Dr. Horrible in the New York Times by 1eyedcat

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Dr. Horrible in the New York Times

POSTED BY: 1EYEDCAT
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 14:21
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Sunday, August 3, 2008 4:02 AM

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was the subject of an article in Saturday's New York Times:

"In Online Musical, the Mad Doctor Is In"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/arts/television/02horr.html?_r=1&scp
=1&sq=doctor%20horrible&
st=cse&oref=slogin

The review was both good...:

"If the comparison is with other Web content,
'Dr. Horrible' is a winner. ... It has real performances. ... The songs, ... are tuneful, witty soft pop, ..."

...and bad:

"If the comparison is with television, the answer is murkier. On that scale “Dr. Horrible” falls
somewhere between an amusing trifle and a dramedy that won’t make it to the 13th episode."

But, as the article says:

"... 'Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog' is, if nothing else, a brilliant and relatively inexpensive marketing tool for Mr. Whedon, ..."

...and that can only be good.

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Sunday, August 3, 2008 4:17 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

It was also on NPR's "Fresh Air" show on Thursday or Friday, when they were talking to Neil Patrick Harris about it.

Apparently the response has been so good that the server crashed. Hundreds of thousands of hits!

Mike

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Sunday, August 3, 2008 7:05 AM

PENNAUSAMIKE

Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog!
It's a comedy!
It's silly songs!
It's a light-hearted romp!
Oh WAIT!
NO! It's a crushing morality tale with a
"surprise" character death/ unhappy ending.

The first two acts set us up to root for Dr. Horrible
to get his act together, get the girl and
unmask Captain Hammer for the fraud he is.
A light-hearted romp.
Then we get the Joss Whedon viewer manipulation treatment.
The girl is killed and Dr. Horrible gets what he thought
he wanted only to find he is hollow.
Thud.

I don't find it clever to bait-and-switch an audience;
to sell them one story and then tell another one.
It's not genius to interject a tragedy into a comedy
and call it a "twist".
Genius is to sell a story and then wrap it up,
meeting the audiences expectations,
without seeming cliche or trite.

Mike

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Sunday, August 3, 2008 7:12 AM

CHRISISALL

It was a great short story/parable/music video.

Horribleisthenewgreatisall

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008 2:52 PM

CANTTAKESKY

...and karaoke fun with the kids.

I've been singing these with the kids. Got two more to upload.

--------------------------

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008 3:24 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by pennausamike:
"surprise" character death

Surprise? It was strongly hinted at in the middle of act 1, "A heinous crime, a show of force, a murder would be nice of course" So - Chekhov's gun - somebody was going to die by the end. It couldn't be Horrible because it's his show. It couldn't be Hammer because you can't kill the nemesis. Which leaves Penny. And Moist I suppose but he wasn't a character so much as a punch line. The real genius here was in making that obvious conclusion as heart rending as it was.

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

"Don't worry. Captain Hammer will save us." - Penny.

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

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Thursday, August 7, 2008 8:05 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

I agree with daveshayne. Joss gives lots of clues throughout his stories. In both FF and Buffy, he gives you little segways into what's about to happen next. It's his way of showing you the rug and then pulling it out from under you - you its coming, but when?

Except for one instance in the BDM (Wash's death)he gives you a little hint within the movie/episode. Joss loves throwing those curveballs. In Buffy he "kills" her in Season 1, only to bring her back to life (one of the heroes within the family of misfits brings her back - Zander). In FF OiS, Mal tells the doctor, in regard to River's gun-toting how someone, including him, could get hurt. "Who exactly could fix you. We're very much alone out here." Then cut to Early's ship following Serenity. Anyone who follows Joss and his magical mystery tour could almost set their watch by his little clues.
I knew a twist was coming (I thought that it would be that Capt. Hammer was really a coward and the true hero would be Dr. H) That ending in Dr. H left more questions than answers (sort of like OiS did with the final shot of Early floating through space with "Here I am"). I just got plunked by a "curveball."

Shiny! Let's be bad guys!

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Thursday, August 7, 2008 8:32 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

I read the article and it felt like to me that it was a backhanded compliment, sort of.

