieving his items from an alley and delivering another monologue, before he goes to Roy Chess's apartment. This is followed by him going to Moloch's.

25. The interview with Kovacs and Dr. Long is extended; the two discuss compromise and the fact that the vigilantes "Do it because they are compelled."

26. During Rorschach's flashback we see the murderer arriving home and seeing his door has been kicked open.

27. The murderer's demise is a few seconds longer, with a bit of gore.

28. After the interview, Dr. Long says to a cop "I can't help him."

29. The intro to Laurie looking around Dan's basement now shows her walking past his costume.

30. Before Laurie tries on Dan's goggles, he talks about how Hollis inspired him to become a masked adventurer.

31. After Dan and Laurie fail to make love, Laurie tells him that they'll just take their relationship slowly.

32. During the tenement rescue, Laurie now lines up the civilians and one little girl asks her mother if Dan is Jesus.

33. There are a few extra shots when Dan and Laurie have sex in the owlship.

34. Dan and Laurie arrive at the prison outside of Rorschach's cell, and Laurie asks how they even know if he's still alive. Dan spots Laurence's dead body and says "he's alive."

35. Laurie and Rorschach argue on the prison roof, and then the three of them escape as cops start firing at them.

36. After we see Laurie goes to Mars, we see the knot-tops meet at the newsstand and discuss Nite Owl busting Rorschach out of prison. They mistake Nite Owl for Hollis Mason, and go to his house to beat him up.

37. We then see Hollis on the phone to Sally Jupiter, where the two discuss Laurie and Dan back in costume. Hollis hangs up when he hears a knock on the door, and the knot-tops come into his apartment and brutally beat him up, and ultimately kill him.

38. Rorschach and Dan have a longer discussion about getting the information they need from the people who are employed by Pyramid.

39. Before they leave the bar, Dan sees a news report on Hollis's murder and starts brutally beating up the nearest knot-top in the bar. Rorschach has to hold Dan back after he knocks out the knot-top's front teeth in the beating.

40. Jon and Laurie's conversation on Mars is heavily extended; they discuss Jon's perception of time and how it distresses Laurie.

41. At Veidt's office, Dan is at first silent due to Hollis's murder, and then picks himself up when Rorschach asks him what he's doing.

An even more detailed comparison between both versions with pictures can be found here.

A 10-minute preview of Watchmen, complete with several non-spoiler scenes from the movie as well as interviews with Zack Snyder, Dave Gibbons, and many of the actors can be found at here.

The Watchmen Ultimate cut, which interpolates the animated Tales of the Black Freighter sequence, was released on November 10th, 2009.