Whedonesque : Comments on 17110 : Dr. Horrible still (or again?) available via Hulu.

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July 29 2008

Dr. Horrible still (or again?) available via Hulu. This sort of undoes the "Exclusively on iTunes" badge on the Dr. Horrible website. ETA: Inspired by the good Doctor? Probably not, but fun [-zeitgeist].

All three acts are available on Hulu, with ads of some variety (looks like a sponsor message at the beginning) -- plus the straight-through 42:25 version we saw at Comic-Con.

ETA that the full version via Hulu also appears on MySpace. (It was, at one point, appearing on the main page.)

ETA that I changed the link to the main Hulu page for Dr. Horrible.

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2008-07-29 06:44 ]

The One True b!X | Dr. Horrible | 05:36 CET | 71 comments total | tags: including the full 43-minute version, dr. horrible, streaming video

It's also up on myspace.

milt | July 29, 05:46 CET

It's still there?! GREAT! I can keep pimping it to my friends!

Irrel | July 29, 05:51 CET

I have to say that I think this is a good thing, I want more people to fall totally in love with it, as I am!

embers | July 29, 06:03 CET

This does not make me sad. :o)

Scaniano | July 29, 06:26 CET

This, bee tee double-you, means that you now can embed it on your own sites by using the embed button in the Hulu player.

And that in turn means that you now can embed just specific clips, if you have a need to refer to just one sequence or moment, because Hulu lets you do that.

The One True b!X | July 29, 06:38 CET

This is just awesome. I'm not a big fan of iTunes, so I was bummed that I'd have to wait until the DVD came out to see it again.

Cheers to the Dr. Horrible crew!

EvilElecBlanket | July 29, 06:43 CET

Can someone confirm or deny that it's once again not viewable outside the US? (I'm hearing that it doesn't, and I'm assuming it's because it's using Hulu's regular viewer/player, and not the specially-coded one from before.)

The One True b!X | July 29, 06:48 CET

Letting us know they are working on making it accessible to international viewers, is nice of Hulu. I'm glad it's back on Hulu, as this will give us a chance to spread it to more uninitiated people for free. I wonder how long it will be up there for.

ETA: No, it's not currently available to international viewers but as I said above, they do give us a message saying they are working on making it available, and give you the option to be notified by email when it is available, unlike previously when it just said "this content can only be streamed within the US". Wonder how long it's going to take them to sort out, as getting the rights to screen it in each country sounds like a complicated process.

[ edited by Aviva on 2008-07-29 06:58 ]

Aviva | July 29, 06:50 CET

Not available for outside the US.
Unless u do the proxy tricks...

maxsummers | July 29, 06:51 CET

I just checked with a friend via Yahoo! Instant Messenger, and he cannot get it in Malaysia. :(

crazygolfa | July 29, 06:52 CET

Also, notice the company link.

The One True b!X | July 29, 06:54 CET

Oh, awesome! I actually just stopped by the Dr. Horrible site and noticed that the button changed to say "download from iTunes" instead of "exclusively on iTunes." The only reason I haven't bought it is that I don't like iTunes' DRM, but I of course plan to buy the DVD the day it comes out.

RaisedByMongrels | July 29, 06:57 CET

I likey.

Sly | July 29, 07:02 CET

The quality of the one on the hulu site is much better than the original showing (I'm madly in love with the 480p option).

Wax Lion | July 29, 07:29 CET

Maybe that 29th date had some truth in it after all eh?

Ivalaine | July 29, 08:03 CET

I can watch it from Europe now, so it seems they figured out how to stream internationally. Yeah them. The video started without commercials as well :-) (though I think they should put commercials in just to make the enterprise more commercially viable).

Celebithil | July 29, 08:14 CET

Eh, it's not working here [in Taiwan], but I'm sure they're slowly making their way east. ;)

ETA: Yay, it's working now!

[ edited by Jav on 2008-07-29 10:15 ]

Jav | July 29, 08:30 CET

it works in australia =)

mfl | July 29, 08:40 CET

Look what I found on LiveJournal

Evil League of Evil

curlymynci | July 29, 09:18 CET

It's currently the big ad on the front page of MySpace. Fancy.

kishi | July 29, 09:35 CET

Awesome, I can view it from the UK! I was starting to have withdrawal symptoms, it's been over two weeks. I wonder if this is in any way related to the lack of Dr. Horrible on the international iTunes stores, or if it's because of the media buzz that they want to capitalise on for a bit. The only problem with the latter, more plausible, theory is that these videos aren't linked to from drhorrible.com yet.

