Dr. Steel vs Dr. Horrible

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goldenboy

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Dr. Steel vs. Dr. Horrible: Mad Scientist Showdown

Intellectual property is an ever-raging discussion here in The Age of The Internet. Often the lines between inspiration and imitation are blurred but today I give you an interesting case. You decide!

Long-time mad scientist Doctor Steel has, over the course of many years, made himself an infectious image. To do this he's combined vintage war propaganda aesthetics, catchy tunes and an image of an asylum escapee who plots away in a secret lab and seeks to improve Earth with toys and total world domination. Through his website he's pulled together an entire army of fans called Toy Soldiers, who organize events and distribute various Dr. Steel propaganda.

Now there's come along a Doctor Horrible. Produced by Joss Whedon and starring Neil Parick Harris, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" is a website dedicated to video blogs starring a 30-something mad scientist who sings and wants to take over the world. In the site's Master Plan, Whedon invites fans to spread the word, offers propaganda-style banners and promises a DVD release later.

Similarities beyond the singing mad doctor character include aforementioned propaganda-inspired banners, shiny gloves, goggles and an "Ask Dr. Horrible" segment - not unlike these "Ask Doctor Steel" videos. There is also the matter of the title itself : "Sing-Along Blog" is reminiscent of Doctor Steel's Read-A-Long album.

Doctor Steel feels slighted by this endeavor and is rallying his troops in retaliation. Now that you've seen the evidence it's time to cast your votes. Personally I'd like to see a bit of Doctor on Doctor boxing, shiny gloves and all.
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Coilhouse Dr. Steel vs. Dr. Horrible: Mad Scientist Showdown


Huh. What do guys think? I've noticed several talkbackers on various sites bitching about Dr. Steel in relationship to our beloved Dr. Horrible. That mad scientist archetype goes all the way back to Dr. Frankenstein at least. Comic books are kind of notorious for ripping each other off and doing thinly veiled variations of existing characters. Some eerie similarities ticked off in that article though.
 
I thought that was the basic idea behind it all.
Take these classic figures, the super villain and the super hero and make a fun story.

None of it is very original of course, I mean how many super villains and super heroes isn't out there.

Personally I have never heard of Dr. Steel before.
But I can still recoginze pretty much everything about Dr. Horrible from so many places.
I think that says a lot on how original both Dr. Steel and Dr. Horrible is as characters.

/SK
 
At GB's link there's another link to the Dr. Steel site where they say...

Click image to Expose the thief that is Joss Whedon:
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The unimaginative powers of mainstream media have just waged a war with The Army of The Toy Soldiers.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog is a musical “comedy” about a thirty-something, singing mad scientist who’s goal it is to take over the world. Does this sound familiar?

With the funding of a mainstream powerhouse, this uninspired, cheap imitation of Dr. Steel could potentially damage our great name. We must not sit still for this. Dr. Steel’s vision and brilliance must be seen as rising above this watered down attempt to make a quick buck.

There isn't enough room in the entertainment industry for 2 mad scientists and Dr.Steel was here first! If Dr.Horrible gets his tv show, comic, cartoon series and musical, do you think that any investor is going to be interested in putting his time and money into ANOTHER mad scientist with the same goal and method?

Soldiers, YOU can help reverse the potential damage of this uninspired cheap imitation by educating the uninformed masses and sending a clear message to the media. The power is in your hands!
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ToySoldiersUnite.com - Loyal Followers of Doctor Steel

Anybody ever seen the cartoon Pinky and the Brain? Mutant Enemy alum David Fury was one of the writers.
 
Um. . . . If they want to go that route, there are a billion other mad scientists bent on taking over the world who were here first first. Can anybody say Dr. Frankenstein? Maybe he didn't directly want to take over the world, but he definitely wanted to change the course of the human life cycle and, possibly, evolution. Which is kind of like taking over the world.

I think they're being whiny. If they don't like it, they don't have to watch it or buy the DVDs. That's what I do when I really like a novel and then everybody and their brother tries to write one just like it. I don't buy them. They eventually go away because they're not selling.

Maybe they're mad because Dr. Horrible is more popular than Dr. Steel? In which case, it's their own fault for not spreading the word the way Whedonites do. And, well, nanny-nanny-boo-boo.
 
Now this is pure entertainment.

Never heard of Dr Steel before, but the comedy in the quote posted above compelled me to have a look. I can definitely see some very similar elements to the two. But as mentioned they are both built on a very well established archetype and can both be accused of of imitating Dr Frankensten or the singing elements of Dr Frank'N'Furter.

However they are very different as well. Whereas Dr Steel easily falls into the genre of mockumentary, Dr Horrible on the other hand is just pure mainstream musical-comedy entertainment.
 
The Toy Soldiers campaign against Dr. Horrible sounds like a tongue-in-cheek publicity stunt. Some fans seem genuinely upset though.

This has gotta be a boon for Dr. Steel in the long run. So, it's like an LA-based band, multi-media project...something?

To me, it does actually look like Joss or someone on his team could have been inspired (consciously or otherwise) by the Dr. Steel "Read-a-Long" album title, and the "Ask Dr. Steel" fan feedback stuff. No idea.
 
goldenboy said:
To me, it does actually look like Joss or someone on his team could have been inspired (consciously or otherwise) by the Dr. Steel "Read-a-Long" album title, and the "Ask Dr. Steel" fan feedback stuff. No idea.
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I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was true. All good entertainment always borrows heavily from something else (just look at Shakespeare) and seeing how the final product is very different in both audience and type of entertainment provided, I really don't see a problem with it.

The Toy Soldiers campaign against Dr. Horrible sounds like a tongue-in-cheek publicity stunt. Some fans seem genuinely upset though.
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Oh yeah. Like I said, never heard of it before, but I will definitely be keeping an eye on it from now on. But there will always be people (especially on the internet) that do not understand the finer points of sarcasm and irony. Sad, but true.
 
I just thought of something. If you combined Pinky and the Brain, and The Tick (both staffed at least partially by Whedonverse writers) you'd have something more like Doctor Horrible than Doctor Steel.
 
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