(Direktlink)

Und viel mehr soll es dann bein wonderflonium.com geben, "a place where fan videos related to the Dr. Horrible sensation will be collected for your viewing pleasure.". Do Not Bounce.

Nachdem Universal grad mit Wanted solche Pfade beschreitet, kann man ja mal fragen:

One such property that immediately pops to mind is Serenity, the movie version of the cult hit sci-fi TV series Firefly. We talked with a Universal Pictures Digital Platform Group rep who attended the Wanted demo and asked if that was a possibility. "It's something we have talked about," he admitted. He said the main thing was to get the involvement of Serenity and Firefly's creator Joss Whedon before proceeding with any plans. However, the fact that the studio has indeed talked about such a project certainly puts a Serenity game in the firm "maybe" column. Some of you may remember that in late 2006 the MMO game development engine studio Multiverse announced they had gotten the MMO rights to the Firefly TV series but since then no news of that game has been revealed.

Heute abend um 19:00 Uhr, live chat mit Felicia Day, drüben bei whedonage.

NPH im Interview:

“Joss has some strange, giant master plan that includes much more than a sequel,” Harris said. “Joss thinks on a great many levels, so when he was pitching it to us, he said, ‘And this will take over the world, and there will be sequels and musicals on stage and feature films and we’ll get our own television network and they’ll name awards after us’ and things like that.”

Schön, bei Torrent-Netzwerken nicht nur die komplette Show, sondern auch Fan-zusammengestellte Soundtracks zu finden. Ein Transkript von Act 3 fehlt aber immer noch, glaub ich.

...scheint allerdings von der Remote-free TV-Sache nix zu wissen:

The show WAS scheduled to premiere and air in January 2009....because shooting has been delayed ,the air date may move to February ( Unless editing expidites once we begin shooting and the January air can be maintained) . Delay shooting , edit faster , still air in January . Each one hour episode takes 8-9 days to film ,It does take about a week to a week and a half to edit 42 minutes of television ( one hour show is 42 minutes of content and 18 minutes of commercials to pay the rent ) .

Ich bin schon etwas speechless. Das ist nämlich so gar nicht das, wohin uns Act 1 eingeführt hat. Was als harmloses, kleines, nettes Internet-Musical anfing, wurde zu einem bitterbösen Charakterepos. Die Ankündigung von Act 2, das Drama, die Emotion dahinter, das ist es, was in Act 3 die treibende, wenn nicht die einzige Kraft ist.

Dr. Horrible gewinnt fast. Verliert fast. Gewinnt dann endgültig. Und verliert dann endgültig. Das alles binnen 4 Minuten. Er wollte mit dem Freeze Ray die Zeit anhalten, um die Worte zu finden, mit denen er Penny erobern könnte. Er benutzte ihn aber um Capt. Hammer anzuhalten, um Worte zu finden, den Leuten zu erklären, warum es richtig ist, ihn zu töten.

Das "What heist were you watching?"... als Capt. Hammer für das Stoppen des Wagens verantwortlich gemacht wird (die Redemption bei Horrible also übersehen wird)... welchen Kampf haben die Leute jetzt geschaut? "Why did you kill her?" fragt ein Reporter. Die Whedon-Ironie ist in full effect, Dr. Horrible bekommt fälschlicherweise einen Mord zugeschrieben, der ihn in die Evil League of Evil führt, ein Zufalls-Tod seiner Liebe, eher von Hammer herbeigeführt als von ihm. Nicht das das ganze Musical schon sehr charmant mit Gut vs. Böse umgeht, aber da am Ende, da kocht er die ganze ridiculousness und den ganzen Humor ganz typisch in einem dramatischen Messerstich zusammen. Dr. Horrible "gewinnt", die Fans, die League, Bad Horse. But he won't feel a thing.

Ich weiß nicht, aber ich bin überrascht. Erstaunt. Brauch mehr. Denn ich schätze mal nichts ist schöner, als wenn Joss Whedon deine Erwartungen übertrifft. Ich glaube, das war es auch, was 1997 passierte, als so ne Serie über ein blondes Mädchen anfing.

