Pages tagged “joss whedon”

As far as unintended consequences of the WGA strike go, this one has got to be one of the more surprising. While telling AICN about the possibilities of his own Harold and Kumar spin-off (Incidentally, is it Doogie Week on PasteMagazine.com, or what?), Neil Patrick Harris mentioned that he was working on, "a web short film that Joss Whedon is directing and wrote called Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog." That's a musical about super villains and crossing my fingers for the next round of Dancing With The Stars. (long pause) No..." This sounds like a joke, and was taken as such by everyone in the room. But was it?

The comment prompted the rabid fans at Whedonesque to go through a round of speculation until Whedon himself offered up more concrete information about the project. "The bag is catless," the Buffy television series creator said. "During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each. Writing with me was my brother Jed, his fiancee Maurissa, and my other brother Zack. To my shock and surprise, we finished it. To my greater shock and surprise, we managed (with the help of many people I'll be praising at length soon) to drag it into preproduction (yes, just as Dollhouse was given a start date two months away and all my comics were due.) And today, after a grueling week of writing everything ever while trying to be a producer, I got to start shooting. A musical.

"This much I will say: It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to. And I'm having the time of my life."

Whedon also offered a bit more casting info for the film, listing:

"'DOCTOR HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG'

Neil Patrick Harris.....as Dr. Horrible
Nathan Fillion..........as Captain Hammer
Felicia Day.............as Penny

And a cast of Dozens!"

So not only will the series of musical shorts feature Harris, but also Whedon's old pal Nathan Fillion. No information is yet known about when or where this will be available, but the series' name alone is already one of the most creative things announced this year.

Thanks to Cinematical for the tip!

Related links:
Paste: Joss Whedon back on the air with Dollhouse
Joss Whedon on IMDb
Paste: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Classic Storytelling

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Since Firefly was canceled back in 2002, Joss Whedon's busied himself with a film, comics and scriptwriting, but we all knew he'd head back to television eventually. It looks like that opportunity has finally arrived, with his series Dollhouse picked up for seven episodes by Fox.

The show stars Eliza Dushku, who worked with Whedon previously in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, as Echo, a character in the "top-secret world of people programmed with different personalities, abilities and memories depending on their mission" who slowly begins to develop her own memories and personality. "He's my favorite genius," Dushku said in the press release in Variety. "And my favorite friend. He's been like a big brother ... and the only person out here I've ever wholeheartedly trusted, because he's never let me down."

It is a bit of a surprise that Whedon's next show will be on Fox, since there'd been some bad blood between him and the channel after the premature cancellation of his last show. Fox, however, had been trying to get Whedon back into television for a while, and through Whedon's attempt to help out Dushku's career was able to get him back.

The show's seven episodes are already outlined, so the studio hopes to have the show in production by Spring. Due to the long lead time, Dollhouse will probably air in an uninterrupted season next fall.

Related links:
Press release on Variety
Joss Whedon on IMDB
Eliza Dushku on IMDB

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The last we saw of Angel, he and his crew were about to return to the fight against demon hordes and then... nothing. One of the most infamous cliffhangers in television was left unresolved as the series was canceled and its creator, Joss Whedon, refused to elaborate upon what the future would hold for the Los Angeles side of the Buffyverse.

All that will be answered now, though, with the series continuing in "season 6" in the form of a comic book, Angel: After the Fall. The story will be overseen by Whedon in a 12-issue miniseries with the first issue coming out in November. "The series begins to tackle the fallout of Angel's stand, and what it cost everyone near, around and close to him," said series scripter Brian Lynch in a statement, who will be working with Whedon to co-plot the story. Franco Urru, who previously worked on Spike: Asylum and Spike: Shadow Puppets, will be supplying the art.

IDW Publishing has been printing comics of Angel after taking over the rights to the series from Dark Horse in 2005. But while many of IDW's comics have taken place later than the series, they were made without Whedon's oversight and are generally considered non-canonical and, in all frankness, kind of lousy. "This is the story we've wanted to tell since we started publishing Angel comics three years ago. More to the point, it's a story fans have been dying to see, and neither they nor I ever wanted to tell this tale without Joss," said IDW's Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Chris Ryall.

It looks like this will be the best bet for fans looking to get their Whedon fix in the upcoming months. Unless of course the implied by Alan Tudyk sequel to Serenity turns out to be a reality.

Related links:
Joss Whedon on IMDB
Whedon super fansite, Whedonesque
Angel on IDW

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