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Whatever happened to Bubastis, the genetically engineered lynx owned by Ozymandias in the story, The Watchmen?

In the movie, the cat stepped inside an intrinsic field chamber with Dr. Manhattan. When Jonathan Osterman was first inside an intrinsic field chamber, he was transformed into Dr. Manhattan. The next time, he's in a chamber, he's there with a cat.

What happened to the cat? Was it changed as Osterman was?

For Jonathan to reassemble his body after the first time, Jonathan had to be conscious. He can't reassemble his body if his mind has been obliterated too. Which begs the question of where was he after the "obliteration" and before the reassembling? And if he had some self-awareness, then surely Bubastis could have some self-awareness too. The cat wouldn't have the same intellect as a human, but cats are self-aware. Maybe there is some disembodied cat consciousness floating around Antartica.

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It was disintegrated, same as in the movie. Whether it became Dr. Meowhattan is left unanswered.

This is just a speculation, but seeing film Nixon's attitude towards Dr. Manhattan, I would expect him to keep popping new Manhattans from the intrinsic field subtractor.

Apparently, becoming Dr. Manhattan requires a certain degree of conscienceness; the kind that a trained physicist and former watchmaker happened to possess, and poor Bubastis didn't.

enter image description here

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Although the script for the movie went through several iterations, all of the versions agree that Bubastis was simply 'obliterated' by the Intrinsic Field Subtractor machine.

Jon enters the corridor with the Lynx; Adrian flicks a SWITCH. The Lynx' FUR STANDS ON END as ENERGY CRACKLES BETWEEN THE METAL WALLS. The Lynx HOWLS.

DR. MANHATTAN: Adrian? Adrian, don't - -

LIGHT BLASTS through Jon and the Lynx - - both are OBLITERATED.
Adrian peers around the corner, winded by his success.

Watchmen Script - David Hayter & Alex Tse

Jon enters the corridor with Bubastis. Her FUR STANDS ON END as ENERGY CRACKLES BETWEEN THE METAL WALLS. Bubastis HOWLS.

DR. MANHATTAN: Veidt? Veidt, don't —

The LIGHT BLASTS BOTH JON AND BUBASTIS — OBLITERATING THEM.

Watchmen Script 3rd Draft - David Hayter

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  • Yes, but Jon wasn't exactly obliterated, was he, despite being described in the same terms? – Adamant Dec 1 '16 at 23:37
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    @Adamant - Reassembling himself was a feat, one assisted by his training as a watchmaker. Bubastis had no such abilities. – Valorum Dec 1 '16 at 23:50
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    For Jonathan to reassemble his body after the first time, Jonathan had to be conscious. He can't reassemble his body if his mind has been obliterated too. Which begs the question of where was he after the "obliteration" and before the reassembling? And if he had some self-awareness, then surely Bubastis could have some self-awareness too. The cat wouldn't have the same intellect as a human, but cats are self-aware. So this brings us back to my original question. What happened to the cat? – RichS Dec 2 '16 at 5:26
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    @RichS - it's notable that they tried to recreate the experiment without success. I'd assume that like most things that are obliterated, it stayed obliterated. – Valorum Dec 2 '16 at 12:05
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    @RichS - You seem to be under the impression that this is based on opinion. It's not. What you're looking at above is the film script. You may also want to note that the experiment that created Manhattan was repeatedly tried, without success so it's not a case of "1 try, 1 success", more like "dozens of tries (maybe hundreds), 1 success" – Valorum Dec 5 '16 at 17:46

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