Bitte hier drüben. Und ein tolles Review vom dritten Akt.

Drüben bei der Washington Post:

Television writer, producer and director Joss Whedon will be online Monday, July 21 at Noon ET to take your questions about "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," his new show "Dollhouse" and more.

Das wär bei uns 18 Uhr abends, mal sehen, ob wir da rein kommen.

...redet davor aber echt lang über Fringe...



"Joss is a genius.". Bei dem hier dauerts gefühlt sogar noch länger zur Whedon-mention zu gelangen, dafür erzählt er, wie er zu The Cabin in The Woods einsteigen wollte (Connection: Drew Goddard schrieb und dreht Cabin, schrieb lange für Joss, schrieb Cloverfield, für Alias und für Lost, welche Abrams prouduzierte), ganz kurz aufgeregt wird, über die Zusammenarbeit ("I begged him"), und dann in brav-peinlicher Dr. Horrible-Manier aufgibt, nicht mitspielen darf und es hand-waved mit "they for obvious reasons wanted to go elsewhere"... ja, nimm das!

Wenn ein Act mit so einem NPH-Day-Duett anfängt, was kann da noch schief gehen? Act 2 ist sogar noch besser als Act 1, bringt das emotionale Drama herrlich absurd auf den Spitze, für das große Finale.

Dr. Horrible hat zwar den Freeze Ray, aber Capt. Hammer hat Penny. Außerdem geht Dr. Horribles Versuch in die Evil League of Evil einzutreten schief, und Bad Horse meint dazu: Jetzt musst du wen töten. Hadern, zögern, aber als Capt. Hammer meint: "See, Penny's giving it up. She's givin it up hard, cause she's with Captain Hammer. And THESE (deutet auf Fäuste) are not the hammer. The hammer is my penis.". Dann ist es geschehen. Er will töten.

Im Grunde wie gesagt Story-technisch mehr Zwischenmenschliches, der Heist wird im Gegensatz zum ersten Teil nicht gezeigt, sondern nett per Dr. Horribles Vlog übersprungen. Die Jokes sind noch besser, geradezu grandios diesmal (Penis, wrist, ph.d, fist-sugnature, gym, und Moists Zeile: "at my most bad-ass I make people feel like they want to take a shower", uvm...) und der Cliffhanger... well, can't wait.

... dort!

...über wirklich alles gibt's hier drüben. Und ich wusste nicht mal, dass sie bei House sein wird! Übersehen, fuck, übersehen!

W: Well that seems to have works out. So what was it like working with the two of them, with Nathan and Neil Patrick Harris?

FD: It was just amazing. It was really intimidating because these are guys that work all the time and they're just consummate professionals. Especially Neil, he's been acting since he's a tiny kid, and he's so good! He's just, like, so professional. When we were at the screening the other day, I was watching the screen and I was like, "Wow, Neil doesn't waste a moment on camera." There's always like four layers of things going on when he's acting, and it was really inspiring, and I feel like I learned a lot from him.

And Nathan, he can do everything. He's been on a sitcom, he's been on daytime TV, he's been on so many different kinds of shows, so he's good at everything.

Zwischen mir und Felicia liegen übrigens exakt 5 Jahre.

Präsentator, Nominierter, und dennoch:

Harris also talked about his smaller-than-small-screen work on Joss Whedon's just-launched online musical, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," and whether a series like that could see an Emmy someday in a new category. "It's odd that I'm way more excited right now about 'Dr. Horrible' than the Emmy nomination," he said, laughing. "It wouldn't surprise me (to see an online TV category) in the future. We're in a tricky, uncharted territory on the Internet. If people know that millions of people will watch it, we're going to see more shows like this. I'm not saying 'Dr. Horrible' is the most high-brow of shows, but it's good. We're not reinventing the theatrical wheel, but it's certainly an amazing 22 minutes of show so far, and I can't wait to see what happens next."

