Who is dr horribles roommate

Putting that whole premise in the title advertises this and sets expectations regarding the unusual format. Accordingly, the tone of the film is campy. I wish this was too obvious to be worth mentioning, but these days every studio is trying to produce the next grimdark hit.

In this case, the camp also allows the film to have a small budget. Horrible, played by Neil Patrick Harris, laughs evilly at the camera and his followers. For stories that have a high-novelty premise like this, focusing on the novel elements is a great way to suck in the audience immediately.

During the opening scene, viewers are kept entertained with high novelty, but novelty fades fast. Horrible and introduce conflict as quickly as possible. Beyond novelty, the video blog format really matters here. The video blog premise gives the film a narrator that can fill viewers in.

However, this is a form of epistolary storytelling , so the challenge now is to make it feel authentic. In other words, Dr. The exposition starts with him updating followers on the current state of his life in typical video-blogging style. This sets up the throughline of the film : whether Dr. Horrible will make it into the league, which represents success as a villain. Horrible will feel bad if he fails, but he can try again next year.

Accordingly, it gets only a brief mention. Next, Dr. Horrible answers questions sent by his followers via email. As a tactic for exposition, this works exceedingly well. Since he is taking questions from a variety of unknown people, they can have whatever interests and motivations the filmmakers need them to. Since he is giving answers not just to them but to all his followers, he would naturally offer additional explanation to new viewers. Using this method, viewers learn more about Dr.

Horrible, his primary antagonist Captain Hammer , and the central romance of the film. Besides staying authentic, the other trick to using epistolary scenes here is smoothly transitioning out of them to standard unfolding action.

When the filmmakers are ready to move on, they start by playing the sound of a door opening during the video blog. Then the camera shows Dr. Horrible sitting at his computer for the recording, and he turns his recording off. This smoothly transitions viewers to the new format. One of the most essential tasks of an opening is getting the audience to know and like the protagonist.

Throwing some nuances aside, character likability depends on three primary aspects : selflessness, sympathy, and novelty. I recommend aiming for at least two out of three. Novelty is already taken care of, so the filmmakers should cultivate at least one more.

But this protagonist is supposed to come off as a villain, so dramatic shows of selflessness are out. Instead, stories like these focus on damage control. In other words, the filmmakers have to keep the villainous aspects of the character from hurting likability.

These tactics are standard for villainous protagonists. And like similar stories such as Megamind , Dr. This provides a character arc. This is why villain protagonists are always scrappy underdogs instead of slick badasses like Darth Vader or Saruman. Horrible is struggling to succeed in the world of villainy. He was previously rejected by The Evil League of Evil, Captain Hammer keeps dislocating his shoulder, and a mocking follower asks him to show some gold bars to prove that his last heist succeeded.

He struggles to justify how his heist was a success even though his gold was transformed into muck. Besides giving him some great spinach , this sequence also supports the throughline by showing viewers why getting into The Evil League of Evil matters to him.

Last, the video blog gets the romance arc going. One of the followers sending questions to Dr. The music is for the viewer and not really canonical. In Dr. Horrible really is supposed to be singing on camera to his followers — who knows?

In any case, the film alternates between watching Dr. Horrible sing to the camera and flashbacks in the laundromat.

There, viewers meet his yet unnamed crush, Penny, played by Felicia Day. Horrible then told Moist that he was interested in getting a henchman, which leads to Moist getting a phone number about an application to presumably the Henchmen Union. Horrible Wiki Explore. Recent blog posts Forum. Explore Wikis Community Central.

Register Don't have an account? View source. Horrible's roommate. Moist had a fairly small role throughout the film. In the first act, he came home with Dr. Horrible's mail dampened which included the Evil League of Evil's reply to Dr. Horrible's application.

In act two, he gave a few suggestions on who to kill in order to get into the ELE, including a young girl who grows up to be president and smothering an old lady. In the final act, he was merely seen helping Dr. Horrible rob a bank in the closing montage. Horrible saw Penny at the Laundromat on a regular basis, and even had her schedule memorized. The Laundromat is where most Dr. Horrible and Penny's conversations took place in movie.

Penny's goal in this film was to collect signatures for a petition to prevent the city from demolishing a building that was perfectly suited for a new homeless shelter. In the end, it turned out, the only signature the mayor required was that of Captain Hammer, who signed to impress his new girlfriend. We first learned Dr. Horrible's name when he introduced himself to Penny.

Billy was quite conflicted in the film, wanting to demonstrate both how evil he could be to the Evil League of Evil, but to also impress Penny, a pacifist and good-hearted woman. Horrible, in the beginning, was building a Freeze Ray.

It was completed, but lacked the final essential ingredient, Wonderflonium. The Wonderflonium was obtained in Dr. Horrible's heist at the end of Act I, where he also accidentally introduced his arch nemesis to the girl of his dreams. There are no known properties of Wonderflonium, though the case did say "do not bounce". The song was started by Dr. Horrible, who put his duty to the heist before a chance to talk to Penny.

Captain Hammer soon appeared, with his arrogant and self-centered attitude instantly apparent, throwing a hammer into Dr. Horrible's plans. When Captain Hammer first appeared, he landed on top of the courier van that Dr. Horrible had taken control of by remote. He smashed Dr. Horrible's transceiver on top, sending the van out of control. Horrible desperately mashed the brake button as the van approached Penny. Captain Hammer jumped beside her and shoved her into a pile of garbage bags.

The brake button finally worked, and the van came to a stop before Captain Hammer had to do it himself. Penny, having been lying in the garbage, didn't see the events for what they actually were, and Captain Hammer assumed credit for saving her. The two fell in love on the spot while Dr. Horrible ran away with the Wonderflonium. He was Dr. Horrible's idol though when he mentioned this to Penny, he quickly changed it to Gandhi.

At the end of the movie, we got a shot of the Evil League of Evil with Bad Horse, who is a real horse, at the head of the table.

The other three incorrect answers were names of other members of the Evil League of Evil. During the song "My Eyes", sung by both Dr. Horrible and Penny, Dr. Horrible watched Penny and Captain Hammer as they went on dates, and noticed them eating Frozen Yogurt. Horrible, in a "crazy random happenstance" was given two frozen yogurts when he ordered one, so he gave one to Penny.

He and Penny were seen eating the treat when discussing their lives in the Laundromat. When Dr. Horrible was told that Captain Hammer was going to stop by the Laundromat, he quickly tried to leave, but was too slow.

He walked right into Captain Hammer. The two men pretended not to know each other, but when Penny ran off, Captain Hammer revealed that he knew Billy's true identity. Captain Hammer asked if he'd seen Billy at the gym, but corrected himself when he remembered that he didn't go to the gym; that he was just naturally strong. The other lines incorrect answers were said by Captain Hammer at different point in the movie. Horrible fantasized about his rise to power after killing Captain Hammer, joining the Evil League of Evil, and winning Penny's heart.

Horrible was observing Penny and Captain Hammer together. There are also two news anchors, a man and a woman, who have a few lines. The most prominent singers are the three groupies, who all have shirts with Captain Hammer's face on them.

Their lines get progressively 'creepier' throughout the song, ranging from getting his signature, to not approving of his girlfriend, Penny, to having bits of his hair, to getting a hold of his dry cleaning bill. Moist doesn't get a singing role in the movie. Horrible was seen taking a Stun Ray and modifying it to be a Death Ray.