Yes, Joss Whedon has done it again. He’s given us fifteen minutes — fifteen lovable, clever, surprising minutes — of a new storytelling endeavor that I hope will inspire a whole new wave of shows. If it’s impossible for Whedon to bring back Firefly, well… at least he’s brought back Nathan Fillion.
How can a screenwriter be THIS POPULAR and still his best work, the Firefly series, remains on the shelf? It’s beloved by fans, it’s bursting with potential, but no studio will step up and do whatever is necessary to resurrect this… the best sci-fi adventure series ever to light up television screens?
I mean… Dr. Horrible is a jaunt. It’s a whim. It’s the kind of thing Whedon can create in the amount of time it takes me to brew a cup of coffee. Why not give him what he needs to realize his Bigger Dreams?
I’ve seen big budget feature films that have had far less charm and wit than this seemingly effortless skit. With a little imagination, a low budget becomes almost irrelevant.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if Joss Whedon can make me a big fan of Neil Patrick Harris, he is a superhero himself.
I can’t wait for Act 2.
Hear, hear!
Well, he does have a new show with Eliza Dushku scheduled to air mid-season on Fox (!?!?!), called “Dollhouse.” The description seems mighty promising.
Personally, I think his next non-TV project needs to be a Broadway musical…
You’re right on all counts, Jeff, except for one – his best work is Buffy. Specifically, the Season 6 musical episode called “Once More With Feeling.” Taken out of the context of the show, it’s phenomenal as a musical. When working in harmony with all the disparate plot strands of the series, the episode is genius, at the top of a short list of the best 42 minutes of episodic television ever. And that’s not hyperbole. As for Dr. Horrible, of course it’s fantastic. Josh is incapable of making bad work.
Oh, I disagree. Even Joss has his bad days. Have you seen Titan A.E.? That was awful.
Hmmm. I have fond memories of that one, but not strong memories, or perhaps I should say not strong fondness, more just a sort of I-like-cartoons-set-in-space-so-hey-why-not kind of vibe. That one came out around the same time as Treasure Planet, right? That’s another cartoon-set-in-space that could have been better, but had its moments.
I’d like to go back and see what Joss has to say about his involvement in Alien Resurrection on the bonus disc for that film. IIRC, they didn’t stick to his idea for that film very well, but apparently he was still involved enough that they thought to interview him for the DVD several years later.
Anyway, whatever Joss’s involvement on that film actually was, I think I have less fond memories of that film than I do of Titan A.E.. For whatever that’s worth.
Okay, let me rephrase:
Solo Joss is incapable of bad work. Things like the Buffy movie, Titan, and Alien don’t count in my book because someone else got in there and mucked up the works.
One side note: Andrew Stanton credits Joss and being the inspiration for him to become a great screenwriter. I just read a book about the history of Pixar, and after Joss left Toy Story to start Buffy, Stanton was so inspired by the dialogue and story, he literally went out and started reading every book about screenwriting he could get his hands on…
Apparently, I can’t type today… that should read “as being the inspiration.”