(Direktbehind)

Neben Eliza und Joss nun auch Tahmoh Penikett und eine neuer Teaser?

At Comic-Con: Whedon, Dushku, and Penikett will show a teaser reel.

Neben der Info gibt's auch ein web-exclusive Foto von Echo hier.

(Direktdreadful)

Hier isses:



Besonders spannend: die "couple of weeks", die es noch bis Drehbeginn für Folge 2 dauert, wo wir doch den 23. Juli als Termin haben. Das imdb-board ist derzeit down, aber angeblich hat unser Maulwurf dort gepostet:

We started prep today , Wednesday the 16th...did our start paperwork and began prep...I get a call when I got home....Laid off till the 30th of July . Principal photography to begin on August 5th now . Show has pushed 8 days so we push 8 days . . . We are told its not the possible threat of SAG problems , just script and casting problems so postponed .They assured us the show is a go !! This will push the air-dates as well unless editing can expidite is suppose .

"script and casting problems"... soso...

Mal sehen:

Comedy: 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, The Office, Two And A Half Men (2 von 3 richtig)
Drama: Boston Legal, Damages, Dexter, House, Lost, Mad Men (3 von 3)

Whedonverse-technisch sind NPH für How I Met Your Mother als Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series nominiert und Danny Strong (Jonathan aus Buffy) für sein Drehbuch für das Wahl-Drama Recount als Outstanding Writing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special.

Generell: Sehr schön, dass 30 Rock 17 Nominierungen davonträgt. Auch Pushing Daisies erfreut mit 12 Stück. Schön auch, dass sowohl James Spader, als auch William Shatner, als auch Candice Bergen nominiert sind, und und und... und nun warten wir bis zum 21. September.

Bei iTunes ein Renner, scheint's:

The traffic quickly crashed the server for free-view website drhorrible.com, and iTunes' downloadable version instantly became, at $1.99, the No. 1 video.

Endlich auch konkrete Zahlen:

"We're getting about 1,000 hits per second," says Jed Whedon, who worked on the project with his brothers, Joss and Zack, and his fiancée, Maurissa Tancharoen. "

Puh, wenn das nix is.

"We had this home-baked idea that we love and we're proud of," Whedon says. "We made this on the understanding that we'd never make a dime. But it's blown up beyond our expectations."

Sci Fi Wire befragte Joss zu Cabin:

Joss Whedon, who is producing the upcoming horror movie The Cabin in the Woods, was coy with SCI FI Wire about the film's top-secret plot, except to say "bad things might happen to teenagers during the film."

Außerdem:

"All I can say about Cabin in the Woods is that it's a movie, um, and that it's a horror movie, and that it's the kind of horror movie that you would expect from me and Drew Goddard if somebody put us in the same room," Whedon said slyly in an interview. "Which nobody ever should."

Zur Kollision mit den Dollhouse-Dreharbeiten:

"[We] will be shooting parts of [Cabin] elsewhere, but most of it we'll be shooting in Los Angeles so that I can do double duty," Whedon said.

Na dann. Drehbeginn soll innerhalb der nächsten sechs Monate sein, während die ersten Bejubelungen des (noch spec) Skripts auftauchen:

Vollman will continue to work both jobs through the release of Paramount's "Tropic Thunder" (which has an incredible cameo by hip-hop dancing Tom Cruise) next month, then start work full time at MGM Aug. 18. He's already been looking at "Valkyrie" creative materials and reading MGM scripts. Parent sent him "Cabin in the Woods," a Joss Whedon thriller that will be directed by Drew Goddard. "I couldn't put it down," says Vollman. "It's 'Buffy' meets 'Cloverfield.' All I could think was--I can market the [heck] out of that."

Glaubt es oder nicht, aber es gibt eine Fankampagne dazu, aufzudecken, dass Dr. Horrible ein blankes Plagiat von dem mir unbekannten Dr. Steel ist. Also die Fans von Dr. Steel, natürlich, die sich übrigens Toy Soldiers nennen. Details gibt's hier, den obigen Banner zur Mission hier.

