You guys following this? Joss Whedon’s mini-comedy/drama with Neil Patrick Harris as an overreaching would-be evil-doer squaring off against his arch nemesis, Captain Hammer (a monumentally smug Nathan Fillion). If you haven’t been following it thus far at www.drhorrible.com, then I suggest you wait until tomorrow since Act 3 will be up and you can watch the whole thing in one shot. (Me, I’m wondering if the Doc’s would-be girlfriend turns out to be someone even more evil than he, but that’s just a theory.)
My one quibble? First rule of singalongs: Provide the lyrics. The musical numbers are fine, even catchy, but why call it a singalong if you don’t have the lyrics on the screen, preferably highlighting the words as you go or even–if you want to do it old school–have a little bouncing ball? One hopes that the DVD release will correct this horrible oversight.
PAD
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BTW, I wouldn’t say that Dr. Horrible was “paralyzed by indecision”. He hesitated for a second or two, no more.
Eight seconds, actually. Yes, I’m just that obsessive that I went to the iTunes files and watched the countdown from the point that Dr. H first points the gun at him to the point where the freeze ray malfunctions. Eight seconds of trying to talk himself into pulling the trigger. Sounds pretty paralyzed to me.
On a side note, it seems that fans of “Dr. Steel” are planning to protest at a Dr. Horrible presentation at San Diego because they feel that Joss Whedon has ripped off their anti-hero. Are there similarities in the visuals? Sure, but both of them have their roots in visualizations of mad scientists going back decades in cinema. Having had fans dismiss my work on “Supergirl,” “Fallen Angel” and “X-Factor” as “rip-offs” of Joss Whedon, I’m hesitant to apply the rip-off label to him now.
That said, if ANYONE has a gripe, it’s Doctor Science of Duck’s Breath Mystery Theater. Doctor H’s catchphrase of “I have a Ph.D in Horribleness” is extremely similar to “I have a Masters Degree in Science!”
PAD
I can’t check it because I’m not getting it until the DVD. However, I did watch it before I said a couple seconds. I stick by that. Monologuing isn’t hesitating. I’ll give you that monologuing is a form of stalling, which shows hesitation, but I don’t think it’s as clear cut.
And at this point I’d like to accept my award for hair splitting. I think he was stalling and never got to the point where he had to decide, you think he couldn’t do it. Either way the result is the same, he didn’t kill anyone and probably isn’t sure that he’s even capable of it. I agree with you that that moment demonstrated that Billy’s a naturally better person than Captain Hammer, despite the sides they’re supposedly on.
In retrospect, I think the biggest moment of the story is in the alley when Billy concentrates on stealing the Wonderflonium instead of talking to Penny. He had a clear opportunity to go either way and he decided on evil. It didn’t seem like too big a deal at the time. A moderate deal, yes, but it didn’t seem like something they wouldn’t be able to recover from.
As for Doctor Steel, I bet most of his people aren’t really thinking they were ripped off as much as they’re thinking they’ve got a chance for free publicity. I’d guess only about 28% believe Doctor Horrible ripped their guy off. There’s always 28% of people who’ll believe anything about their hero.
Monologuing is indeed hesitating. What else is Hamlet’s soliloquy but one long “What the hëll should I do?” speech?
There’s always 28% of people who’ll believe anything about their hero.
Considering that 28% is pretty much Bush’s approval rating at the moment, I’d have to concur.
PAD
I meant to say that monologuing isn’t paralyzation. Obviously I was contradicting myself when I said that it wasn’t hesitating, but it was stalling, which is hesitating.
I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that we didn’t see proof that he wasn’t capable of killing (which is how I would interpret paralyzation), only that he doesn’t want to. We already knew that he doesn’t want to kill, so the question becomes whether or not he would have been able to overcome that. There have been many times that I talked to myself to get myself to do something, then I actually did it. So I don’t consider the 6 seconds of psyching himself up to be significant, only the couple seconds of him cringing silently.
You know the old cliche of the hero who wants to kill the murderous villain, but he hesitates and someone else kills the villain first? Often, not always but often, the point of that is that the hero *would* have done it, and the other person saved his honor him by keeping him from having to make the choice. Same thing here, Billy might be capable of killing someone, he just hasn’t fully come to the point of decision yet. If he’d had 10 seconds instead of 8, things might have been the same or they might have been different, we don’t know.
I make the distinction only out of the hope that there will be a sequel. I think the question of him being able to kill is interesting and good for future stories. Right now I consider it an unanswered question.
PAD: “Considering that 28% is pretty much Bush’s approval rating at the moment, I’d have to concur.”
Where do you think I got the number? 🙂
My two cents would be to add that Dr. Horrible was never really *evil* until after Penny died. Then the irony is that after that happened he really didn’t want to be evil but just went through the motions. And what PAD said is very *important* – what kind of hero doesn’t hesitate to kill? Captain Hammer clearly shows through out the webisodes that he is just in it for the glory and attention.
Speaking of newspaper jokes, has anyone looked at the small print?
The thoroughbred of sin….
love the switch to red after he joins…
there will be blood…and singing…
Captain Hammer was going to kill Dr. Horrible…just another shmuck with super vanity and glory-seeking pants. Want more!
( Dr. Horrible note glory seeking pants…..gerrr arrrgh)
A reanimated Penny! ( with lots of copper wiring! )