Random spoilerific commentary on Dr. Horrible, Acts I-III

[orichalcum]

Dude, what's up with Joss Whedon's obsession with death by impalement of sharp metal (or wooden) objects, anyway? Is it all just a Buffy reference?

Also, I kinda wish we'd had a warning about the Abrupt Genre Change from high school romantic comedy with wanna-be supervillains to dark angstful tragedy.

Comments

[siercia]

Yeah, for real. I kind of felt like I'd been stabbed at the end.

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

Dude, what's up with Joss Whedon's obsession with death by impalement of sharp metal (or wooden) objects, anyway?

We just two minutes ago got done watching, and the first thing the L.C. said was, "What do you suppose happened in Whedon's life that he's so hung up on that, huh?"

Yeah. Whoa.

[meepodeekin.livejournal.com]

I just finished Act Three. My exact quote was "So, I guess it's a tragedy then."

[viking-cat.livejournal.com]

I think it's hard to be a good supervillain unless you have a good reason to hate the world.

And really, Dr. Horrible won. The death got him into the Evil League of Evil, and Captain Hammer is helpless to stop him. And it wasn't even his own doing; just like in the comics, the bad guy sows the seeds of his own defeat.

But still. Damn. It's the last, vulnerable frame that does it.

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we just finished watching it too. Ow. The thing that got me was, Penny dies thinking that Captain Hammer will save the day. And there's no way that Dr. Horrible can change that.

We thought that it was all really very well done, with the acting by the Dr. Horrible actor being particularly good. Also the music was surprisingly good, especially in Act 3 - the contrast between the (I assume deliberately) bad/trite "Everyone's a Hero" by Captain Hammer and the almost Sondheimesque "Slipping" really showed how complex and excellent the latter song was.

This is, I will somewhat abashedly admit, the first thing either of us has ever seen by Joss Whedon (except for the first seven minutes of Serenity, but I don't think that counts). I'm curious: how typical of his work is it?

(Funny. I was just thinking about blogging on Dr. Horrible, with the same thought about the abrupt genre change.)

[ellinor.livejournal.com]

I really liked it. I liked the humor, I liked the performances, I thought the heartbreak and victory played perfectly together, and I didn't think it was an abrupt shift at all. It was pretty angsty and dark all the way through. You are not the first to make your observation, but . . . I agree with viking_cat, it struck me as a fitting end. Sure, not everything that happened *had* to happen, but it was ultimately a sort of coming-of-age story.

I did keep waiting for a twist with Penny. This was just a different twist than I expected, and I think a more rewarding one.

[contrariety.livejournal.com]

Joss Whedon is very into the "I will screw with your genre and turn it on its head and use it to do weird and funny things until suddenly I turn around and kick you in the gut by delivering just what you should have expected from the genre all along, only now you'll actually care, because I made you pay attention" trick.