MattK | July 29, 09:37 CET

Dr. Horrible is sponsored by the US government? That's just amazing on so many levels.

Simon | July 29, 09:58 CET

Woohoo! Watchings in Sydney! Life is worth living again!

Such good news that it's filtering out to us (well, some of us) international folks again!

[ edited by ZuckerBaby on 2008-07-29 10:06 ]

ZuckerBaby | July 29, 09:59 CET

Now with juicy, delicious, Whedon-paying ads! I feel really odd being happy about that...

nathanieletc | July 29, 10:06 CET

Am able to watch in the UK.

bivith | July 29, 10:09 CET

Available in Europe. I can't say I was expecting this, but I suppose it will get it out to more people. And if they get subsidized by the ads... yay :)

Valentyn | July 29, 10:09 CET

This is fab, especially for the international people who couldn't purchase it legally via US/Canadian iTunes and were subsequently perhaps forced to flaunt the law by downloading copies and burning them to DVD.

Yeah I heard about those types. *Shakes head.* Terrible.

missb | July 29, 10:10 CET

Awesome! It works fine from Germany (I got a "not available in your region" message once, but when I reloaded the page, it worked)

Salocin | July 29, 10:19 CET

This is great! I really wanted to see the whole thing again and would love to link/embed on my site too, spreading the Horrible love.

The Do That Girl | July 29, 11:30 CET

Watching in the UK right now. So happy to see it again.

redders | July 29, 11:39 CET

Neat, working.

Numfar PTB | July 29, 11:51 CET

Go Hulu team! It didn't take them long at all. Yay, I can finally see the end more than once. Now who else can I make watch this? Hmmm...

Aviva | July 29, 12:27 CET

Whoo! This is great considering I haven't been able to buy it on iTunes... :( *wants to give Joss & co money for the horribleness*

Braeden Fireheart | July 29, 13:17 CET

The DVD is on my Xmas lists for me and half my extended family, but I'm very glad to see this, too, so I can continue to tell various & sundry to WATCH it. Plus, I can't get the songs out of my head, and re-watching sort of helps. Or makes it worse. In a good way!

Maeve | July 29, 13:41 CET

This is great, iTunes wanted me to pay out of an American account, which is a little more trouble than I would be willing to go through for Dr. Horrible; not that I wouldn't eventually have capitulated and done some complex, yet totally legal, banking stuff in order to pay in US$. Glad not to have to resort to that.

Also, Hulu only puts two ads in a forty minute program? What am I doing watching any other media?

Edit:

Woohoo! Watchings in Sydney! Life is worth living again!

I must admit this past week has been difficult without Horribleness :)

[ edited by The Londinium Sun on 2008-07-29 14:04 ]

The Londinium Sun | July 29, 14:01 CET

Look what I found on LiveJournal

It may be worth noting that Dr. Horrible is not (yet) listed as a member.

[ edited by napua on 2008-07-29 14:14 ]

napua | July 29, 14:05 CET

Sweet.

NYPinTA | July 29, 14:17 CET

Only my second time seeing part 3... weepy now.

Kirochka | July 29, 14:45 CET

Great news! I had assembled a group of folks here at work (shhh!) for somewhat-stealth viewings of Acts I and II. Then Saturday came and Act III retreated behind a commercial wall. The group was seriously bummed ... and left hanging as to "how it ends." (I couldn't wait, and downloaded Act III via iTunes.) Finally, the wait is over.

1starbuckstown | July 29, 14:48 CET

and were subsequently perhaps forced to flaunt the law by downloading copies and burning them to DVD.

Well, it is a show about a supervillian. It's too bad there isn't a paypal donate button on drhorrible.com, so that when the Dr Horribles of the world resort to torrents and the like, the Billy in them can still make sure the Whedons get some coin.

AlanD | July 29, 15:16 CET

The quality of the one on the hulu site is much better than the original showing (I'm madly in love with the 480p option).

Agreed. Not only on the video quality, but also audio, which is quite noticeable if you're wearing earphones.
Already embedding it to my blog.

Numfar PTB | July 29, 15:20 CET

Sweet. Sending the link out to friends who didn't catch it the first time.

Some way to donate directly is a good idea. The Guild does that, if I recall correctly.

Sunfire | July 29, 15:41 CET

Cool! It's available for me now [Brazil]!

That's just awesome!

I will send the link to all my friends that missed it!

maxsummers | July 29, 16:00 CET

Joss also made a post in the Hulu blog.

Dym | July 29, 16:02 CET

I'd love to hear on their decision to repost this. I'm wondering if part of their reasoning for putting it back up was that getting it out on iTunes internationally was just too difficult and this became the easier option. It seems to have made a lot of people really happy, which can only mean that more people sit up and take notice.