It was more negative than anything. But I think the author missed the point entirely. Dr. H was nothing but pure fun, as told by JW. In other words, expect the unexpected, and have fun while your doing it. Joss's stories are never simple or routine. Someone wrote that a hero should be a hero, and a love story a love story. Leave well enough alone.

No thank you, says I. Sure I would love to have Wash live and continue his torrid love affair with Zoe, but then JW would get bored. I did though read an article reviewing the BDM saying that Wash's death was overkill and unnecessary. But to hear Joss tell it, the story arc for Zoe called for something this drastic. We have our opinions, but Joss is telling this story and ultimately he's the boss.

Which brings me to the "fun" I had watching Dr. H and the reviewer's rather acid remarks. He compared it to the Sarah Silverman show, as part of the theme within the article - TV versus Webpisode - I'm sorry to say but I tried watching an episode of the SS Show and please there is no comparison. It was not pretty. I'd rather watch Dr. H than Big Brother (groan), Wipeout, Smarter than a 5th Grader, etc. You get the point, what happen to TV? Are they that desparate?

Anywho, I thought the article was a bit insulting to JW and, in turn, to those who love a good story - namely US.

Tha Hammer is my penis!

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Thursday, August 7, 2008 10:55 PM

KAYNA

I love my captain

I've got to agree with pretty much everything you said Shinygoodguy. He says Dr. Horrible has a ways to go to catch up with the Sarah Silverman Show?!? Has he watched that piece of crap? I can feel my brain melting just watching the commercials.
The whole thing just felt kind of snide and superior to me. Like the writer thinks he's better than all this.
Also, just what gay subtext was he talking about? I've got no issues with homosexuality but, aside from the one fanboy, I didn't see any in this. Hammer singing about his muscles isn't gay, it's narcissistic. And just what about "Keep your head up Billy buddy" is gay? I'm confused.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Op: You're fighting a war you've already lost.
Mal: Yeah, well I'm known for that.

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Friday, August 8, 2008 4:05 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by Shinygoodguy:
Except for one instance in the BDM (Wash's death)he gives you a little hint within the movie/episode.

He hinted at that as well. On Miranda Jayne says words to the effect of, "They're all dead and there aint no reason for it." while the camera is spinning around. Just as Jayne finishes his line the camera stops right on Wash. Who did turn out to die for no reason.

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

"Don't worry. Captain Hammer will save us." - Penny.

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

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Saturday, August 9, 2008 11:33 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

Good pick up, Daveshayne. I'll keep an eye out for that next time I see the BDM. I should have known though, Joss does not "throw" anything away is his storytelling.

"We live in a spaceship dear"

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Monday, August 11, 2008 10:13 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by Shinygoodguy:
Good pick up, Daveshayne. I'll keep an eye out for that next time I see the BDM. I should have known though, Joss does not "throw" anything away is his storytelling.

I hadn't actually noticed it myself untill I read the recap over at TWOP http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/firefly/ The next time I saw it I was all like, "Oh, that is so obvious how did I not get that."

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

"Don't worry. Captain Hammer will save us." - Penny.

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

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Monday, August 11, 2008 6:11 PM

STOWEAWAY

Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
...and karaoke fun with the kids.

Man, you're not kidding.
Every time I manage to get those catchy tunes out of my head, my son walks by singing another one.
"Listen close to everybody's heart and hear that breaking sound....."

Aaaaagh!

------------------------------------------------
Check out http://www.americasfunniesttshirts.com for hilarious shirts at a great price.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008 3:46 AM

TUBAJEDIMASTER

That's just the Whedon style. I actually kind of saw it coming, because, well, it's Whedon. Genius, and the kind of person that's not afraid to piss of his audience.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008 3:50 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by daveshayne:
On Miranda Jayne says words to the effect of, "They're all dead and there aint no reason for it." while the camera is spinning around. Just as Jayne finishes his line the camera stops right on Wash. Who did turn out to die for no reason.

Sadly, I noticed it the second time I saw Serenity.........*snif*

Detailsisall

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008 2:21 PM

RALLEM

I added Dr. Horrible to my website from hulu

http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html

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