What happens if I or Mr Typical Joss fan wants to put on a Dr. Horrible singalong/event thingy for charity or for a con. Who do I see about that? Cause when people have to resort to doing this, it makes me sad.

Simon | December 19, 17:00 CET

That youtube plea *is* sad. Perhaps whomever moderates or oversees the drhorrible.net site could address this issue - maybe serve as a liaison between fans and the Horrible team and post the relevant info on the site. Because, seriously, if people want to put on productions of "Horrible" in high schools and wherever, then they shouldn't be stopped. Should they?

phlebotinin | December 19, 17:12 CET

One thing that always pleased me about this was that the only person we need to go to get permission for sing-alongs on this one is Joss. So there should be no problem, eh?

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | December 19, 17:33 CET

So, are NYPinTA and I still the only Whedonesquers braving the snow to go to this? (NYPinTA, are you going to brave the snow?)

I'm assuming the show will go on since NYC does not usually close because of snow. I will call the Paley Center to check before we leave the house, however. Going into NYC during a snowstorm is not my idea of fun, and I have no desire to do it for no reason.

newcj | December 19, 18:00 CET

Simon,

I offered these suggestions elsewhere on the internet

Sign up for the Dr. Horrible newsletter at http://drhorrible.com
When you get a newsletter or whatever, you can email them back and maybe get a response.

If you have a theater already picked out, they would know who to contact who could contact Team Horrible. Either they know someone who knows, or if they are subscribers to imdb.com which lists agents for everybody.

Also people could try contacting the Buffy Sing-Along people. They were trying to help screenings get started. http://uncoolkids.com/buffy/?page_id=30

Anonymous1 | December 19, 18:01 CET

According to an email I received, the Horrible team is currently "working out a fair licensing agreement for all that would like to hold a screening". They expect it to be done in the next few weeks. I emailed back asking about whether it would be put up online for everyone to see, but have not received a reply yet.

So yes, they are indeed going to make it easy by having a set of rules. My opinion: I expect they will have a contact form of some kind on the official site.

danregal | December 19, 18:04 CET

Whoo-hoo!

Anonymous1 | December 19, 18:27 CET

It was? I was under the impression that there was a backlash from fans about the whole thing. It was not of one of our fandom's finest moments.

Simon | December 19, 20:08 CET

I'm so excited for this! I didn't even realize that it was done by the same people who did the Buffy Sing-Along!

reebchan | December 19, 20:15 CET

I was under the impression...

Yes, it appears to have gone (1) backlash, (2) Joss' dissatisfaction, (3) somewhat tepid statement (that included "'Shut Up, Dawn' is necessary, and cathartic") added to screening intro, (4) licensing pulled so none of it mattered anyway.

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2008-12-19 20:34 ]

The One True b!X | December 19, 20:29 CET

I called the Paley center. They said tonight is a go. Now if I can only get my son out of the house so we have as much time as possible to get into the City...

Wish me luck. (The good kind would be best.)

newcj | December 19, 22:03 CET

newcj

Good luck, enjoy and tell us all about it!

FollowMal | December 19, 22:28 CET

Good luck, newcj. I look forward to your report.

I was supposed to go to a show in NJ tomorrow night but have decided to skip it. (I live in Virginia.) Stupid weather!

Bobbi | December 19, 22:44 CET

We love you Dawn!

Anonymous1 | December 20, 05:09 CET

Seconding what danregal said, we were told the same thing by Joss' Dr. Horrible specific assistant. She said she couldn't give us a resolution date, but that we should expect licensing information in very early 2009.

haldira | December 20, 06:41 CET

Thanks for the good wishes guys.

The roads in New Jersey were slow and slippery last night, but thanks to the local traffic news reports I managed to find one without accidents. I had a car that is excellent on snow, but even so it was pretty tricky driving at times. There was not nearly as much snow near the City, so driving got better as you got closer.

NYC itself was easy going except for the huge slushy ponds that gather at street corners whenever NYC has snow. Unfortunately, my son has grown out of his snow boots so he ended up with wet numb feet. Even so, he had a good time.

