The Lack of Married Couples in Speculative Fiction

*Note: The following contains spoilers for season six and beyond of Buffy, and seasons five and six of the new Doctor Who*

I've noticed a very strange trend of late, though the trend itself is not new. There are very few happily married couples in speculative fiction, especially in television.

Now, by "happily married" I don't mean that life is perfect for them, but I mean that they, generally speaking, have a strong connection between the two of them. In short, they aren't constantly second guessing if they love each other or not.

One very obvious example of this, and the one that bothers me the most are Rory and Amy on the current season of Doctor Who. Season five of Doctor Who heavily featured the two of them. Amy begins the season running away with The Doctor the day before her wedding, and right from that moment all the way through to the final episode the season spoke about their relationship. It teased the idea that Amy may leave Rory and was falling in love with The Doctor, but after a turn partway through the season where Rory was erased from existence (not only was he dead, but he had never existed) it turned right around, and Amy found herself crying without knowing why and other heart wrenching moments. Eventually though, Rory got better and came back. Oh, and then he shot Amy, mortally wounding her.

Luckily there happened to be a regeneration box nearby which brought Amy back to life. Unfortunately it would take two thousand years, and so Rory who was at that time immortal decided to stay with the box and protect it for two thousand year and oh my gosh this recap of a great story arc sounds stupid if you haven't seen the show. The point is, it ended with the two of them having proven their love for each other, and getting married. Happy ending right?

Well no, unfortunately the first half of season six has featured several points where Rory is still in doubt whether or not Amy really loves him or the Doctor after she chose him. This irritates me. As much as I like drama, this is the exact same story we saw in season five repeated again. Luckily the midseason finale of Doctor Who seems to have settled this arc, but the fact that they kept it alive shows me a troubling misconception that seems to be filling media right now.

Joss Whedon, who infamously feeds on the tears of fanboys and girls everywhere, has a famous quote. "Happy people make bad television." It really summarizes his philosophy on fiction, and more importantly it really summarizes the fault many writers have fallen into. You see, happy characters do, in fact, make bad television. Or film. Or any kind of fiction, really. No one wants to watch people go around being consistently happy. Shows such as Buffy are mainly about horrible things happening to the main character, deaths of friends and family, and then watching him or her work through it. That creates drama, and, if done properly, it creates a character who the audience not only identifies with, but empathizes with. We'll call them the Woobie from here on.

Watching horrible things happen to the Woobie is painful, and difficult, and emotional. The audience empathizes with the Woobie, and in some cases even put their own emotional troubles onto the Woobie if done really well. Also in some cases, watching the Woobie ride out their fantastical situations can help the audience understand how to make it through their own problems, even though they are much more grounded in reality.



The Woobie is a powerful tool, and it makes the concept of happy people making bad television. However, a very common pitfall that many writers tend to fall into is assuming that relationship drama is the only kind of drama that exists. This is false.

An example of this, coming from Joss Whedon's own show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Specifically between Xander and Anya. Now first of all, if you've never seen a Whedon show, you need to understand that one of his strengths as a writer is amazingly well developed characters. His characters can make even the worst episodes or seasons (looking at you season four of Angel) enjoyable. The character of Xander was one of Buffy's two best friends from the beginning of the series, one of the shows few characters who was an ordinary human. Anya, on the other hand was a former vengeance demon who had been turned into a human. Over the show anya went from being a selfish evil, well, demon, into being a human who, while still selfish and petty, showed a lot of character development. A large part of this was the relationship between Anya and Xander, that ended with Anya and Xander getting engaged at the end of season five.

For those who don't know, Buffy was actually cancelled and resolved after five seasons, and thus the show would have ended there with the two of them getting engaged, if the show had not been picked up by another network. When the sixth season premiered, it was obvious that the writers had very little idea of how to continue. While personally I loved season six and seven, they were less warmly received by many fans.

Unfortunately, one symptom of the shows sudden renewal was that Xander and Anya would not, in fact, get married. Thus after two and a half seasons of growing the characters and building them up as a strong couple despite all odds to the contrary, they began to show doubts.


