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Joss Whedon's "Doctor Horrible" Set To Launch

Posted by kdawson on Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:03 PM
from the we-all-need-a-hobby dept.
Ololiuhqui writes "During the writer's strike, Joss Whedon came up with a musical idea. Now his diabolical plan is about to be unleashed in the form of a streaming-only release, with a DVD shortly to follow. The three-part Doctor Horrible series stars Neil Patrick Harris as the eponymous doctor, Felicia Day as the woman of his dreams, and Nathan Fillion as the doctor's nemesis, Captain Hammer. Reportedly made for 'less than six figures,' the series has already received rave reviews and will no doubt showcase Whedon's musical facility, as well as his proven ability to squeeze the most out of a budget."
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  • Not Surprising (Score:5, Informative)

    by gbulmash (688770) * <semi_famous AT yahoo DOT com> on Monday July 14 2008, @11:04PM (#24191555) Homepage Journal
    Not surprising, really, if you remember Once [wikipedia.org] More [imdb.com], with [youtube.com] Feeling [amazon.com] .

    - Greg
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 14 2008, @11:05PM (#24191559)

    What's the premise? Someone keeps moving his chair?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      I wish I had mod points. A "They Might Be Giants" reference. How many of the current Slashdot crowd are going to get that? Bravo Sir.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Something unpleasant must have spilled on your brain, because that's MISTER Horrible.

      Unless he got a PhD in the time since the song? I suppose it's possible.

  • Does anyone else feel this is a little bit like a professional baseball player showing up to pitch at a little league game? Sure, he gets a lot of outs, but what did you expect?

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 14 2008, @11:12PM (#24191613)

    bunnies...
    bunnies...
    BUNNIES!
    (or maybe midgets)

  • by Audent (35893) <audent@noSpam.ilovebiscuits.com> on Monday July 14 2008, @11:20PM (#24191693) Homepage

    WTF? US viewers only?

    It's called the WORLD wide web, not the fucking US-wide web.

    What possible reason could there be for not showing it elsewhere? What evil could I possibly get up to with a (free to watch) movie clip?

    Ridiculous.

  • by gehrehmee (16338) on Monday July 14 2008, @11:25PM (#24191723) Homepage
    Since it's hosted by Hulu, they won't stream to a computer outside the U.S. I never thought I'd have a motive to pirate a free internet video.
    • Re:Only in the US (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Audent (35893) <audent@noSpam.ilovebiscuits.com> on Monday July 14 2008, @11:28PM (#24191743) Homepage

      I'm stunned. I thought the era of evil foreigners was long over (well, online evil foreigners that is).

      oh well. I'll wait for a pirate to break the law to let me watch a free internet video. What a strange world.

    • WTF are you talking about, did you click the link?

      Time Zone Notes:

      Doctor Horrible is set to launch Act 1 at 12:01am EST - that means that the time zones in other parts of the world are:
      US/Eastern Mon 14th 10:01 PM
      US/Central Tue 15th 12:01 AM
      US/Pacific Tue 15th 2:01 AM
      Europe/London Tue 15th 6:01 AM
      Europe/Paris Tue 15th 7:01 AM
      Australia/Perth Tue 15th 1:01 PM
      Australia/Sydney Tue 15th 3:01 PM
      New Zealand Tue 15th 5:01 PM

      Is he quoting worldwide timezones as a cruel joke? I believe what you are referencing is the note in the FAQ which most likely pertains to the DVD release.

        1. Those time zones are completely wrong, as it's earlier on the west coast than on the east coast at any given time.
        2. Did you click the link? Doing so right now indicates that Act I is available now. Trying to open it (at least here in Canada) results in Hulu's standard boiler-plate about not streaming anything outside the US.
        • Well then maybe try downloading from iTunes by using that HUGE button right beneath the streaming video.

          http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=284353399 [apple.com]

          • Re:Only in the US (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Merlynnus (209292) on Monday July 14 2008, @11:46PM (#24191863)

            Yeah, that doesn't work either. It calls up the Dr. Horrible page where you can 'download all episodes' for 'free' but when you select that, it fails with an unspecified error. It does (helpfully) give you the option of downloading it for $1.99.

            Um, I don't think so. Everyone in the states gets it for free and fuck the rest of the world? I don't think so.

            Fail.

            • Well damn then, I guess it was a cruel joke. In light of my snarky comment, I invite you to come to my house and watch it on my big screen. When you leave, you may take George W. back with you.

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            Yeah, the big button that then says "I'm sorry but this isn't available in [your country] iTunes store yet".

