Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

... I say this though as a quasi-Whedon ignorant; I've only seen about two seasons worth of Buffy, no Angel, and all of Firefly and Serenity. Joss Whedon's sense of humor is playful, crude, warped, and everything one might love from a skewering of superheroes. Hancock, take note, this is how it's done with consistency! The premise of Dr. Horrible can be summed up in one sentence: Boy (Dr. Horrible) with nerdy powers finds and wants girl, boy loses girl to arch nemesis boy Captain Hammer, boy plots revenge, boy finds things end on a pretty bitter and sad note. Or, to put it another way, it's about the nerdy guy wanting the girl and the beefy upstart with an ego the size of a blimp is hogging her for himself.

That's the gist of it, anyway, but to say this is all Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is about is to do a total disservice to Whedon and his large fan-base. This is a musical not quite unlike the Buffy classic "Once More, with Feeling" only without that pesky 'you have to know a and b and c are going on in the series and season' logic. One is thrust into that sharp, laconic, and joyously obvious sense of humor that reveals Whedon as someone who is a kind of curious master of musical comedy with those appropriate doses of barbed satire.

At the same time, as one who may have watched their share of Buffy and even Firefly knows, Whedon is also a hopeless romantic (hopeless in that he can't seem to put people together without *something* going wrong, which is the point of all drama one supposes), and his tale of Dr. Horrible, done through songs that reveal the characters' souls, heartfelt and adorable and totally meat-headed (the Captain's final song at the podium with his award is next to Godliness), and at the same time a cheap joke (random cowboys singing along from the sides of the frame) or a catchy number (the "Man's gotta do" song is far more wondrous than about 99.9% of stuff on the radio now) isn't sacrificed for the sake of what little plot there is.

And lest not forget the acting, or at least the awesome musical prowess. Neal Patrick Harris and Nathan Filion are just about perfect in their roles, as is the woman who plays Penny (the red-headed girl Dr. Horrible meets at the Coin Mart), with Filion especially juicy in a somewhat campy turn where he takes all those heroic qualities of his Firefly character and reveals the dark side ("And yes, we had sex"). Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog is about as close to romantic-comedy-musical-satire amazement as one could hope for, or maybe not expect, from Whedon, particularly as a free web-series running just about the length of a full short film (or an extremely short feature).

If you are a Whedon fan, you'll enjoy this little gem. If you don't know who Joss Whedon is, you need to get out more.

This short, internet film was made on a very limited budget-namely, Joss Whedon's own money-using friends and family to help him complete it. It was written and largely produced during the WGA strike. Why? Well, a man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do.

The vid is fun and funny, yes. It also has wonderfully appropriate, cleverly written songs. So, singing, jokes, and fun. Well, yes, and then again, Mr. Whedon can't leave anything as simply fun. It also contains tragedy combined with sufficient pathos and a touch of probing insight into the human condition. This qualifies "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog a bit more than a simple, goofball musical comedy exercise.

Of course, it works just fine on that level, too. Be sure you watch it more than once.

For 'Buffy' fans, "Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" is similar to the famous 'Once More With Feeling' musical episode, exploring familiar Whedon territory with some favourite Whedon stars: Nathon Fillion from 'Firefly', Felicia Day also from the last series of 'Buffy', plus Neil Patrick Harris and cameos galore: is the good guy good, is the hero the heroine with a day-job, and does the bad guy *want* to be horrible? Lots of fun, with some good music and clever, thoughtful lyrics and some surprising performances; you start believing! I lol'd at the groupies and the baddies, and stay around for the credits.

Available on I-tunes for purchase.

And yes, I know what a hammer is.

When I first heard that science-fiction mastermind Joss Whedon was putting together an internet-launched serial that involved singing, low-budget superheroes, and Neil Patrick Harris, I was immediately intrigued at the strange prospect. As preposterous as it sounds, this thing actually works and I wouldn't be shocked at all to hear that Whedon's little experiment yields a profit on DVD revenues.

"Dr. Horrible" is about a man with that very name played by NPH who considers himself a villain and is only waiting to receive his official acceptance into a league of villains, though to do that he must succeed at an evil plan or most specifically, kill someone, neither of which he has been able to do. He also has a thing for Penny (Felicia Day), the girl at the laundromat he can never seem to talk to. It's a strange situation for a guy who considers himself evil to be in, but that's part of "Dr. Horrible's" uniqueness. In classic fashion, it is over-cocky hero Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion who worked with Whedon on "Firefly") who seems to always interfere with both of Dr. Horrible's objectives: being evil and Penny.

The music in this serial was probably the most surprising thing about it. The many Whedons that worked on this score really impressed me. I would consider owning a CD or downloading (legally of course) the songs. Though instrumentation was done entirely on electronic instruments, it's a good fit. While the songs and the plot don't always work seamlessly, there's a charm about the songs that makes them good anyway. They're modern songs in a sense, but they also are very structured like musical songs are.

NPH and Fillion are great talents in these roles. Fillion is hysterical in his first go around at a real comedic role (that I can recall). I've always been fond of him and he earns the most laughs I would say. NPH gets the quirkiness but the sincerity of a very strange character who is definitely difficult to believe, at least on pure premise.

This serial has a very interesting sense of humor too. It goes for a lot of subtlety jokes with people saying things that are absurd but that the other characters generally play dumb to. It's the right kind of humor for this kind of project though because the goal of the project is clearly to be unique.

I wouldn't say "Dr. Horrible" is genius and ground-breaking, but I would say it's really quite good for being something that clearly was intended to have a low-budget look and feel. I definitely wanted to know what was going to happen next each time a new segment was posted, which is a credit to the writing. While I wouldn't run and tell all my friends about "Dr. Horrible," I would definitely recommend it to the right people who have an appreciation for projects that play small ball and look to do something different. ~Steven C

Visit my site at http://moviemusereviews.blogspot.com/

I honestly didn't know what I was getting myself into when I first sat down at my computer to watch this. I had heard that Joss Whedon had created it, and I was a fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, but I didn't know what it was about or anything.

Forty Five minutes later, I was completely blown away. The songs, writing, and acting are just amazing. It made me laugh, and nearly cry. It's so creative, and has superheroes in it, which I love.

If you're someone who isn't sure about it, just watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog anyway. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Dr. Horrible has a P.h.D. in horribleness, and awesomeness.