*Video contains some mildly crude content*

That song I just posted was the only good thing to come out of this story arc. While the arc was, perhaps, more well executed than it could have been if it weren't being written by some of the best television writers ever, it still ended in disaster. Eventually the two of them continue doubting themselves for the first half of the season until Xander leaves at the alter, in a moment that was very out of character. After this Anya's character was, in my opinion, butchered. She forgot everything she had learned while being a human, and the rest of the show became a bitter mess. Understandable perhaps, but painful to watch, and not in the good way I listed above. I maintain that the show would have been better if the two of them had ended up together.

After all, plenty of storylines were going on at the same time, albeit not directly related to the two of them, and without going off into another long explanation, some really bad crap happened to both Anya and Xander over the last season of Buffy.

There is, however, at least one shining beacon of a happily married couple in speculative fiction. Zoe and Wash. Now, while there was admittedly one episode where Wash was jealous over Zoe's relationship with her old friend Mal, the captain of Serenity, the show never treated the two of them as anything but perfect together. While you might suspect this made the characters boring, not so. Firefly being another Joss Whedon show, both characters are beloved, particularly Wash.

Zoe and Wash were, in my opinion, the prime example of a happily married couple in speculative fiction. Bad things happened to them, but instead of arguing and bickering about it, they got through it together. They were always in love, and the show acknowledged that without forcing them to prove their love for each other every five minutes. If more writers took notice of the two of them, I think we'd all be the better for it.

Ok, I've been building up to it, let me finish by slamming the lack of understanding of how to write characters well home. One More Day.

Half the people reading this shuddered, and the rest will understand why in a few moments.

So, for those who don't follow comics, let's talk about Spider-Man shall we? He's a beloved character, arguably Marvel's most famous creation, and has a very successful film franchise. For those not familiar with the comics, Spider-Man, well, Peter Parker, and Mary Jane have been married in the comics for quite some time. Or, I suppose, were. They were married. Because Spider-Man sold his marriage to THE DEVIL.



Couldn't make this stuff up if I tried folks.

Yeah. One More Day was a 2007 four part comic event where, I say it again for emphasis, Spider-Man sold his marriage to the devil.

Well, technically the demon Mephisto but let's not argue semantics. If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and weighs the same as a duck, it's a witch, and should probably be burned.

Now I'll admit I haven't read it myself, but the plot synopsis and fan reaction is enough for me to be nursing a headache just thinking about it. Short version is this: Aunt May is shot and killed by a bullet intended for Spider-Man. Spider-Man, feeling guilty and as though her death was his fault decides to find a way to bring her back, instead of coping with her death like a normal person. So he talks to Mephisto who says that Spider-Man is soooo happy that it disgusts him and if he sells his marriage he will bring Aunt May back to life. And Spider-Man agrees.

If you really need to understand why this is monumentally stupid, watch the following video by Linkara of Atop the Fourth Wall.



...Yeah. Not Spidey's finest moment.

An Alternate Character Interpretation of Dr. Horrible

*Note: The following contains heavy spoilers for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I strongly suggest you see it first, before reading this post. The Three Act musical runs at about 45 mintues long, and can be found by dubious means on youtube, can be streamed on netflix, or purchased on iTunes or Amazon. It has not been rated, but would likely earn around a PG rating. It contains mild language and some crude humor.*

*Note 2: I don't actually think this was the intent behind the plot of Dr. Horrible, nor behind the characters within it. I merely offer it as an Alternate Character Interpretation.*

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. A fun, if ultimately... Strange... Musical.

I love Dr. Horrible. The characters, the actors, the songs, the humor, everything about this show is just FUN.

But recently, I was listening to "On The Rise" and I noticed something. It was if something clicked in my head ever so suddenly. Now, I don't know if Joss Whedon intended this, but... I find this amusing. This alternate character interpretation. Honestly, this is probably just me reading to much into it, but other people online seem to have similar theories to mine, I've found.

What is this theory? My theory is an alternate character interpretation of Dr. Horrible, which harshly changes the tone of the musical. What is this theory exactly? Well, this theory is that there is no Dr. Horrible. There is only Billy, a sad schizophrenic man who has created an alter ego, Dr. Horrible. By realizing this, it brings a strange new change.