Vanessa_A | July 29, 16:35 CET

They seem to be getting a big bump in the mainstream media this week (I just got a call from someone last night who asked if I'd heard about it ;-)), so perhaps they decided to do another free look window to help tap into a broader audience.

BrewBunny | July 29, 16:52 CET

Now, if we could sign up to the website, it would be even more fun, but it seems despite opening up Dr. Horrible for international viewers, registering to the website, is still an US only feature.
I know, starting to ask too much. Just saying that it would be neater, quite happy for being able to watch the videos from here.

Numfar PTB | July 29, 16:54 CET

For those of us who are mere babes in the woods when it comes to the subject of internet advertising, could someone please explain exactly how Joss will make money from the Hulu posting. Does he get paid a flat rate per each viewing, or does he get a fee just for allowing DHSAB to be posted on Hulu? Does Hulu pay him, or the advertiser? How does it all work -- I'm very curious. The next time I want to watch Dr. Horrible, I can use the Hulu version (instead of my iTunes version) if it helps make Joss & Co. more money...

floofypooh | July 29, 17:14 CET

Why hasn't a Donate option been setup by someone? I've seen it mentioned several times now, in different locations, but nothing from Joss and crew about it.

I'm eager to throw my money at this project, but until the DVD comes out, there's nothing more I really want to buy.

Is there any way that something like this could be fan-driven?

sleeper | July 29, 17:15 CET

"Point being, HULU hosted Dr. Horrible for free for a week, which we, the mushortio-makers, are forever grateful for"

Interesting.

hacksaway | July 29, 17:22 CET

As far as the Donate thing, I think this is more credible as a business if they don't take donations. If I'm not mistaken, even The Guild has moved off donations to up-front funding. There's plenty of ways to pay into Dr. H and get something neat out of it (iTunes, t-shirts, soundtrack, DVD). ETA: I don't at all buy the "torrent and donate" argument. (Or the idea that anyone is "forced" to pirate.)

BTW, I was watching again and thought I noticed something. I think Joss is not only in the Bad Horse chorus, he think he might be the Bad Horse chorus. Each voice that comes in sounds just like his (not even different enough that I'd say it was Jed or Zack).

Also, it would be awesome if they put a Bad Horse instrumental on the soundtrack, to be used as a ringtone. =)
ETA: What am I saying? I hope they do that for every song!

[ edited by jam2 on 2008-07-29 17:46 ]

jam2 | July 29, 17:22 CET

Joss also made a post in the Hulu blog.

Where?

ETA: Found it! Blog post on Hulu

[ edited by NYPinTA on 2008-07-29 17:25 ]

[ edited by NYPinTA on 2008-07-29 17:27 ]

NYPinTA | July 29, 17:23 CET

Link (of a seemingly non-permanent nature) to Joss's post on Hulu.

Pointy | July 29, 17:23 CET

Permanenticized.

jam2 | July 29, 17:26 CET

"Point being, HULU hosted Dr. Horrible for free for a week, which we, the mushortio-makers, are forever grateful for"

Interesting.
hacksaway | July 29, 17:22 CET

Where did you find this, hacksaway? I want to lurk there too.

jam2, I'm actually going under the theory that there are only TWO voices in the Bad Horse chorus: Joss & Jed. Of course, I can't confirm nor deny, but maybe someone will step up to the task of finding out.

korkster | July 29, 17:29 CET

As far as the Donate thing, I think this is more credible as a business if they don't take donations. If I'm not mistaken, even The Guild has move off donations to up-front funding. There's plenty of ways to pay into Dr. H and get something neat out of it (iTunes, t-shirts, soundtrack, DVD). ETA: I don't at all buy the "torrent and donate" argument. (Or the idea that anyone is "forced" to pirate.)

I'm willing to accept that if that's the truth of the matter.

I wish there were some way to express my appreciation without getting something additional out of it, however. I feel like Dr. Horrible has added value to my life, and I'm happy to balance that through the traditional means of purchasing items. But the items themselves add more value, so I'm left feeling like what I give back is kindof empty.

Obviously it's not their job to fix my value balance sheet, but if it were possible, some way of donating to the cause would be something I'd want to know about.

sleeper | July 29, 17:32 CET

korkster ,Where did you find this, hacksaway? I want to lurk there too.

It's from the hulu blog that is linked by me, jam2, and Pointy. Right above you. :)

[ edited by NYPinTA on 2008-07-29 17:36 ]

NYPinTA | July 29, 17:35 CET

korkster, it's from the Joss blog linked above.

hacksaway | July 29, 17:35 CET

It seems a wee bit daft not to have a front page entry for his blog entry. So I've created one.