          • I use Linux -- no iTunes. How can I watch? Please answer quickly, knowing other people are watching new Joss Whedon stuff while I'm locked out may cause me to go TOTALLY FREAKING POSTAL.
    • Re:Only in the US (Score:5, Informative)

      by jamie (78724) * <jamie@slashdot.org> on Tuesday July 15 2008, @05:41AM (#24193631) Homepage Journal

      Since it's hosted by Hulu, they won't stream to a computer outside the U.S

      Looks like it's fixed now. The homepage reads:

      All those outside the USA who have been eagerly awaiting Doctor Horrible's Act 1 should now be able to view it via the Official Web Site. If it doesn't load, try clearing your browser cache and doing a forced refresh of the page (Hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the F5 key).

  • by sleeping123 (1109587) on Monday July 14 2008, @11:33PM (#24191779)
    I just finished watching it and I've gotta' say, extremely well written. The whole cast turns out to be fantastic singers, which is a hilarious change of pace for those of you who know Nathan Fillion from Firefly. You'll love his "A Man's Gotta' Do! Next installments are on Thursday and Saturday. I'll be watchin' at midnight!
  • And he is... DOCTOR WHO!

  • by the_other_chewey (1119125) on Tuesday July 15 2008, @05:06AM (#24193485)
    It can be watched from outside the US now as well: http://doctorhorrible.net/now-available-outisde-usa/105/ [doctorhorrible.net]

    The free world saves the day again (or something).
  • Budget (Score:4, Interesting)

    by fm6 (162816) on Tuesday July 15 2008, @10:01AM (#24196507) Homepage Journal

    his proven ability to squeeze the most out of a budget.

    If you read the scripts Whedon wrote for Buffy, they're full of in jokes about his budget woes. One constant complaint: Buffy's house supposedly had three bedrooms, but he didn't have the budget to show all three of them in one episode. Another one has a long description of the hell-factory in the third-season premiere; he talks about huge vats of boiling stuff and strutting hordes of evil demons, and winds up by mentioning (by name) one of his producers, who's standing in a corner tearing his hair out, because Whedon has just blown the season's entire effects budget in one episode.

  • by Fantastic Lad (198284) on Tuesday July 15 2008, @11:18AM (#24197879)

    The Masterplan website is dead.

    I was wondering how he planned to serve up a video to a million people in one evening when he already said he had no budget.

    Though, being Joss, (ie, a genius), he certainly recognized this would happen and that it would create ground-swell interest. (That which you want but can't have, you REALLY REALLY want.)

    I love the man's work, but I must say that I do NOT like being manipulated outside of the story. It's impolite. Buffy didn't need marketing. It sold itself because it was good. Firefly was the same way, (it's problem wasn't a lack of viewer support but a lack of executive support. Market to those goons). The fans didn't need selling, and they don't need it here either.

    But I do tend to take a strong position against being psychologically manipulated. I dislike it more, it seems, than the average websurfer. But whatever the case, I'm sure this will be a big hit and I look forward to downloading it from some fan-driven initiative, (like Pirate Bay), in a few days time. Good luck, Joss!

    -FL

      • Should they not be? Joss went on to put Nathan Fillion in the last season of Buffy after Firefly got axed...then there was the BDM...
      • Re:Nathan Fillion (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Joe the Lesser (533425) on Tuesday July 15 2008, @08:14AM (#24194681) Homepage Journal

        Uh, he starred in Serenity the movie which was after Firefly.

        He starred in Drive, by Joss Whedon.

        He knows it's the shithead Fox execs that are the problem, not Joss.

        • Couldn't let this "informative" comment get by with such an inaccuracy.

          Drive was actually by Tim Minear, the executive producer of Firefly. Who also keeps getting shows canceled by Fox. (I really wanted to see what happened in that race.)

    • I'm kind of surprised that Joss Whedon didn't do something along those lines, actually. NPH is homosexual, after all, and Joss Whedon enjoys breaking gender and sexual-preference stereotypes. I guess he wanted this to be more mainstream. *shrug*
      • by patio11 (857072) on Tuesday July 15 2008, @02:23AM (#24192679)

        If you see a girl between the ages of, oh, twelve and twenty-five in any of his shows, and she is looking harmless and is coming towards you, just save everybody some needless exertion and kill yourself.

      • Because, as Joss put it [cabridges.com], "it's your typical Internet musical about a super villain who's trying to make his bones in the super villain community and get some respect, and maybe even work up the nerve to talk to the girl at the Laundromat."
        Thoroughly mainstream.