Dr Horrible...

[flummoxicated]

Overall - yes, I loved it. And I don't know how else he could have ended it without making it smarmy. But still - Joss? Get a prescription for Welbutrin. Seriously.

Over on his Wikipedia entry there's a quote from Joss about killing off characters, that he would rather have fans say "Why'd they kill (that guy)? I liked him!" than "Oh. He's dead? Turn the page!" It seems to me then that he sees fans upset at a character's death as a sort of validation for his writing. Which, in a twisted way, makes sense.

ETA: sabotabby's friend troubleinchina makes an excellent observation about Penny here. Hmmmmm.

ETA 2: Guys, I really did like it - don't revoke my geek license!

Comments

[bagelofdeath.livejournal.com]

The ending didn't do it for me. I thought it was too "I'm Joss Whedon and I ALWAYS DO THE SAME THING EVERY TIME". Like, I get it, happy couples aren't your thing. One member will always die. Okay. I didn't care simply because it was typical Whedon. I would have been SHOCKED if it had ended well.

[sarahbellem.livejournal.com]

It's so weird because I went to read the Whedon entry on Wikipedia right before the third installment went live, to give myself a refresher on what he's worked on (not a big Whedon fan, and all). I read that bit you quoted, and it didn't even occur to me that he'd try to kill anyone off in a 40 minute mini-serial. But then when he did, I was like, "I guess the man has his formula."

But yeah, I do agree with his stance on killing off characters. Except, I dunno... I was half hoping that Penny would turn out to be some secret agent for the Evil League of Evil, sent to destroy Capt. Hammer, and at the last second she'd reveal who she was, fight like a badass and then die a glorious, evil death in Horrible's arms. Given Whedon's usual formula involves seriously badass female characters and all, it was kind of a shock to see a female character that was pretty much an empty vessel.

Still, I like how her death worked to make Horrible more of an anti-hero villain than just a regular villain. I have a huge weakness for anti-heros and I will say, Joss Whedon always delivers some good ones.

[flummoxicated.livejournal.com]

I was hoping Penny would turn out to have some sort of super powers too; it would have been a Whedon-thing to do.

[sarahbellem.livejournal.com]

I demand a rewrite!

[banchomarba1.livejournal.com]

I love a pointless death. And yet, I was bored with the female lead character. Dr. horrible = fun, though, especially the goggles.

[beanolc.livejournal.com]

Meh, I loved it regardless. However, when Penny got it in the end (or rather, in the gut), the comment from the couch was "Joss is a bastard!"

[flummoxicated.livejournal.com]

Oh, I really liked it too, I guess I should edit my post to make that clearer as I seem to have given the opposite impression to several people. "Joss is a bastard!" was pretty much our reaction too!