Simon | July 29, 17:37 CET

Thanks, NYPinTA & hacksaway. Naturally, I ask before I review the links. Now I'm wondering why my comment didn't show up. Too long-winded? Probably, but it was gushing with Joss love.

korkster | July 29, 17:37 CET

sleeper, buying T-shirts and DVDs and the soundtrack when it comes out should be helpful. Yes?

TamaraC | July 29, 17:39 CET

I hear ya, sleeper. But while we tend to get personally involved with Joss' work, I don't think it should be thought of as a "cause". These guys did some (great) work and are getting some kind of proportional reward, through new-fangled business channels.

korkster, you might be right about 2 voices. And I'll have to listen to some of Jed's music to try to pick out his voice.

jam2 | July 29, 17:43 CET

drhorrible twitter: "International Horrible fans. Happy times? And did everyone see myspace's new homepage? Fancy fancy pants."

So it looks like maybe it was for international fans after all. On the off-chance one of the clan is reading this, I just want to say it's very very much appreciated.

Also, Hulu is awesome. I didn't realise they had so many movies there. Okay, I say it's awesome, it's dead useless to me because aside from Dr. Horrible all the content is region locked, but it still looks to be a decent service.

I was just looking at the movies section, and saw that they had Titan A.E. there, which is a film I absolutely loved (I saw it when I was in my early teens, I wasn't so much a fan of some of the character designs, and the CGI at the very end was dreadful, but I thought the film and characters and relationships there were wonderful -- this was at an age when I had no idea who Joss Whedon or Ben Edlund were too). Makes me want to go and watch it again now..

MattK | July 29, 17:48 CET

TamaraC: It helps, yes, but it doesn't feel like I'm paying for the art, it feels like I'm paying for the merchandise.

I think jam2 is correct. I have to stop looking at this as philanthropy, and realize it's business.

sleeper | July 29, 17:54 CET

Joss is without a doubt in the bad horse chorus. Everytime I hear the Bad Horse chorus I picture Joss singing it in my brain, especially the line "Bad Horse, he's bad". I just can't help it.

If you want to show your appreciation with money you'll be able to buy DVDs and stuff. As for donations... I think they'd loose a lot of credibility from their colleagues. Just wait, the opportunities will arise to show your love financially.

Vanessa_A | July 29, 17:55 CET

MattK, just show Dr. Horrible your thanks via Twitter. They're on there, and it's so easy to use. I mean, I can use it, and I suck at these things.

Joss definitely confirmed that he does not have a visual appearance on Dr. Horrible, but he contributed vocally. I can't see any other room for his voice other than the Bad Horse chorus.

korkster | July 29, 18:03 CET

re: credibility - kinda like when that guy bought out a whole screening of Serenity. It smacked of desperation and didn't play well in the media.

sleeper, what you could do, as others have in the past, is buy extra stuff and lend/donate it. Like buy a DVD for your library, that kind of thing. I think that's a win-win-win (DrH-library-you). =)

jam2 | July 29, 18:07 CET

drhorrible twitter: "International Horrible fans. Happy times? And did everyone see myspace's new homepage? Fancy fancy pants."

Sometimes I think conventional wisdom is wrong, and the revolution will be a group of nice people doing something extraordinary and hard but also fun. I arrive at this after seeing the Hulu blog add a Joss post about the musical video that's a product of the WGA strike that they used to block comments about. In other words, this is magical not just for us who clamor for more Dr. Horrible and blog-friendly formats but in the bigger picture too.

Sunfire | July 29, 18:12 CET

I wanna be a part of Sunfire's revolution. Where do I sign up?

NYPinTA | July 29, 18:17 CET

It helps, yes, but it doesn't feel like I'm paying for the art, it feels like I'm paying for the merchandise.

This kind of ties into the question I asked upthread. If I "view" Dr. Horrible on Hulu, let's say, once a day for the next week or three, does Joss make money off of my daily, repeated watching? If he does, that's something that can easily be done which supports the art, so to speak.

floofypooh | July 29, 19:27 CET

I don't know the definitive answer to your question, but I would think yes, each viewing translates into money down the line for Joss and Co., i.e. Hulu pays out based on number of viewings (whether that's tabulated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis). BTW, I presume Timescience Bloodclub LLC is not in AMPTP, so not covered by the recent WGA deal, so Joss probably worked out his own deals for how to pay everyone.

jam2 | July 29, 20:05 CET

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