Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog

[audreyii]

This is an awesome musical. A lot of the plot elements seem yanked right out of Little Shop of Horrors. I wonder if Joss Whedon had ever seen it?

Highlight below for spoilers!

If this musical wasn't produced independently, there would've been a stupid test audience that convinces the studio to let Penny live.

[Torgo]

I love this "movie" (can it be called that?). It was even the inspiration for my most recent blog post, after my girlfriend and I sat down and watched it, us being HUGE Whedon fans.

It's very possible that Little Shop was an inspiration, but the only inspiration I know of came from the internet series The Guild, from which he got his leading lady. Other influences also being Whedon's love of music and superheroes (also, possibly, his frustration of being attatched to so many superhero projects only to be let go).

There's word on a sequel to this in the works. I'd be interested, though it might be put on the backburner should Whedon make the rumored deal with Marvel to direct the Avengers movie. An web movie sequel wouldn't seem so important compared to the ultimate Marvel crossover.

For whom it may concern, though, an awsome companion piece to this film is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Once More, With Feeling, which was done in a similar musical fashion (I, personally, especially love "Walk Through the Fire" and "I'll Never Tell"). It's on disc 2 of the Buffy season 6 DVDs to anyone who has a NetFlix account.

[audreyii]

A theatrical sequel is being produced. I'm worried that it'll ruin the magic of the first one. Now, for a Dr. Horrible/Little Shop comparison one of my e-pals sent me. Highlight below!

Hello. My name is Seymour Krelborn Dr. Horrible. I've been in love with this girl, Audrey Penny for a long time. She and I use the same laundromat work at the same flower shop. I also want to get out of Skid Row fix the world, hopefully with Audrey Penny. She also wants to get out of Skid Row fix the world, but I want to do it in a more extreme way. She has this nasty abusive lying sadist asshole dentist superhero boyfriend. An alien plant unknown part of my mind convinced me to kill him, supposedly out of justice, but in reality out of the deadly sin of greed wrath. As a result, Audrey Penny is now dead, and I have been consumed by a giant alien plant previously unknown part of my mind.

[Torgo]

There's no official word on it being theatrical. That's just a rumor at this point. I doubt theatrical distribution is really that big of an option for it. There's an even bigger chance that it will be web produced, much like the follow-up seasons of The Guild.

I put trust in the hands of Whedon and whatever project he holds, as long as he's given creative control to glide it to safety (unlike the original theatrical Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alien: Resurrection).

[Continuing Legend]

I thought it was FANTASTIC as a stand-alone, and I am dreading the sequel.

There. I said it.

I like Whedon's stuff (I'm a huge fan of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible, Sugarshock, etc), but he seems to do best when he does short things.

I am pretty sure the reason everyone loves Firefly is because he didn't have enough time to ruin it. Am I pissed that it was screwed over by FOX? Yes, but I'm also beginning to think it was for the best. (I didn't really like the movie, but I won't get into that.)

Dollhouse, too - loved it, but when you hear about Whedon's long-term plan for the series, I think it was better as it was. Yeah, the 10-years-in-the-future ending was obviously rushed, but sitting through 3 more seasons of Echo going on various missions (as was the plan) would have sucked.

Buffy ended on a perfect note in season 5, and even though seasons 6 and 7 were pretty awful, the series finale had a nice sense of closure. Now read the "season 8" comic books. THE HELL!? They're terrible!

When Joss Whedon writes something with a good finale, he should leave it at that, and stop trying to make sequels.

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS JUST MY OPINION)

[siamesesin]

And a fair opinion it was, too. If you want to see something, check out the Angel comics. A pet dragon?!

I think both Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion could carry a movie like this, if the script is good. Both should be worshipped at the church of your choice.

I adore Joss, love the programs. But frankly, I always preferred the stand-alone episodes he does for his series over the arc stuff. Probably why I liked Firefly so much when I finally got to see it was similar to what you said-it hadn't gone much beyond the stand alone point, and the arc stuff hadn't gotten old yet.

I loved how unique Dr. Horrible was, and I'm concerned how well that will translate to the screen. But I can hope.

[Torgo]

Sia, Angel's pet dragon is awsomeness no matter which way you slice it.

Personally, I enjoyed Buffy's sixth season much more than the three seasons that came before it (that includes the much overrated third season). I felt while season fives ending had a sense of poetic beauty of ending the Slayer's tale with her death, ultimatly it lacked any true sense of closure for me to find it satisfying on pretty much any level. The destruction of Sunnydale, however, that was a fairly satisfying.

