Mutant Enemy Productions

Mutant Enemy Productions

Type	Privately held
Industry	Film industry
Genre	Production company
Founded	Los Angeles, California U.S. (1997)
Founder(s)	Joss Whedon
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Key people	Joss Whedon
Products	Films Television series Web series

Mutant Enemy Productions is the production company created in 1997 by Joss Whedon to produce Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The company also produced the Buffy spin-off, Angel, and his two short-lived science fiction series, the space western Firefly and his high-concept Dollhouse, produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Mutant Enemy.^[1] Mutant Enemy also produced Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.^[2]

Its offices (made out of glass bricks) were on the lot of 20th Century Fox in Los Angeles, previously the home of Chris Carter's Ten Thirteen Productions. According to March 2006's issue of UK magazine The Word, the offices were closed not long after Angel was cancelled.

Productions

The following table lists the production credits of Mutant Enemy.^[3]

Title	Format	Year
Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Television series	1997–2003
Angel	Television series	1999–2004
Firefly	Television series	2002–2003
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog	Web series	2008
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog	Soundtrack	2008
Dollhouse	Television series	2009—2010

Name and logo

The name "Mutant Enemy" is taken from the song "And You and I" by progressive rock band Yes, of whom Whedon is a confessed fan. (On the special features of the Buffy DVDs, Whedon also says in an interview that he called his typewriter "mutant enemy".) The company's end-of-credits logo and mascot is an intentionally poorly animated vampire cartoon figure crossing the screen from right to left and saying, "Grrr. Argghh." It was drawn and voiced by Whedon himself. In certain episodes of Buffy the animation was changed:

• "Becoming, Part Two" — He says "Oooh, I need a hug" instead.
• "Amends" — He wears a Santa hat.
• "Graduation Day, Part Two" — He wears a graduation cap — the image used is a reversed logo from the U.S. national college honor society Mortar Board.
• "Once More, with Feeling" — He sings the line in falsetto.
• "Storyteller" — He sings a line from the episode, "We are as Gods".
• "Chosen" — He turns and pulls a face at the viewer.

The episode "Bargaining, Part One" references the end-of-credits logo. Tara gives Rupert a small rubber monster and says "...and the monster sunny sun-me-down souvenir we bought. Grrr. Argghh." In season seven of Buffy, there is a species of ancient Vampires called "Turok-Han" or Ubervamps. They look like more detailed versions of the Mutant Enemy.

In the canonical Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comic books, issue 22 "Swell", on page 10, the slogan for an in-comic fictional product is "Vampy Cat! Grrr! Argh! He'll love you to <obscured> the Santorio Corporation!"

Parodies

At the end of the credits of the animated sketch comedy parody show Robot Chicken, a parody of the Mutant Enemy, Inc. logo appeared with Joss Whedon (guest starring as himself) providing the "Grrr... Arrgh..." As the enemy mutant rips apart the city, the scene cuts to an office where Joss Whedon is playing with dolls and an executive says to him, "Come on Joss, that's why you got kicked off Wonder Woman."

Members

Staff members of Mutant Enemy, all of whom have writing and/or production credits on at least one of the above shows, have included, in alphabetical order:

• Jeffrey Bell
• Elizabeth Craft
• Steven S. DeKnight
• Ben Edlund
• Jane Espenson
• Sarah Fain
• David Fury
• Drew Goddard
• Drew Z. Greenberg
• David Greenwalt
• Rebecca Rand Kirshner
• Tim Minear
• Marti Noxon
• Doug Petrie
• Mere Smith
• Maurissa Tancharoen
• Jed Whedon
• Joss Whedon
• Zack Whedon

References

1. ^ "FOX '08 New Series: Dollhouse". Fox Broadcasting Company. Archived from the original on 2008-05-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20080519094204/http://www.fox.com/programming/shows/new/dollhouse.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-25. 
2. ^ "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". http://www.drhorrible.com. 
3. ^ "Mutant Enemy filmography". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/company/co0009514/. Retrieved 2008-07-21. 

External links

• Grr Argh: The Mutant Enemy, Inc. Fanlisting