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Author Topic: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog  (Read 5798 times)

Think_Long

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2008, 08:36:09 AM »
good points nougat, but i guess where you find flaws is where i see whedon's true talent.  like no other creator working today he is able to not only blend comedy and drama, but connect them. certain comedic bits wouldn't be funny without the dramatic ones, as well as dramatic bits that would lack the emotion without the comedy.

while the 'singalong blog' is a patently ridiculous notion, whedon has never fallen into genre trapping, and so there is no way he is ever going to make a "comedy show" a "horror show" or a "drama".

i take your point that certain bits aren't as effective as others, and it was sort of counter to the 'fun' atmosphere of the whole story. ultimately i guess i am closer to agreeing with those who say that the sudden phase shift in tone was clunky, but i would never argue that it was unnecessary.

unless i did previously.

dammit, now i have to review all of my posts

m_rturnage

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2008, 10:49:41 AM »
It seems like a mistake to try to turn something so resolutely goofy into something serious.

Do you ever watch television shows? There is a well-established TV structure of laugh-laugh-laugh-laugh-VERY SERIOUS MOMENT- The End.

Shows like Diff'rent Strokes examined such subjects like drug abuse, child molestation, and bulimia while at the same time sticking to a sit-com structure with three laughs per page and characters spouting catch phrases.

This is an attempt to see how the TV show formula works on the web. If it were structured more like a movie, there would probably be a different ending, but television is structured to never reach a resolution or conclusion - otherwise you would not want to watch the next episode. This venture is considered a success primarily because people want more.

One of the most painful examples of how this doesn't work is the reveal of Bad Horse. That should have been very funny. But we're too busy being depressed and/or feeling whiplash from the tone change for the joke to even register.

I thought this scene was like the one in Team America: World Police where the dam burst and killed all of the puppets. Seeing the dead bodies floating in the water has a greater dramatic impact than one would expect, but then you see the ridiculous plastic donkey and start to laugh. The mixture of humor and despair makes it more enticing because you are feeling multiple conflicting emotions.

Do you really want entertainment that spells it out for you and tells you to have only one emotion at a time? Laugh here. Cry here. I am sure if the material was of that caliber, we wouldn't even be talking about it.
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Marbe

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2008, 11:33:04 PM »
I loved Dr. Horrible's Blog, but I'll have to agree there wasn't an enough of a mix between the comic and tragic in the beginning to make ending feel appropriate at all.

FroHam X

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #13 on: August 17, 2008, 02:04:54 AM »
I loved Dr. Horrible's Blog, but I'll have to agree there wasn't an enough of a mix between the comic and tragic in the beginning to make ending feel appropriate at all.

Yes. At least when Joss Whedon ruthlessly killed off his own characters in Serenity he had set up darker tone as far back as the very beginning of the film.

Damn. I want to watch Serenity again. DAMN! I don't have the dvd here. But, oooooh, I do have Firefly here.
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St. Martin the Bald

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #14 on: August 17, 2008, 07:59:30 AM »
Ruthlessly?
Really?
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FroHam X

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2008, 10:31:37 AM »
Ruthlessly?
Really?

He killed off the funny character! The clown! He didn't deserve to die.
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Think_Long

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #16 on: August 18, 2008, 09:16:53 AM »
he may not have deserved it, but it was totally necessary

St. Martin the Bald

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2008, 10:33:59 AM »
Ruthlessly?
Really?

He killed off the funny character! The clown! He didn't deserve to die.

You are talking Serenity right?
Wash?

To make a great film - you must sacrifice.

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FroHam X

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #18 on: August 18, 2008, 10:37:09 AM »
But Wash is Wash. I cry for him.
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St. Martin the Bald

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Re: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
« Reply #19 on: August 18, 2008, 10:38:42 AM »
But Wash is Wash. I cry for him.

He's dead - don't cry for him...there is no crying in filmspotting.
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