Is the DR. HORRIBLE sequel a horrible idea?
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Ever since Joss Whedon, his brothers Zack and Jed and Jed's fiance Maurissa Tancharoen co-created the sci-fi/musical/tragicomedy web sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, fans have been clamoring for a sequel. Well, it now looks like a sequel of some sort is almost inevitable, and the Whedon brothers and Tancharoen are determined to do it their own way, with the same feisty, independent spirit that produced the original Dr. Horrible.
So, why aren't we happy about it? Well, we'll get to that.
Speaking to SCI FI Wire, Joss Whedon says another web-series is under consideration, as is a theatrical musical or even a feature film.
"We want to do the product the same way we did the first one," Whedon said, "which is out of our hearts, and then go to people [and say], 'OK, if you're interested in this, this is what it is.' Besides, it could be something theatrical. It could be something on the Internet again, where it's done on the fly and it all comes from us. We don't know how we want that to be. The best thing to do is to write it. Then we can start deciding a business model based on the script (...) We've talked about doing an actual studio film, and we've talked about doing an independent tiny little thing."
Jed Whedon, meanwhile, made it clear that a sequel is already in the works, telling the site that "the story that we're talking about is pretty big, so it might end up being longer," while Tancharoen even mentioned their plans to somehow bring back Felicia Day, despite the fact that (spoilers ahoy!) her character died so memorably in the original web series.
"Penny is definitely dead, but there are ways," Tancharoen said. "We love Felicia so much (...) It's movie magic, so there are a lot of different things we can do."
So. Joss Whedon, the TV wonderboy who has given us so many good things, is seriously talking about continuing a web series we adored. We should be thrilled. And yet, we're not. At all.
Here's the thing: Dr. Horrible, as it stands now, is complete. Billy (Neil Patrick Harris) becomes Dr. Horrible at last, realizing his darkest ambitions at the cost of the love of his life. He is finally powerful and feared, but inside he feels numb to it all. Dr. Horrible has won, but Billy has lost what he cared about most.
There is surprising pathos in Billy's descent into cartoonish supervilliany. His story begins as a cute genre parody and romantic comedy and ends with real darkness and tragedy. Joss Whedon himself once famously said that a movie is an answer, and a TV show is a question. Dr. Horrible is an answer, and a very satisfying one. If the story continues, where can it go? Will Dr. Horrible carry on his work with the Evil League of Evil? Will he use some gizmo to try and bring Penny back to life? Will Captain Hammer get over his nervous breakdown, and seek revenge? None of these questions are as interesting as the answer the original Dr. Horrible provides.
Whedon has surprised us before, many times. A TV show based on the Buffy movie? A musical episode? An Angel spin-off? A western in space? These all sounded like terrible ideas, until Whedon worked his weird magic on them. But what all of these ideas had in common was great ambition. Whedon was stretching himself and his medium, trying something we'd never seen before. (This is why Whedon's shows have notoriously rocky first seasons. When you're a pioneer, you have to expect to head down a few dead-ends before you find your way.)
A Dr. Horrible sequel doesn't sound like a shocking, overly ambitious idea. It sounds like an excuse, frankly, for Whedon to get together with his pals again and have some fun while he licks his wounds from the Dollhouse debacle. And that impulse, while understandable, would be better served by striking out with a new idea (or just having a huge weekend-long PS3 party) than cheapening the memory of a true Internet classic.
So, why aren't we happy about it? Well, we'll get to that.
Speaking to SCI FI Wire, Joss Whedon says another web-series is under consideration, as is a theatrical musical or even a feature film.
"We want to do the product the same way we did the first one," Whedon said, "which is out of our hearts, and then go to people [and say], 'OK, if you're interested in this, this is what it is.' Besides, it could be something theatrical. It could be something on the Internet again, where it's done on the fly and it all comes from us. We don't know how we want that to be. The best thing to do is to write it. Then we can start deciding a business model based on the script (...) We've talked about doing an actual studio film, and we've talked about doing an independent tiny little thing."
Jed Whedon, meanwhile, made it clear that a sequel is already in the works, telling the site that "the story that we're talking about is pretty big, so it might end up being longer," while Tancharoen even mentioned their plans to somehow bring back Felicia Day, despite the fact that (spoilers ahoy!) her character died so memorably in the original web series.
"Penny is definitely dead, but there are ways," Tancharoen said. "We love Felicia so much (...) It's movie magic, so there are a lot of different things we can do."
So. Joss Whedon, the TV wonderboy who has given us so many good things, is seriously talking about continuing a web series we adored. We should be thrilled. And yet, we're not. At all.
Here's the thing: Dr. Horrible, as it stands now, is complete. Billy (Neil Patrick Harris) becomes Dr. Horrible at last, realizing his darkest ambitions at the cost of the love of his life. He is finally powerful and feared, but inside he feels numb to it all. Dr. Horrible has won, but Billy has lost what he cared about most.
There is surprising pathos in Billy's descent into cartoonish supervilliany. His story begins as a cute genre parody and romantic comedy and ends with real darkness and tragedy. Joss Whedon himself once famously said that a movie is an answer, and a TV show is a question. Dr. Horrible is an answer, and a very satisfying one. If the story continues, where can it go? Will Dr. Horrible carry on his work with the Evil League of Evil? Will he use some gizmo to try and bring Penny back to life? Will Captain Hammer get over his nervous breakdown, and seek revenge? None of these questions are as interesting as the answer the original Dr. Horrible provides.
Whedon has surprised us before, many times. A TV show based on the Buffy movie? A musical episode? An Angel spin-off? A western in space? These all sounded like terrible ideas, until Whedon worked his weird magic on them. But what all of these ideas had in common was great ambition. Whedon was stretching himself and his medium, trying something we'd never seen before. (This is why Whedon's shows have notoriously rocky first seasons. When you're a pioneer, you have to expect to head down a few dead-ends before you find your way.)
A Dr. Horrible sequel doesn't sound like a shocking, overly ambitious idea. It sounds like an excuse, frankly, for Whedon to get together with his pals again and have some fun while he licks his wounds from the Dollhouse debacle. And that impulse, while understandable, would be better served by striking out with a new idea (or just having a huge weekend-long PS3 party) than cheapening the memory of a true Internet classic.
Technocrati tags: [Dr. Horrible][Joss Whedon][Sequel][Monsters and Rockets][Music]
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