Die olle Jane hat auf ihrem Blog Dr. Horibble gelobt und dabei gemeint:

Check out the joke in the first segment, the one about "Bait and Switch." This is a brilliant joke. Go watch it and then think about it for a bit. Figure out how it works and then construct your own jokes using the same principles. Genius!

Das Transskript sagt dazu:

Dr. Horrible: Hey, didn’t you ahh. Didn’t you go on a date last night? Conflict Diamond told me you were doubling with Bait’N’Switch.
Moist: Yeah, Ahhh..
Dr. Horrible: Yeah?
Moist: It was all right. I kinda thought I was supposed to end up with Bait, but…

Well, I'm too stupid for it. Kann wer helfen?

... Lyrics! We got ourselves some lyrics!!

Oh my!

... und sein Fantum für Battlestar Galactica, aber wen interessiert das schon. Spannender ist da, wie er seine Beziehung zu Fox beschreibt. Kevin Reilly und Peter Liguori get a mention, drüben, bei tvaddict.com:

So how different is it working with the new regime at FOX, in contrast to what happened with FIREFLY?

It’s a completely different energy then the last time. FOX understands what it is we’re trying to do. I understand clearly what they want. And while there’s definitely a back and forth, there’s a collaboration. Not just people glaring at each-other.

I feel really good about how they plan to position it, and their feeling about it as a concept and as a show.

Do you think the positive feeling are as a result of Kevin Reilly changing things up at the network?

Peter [Liguori] and Kevin [Reilly] both come from a different school than the last bunch. Everyone has someone to answer to. But they don’t behave like people living in fear and I think that’s the biggest disease among network executives.

ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson, die Konkurrenz, quasi, ist skeptisch bezüglich der "Remote-Free TV"-Idee, ganz klassisch entlang der (schon Joss etwas problematisch vorkommenden) Rerun-Frage:

McPherson had a couple of good points as to logistics: If/when these shows go to syndication or appear elsewhere besides Fox, they'll inevitably have to be cut down to fit the usual advertising requirements. Which means about nine or 10 minutes will have to be excised from each episode.

In ca. 10 Minuten werden die Nominierungen für die diesjährigen Emmys bekanntgegeben, und zwar von Kristin Chenoweth (die wunderbare Olive Snook auf Pushing Daisies) und Dr. Horrible himself. Warum die Academy das um halb sechs Uhr Ortszeit macht, ist mir zwar schleierhaft, aber ich drücke trotzdem meinen Shows die Daumen. Die zehn Halbfinalisten für Drama und Comedy Series, aus denen dann gleich die 5 Noms präsentiert werden, lauten:

Outstanding Comedy Series

* Curb Your Enthusiasm
* Entourage
* Family Guy
* Flight of the Conchords
* The Office
* Pushing Daisies
* 30 Rock
* Two and a Half Men
* Ugly Betty
* Weeds

Outstanding Drama Series

* Boston Legal
* Damages
* Dexter
* Friday Night Lights
* Grey’s Anatomy
* House
* Lost
* Mad Men
* The Tudors
* The Wire

Meine Hopes für Comedy: 30 Rock, Pushing Daisies, The Office. Meine Hopes für Drama: Boston Legal, Dexter, House. Auch wenn diese Zuordnungen ja immer recht spannend sind: Pushing Daisies ist Comeday, aber Boston Legal Drama? Oh wel...

Seit gestern laufen ja die Vorbereitungen für Episode 2!

Auf Sci Fi Wire gibt's eine Story über Dollhouse und Eliza, wo sie den mittlerweile legendären Satz über die Frau im Joss weiterspinnt:

"Joss really gets women," Dushku said. "There's a woman somewhere deep inside of him. ... And so that's sort of what we just started talking about: the challenge of that and what we face, what I face, in our culture today. And, with that, ... he went to the bathroom, and when he came back, he said, 'The show will be called Dollhouse.' And I was like, 'OK. I'm in.' And so here we are."

