Dr. Horrible: Dr. Disappointment
Let me preface this by saying I am a huge Joss Whedon fan. I think he’s one of the best character/dialogue writers in the business, and I have admired his work since the first days of Buffy. He’s also a great comic book author, bringing back Buffy and Angel, breathing new life into the X-Men, and much more.
So I was very interested when I heard about his plans to launch a web-only musical extravaganza called Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I must admit, though, I was a bit put off as the hype started to build. There was a bit of a Snakes on a Plane vibe to the whole thing, with even non-browncoats talking about how great it was going to be.
Released last week, the three episodes featured a great cast, catchy songs, and some big laughs–but I think the ending totally missed the mark. Spoilers after the break.
A funny dick joke in episode two couldn’t make up for that downer of an ending. Look, this was supposed to be a cute and funny web musical. The shtick was to parody superheroes in the style of old movie serials. It’s a solid premise, so long as the hero (who is, in this case, the villain) gets the girl.
Instead, we end up with the villain (who is, in this case, the superhero) in therapy, the girl dead, and the hero becoming a really nasty (if depressed) villain. What the hell?
I’m all for playing with convention, but in this case it didn’t make sense to do so. Instead of silly, we got bonafide Shakespearean tragedy. That’s cool in a deeper show like Buffy or Angel, but it ruined what could have been a clever hoot. There could have been plenty of other ways to shake up the formula without taking away the core likability of the main character.
I’m sure plenty of Whedonites will disagree with me, but in this case I think Joss missed the mark.
**Possible Spoilers Warning**
I went in thinking we would get a sugared down, good-guy-that’s-really-the-bad-guy gets the girl in the end and I was happy to find that it was more involved and emotional than just trying to deliver a happy ending. So, I guess that can be boiled down to just disagreement between us.
Also, I don’t feel that the likability of Dr. Horrible was ever taken away. When he became more resolute in his final goal, it was made all that more easier to go along with by the continuing evolution of Captain Hammer, from good guy to self-centered, uncaring vigilante. Especially considering that his evil was directed at someone out of love for another, he could have just as easily have killed that kid or grandmother if he was really evil.
I thought it was pretty solid, but I watched it with Zero expectations going in. I saw a few links that mentioned it was a good watch, and that’s it. If I’d caught the same pre-vieiwing vibe as you, i’d have probably been disappointed. But having missed all the hype, it proved to be an enoyable show that I’ve gone on to recommend to several others. (There’s a lesson there for MMO companies and prelaunch hype machines).
Another letdown for me is that the 3rd act apparently only got released via the iTunes and in Germany I seem not to be able to access the correct store…
But the ending you describe sucks I agree so not a big loss for me.
Episode three was online for free, but only for a couple days.
I’m pretty sure Joss Whedon is planning on doing more Dr. Horrible web-episodes in which case it makes sense not to end on a happy note with everything all wrapped up. I can’t help but feel that a lot of people didn’t like Act 3 because the Internet seems to have a crush on Felcia Day. Don’t worry Internet, it’s Joss Whedon, I’m sure Penny can come back as a ghost or zombie or something.
I was a little disappointed in the ending as well. I love pretty much all of the stuff Whedon has done (Buffy, Firefly, Angel) and I like the unconventional “it doesn’t wrap up in a perfectly happy ending” aspect. But I think sometimes the stuff goes a little too far in that direction. You come to know that there will be no happy ending so you don’t bother hoping for it. Ep 1 and 2 were good and 3 was pretty good but the fact that the girl died was no surprise and I was kind of disappointed that it actually happened.
I agree entirely with the review of the ending. This might have made a lot of sense in the context of an ongoing series, or some other sequel where we would be able to explore what happens to the good (horrible) doctor as a result of this tragic past. In the context of a one-and-done story, however, it was a disappointment.
Life of Brian must have been really traumatic for y’all. Also, I have bad news about The Passion.
He’s a mad scientist. What do mad scientists do best but bring back their dead lovers from the grave?
I mean, come on, that’s almost guaranteed to be part of the sequel!