Dr. Horrible

Let's start at the beginning. What is Dr. Horrible? Dr. Horrible, as I said, is Billy's alter ego, his second persona which he slips into, protected from the harsh realities of his sad world. You see, Billy (Neil Patrick Harris) is a schizophrenic. He doesn't have multiple personality disorder persay, but he does have an alternate persona, Dr. Horrible, which he is aware of. He sees the world not as it is, but as he imagines it to be. With heroes and villains, and superpowers and fantastical things happening everywhere.

However, Billy, while aware that he has multiple personas (persona? Personi? I don't know.), neither fully realizes, nor is fully oblivious to the nature of how he sees the world. Thus, unable to cope with the way he sees reality fully by himself, he creates his blog, able to vent the way he sees the world through this blog, on the internet. Thus, any scene of him speaking to the camera, is actually happening.

Now, let's start with laundry day.


"My Freeze Ray"




This is setting up the way he feels about Penny (played by Felicia Day) who he has noticed at the laundromat before. Now, in the context of the musical it's of course, simply setting things up, that he has a crush on her, but... What if it's more than just a simple crush? What if Billy is fixated with her. Stalking her, without her knowledge. He does say at one point that he knows her exact laundry schedule. Takes on a frightening new light doesn't it?

Overall though, the "Freeze Ray" concept, shows that at this point he's still mostly harmless. He's not fully sane, but he's also not dangerous. He doesn't want to kill people, he doesn't even really want to steal money (as evidenced by the intro "It's not about making money, it's about taking money!") he just wants Penny, and he wants more people to see the world as he sees it, chaotically.

Bad Horse and the Evil League of Evil

Bad Horse and Evil League of Evil serve two purposes. The first is to establish something that Billy must strive for. Billy wants to bring chaos to the world, as he views that, in his madness, as the only way to fix the world. To "cut off the head of the fish" as he says, bringing chaos to the world, so it can regrow stronger. "Joining the league" is his goal, his mile marker, for having reached this goal.



The other, is to establish that, while Billy considers himself "Evil" he still feels he's not totally gone. That he's still on the edge between evil, and good. He still feels that he can be saved from his evil, and thus his madness. His blog is one way of him trying to explain this to the world. Trying to establish that he still feels he can be redeemed.

Captain Hammer and "A Man's Gotta Do"

Immediately before "My Freeze Ray" Dr. Horrible is answering e-mails. He mentions Captain Hammer, who will of course, be extremely important to later on. However, what is important here, is that he calls Captain Hammer his "Nemesis". This establishes past history between the two of them. You see, I think Captain Hammer is a fabrication created by Billy's schizophrenia.

What if Captain Hammer (played by Nathan Fillion... Wow, this cast is so good. My favorite actor, and my favorite actress in the same thing... Sigh... Ok back on topic.) was a jock who went to school with Billy? Always getting the girls, while Billy stood in the back of the class, a nerd, an outcast, and a loner. I doubt Hammer was even what would be called a bully. He was simply popular. And Billy hated him for that, enough that he wouldn't have forgotten about him, and would still consider Hammer his "Nemesis" after high school, and college.

Thus, "Captain Hammer" is not a real person, but a persona that Billy has created, representing everything that stands in his way. Everything he hates. Everything he views as wrong.

You see, Captain Hammer is a jerk in this. Comically so. And while I do think part of that is simply his personality, I also think a lot of it is Billy seeing Hammer how he wants to see Hammer. For example, while Hammer may have pushed him around a bit in school, I don't think he hated Billy. But I doubt that they have even seen each other in years. Not, at least, until "A Man's Gotta Do".



Billy is stealing a truck, likely one containing money, or something like it. He's being chased by the police, who he interprets as "Captain Hammer" viewing anyone who tries to stop him as his nemesis.

And then he sees Penny. Driving at high speeds, he almost hits Penny. He slows, almost caught by the police, but can't slow fast enough while pursued. He certainly would have hit her, if the real Hammer hadn't have been there. Just by crazy random happenstance, the actual Hammer pushes her out of the way.

He pushes her into the garbage, saving her life. And all Billy sees is the way he pushes them together, as he drives away, escaping the police, and slipping away quietly.

