Dr.Horrible: Worth Every Penny

I was thoroughly impressed with Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. I especially enjoyed the tension between Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer over the affection of Penny, who still seems to be underestimated in her importance in the entire series. Without Penny there would be no reason for Dr. Horrible to exist in the first place.

I understand that this past statement is a bit outstretched but there is some logic behind this:
1. Without Penny there is no point for Dr. Horrible to maintain further significant competition with Cpt. Hammer because things between the two would already be the same. Hammer would continue kicking Horrible's ass and Horrible's inventions would continue to be a failure. Furthermore, his test to be part of the ELE would be a complete failure because without penny there would be no motivation to outdo himself, especially if Cpt. Hammer is continually getting in his way.

2. Without Penny most importantly there would not be the powerful contribution to one of the themes of the entire series, that there is an obvious social stigma about the "badass" and the "nerd" and the stereotyped view that the "bad" boy gets the girl.

Captain Hammer-- He's not just a pretty face!

Dr.Horrible's Sing Along Blog appears to be an exaggerated aspect of all human dimensions. There is the "evil" Dr. Horrible who represents the desire for power, success and recognition. I would be curious to know what led him to pursue this avenue of "horribleness". He was probably a weakling, picked on by others, who has decided to seek revenge. With that said, he is still sympathetic towards other weaklings, children and elderly, that he refuses to kill. He attempts to grasp onto characteristics the media has assigned as "evil" (the evil laugh) which shows that he is merely an evil copy-catter.

Captain Hammer represents the ego we all have. He also symbolizes the person we envy, the person who seems to have it all, and the person we'd love to be and hate that we're not. Very few people are truly comfortable in their own skin the way Captain Hammer is. Even though he is vain and obnoxious, he is the envy of many. He appears to have it all. Most of us could find at least one thing that we love about ourselves but would never state it to others because that would be viewed as boastful. Captain Hammer doesn't care, he boasts about himself all the time and people do nothing but agree with his grandiose opinion of himself. Dr. Horrible envy's Captain Hammer too and that results in a love/hate emotion that fuels his need to destroy him.

Penny represents the goodness in all of us. She spends her life getting dismissed, ignored, and passed by unnoticed and yet she still has a motivational song to sing. As optimistic as she may seem she has a pessimistic view of her own capabilities. Even though she passionately believes in helping the homeless, she feels unable to make a difference on her own. Consequently, she relies on Captain Hammer. Unfortunately, Captain Hammer has his own agenda (and it's not helping the homeless). People like Penny can get taken advantage of because of their need for others and their belief in the goodness of humanity.

Although this is Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, I would argue that the most influential character in this blog is Captain Hammer. He is the reason Dr. Horrible has endeavored to transform himself into someone more powerful, and more evil. Captain Hammer is also the reason Penny accomplished her endeavors to open up a homeless shelter. He seems to be the key element for both Penny and Dr. Horrible.

Lastly, I wanted to make mention of the shift in the characters at the end of this blog. Dr. Horrible is finally able to descend into the pits of "evil" and Captain Hammer is left crying on a psychiatrist's coach. This shows that Dr. Horrible is finally able to steal the spotlight from Captain Hammer and Captain Hammer is feeling the pain and torture of inferiority in the way Dr. Horrible used to feel. I found it to be an ironically humorous conclusion to this story.

"Sometimes people are layered like that." --Penny

...Captain Hammer is not one of them.

Can I just say how hilarious Nathan Fillion is in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog? Of course Neil Patrick Harris is his reliably fantastic self, but Fillion took me by surprise with his comedic performance. After watching Firefly with Fillion as the forthright and tough captain Mal Reynolds, he gets to take the captain role to a very funny place with Captain Hammer.

In the Firefly role, Fillion does get several funny moments and proves his skill with humor, but I feel like Dr. Horrible is a bit more challenging as far as executing the humor is concerned. Captain Hammer's humor is often over-the-top and exaggered (most obviously through the character of Captain Hammer--need I repeat "the hammer" joke?) rather than the quick/implied/astute Whedon humor we've all come to love or hate (most obviously through Dr. Horrible's character). In the brief sing-along blog, I feel like each of Captain Hammer's joke gets one shot, given with lots of exaggerated gusto, and that's it. There is still the touch of sharpness, of course, but I felt like Captain Hammer's humor was about employing a consistent bravado. Fillion did an excellent job being so ridiculous. And I mean that as a huge compliment.

Damn those nagging feminists

Forgive the title of this post for it is strictly an attention getter.

Frankly I agree with what Josh posted. Everybody concentrates on Penny's character, how she's not developed, a push-over, etc, but nobody pays attention to the characteristics of the two male leads. As Josh says, they are both buffoons in their own ways. Yet, nobody is complaining about that. Actually, this type of characteristic is seen all over television and film. The men are the dumb ones while the women always look on thinking how stupid the men are. Look at most commericials, they do this all the time. Think of those Miller Lite ads where the woman bartender always insults the stupid guys. Where' the outlash? Sitcoms are great at this too. Think of Home Improvement, The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond. Male characters are always looked at to be idiots but there is not a outlash against that.

I'm not saying women aren't treated unfairly in media, cause they are. However, I don't feel every show/movie/whatever should be dissected over how women are percieved. I personally never thought Penny was an object in the Dr. Horrible. She might have been the only noble character in the episode and that's why she died. It's always the good ones.

Finally, I think people should go easy on Whedon. He's given everyone for series full of strong female characters. He only had 40min in Dr. Horrible. Besides, Horrible is the focus, not Penny. If you wanted to dig deeper what about his sweaty roommate? I'm sure people could come up with complaints for that.

Believer

I am beginning to think I might be a believer in musicals. For once in my life, I really thought something was made better (not more annoying) by song. I have always been someone who was not a fan of the idea that characters mind sing and dance about randomly breaking into song. Yet, in this sense it worked

Watching Dr. Horrible, one can use the singing and dancing as a metaphor for the expression we wish we could make. The smart cheeky lines came from the dialogue, and the deeper character driving “stuff” came in the music. This was a show that was able to pull off the idea that bursting into song was normal, and did not make it awkward for the viewer.

Also, there is the idea that the title says “Sing-Along Blog,” that gives the viewer the idea that Whedon is not just intending to write some catchy lyrics you might hum in the shower, but that he is wanting his viewers to express themselves, because in the world of Dr, Horrible & Capt. Hammer, expression and truth comes in the form of the song.

We See Dr. Horrible’s most honest moments, endearing, painful, and terrifying, when he is singing. His original feelings for Penny in the launder mat song are what endear us to him, and make us pull for him as not just a cheeky villain, but also a person we want to see happy.

In the scariest parts of the episodes, Dr. Horrible sings of showing Penny his true power, and “evilness” and in his song sung as he freezes Capt. Hammer, we see the loss of “Billy” and his beginning to focus only on his quest to join the evil league.

And,----In the final song, we hear his last line, sung at the camera in a haunting line that drags us back to Billy, and makes us see what he has lost. The cracking of his voice and the non-tonal quality express the visceral feelings that come when we sing about things that mean something, or in his case, the fear and realization that he can feel nothing.

Singing is his honestly, good or bad, evil or not, it always comes from a place of truth.

Links for Thursday's class

Print these out, read them, and bring them to class with you on Thursday.

1) Sarah Dobbs: "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Why Penny Matters"

2) Rebecca Allen: "Horrible Thoughts"

3) Purtek: "Doctor...Horrible?"