I Was Afflicted With The Curse Of The Black Freighter, But Revenge Would Be Mine: Tales Of The Black Freighter Trailer

[Premiered on MTV / CLICK THRU for details]

WHAT-WAS: "Tales of the Black Freighter is a comic book within the Watchmen universe, an example of post-modern Metafiction and comic-within-a-comic that also serves as a foil for the main plot. Issues 23 and 24, comprising the story Marooned, are included within Watchmen itself. They are read by a teenage boy named Bernie, who sits outside a newsstand through all his appearances." [wiki]

WHAT-IS: "Tales of the Black Freighter, a comic within the Watchmen comic, will be adapted as a direct-to-video animated feature from Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Animation, which will be released on March 24, 2009. It was originally included in the script, but was cut due to budget restrictions, as the segment would have added $20 million to the budget, because Snyder wanted to film it in a stylized manner reminiscent of 300. Snyder considered including the animated film in the final cut,[8] but the film was already approaching a three hour running time. Gerard Butler, who starred in 300, voices the Captain in the film, having been promised a role in the film, which never materialized." [wiki

Warner Home Video has released the DVD and Blu-ray Disc covers for Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood, coming to stores on March 24. Here is how the studio describes the release:

They're in the book. And on this disc. From the director of Watchmen and 300 come two tales from the celebrated graphic novel that do not appear in the extraordinary Watchmen Theatrical Feature. Tales of the Black Freighter (featuring the voice of 300's Gerard Butler) brings to strikingly animated life the novels richly layered story-within-a-story, a daring pirate saga whose turbulent events may mirror those in the Watchmen's world. Stars from the Watchmen movie team in the amazing live-action/CGI Under the Hood, based on Nite Owl's powerful first-hand account of how the hooded adventurers came into existence. Two fan-essential stories. One place to watch the excitement. Watching the Watchmen begins here.

The DVD and Blu-ray also include the features "Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen" and "A First Look at Green Lantern."

Source: Superhero Hype

"Marooned" tells the story of a young mariner cast adrift at sea, making his way to his hometown to warn its inhabitants of the coming of the Black Freighter. During his journey he is "forced by the urgency of his mission to shed one inhibition after another", including using the bodies of his dead shipmates as a make-shift raft and mistakenly killing innocent people as he makes his way to town. When he finally returns home, believing it to already be under the occupation of the ship's crew, he accidentally attacks his own wife in their darkened home. Afterward, he returns to the sea shore, where he finds the Black Freighter; he swims out to sea and climbs aboard the ship.

Moore has said that the story of The Black Freighter ends up specifically describing "the story of Adrian Veidt". Richard Reynolds states that just like Veidt, the protagonist of "Marooned" "hopes to stave off disaster by using the dead bodies of his former comrades as a means of reach his goal". Moore has said that "Marooned" can also be used as a counterpoint to other parts of the story, such as Rorschach's capture and Dr. Manhattan's self-exile on Mars." [wiki]