"On The Rise"



Billy is being torn up inside, after not only seeing Hammer (the real Hammer, for the rest of this I'll refer to the real Hammer as just "Hammer" while referring to Billy's imaginary nemesis as "Captain Hammer") for the first time in years, but pushing her and Penny together. He's in full on stalker mode now, as he shadows Penny and Hammer on their first date. I mean, tell me you don't get chills as you see him appear in the background at the shelter. He's insane. He's angry. And he's slowly becoming more dangerous.

The next day, he returns to his home, only to find the police there. They've found him, the thief who stole the weapons/money/whatever. They recognize him, and chase him, but he, once again, manages to slip away.

Again, in his mind, he sees it as Captain Hammer coming after him, attacking him, for using a "freeze ray" on the mayor. By this time he's realized that stealing things isn't enough chaos to bring to the world any more. There's only one thing he can do now. Only one thing, he views as "enough".



Notice the change in background from the first blog entry we see, to now. Implying he's relocated, perhaps after fleeing from the police.

In any case, he realizes now, that the only way to enter into the league (to bring chaos to those around him) is to kill. But at the same time, he struggles with the morality of killing. Remember, at this time, he's still harmless enough, never meaning to hurt anyone until now.

"Story of a Girl"/"Brand New Day"

The next day he goes to the Laundromat, and actually manages to talk to Penny, who's of course unaware of his status as an outlaw. As he talks to her, she tells him about her date with Hammer. She also tells him about the homeless shelter Hammer is helping fund, being wealthy himself. (Perhaps he opened a large chain of hardware stores, making large sums of money. That would explain the "Hammer" persona Billy invented for him.) He's enraged by this, but hides it from her. She tells him a bit about her life, and how she really likes her new boyfriend, Hammer.



And then Hammer himself comes in. Billy tries to slip away ("OH LOOK AT MY WRIST! I gotta go!") but Hammer realizes that it's Billy, someone he once knew.

I don't know what he said here. Hammer, although I truly believe he liked Penny greatly at this point, must have said something to Billy. Perhaps it was a comment about how "hot" Penny was. I don't know exactly what, but whatever it was Billy found it disrespectful. This is represented by the "And these... Are not the Hammer" line... And the following line... Yeah. You know the one I'm talking about. In any case, this finally pushes Billy over the edge. Billy finally slips into his Dr. Horrible persona fully, both in real life, and on his blog, letting it sink in.



He's going to kill Hammer. Penny will understand why, he tells himself. She'll understand he's doing it because Hammer doesn't respect her.

"So They Say"

The new homeless Shelter is featured on the news, and brings hope to many people, as Penny contemplates whether she may have found "the one". Note that the more obscene and absurd lines Hammer has in the 3rd act, as opposed to the less absurd (although still ridiculous) ones in the first and second act, are representative of Billy's descent into madness worsening, as he is now merging not only the personalities of himself and "Dr. Horrible", but of Hammer, and Captain Hammer.

Meanwhile, Billy/Dr. Horrible realizes that the opening of the homeless shelter is his opportunity. Hammer, funding it, will be giving a short speech at the opening. It will have a crowd, and it will be the perfect place for him to strike.

Moist (his roommate) tries to call him, worried about him, but Billy/Dr. Horrible ignores it. He manages to obtain a gun. And he heads to the crowd for the opening of the Homeless shelter.

"Everyone's A Hero"/"Slipping"



As Billy/Dr. Horrible watches the speech Hammer gives to the crowd. The ridiculous lines Captain Hammer is now saying have reached their peak, as Billy has now completely merged the persona's of Hammer and Captain Hammer. The lyrics of "Everyone's A Hero" represent both the merging of Hammer and Captain Hammer, and that Billy wonders, inside, if he's really past the point of no return. He isn't. But unfortunately, he's too fueled by anger and hate to leave the path he's on.



Dr. Horrible shoots Hammer. He tells no one to move as he walks around and monologues like a crazy man. He slowly walks toward Hammer. He looks around, not seeing Penny. She's hiding. She realizes what Dr. Horrible is about to do though, and runs up in front of Hammer before Billy kills him. This is what Captain Hammer standing now represents, is Penny's defense of Hammer. (Remember, Captain Hammer represents whatever gets in his way.) He now splits Penny into two Personas. Penny, and Captain Hammer. Penny is everything he loves. Captain Hammer is everything he hates.