Ausiello prügelt ihn zwar zu Battlestar Galactica-Gossip, aber trotzdem. Neben Eliza, hat auch er übrigens bei TVGuide ein kurzes Ausiello-Interview:



Großartig die Frage: Welche Fähigkeit würde er am liebsten einprogrammiert bekommen. Archery? Antwort: Archery?! Come on! I'm a natural hunter, i know how to arch!

Und dann noch Joss:

Der FOX Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori, der zweitwichtigste Boss von Joss, und hier rechts im Bild neben Eliza und Kevin Reilly, dem wichtigsten, gibt ein cooles Interview hier über Dollhouse und Virtuality:

MR: Do you think the shows benefit more from engaging interest at Comic-Con?

PL: It’s like any TV show, any movie -- what do you do when you screen the movie [for research], you screen it with real aficionados. If you make it with them, you have a chance to spread out [beyond that]. With a show like “Dollhouse” we want to make sure the loyalists are really reacting to the show and that does give us a fair amount of momentum. For a show to be successful, you’ve got to branch out beyond the sci-fi geeks.

Die Frage, ob er auch für das Dollhouse-Kopf-über-ohne-Pilot-gleich-sieben-Folgen-kaufen-Ding ist:

MR: It sounds like you’re more inclined to go with the whole pilot model versus what I’ve heard other executives say.

PL: It depends on the show. [Fox entertainment president] Kevin [Reilly] and I really wrestle [with the idea] of going directly to series with some shows. “Dollhouse,” [we made a] series commitment (that cast is pictured at left). That’s when you’re sitting there with a showrunner who’s proven, he sits there and talks you through the first 6-, 8-, 12-episode arc, and given a writers strike, you say, “Let’s go, staff up, do your thing.” In some instances it’s worth doing that. In something like Ron’s project – it’s a very ambitious concept. Even he wants to try it out.

Und ganz am Ende, reden sie noch über die uralte Frage, wieviele Leute schon als "Erfolg" zählen, und das unglaubliche ist: der Fox Chairman of Entertainment paraphrasiert mehr oder weniger Joss' altes Credo "lieber 100, die müssen, als 1000, die wollen":

MR: When it comes to “Dollhouse,” do you have time to build that audience? We all love Joss but sometimes the faithful can be louder than the numbers.

PL: It’s the age-old question. Every show is different. You can launch a show and it’s a 4-share show. It’s not going to become a 24-share show. The thing with Joss, you launch his show and instantly it becomes somebody’s favorite show. To me, in this current television environment, if you can be somebody’s favorite show, you’d better be patient with that show.

[It used to be] and 18-share show, that was the bar you had to jump over. If you’re looking at a 7-share show in an 18-share-hit environment, wrap it up, move on. Done. Today, I sit there and say, you know, I sat there from a distance and saw “House” premiere at a 7-share. I know I have certain tools at my disposal for promotional platforms. And you know what, I’d rather know I have a very strong, loyal core that I can build on. That being said, getting out of the gate is important in this environment.

MR: It seemed like with the strike, there was less of a tendency to cancel shows that might have gotten canceled any other season.

PL: Admittedly so, partly because of the strike -- we aired every episode of every show we ordered last year. We are going to have a fair amount of product next season, but I also feel we have proven showrunners – let the show go on.

Let. The Show. Go On. Bitte den Satz auf der Zunge zergehen lassen, alle Skeptiker da draußen.

...und fasst so ziemlich alles zusammen, was man so sagen kann.

But he’s kidding himself. Dr. H. is too skittish to harm innocents or wreak much havoc. The ray guns he invents never seem to work that well, and his cackle is so wimpy he’s hired a voice coach. Plus, what kind of criminal mastermind has a blog?

Well, I do.

AfterEllen.com hat coverage über die Television Critics Association summer press tour (die, die nächste Woche auch das Dollhouse-Set besuchen wird), und gestern war da einiges an Whedon-Content, z.B. auch Summer Glau über Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles':

When asked if she finds doing all the action scenes empowering, she answered, "It's a lot of fun, I'll say that, and what makes me confident is being on a TV series that really puts women in the driver's seat." That to me sounds like a graduate of the Joss Whedon School of Television — you get an A+, Summer!

