A Ph.D. In Whedonness

I received an email from a friend today telling me that she just discovered Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and asked me if I’d seen it.  I was happy to learn that she had discovered this amazing bit of internet cinema, and that she was loving it.  I answered her by indicating that I had written about it three years ago on my other (more longform) blog, because I am a total nerd, with Whedon being one of most important people in my fandom pantheon.  See also: Neil Gaiman, Tina Fey, Christopher Nolan, John Lasseter, and Andrew Stanton.

Those last two, for those that don’t know, are some of the most important people at Pixar, responsible for the ideas behind Toy Story, Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life, and WALL-E.  But another fun fact about Pixar, one not as many people know, is that Whedon did a lot of work on the original Toy Story.  Between the Buffy movie and the Buffy TV series, Whedon did a lot of work as a script doctor, polishing up screenplays to get them ready for shooting.  One such script he was brought in for was Toy Story, and did so much work that he is prominently listed in the opening credits.  With Pixar’s devotion to good storytelling, I have to wonder: why hasn’t Whedon ever done any more work with them?  Think of the possibilities!