Confused and angered, he shoots Penny (the real one).

Penny (both real, and the persona) die. Captain Hammer, however, lives, as now matter what he does, there will always be things to get in his way. Hammer too, lives (now needing severe therapy after seeing his old schoolmate kill his girlfriend, for trying to talk Dr. Horrible down.)

"Everything You Ever"



After killing Penny, he does in fact cause a lot of fear and chaos. In his mind, "[His] victory's complete". Billy, seeing Penny dead, realizes what he's done, but of course blames it in his mind as Captain Hammer's doing. You see, the moment Penny resisted him, getting in his way, she became representative of Captain Hammer. Thus when Billy shot HER, it was really (in his mind) Captain Hammer shooting Penny. Captain Hammer killing Penny. Thus he collapses, and mourns her. In his mind he has now achieved it. He has now joined the Evil League of Evil, both because he became what he truly feels is the worst he could be, what he feels is truly "evil" and because he caused enough chaos to have reached his goal. He is now irredeemable, he feels, after having killed Penny.

The police come and arrest him, but he simply revels in his victory. He's taken to an insane asylum, being truly crazy. In his mind though, he's taken to the league, and parties with them, reveling in his achievement. He did it. He got everything he ever wanted. Now the nightmare's real. Now he is truly Dr. Horrible. In his mind, there is no longer a Billy, there is only Dr. Horrible, who is now represented in a red costume. And yet before the credits roll, for just one second, we see Dr. Horrible in his old costume, talking into the camera, on his blog, tears streaming down his face.

There is, perhaps, some ounce of humanity left in Dr. Horrible. Some trace of Billy.

Glee Review - Dream On (For Real This Time!)

Alright, you caught me. The review last night was not a review of the actual episode. It was more a review of the episode I desperately wanted to be made.

No, in truth, this was not an actual Dr. Horrible/Glee crossover event, which for the record I still maintain would be the single greatest hour of television ever to air. No, it was just another episode. Although it did guest star Neil Patrick Harris, and was directed by Joss Whedon. Everything I wrote about Joss Whedon, from Buffy to Toy Story was true. The man is a legend.

But, sadly, Neil Patrick Harris was not revising his role as Billy. They're still saving that for the sequel I'm afraid. No, instead he played the awesomely named "Bryan Ryan". A rival of Will's during his High School days. Bryan was a star in the Glee club, and once he graduated, made it big. Unfortunately, it was not to last, and his career as a star came crashing down. Today he's a cold, bitter person who just happens to be in charge of the budget for the school's clubs.

Now, while it wasn't anywhere near what I claimed it to be like in my previous review, Joss Whedon's darker style was clearly felt during this episode. Bryan spends most of the episode trying to crush the dreams of the kids in Glee, and succeeding. But I really loved the storyline featuring Artie and Tina. Artie's dream is to be a dancer. A problem since he's stuck in a wheelchair.

Meanwhile Rachael and Jesse try to uncover who Rachael's mom is, since it's always been a dream of hers to meet her mom. I do find it kind of funny that Joss Whedon still managed to put in a MAJOR plot twist (that my mom actually called several weeks ago.) in his episode. I'm not saying what it is, but it's a good one.

Now, while it wasn't the turning point in history for all of humanity, it was a really good episode. Probably the best episode Glee has had so far. I really like Artie, and I've thought he was one of the only likable characters on the show every time he's been given screen time over Rachael, Puck, or Finn, but unfortunately those moments have been few and far between. I liked that this focused on one of the more minor characters, even if the end was a bit sad.

All in all, what I took away from the episode was simple:
They should really hire Joss Whedon to direct this show full time.

(P.S. I loved the cover of Safety Dance, but only because I think of that as the Heigan Song.)

Glee Review - Dream On

Now this is the one I've been waiting for. This episode was directed by the legendary Joss Whedon, creator of such classic series as Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse. More than that though, he created the completely awesome Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, so the guy isn't new to musicals.