...und dann noch Eliza (mit Foto featuring Kevin Reilly (li)!):

She talked about how she bought Joss a gouda pizza to bribe him to write a show for her, which turned into Dollhouse. "Joss really gets women," she said. "There's a woman somewhere deep inside of him!" Next week we'll be visiting the set of Dollhouse, so look for many more details about this show on AfterEllen.com in the near future.

Wie gesagt, next week.

Ein merkwürdiger Kommentar hier:

Dushku's character will perhaps not please the feminist perspective, as she plays an inhabitant of a laboratory whose memory is erased after each assignement - potentially interpreted as a plaything of a patriarchal society. Whether Dollhouse will receive the reception awarded to Buffy or to Firefly remains to be seen.

Ganz abgesehen von der "matri statt patri"-Sache, ist es doch etwas kurzsichtig, die Prämisse so auszulegen, als ob Whedon nicht vor hätte Echo erwachen zu lassen, auch im Sinne von Empowerment. Weil... das ist die Prämisse.

Am Twitter heißt's:

We love you for crashing the site, we really do. In the meantime, you can go to itunes. Or just wait a few hours, we'll be back up.

Wer nicht zu itunes will...

Edit: ... muss wohl doch zu drhorrible.com.

Ein Video über Dollhouse, und worauf sie sich freut. Besonders schön: "I've got mad skills!" und die Rolle die sie wirklich gern in einer Dollhouse-Folge mal machen würde: Grandmaster Chessplayer. Think about that!


(Direkteliza)

Keine Sorge, ist vom Februar, also sehr alt, aber hab jetzt erst nen Scan gefunden. Also hier bitte klicken für das doppelseitige Interview im SFX-Magazine.

Oh, wie süß:

How did you choose the cast? Does Nathan Fillion have pictures of you, or–

You know, you’re not the first person to ask that so I’m beginning to wonder. After I passed out, what happened…?

You know, who wouldn’t cast Nathan Fillion in absolutely everything. I mean, he can play the hero, he can play the idiot, he can play the ingénue, he can play the ficus and be the most interesting thing in the room. He’s amazing. And you know he’s a dear, smart, centered guy, so that’s a no-brainer. And he’s so great as that character, you know. It very much reflects some of his own humor that the moment he signed on Zack and I were writing a bunch of his scenes, we raced to our typewriters. No, we use computers, we’re not that old.

But you know, Neil was… I wasn’t as sure Neil would be interested in it and he said yes faster than I had the question out. But he’s, you know. Just incre.. I’ve seen him do everything, including, you know, sing on Broadway, so I knew he had the chops. He still brought more to it than I even imagined he could. And Felicia, you know, has been a friend since she was on “Buffy.” Her show “The Guild” has been kind of an inspiration for this and I suspected she had some singing pipes as well and she also blew me away. The first time she and Neil sang together, I may have cried a little.

Auch wunderbarst:

Are you ready for the entire Internet to land on you?

You know, if we don’t crash it, we’ve failed.

No, we only have the bandwidth to support 17 viewers at a time.

No, none of those things are true, we do hope that a lot of people will show up, ‘cause we think it’s kind of an event. But we’re also prepared for the numbers to be even smaller than anybody thought, for everyone to go “awwww.” Because, you know, you have to be prepared for that and the great thing about it is I don’t have anybody worrying about it. We don’t have anybody we’re beholden to, to be like “You failed us! We loved the musical.” We think the people who see it will love it as well, and how many people see it, well, that’s not really up to us.

You have a knack for attracting obsessive fans. What do you think they see in your work?

An obsessive fan…

Und zum Abschluss:

If everything came true the way you wanted it to be, what would you like to see happen because of “Dr. Horrible”?

I would like to be a gagillionaire.

