A highlight of this past week had to be the broadcast of Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog. Briefly, this was a 45-minute musical that came about during the dark days of the writers' strike that began last November. My hypothesis is that Joss Whedon has a touch of hamster in him - if he's not busy doing something creative, his teeth grow to a worrisome length. (Mind you, I have absolutely no proof for my hypothesis, but when's that ever stopped me? Exactly.) The show is a collaboration between Joss Whedon, his younger brother Jed, and Jed's partner, Maurissa Tancharoen. Each of the show's three parts was launched separately and the entire shebang was available only through July 20 (well, for free, anyway). Demand was incredible and the experience even led your intrepid blogger to finally puzzle out how to buy and download video from iTunes - and pay full retail, to boot! (Whether or not that newly-acquired skill turns out to be a positive thing is something that has yet to be determined.)I'm not going to recap the show here, other than to say: Catchy tunes, strong voices (who knew that Nathan Fillion could work the power ballad?), quirky characters, interesting twists on costuming, and the mix of guffaw-funny and sudden heartstrings-tug that I've come to expect from Whedon, yet find myself surprised by all the same. I'm now a convert to the fanbase of Neil Patrick Harris and I challenge you to find either (a) a cuter bug's ear than Felicia Day or (b) a better villain nickname than that of "Bad Horse" who is known as the "thoroughbred of sin." For more, by all means check out the main site.
As is typical of Whedon's work, there are too many good lines to attempt to include them all, but I particularly like one of Penny's more plaintive lines as she reminds her "laundry buddy" that everything really isn't as grim as it may appear, so I'll close with that.
"Even in the darkness, every color can be found."
Seriously - buy this show.
5 comments:
"If home is where the heart is, your home is in your chest!"
I'm looking forward to the DVD!
Can I just say that I'm suddenly, completely obsessed with Dr. Horrible? I knew it had to be good with NPH, Nathan Fillion, and Joss Whedon, but I honestly didn't expect a 45-minute show to be THAT good. My reaction in the end went from shock to "Oh yeah, this is Joss Whedon..." I've been listening to the soundtrack (okay, illegally) for days. Pure brilliance.. And since you're a new NPH fan (What took you so long?), you definitely need to check out How I Met Your Mother... Since Alyson Hannigan is also on it, there are a ton of Whedonverse guest stars, including Alexis Denisof, Morena Baccarin, Amy Acker, and Tom Lenk... It's a hilarious show with a great cast, though the guest stars haven't all been great. (I'm looking at you, Britney!) Anyway, I've heard that Joss might do a sequel to Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long blog.. It's too bad it's so short because I think it would make an interesting class... ~Lindsey
Happy newsflash--while those of us who're iTunes-challenged are waiting for the DVD, Dr. Horrible is now available on hulu.com! Do the dance of joy!
Yeah, I've kind of become obsessed with it too (even though I didn't like the ending). For the last few weeks I've been listening to Dr. Horrible on the journey to and from work! (The "Once More, With Feeling" disk must be feeling neglected.)
More Dr. Horrible, please!
Lindsey - what can I say about NPH? I didn't know any better. And I'm still planning the fall class - maybe a little Doc will sneak in . . .
What do you think of a supervillian called "Evil Fox Executive"? He's got the power of cancellation and can't tell good from bad.
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