Joss Whedon is a legend. Those who aren't quite as geeky as me should still know that name. He co-wrote the screenplay for Toy Story. The guy is amazing.

It may seem odd, to some people, to attempt to pull off what Whedon did with this episode. I mean, to take the main character of your beloved internet musical, and to feature him violently taking over the school? It seems like an odd direction to go. I'll admit, before the episode aired, I found myself doubting if it would work well. I was so wrong. The episode is brilliant, and he makes connections that, although I won't spoil them here, make me wonder how I didn't make the connection to realize that Doctor Horrible and Glee have been set in the same universe THE ENTIRE TIME. It's amazing how something can be staring you right in the face, and yet completely go over your head.

I'll tell you what though, Mr. Whedon clearly isn't afraid to pull a plot twist. I mean, he's always been known for (spoilers past the links) killing off fan favorite characters. But to pull off such a bold move as offing a character that's not even from your own show? That takes nerve. But Joss did in fact do it, in a tragic scene that left me stunned, and I'll admit it, crying, in which Artie, the character in a wheelchair, meets his grisly fate to a flight of stairs.

But without a doubt, what shocked me most was the way he connected ALL OF HIS SERIES within this one hour long episode. I mean, it would have been enough to simply connect Glee and Doctor Horrible together, but he didn't stop there. No, he manages to connect every one of his series, in a scene where a scorned Sue goes to the Dollhouse, to rent out a Doll that's imprinted with the personality of Buffy, in order to assist Captain Hammer defeat Doctor Horrible. I thought it would be completely impossible to connect the space western Firefly in with the other series, I mean, Firefly is set in the year 2517! But he even manages to hint at connections with that in a scene where Captain Hammer (Played by Nathan Fillion) reveals his true identity, and his last name is Reynolds, suggesting that he is an ancestor of Mal Reynolds (Played by Nathan Fillion), the captain of Serenity.

This episode really grabbed me in a way Glee never has. I found that, in that brief hour, I went from being completely indifferent about all of the characters, to melting in a pool of tears during the scene in which Tina cries over Artie's dead body. I went from wishing the love triangle (rectangle?) between Rachael, Finn, Puck, and Jessie would end, to being on the edge of my seat to see who Rachael would choose to save from the death trap Dr. Horrible had them all caught in.

My personal favorite part though had to be Felicia Day playing a zombified version of Penny, risen from the grave by Doctor Horrible. She managed to give a performance worthy of an Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, and every other award they make, without ever uttering a word that wasn't "Brains..." I hope she won't be overlooked from the award she actually deserved.

Glee is nothing without musical numbers of course though, and this episode was not without those. The numbers were all covers of the music from the phenomenal Dr. Horrible musical. Dr. Horrible himself had taken over the school, and it appears he had been in Glee club himself as a child. He took special interest in the Glee club, and in a very vain move, had them perform songs he had "written himself" which were actually scenes from the musical itself. These amazing performances were knocked out of the park by the kids covering them, unfortunately it seems Fox has been guarding the music for this episode very closely, and as such I am unable to post any of it simply because it appears to have disappeared from youtube.

If I had to criticize the episode for anything, the way the worked in the cover of "The Hero of Canton" from the Firefly episode "Jaynestown" seemed to be a bit contrived to me. The song won't actually be written for 507 years, according to the timeline Whedon has established. Although I'm willing to forgive that, considering the sheer quality of the cover Kurt did. Phenomenal.

All in all, this episode of Glee stands head and shoulders above all the others. It went beyond heartwarming. It went beyond touching. It was truly life changing. In fact, this episode may be- No, it IS, the greatest thing ever to be aired on television. I'm not even kidding here when I say that I think in a hundred years, this episode will be looked back upon as the turning point for our worlds society that led to not only universal health care, and the destruction of all the worlds weapons, not just nuclear, but ALL of them, but in fact it will be viewed as the turning point for improved public education, the cure for cancer, world peace and unification, an improved space program, and ultimately true enlightenment.

Thank you Joss Whedon. Thank you for such a wonderful contribution to humanity. You've truly touched my life with this hour of television sir. You've truly changed the course of human history. Thank you.