I would like to see more of this kind of content, I would like to make, but even if I can’t I’d like to see more people sort of stepping up between the home-made and the studio-made and putting things on the Internet that are truly strange and personal and yet accessible to as many people as possible. I’d like the Internet to be a viable economic framework for a sort of, a world of “B” pictures. A new, strange, surreal “B” studio, the kind they don’t have anymore. That’s what I’d like to see.

And I’d like to run it.

(Mir gehen die Headlines aus, ich weiß.) Teil 1:

How did knowing that Dr. Horrible was going to be on the Internet change the way you approached the making of it? What kinds of stylistic or narrative elements might work on the Internet that might not on TV or film?

The first answer is obviously freedom: not just creative but structural, in terms of running time, number of episodes, presentation and (fingers crossed) monetization. Nothing is set in stone. I'm a very traditional storyteller, and I'm in no way Internet savvy, but I did appreciate the elasticity of the medium. The story was also geared toward the Internet audience -- and not just by putting "blog" in the title. The fact that Dr. Horrible does blog is part of his character, which is the guy alone in his room ranting about the world not being the way it should. We're long past the age of "everybody on the Internet watches 'Star Trek' and lives in their parents' basement," but there is a modern societal truth about the kind of guy who needs to tell the world his troubles and show off his talents. And I relate to that guy. Neil's blogs wouldn't work in the same way if they weren't coming from your computer screen. Correction: They will work brilliantly on DVD. Or at a midnight screening in your local city! Other difference in doing it without major backing: I become a whore.

Most importantly, there is the silly. The things that have hit on the Internet have almost all had that quality, from "Star Wars" kid, to "The Landlord," to 1,500 prisoners doing "Thriller." Not just the I-made-it-myself aesthetic, but the truly, transcendently goofy. The absurd (which is important to me, as an Absurdist) is part of the Internet's identity. Maybe it's just a stage, but it's an awesome one. On TV, Dr. Horrible would be greeted with a lot more skepticism than on the Internet. We knew as writers that we could bare our ridiculous souls to the point where people would suddenly, sincerely burst into song -- it took six years to achieve that kind of audience trust on "Buffy."

...und Teil 2:

Some brows have furrowed at the idea of putting it out for free for a week, but that was part of our mission statement from the first: to create an Internet event for the fans (and others) to enjoy because we enjoyed it so much. Whether that affects us negatively revenue-wise it'll be hard to determine, but it's part of the business model in that the statement is as much about the Internet as a medium as it is about our little epic. We're ringing the bell. It doesn't matter how many people gather: We just like the clangy noise.

Nach Fox über Whedon, jetzt umgekehrt:

"The understanding that I reached was with myself," Whedon explained about his change of heart. "That I had to be realistic about what the network expected of me and about what the chances for the show would be. Like, I fell in love with Firefly in a very blind and adolescent way. And I tried to meet the network halfway. But at the same time, you know, it was agony. Everything was agony for me. ... And now I come at it with a little distance. Not artistic distance. But just, you know, the grown-up attitude of, you go through certain steps. You do your best. You work with them. And you pick the people you're working with. You look for sanity and you look for intelligence. So far, I have found a great deal of both in the executives at Fox. If I had gone there and pitched to them, and they had not understood what I was telling them, I think I would have known."

Well, sehr gut, you know. Das Pacing ist etwas merkwürdig und gewöhnungsbedürftig, 13 Minuten ist ne strange Zeit für ... irgendwas, aber es ist ja nur ein Act und der ist sehr gut.

