Sunday, October 18, 2009

Holy Geekery! Dr. Horrible and The Guild Screening in Los Angeles

I've been to a bunch of Whedonverse events in the past few years, but Friday night was my first experience on the West Coast. The Guild and Dr. Horrible screenings were held at the awesome Egyptian Theater right in the heart of Hollywood. When we first got to this sold out event, we found our seats about 10 rows back and surrounded by a lovely bunch of people including Joel Champagne (great name), the West Side Browncoat extraordinaire! We were serenaded with the music from OMWF while we waited and fun fact, while Ivan was getting me popcorn, he saw Dichen Lachman standing in the ticket line. No guest list, I guess? Envor Gjokaj was also in attendence (so handsome) and there was a rumor that Amy Acker was there, but I saw no such sighting.

Check out this adorable mini Dr. Horrible who probably had more requests for photos than Joss Whedon himself.

They screened the entire Season 2 of The Guild and the music video "Do you want to Date My Avatar?" I had never seen The Guild before and I really enjoyed it. I'll be checking out the rest of the Seasons in the very near future.

After Dr. Horrible was finished and I cried over Penny's death for the millionth time, it was time for questions. Check out the video below for some of the panel discussion. There were some technical difficulties with shakiness and, unfortunately, the battery died 3/4 of the way through, but there's some fancy notes to enjoy even further down the page with all the info from the night.




- Felicia Day is an online gaming addict and after an intervention by a friend she quit playing. Shortly after, she started shooting The Guild in her house.

- Joss Whedon said Dr. Horrible was partly inspired by The Guild, the writer's strike and because he's a nerd.

- Dr. Horrible took 5 months in total from inception to streaming. it took 6 days to shoot and a few weeks to do the music.

- Ben Edlund (love him) was supposed to be part of Dr. Horrible, but he wasn't available at the time of production. Wonder if there would have been puppets?

- When The Guild first started shooting, none of the cast knew the gaming terms (except for Felicia Day) and they had to study up on their pronunciation.

- Fun Whedon family fact: Joss Whedon used to direct his brother's in movies when he was 8 years old. "Stupid Man" was the title of young Whedon's early film (cute).

After the panel discussion, the floor was opened up to the audience for questions:

- The first was the inevitable question of "Will there be a Dr. Horrible II?" The answer was "maybe" and they have "high hopes". They do have a title already, some songs and "3 1/2 jokes" written.

- Someone asked how Joss incorporates color theory into his filming. His answer, "Color is awesome."

- Felicia Day either can't poop when she drinks coffee or drinks coffee so she can poop. It wasn't clear enough to decipher.

- A fan asked if Joss could save the show Heroes. Zach Whedon answered that question with the awesome: "No one can save Heroes."

- Dr. Horrible was edited on Avid.

- Someone asked about the future of "rogue" entertainment on the internets. Joss said he tells people to get their friends together and do some funny stuff and he always gets the same reply of "...but you're friend is Nathan Fillion." Probably easier to shoot an internet film with Mal/Caleb/Capt. Hammer as your sidekick.

- One person asked if they could be friends with the panel. Joss responded, "Sadly, our quota is filled."

- Jed Whedon responded to a music composition question. He first writes the music and hopes for the lyrics to follow and if all else fails, he asks Joss to write some of it.

- A person wanted to know the title of the Dr. Horrible sequel. Joss wouldn't reveal, but they did come up with a few alternatives like Dr. Horrible: The College Years and Live Free or Dr. Horrible. Ha!

- A proud Firefly fan asked Joss what it is about him that makes us so invested in his work. Joss answered with a humble, "When you find out, let me know."

- There will be a Dr. Horrible: Commentary soundtrack released in the near future.

- As we all know, Cabin in the Woods will now be in 3D, but we'll have to wait another 11 months to see it.

So, that about covers the event and all its eventfulness. Oh, one more thing, check out the picture below and enjoy the irony my fellow Buffyfest Bloggers!



4 comments:

Harvin said...

About a month ago, I happened upon free downloads of "The Guild" on Xbox Live after a friend repeatedly referenced the music video. My nongaming friends have enjoyed the entire show with me since then. I had to delete old games off my console yesterday to make room for more of The Guild!

Tara said...

OMG, this is SO awesome. Michelle + Dollhouse 4eva! So fun.

Harvin, I love what I've seen of The Guild but haven't got to season 2. I also thought season 3 was an XBOX live exclusive, which I guess was silly. I now realize you can watch them on watchtheguild.com.

Does anyone know: was it just exclusive for a time period? Am I just flat out wrong about this whole thing?

Cool Hip [InyRules] said...

Tara,

Yes, season 3 of The Guild premiered exclusively on XBOX Live and Zune Marketplace for a short time, then it was up for grabs everywhere else. I remember being very cranky that week, since I don't have a Zune nor an XBOX.

Michelle,

Don't you kinda wanna start watching Dollhouse now?

Tara said...

Thanks for clarifying, Iny! :)