The Dr. Horrible sing-a-long was short (as we expected) but lots of fun. I thought the various suggested activities were reasonable, gave people a place to start and generally loosened people up. Some worked, some didn't. It was obvious that one particular audience response that was not suggested (nothing vocal except singing was suggested) WILL naturally develop if sing-a-longs continue. When Captain Hammer says "These are not the hammer." you could hear people all over the theater independently saying "What IS the hammer?" If the sing-a-long had been repeated, I would guess that the whole audience would have said it together without prompting.

Personally, I hope no one tells people what to say because I think things will happen organically. People will say things and other people will either like those things and pick them up or not.

At the end, when the camera finds Penny, some one shouted, "Damn you Joss!" and everyone laughed. Will that be something that will stick? I don't know, but I hope it is allowed to find its own life.

My son was worried about going. He is shy about performing in front of people and has only seen Dr. Horrible a couple times. We sat in the back row so he did not have to worry about what people thought. He was smiling every time I looked at him. He even did some of the suggested silly stuff with the grown-ups. ;-)

After the show, we walked over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. It is usually pedestrian hell; wall to wall bodies hoping to change places with a person in the direction they are trying to move. Last night it was great. The snow must have kept people home, because you could walk freely without a problem at all...except the lakes of slushy water that you would find yourself in unexpectedly. Numb toes made us leave earlier than we might have otherwise. The roads coming home were empty and mostly clear of snow, though there was still ice.

Overall, a fun experience.

newcj | December 20, 15:31 CET

Thanks for the report, newcj.

jcs | December 20, 18:01 CET

Great report, newcj! I agree about letting at least some things grow organically, they should keep the 'activities' to two or three things and let the audience find their own way for the rest.

cabri | December 20, 18:48 CET

Thanks for the report, newcj, and I hope your feetses warmed up soon after their near-froze experience.

Yeah, I too hope for most of the stuff to evolve organically - at the Halloween Doc Singalong, while I enjoyed the amusing stuff in my goodie bag, I didn't use half of it during the show. The little Bad Horse Head was genius, though - I think I kept that on my finger the whole time, and bobbed his little head up and down whenever possible.

At our show, in the silence after Penny died, someone hollered out "Screw you, Joss' in a faux-agonized voice, which I found très amusant. (I did feel a little bad about laughing at it later when we found out that Joss and Co. were in the audience with us, but I assume he took it in stride and understood our love/hate thing about watching his character-deaths...)

I look forward to hearing more reports - I know NYPinTA went, and I'm sure there's some other folks.

QuoterGal | December 20, 19:12 CET

I went. I was in NYC for a lot of Saturday and spent a lot of time today lounging because I'm tired. So I'm writing up my tiny report right now.

Someone also yelled out in the silence after Penny died, "Damn you, Joss" which did garner laughter and applause- even from me- but I think mostly because it broke the tension that we all feel by her death, even though we've all seen it so many times. Although, if there are going to be regular sing along screenings, I don't suggest this become a regular part of the interactive show.

Edit: for clarity.

And I'm glad that the Horrible Team are working on making this something the fans can do in their own cities for charity. I know we've got a Regional Food Bank and a few shelters here that could use some help. And I've already got the perfect theater in mind. It's adorable. You'll love it.

[ edited by NYPinTA on 2008-12-22 05:29 ]

NYPinTA | December 21, 22:19 CET

For the curious, my write up of the evening. Dr Horrible in NYC

It was strange sitting in the audience and wondering if I knew anyone there from here, but I declined my friends suggestion to stand up and announce, "Hi! I'm En Why Pinta and I was wondering if any of you know me."

NYPinTA | December 22, 07:06 CET

At the Dr. Horrible screening in LA, we had someone yell "Damn you, Joss," which was funny because he was there in the audience. We didn't have anyone say "What *is* the hammer?"-- we were too busy saying "shhhhhh" so the newbies wouldn't miss the next line.

It was really a lot of fun and I'm glad the one in NYC went just as well. Hope to see more of these screenings popping up in cities around the world soon.

paradoxmo | December 22, 15:11 CET