Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog
| July 17th, 2008I’m sure there are people out there who aren’t aware that Joss Whedon has written an internet musical alled Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog. I guess it’d be inappropriate to describe these people as living under a rock, since they probably have very fulfilling lives. But I’ve been very excited about Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog since Joss first started talking about it during the writers strike.1
It was released at drhorrible.com on Monday, the second part came out today, and the denouement will be available on Friday Saturday. I’m enjoying it so far. The acting is superb - Nathan Fillion is particularly funny as Captain Hammer the cheesy uphimself hero nemesis of Dr Evil. The dialogue is very clever, and the songs are fun. The superhero as villain and villain as character we empathise with isn’t particularly original, but it’s well done. I particularly like that Captain Hammer is a corporate whore who is in with the mayor. But Joss can do better. Penny, Felicia Day’s character, is shown entirely through Dr Horrible’s eyes. While we’re supposed to sympathise him, he is pretty much a textbook nice guy. And it has yet to pass the Bechdel test (in fact there has only been one woman on screen so far). So far the characters don’t resonate in any but the most superficial way, because they have no depth. And we all know that the importance of resonance, and rocket launchers.2
In the meantime watch Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog, but also read Sugarshock, which is stronger short-silly-Joss.
PS - Yes I am alive, but I’ve been pretty sick this New Zealand winter, and when I have had time to write I’ve been overcome with outrage about local issues, and haven’t had the energy to translate them for an international audience (you can see my various rants on my blog).
- It was so dreamy when Joss Whedon my favourite writer who I’ve loved for a decade, became Joss Whedon a militant union activist. (back)
- ** That’s from Joss Whedon’s audio commentary on innocence (since I’m not sure that this post can get any geekier I won’t worry about revealing that I have an audio commentary pretty much memorised.) (back)
July 17th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Your link at 2) is borked.
This comment was written by Daran.Report this comment to the moderators
July 17th, 2008 at 10:05 am
It should be fixed now, I think. I hope you don’t mind my fiddling with your code, Maia.
As for the show: I totally agree with your criticisms, but I think a lot of how the work as a whole reads will have to do with the conclusion . . . if Penny ends up as the stereotypical damsel in distress, I’ll have a lot of issues with that. If, on the other hand, she realizes that both Captain Hammer and Doctor Horrible are kind of jerks, well . . . that’s not a bad ending at all.
—Myca
This comment was written by Myca.Report this comment to the moderators
July 17th, 2008 at 10:19 am
And, since I didn’t mention it before: ‘Brand New Day’, the ending song for Episode 2?
Fucking awesome.
—Myca
This comment was written by Myca.Report this comment to the moderators
July 17th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Thanks for fixing the link Myca.
I agree that teh third part will be the revealing one, and I’m expecting that it’ll go in unexpected directions. But I guess I was comparing it to Sugarshock, where the third part did go in unexpected directions, but I felt there was more awesome stuff in the earlier parts. Not that there aren’t awesome bits (and I agree that the songs are fantastic, I love the bad horse songs), but I expect more.
Although ‘the hammer is my penis’ is definately a standout line.
This comment was written by Maia.Report this comment to the moderators
July 18th, 2008 at 8:36 am
I think it’s hard to fault Whedon for failing at the Bechdel test, given that there are probably a few Buffy episodes that accomplish the rare feat of failing the anti-Bechdel.
This comment was written by Silenced is Foo.Report this comment to the moderators
July 19th, 2008 at 6:27 am
I loved the first two acts, but wasn’t in love with the ending. But I won’t say more right now for fear of spoilers.
Oh, but here’s a neat blog entry with some info about the house they used as the location for Dr. Horrible’s apartment.
This comment was written by Ampersand.Report this comment to the moderators
July 19th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Hmm, I guess I shouldn’t respond with too many details of part III? I agree with Ampersand, I was disappointed that the video didn’t end with Penny dumping both of them. On the whole, I enjoyed it, and I think the songs are pure liquid crack, and I love NPH. From a feminist perspective, I am a little annoyed that Penny didn’t realize what a jerk Captain Hammer was, as well as the attitudes towards sex that the captain had. I can’t decide if I should like Dr Horrible- the kid the bully picks on isn’t necessarily good just because the bully is bad.
And come ON, Joss, stalking is not cool.
This comment was written by JenLovesPonies.Report this comment to the moderators
July 19th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Holly points out that Dr. Horrible is in fact the classic Nice Guy ™.
That said, I don’t think that Joss fails to understand that stalking is not cool; Dr. Horrible is sympathetic, but he’s really not a role model.
This comment was written by Ampersand.Report this comment to the moderators
July 19th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Well, and as much as I too disliked the ending, the argument could be made easily that it was a commentary on the whole Nice Guy™ thing.
—Myca
This comment was written by Myca.Report this comment to the moderators
July 19th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Really, you can’t go wrong with a cartoony pop musical about a down-and-out guy who is so desperate for social acceptance that he can’t imagine that his down-and-out love interest would have any interest in him until he achieves fame. But in the process of achieving fame he loses the girl, and too late comes to realize that the girl, not the fame, is want he really wanted all along. No, the movie fails the Bechdel test, but that’s really in keeping with the 1950s-era movies that were being parodied.
Whoops, we weren’t discussing Little Shop of Horrors? My bad.
No, Dr. Horrible doesn’t pass the Bechdel test either. As with Little Shop, it’s parodying an existing paradigm – in this case, the paradigm of cartoon superheros and villains which, for whatever reasons, tend to be white guys. And, presumably for financial reasons, Dr. Horrible only lasts around 45 minutes and has only three real characters. With these constraints, even the lead character doesn’t seem to discuss anything other than his work and his love interest. (Which really befits an obsessive supervillain, I guess.)
Is Penny only seen though Dr. Horrible’s eyes? Arguably Penny is the only character NOT seen exclusively through Dr. Horrible’s eyes. Penny expresses her own private thoughts, as when she’s trying to get people to sign a petition, or when she’s wondering why she’s not as excited about her relationship with Capt. Hammer as everyone else is, or when she’s cringing in response to Capt. Hammer’s remarks on stage.
Hard to imagine a different ending that wouldn’t have required a substantially longer show. Compare to Wicked, in which Glinda achieves all her ambitions (at least temporarily), but must begrudgingly acknowledge that “There’s a kind of a sort of — cost? There’s a couple of things get – lost?” She acknowledges this even before she loses her own love interest, and the show requires another hour to achieve resolution after this point. Without offering any explicit spoilers, let me suggest that some ways of achieving dramatic resolution are quicker and simpler, which may explain why those ways appear in fiction so often.
I was contemplating additional responses, but my circuits keep getting overwhelmed.
This comment was written by nobody.really.Report this comment to the moderators
July 19th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Me too, I said he was a text book nice guy.
I’m going to write a review of the third act now, which will allow people to spoil to their hearts content.
This comment was written by Maia.Report this comment to the moderators