Der Inhalt ist ungefähr der, dass Dr. Horrible (großer Applaus für NPH) in die Evil League of Evil rein (geleitet von Bad Horse, der ungefähr so Bad wirkt wie sein Name) und dafür was heftig böses tun muss, z.B. seinen Freeze Ray fertigstellen, für den ihm eine Komponente fehlt. Der Freeze Ray soll die Zeit anhalten können, und zwar lang genug, dass Dr. Horrible im Waschsalon die richtigen Worte findet, um das Mädchen seiner Träume (Penny, gespielt von Felicia Day) anzusprechen. Es kommt natürlich alles anders, sie spricht nämlich ihn an, im ungünstigsten Zeitpunkt ever, nämlich just beim klauen der letzten Komponente, und wenn das nicht schlimm genug wäre, taucht genau da auch seine Nemesis Capt. Hammer (Nathan Fillion), behindert den Heist und rettet Penny. Cliffhanger: Dr. Horrible hat zwar die Komponente, aber Capt. Hammer und Penny hauchen sich monumentale Emotionen ins Gesicht.

Es ist basically genau das, was ich erwartet habe, ein kleines, feines Musical, mit wirklich Trademark-eingängigen Joss-Melodien, die wieder einmal das Kunststück vollbringen, eine Story zu erzählen. Man merkt zwar das Minimal-Budget, aber das ist voll okay und passt ja auch zu unserem Helden Dr. Horrible, der auch immer nur ein höchsten schaler Abklatsch von wirklichem Evil ist. Großes Plus dafür, dass hier in Non-USA das ganze auch (doch) streamable ist. Und jetzt heißts noch 40 Stunden warten, auf Act 2.

Drüben bei wired.com:

Wired.com: Although plenty of fans are going to want to own the DVD, which has extra features like musical commentary tracks, you have to anticipate others obtaining Dr. Horrible through file-sharing networks. Are you concerned about illegal torrenting at all?

Whedon: I think if you want [DVD sales], you have to expect [illegal downloading.] If you incite passion in your fans, you get both sides of that coin. But what else would you want? A note, though, to all you would-be pirates: Scurvy is a serious issue. Eat some limes.

Und dann nochmal bei newsarama:

“Writing lyrics is much harder than writing dialogue, not just because of the rhymes, but because you basically have a set space within which you have to fit something, and you’ve got to find a tune and a tempo which allow the lyrics to do more than explain something in a sing-song way,” Whedon says. “Building a song is its own little art, and while it exists inside a musical, it also has to flow within itself. It’s very, very labor intensive, and sometimes it does come quickly, and sometimes you can just kill yourself for weeks on a lyric.”

Und schließlich die Sequel-Frage bei dwscifi.com, mit großartigem Jed Whedon-Konter am Ende:

If the series is successful, would Whedon consider making a sequel? “What about a giant Broadway adaptation?” Whedon laughs. “Have I thought about a sequel? Yes. But the plans at present just consist of us going, ‘This would be awesome!’”

“That’s how this started…” Jed Whedon reminds his brother.

Ein weiteres Interview mit Produzent Michael Boretz (remember?) gibt's auch. Und das alles kulminiert in... 7 Stunden. Can't wait!

Firefly-Café? Thx to Heimo, der in Meknès, Marokko ein Pendant fand:

Ganz kurz, aber nett:

Reilly says he has seen "no skittishness" in Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon in the wake of his struggle with Fox on Firefly: "I thought, No way is that guy coming back." But he has really enjoyed working with him. "That is a guy who has earned his reputation."

Morgen früh geht's los!

Europe/Paris 9:01 AM

Diesmal nicht Video, sondern nur zum lesen, drüben bei ÜberSciFiGeek:

(ÜSFG) Having worked with Joss Whedon on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer“, what was it like working with him again? How was it different and how was it similar?

(FD) The “Dr. Horrible” set was a lot more informal than being on a professional TV set. There was a sense from everyone this was driven by passion and enthusiasm rather than being a “job”. It felt way more like indie productions I’ve done. Of course the quality of production and the expertise of the cast and crew was equal to being on “Buffy”, because Joss attracts the best at what they do. There were stunt people on both sets : )

Nach Sarah Fain und Elizabeth Craft damals und nun bald Steven DeKnight bei dollhousetvforum.com, sind nun die anderen Fans dran: dollhouseforums.com hat ein Q&A mit Jed Whedon und Maurissa Tancharoen organisiert. Gehe hier um Fragen zu stellen, bis 15. August ist alles drin.