I can't really call the season 8 series much beyond fan fiction, but I felt it had the right tone down and has a lot of exceptional issues (though, admitedly, Harmony's reality show was lame and Buffy's lesbian fling seemed like a forced experimentation with the freedom of the new format). But I feel it's just there for the fans who want to read it. Those that don't can either take it or leave it.

Considering Angel's abrupt ending, I must saying I'm getting an even bigger kick out of After the Fall series, though I question whether it can hold itself past the After the Fall conclusion (I haven't read it all yet. I'm getting there). Plus, I always loves me some Spike.

I felt Firefly suffered a bit because it never fleshed itself out. It could have lasted maybe a season longer for me to truly treasure what the series was. Instead it feels like a fluffy miniseries with an epic feature film ending.

Dollhouse, I liked, but it felt dry to me. I can't tell what Whedon's long term plans were, but I felt it was a project that could never hold my long term interest. I look forward to seeing the parts I missed on the season 2 DVDs though.

That's my opinion, though. I feel Whedon wouldn't propose a sequel to Dr. Horrible if he didn't have an idea that he thought was worth it. After all, the original was more or less just produced for fun, so I anticipate if he gets around to another one, it will be as well. If he has too much on his plate in the upcoming years to make it, I probably won't cry a river, because I do believe it was a fantastic stand alone piece, but I would dream of what may have been.

[Mighty Jack]

Man I can't disagree more with your summation of Firefly. Fluffy? Not in the least, it packed a lot of emotional weight with me and despite studio interference, is my favorite work from Joss.

I loved the Serenity film, but it did feel different in tone, a little too dark, though very rousing the see Mal finally say... "Enough!" (what he did with the Reavers was inspired)

Buffy was okay but for some reason it never completely clicked with me. Dollhouse ebbed and flowed and Christ, did I hate that tacked on post apocalyptic ending.

The X-Men comic started off fantastically, but got darker (Prof X was a major dick) and sillier (the giant bullet... Please?).

Dr. Horrible was beautiful in and of itself. The last line and look by Neil Patrick was bittersweet perfection. (He has everything he wanted, except for the one thing he really wanted). It was just a wonderful thing and while I'd love to see a return, in a way I too wouldn't mind it if they didn't do a part 2, just to keep the first pure and perfect.

Angel. I've actually never seen an episode. Not even accidentally while chanel surfing.

[Torgo]

By fluffy, I never meant it didn't carry any emotional wieght. I was more or less talking about storyline material. It always just felt like it was just getting started and never had a chance to go anywhere. It was a spectacular missed opportunity, but a missed opportunity nontheless.

[audreyii]

Since everything that needed to be said was already said in the first film, the sequel will probably scream "cash cow".

I'm worried about the purity of the original film being maintained.

[Continuing Legend]

Apr 11, 2010 23:38:27 GMT -5 @audreyii said:

A theatrical sequel is being produced. I'm worried that it'll ruin the magic of the first one. Now, for a Dr. Horrible/Little Shop comparison one of my e-pals sent me. Highlight below!

Hello. My name is Seymour Krelborn Dr. Horrible. I've been in love with this girl, Audrey Penny for a long time. She and I use the same laundromat work at the same flower shop. I also want to get out of Skid Row fix the world, hopefully with Audrey Penny. She also wants to get out of Skid Row fix the world, but I want to do it in a more extreme way. She has this nasty abusive lying sadist asshole dentist superhero boyfriend. An alien plant unknown part of my mind convinced me to kill him, supposedly out of justice, but in reality out of the deadly sin of greed wrath. As a result, Audrey Penny is now dead, and I have been consumed by a giant alien plant previously unknown part of my mind.

Yeah, but those are all common tropes and could really be applied to anything... such as...

"hello, my name is Luke Skywalker, i've been in love with this girl, Leia, for a long time. she and i are in the same secret rebel base. i also want to help the rebellion, hopefully with Leia. she also wants to help the rebellion. she has this nasty scoundrel boyfriend Han. Vader tortured him to trap me and get me to come to cloud city. as a result, Han is in carbonite and i lost my hand. ALSO SHE IS MY SISTER"

[siamesesin]

Good point, Ms Legend. That would be saying every musical is like every other musical just because they often have a romance angle, a dastardly character, and have people stopping in the midst of overwhelming conflict to break into song. Hell, if you use those as the rules for comparing everything to that movie/musical, technically speaking every Disney movie could be relatable.