A Phd in Horribleness
thephoenixweeps, myself, and our friend Joe stayed up late specifically to catch the Third and final act of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and oh. My. Goodness.
I should have expected that Joss Whedon would toy with our emotions like... Joss Whedon. HE ALWAYS DOES. And yet here I was thinking, "Gee, what a fun, hilarious, silly twist of a musical this is! I love rooting for the villain here, since Captain Hammer's such a dick!" (The hammer is my penis.) "I can't wait for the happy ending!"
Fail, Jon. Fail.
The three of us sat in shock as Penny DIED in front of us, and there was nothing to save her. It was classic Whedon tragedy. RELATIONSHIPS CANNOT END WELL IN WHEDONVILLE. Why have I not learned from my experiences with Joss before, I asked myself as I wibbled next to Kait. And it's because Joss Whedon is fantastic. He draws you in to his world, makes you love the technicolour magic world of song and dance and supervillainy, and then he pulls out the whammy and kills the girl dead. It hurt to watch her die, because you wanted Dr. Horrible to succeed, and he did, but at such a price (Joe comments that to obtain Solar level sorcery you must make the ULTIMATE sacrifice, for you Exalted types out there).
The thing is: the twist made me love it even more. It made it matter for me. It became more than just a fun, silly musical on the internet. Dr. Horrible became the background story for what could actually be a pretty epic supervillain now. It brought that perfect Whedon blend of hilarity and tragedy that makes you go "MOAR NOW!"
Also, it totally feels like it could fit right in to the Venture Brothers universe. The Evil League of Evil is totally a rival of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. David Bowie vs. Dead Bowie (Check the credits for the names of the members of the Evil League of Evil)! Also, how much did I love that Bad Horse really was a horse? The thoroughbred of sin. HEART. I EXPECT ICONS TO BE MADE HERE, PEOPLE. And Dr. Horrible looked damn good in his ultimate evil outfit at the end there. Man I have such a crush on Neil Patrick Harris. Plus it was so good to see Captain Hammer cry like a baby, even though I love Nathan Fillion. The girl who played Penny was kinda so-so for me, but I still wanted to cry when she died. Damn, I hope there's more to come in this new Whedonverse, although I don't know where the story could go from here. It's such a delightfully dark ending... the good (not really) doctor giving up to just being evil, with nothing else in his life. Feeling nothing. (The freeze-ray stopped the pain) POOR DR. HORRIBLE!
I totally love the Evil League of Evil, btw. Cosplay, perhaps? *is a dork* Donia, can you get your invisible boyfriend to play Bad Horse? He'll have to take off his horn though. :P
So yeah, I highly, highly enjoyed Dr. Horrible and his sing-along blog. If you have not watched it yet, I suggest you do so, even if you're not normally a Joss Whedon fan. It's still free until Monday, I believe, so hie thee hence to the website and watch, loyal blog-followers!
I should have expected that Joss Whedon would toy with our emotions like... Joss Whedon. HE ALWAYS DOES. And yet here I was thinking, "Gee, what a fun, hilarious, silly twist of a musical this is! I love rooting for the villain here, since Captain Hammer's such a dick!" (The hammer is my penis.) "I can't wait for the happy ending!"
Fail, Jon. Fail.
The three of us sat in shock as Penny DIED in front of us, and there was nothing to save her. It was classic Whedon tragedy. RELATIONSHIPS CANNOT END WELL IN WHEDONVILLE. Why have I not learned from my experiences with Joss before, I asked myself as I wibbled next to Kait. And it's because Joss Whedon is fantastic. He draws you in to his world, makes you love the technicolour magic world of song and dance and supervillainy, and then he pulls out the whammy and kills the girl dead. It hurt to watch her die, because you wanted Dr. Horrible to succeed, and he did, but at such a price (Joe comments that to obtain Solar level sorcery you must make the ULTIMATE sacrifice, for you Exalted types out there).
The thing is: the twist made me love it even more. It made it matter for me. It became more than just a fun, silly musical on the internet. Dr. Horrible became the background story for what could actually be a pretty epic supervillain now. It brought that perfect Whedon blend of hilarity and tragedy that makes you go "MOAR NOW!"
Also, it totally feels like it could fit right in to the Venture Brothers universe. The Evil League of Evil is totally a rival of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. David Bowie vs. Dead Bowie (Check the credits for the names of the members of the Evil League of Evil)! Also, how much did I love that Bad Horse really was a horse? The thoroughbred of sin. HEART. I EXPECT ICONS TO BE MADE HERE, PEOPLE. And Dr. Horrible looked damn good in his ultimate evil outfit at the end there. Man I have such a crush on Neil Patrick Harris. Plus it was so good to see Captain Hammer cry like a baby, even though I love Nathan Fillion. The girl who played Penny was kinda so-so for me, but I still wanted to cry when she died. Damn, I hope there's more to come in this new Whedonverse, although I don't know where the story could go from here. It's such a delightfully dark ending... the good (not really) doctor giving up to just being evil, with nothing else in his life. Feeling nothing. (The freeze-ray stopped the pain) POOR DR. HORRIBLE!
I totally love the Evil League of Evil, btw. Cosplay, perhaps? *is a dork* Donia, can you get your invisible boyfriend to play Bad Horse? He'll have to take off his horn though. :P
So yeah, I highly, highly enjoyed Dr. Horrible and his sing-along blog. If you have not watched it yet, I suggest you do so, even if you're not normally a Joss Whedon fan. It's still free until Monday, I believe, so hie thee hence to the website and watch, loyal blog-followers!