Quick Intro: Dr. Horrible was written by Joss Whedon and his family during the WGA Strike. It stars Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Harris, MD; How I Met Your Mother) as the awkward villain, Nathan Fillion (Firefly) as the not-so-perfect hero, and Felicia Day (The Guild) as the shiny girl at the laundromat. Each episode is around 10 minutes long and will air over the next week. (July 15--Act One; July 17--Act Two; July 19--Act Three) It will stay online until the 20th.
Act One Thoughts: WOW. I can almost forgive the strike for bringing us the most memorable internet event in a long time. The script benefits from having most of the Whedon clan as writers. I idolize Joss on many levels. He writes stories that you care about, well-defined characters, brash and sarcastic dialogue, and the MOST bad-A women that have ever been written. I'm not kidding when I say that I want nothing more in life that to be as strong as the ladies in the Whedon universe.
The musical sections are so broad and pithy they belong on Broadway. It clocks in at around thirteen minutes, but goes by way too fast. The beginning video blog portion from Dr. Horrible himself was almost on the verge of being overbearing, but then the first musical number kicks up and it revs right along. Dr. Horrible's friend and fellow villain Moist's line-delivery is simply hilarious, but the single funniest part is the initial greeting between Penny and Horrible.
I always knew Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible) was funny, but I never knew he was this funny. He handles the patented Whedon-wit with surprising aplomb and humor. His voice deftly carries the music--check out this video of him and Jason Segel singing the confrontation song from Les Mis. Felicia Day (Penny) is darling and SO awesome. I either want to go shopping with her or stalk her, I can't decide which. If you haven't watched her web series The Guild, you need to do that right after you watch Dr. Horrible five times in a row. (The Guild is a ten episode parody about web gamers that is dead on, but I should issue a language warning on that one.) Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer) has always made me weak at the knees. Uber-swoonage! (swnage?) He's got a seriously good voice and you can just tell he is relishing every moment of this role. Zack Whedon wrote a short comic book based on Captain Hammer that you can read here.
It's quotable, singable, and is going to be referenced at conventions for a good fifty years from now. You can get the season pass for all three episodes on iTunes for $3.99. I know I'll buy the special edition DVD, the inevitable soundtrack, and a t-shirt.
Watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog here.
7 comments:
I had absolutely NO idea this was going on and reading this makes me want to see it even more. Checking it out soon...
Thanks!
I want to have Joss's babies. I want to have Captain Tightpants Fillion's babies. I want to have NPH's babies. If I could have one super baby that encapsulates the awesomeness of all three of them, well... it could achieve world peace, cure all diseases, bring Earth into the intergalactic community, and then bring intergalactic peace.
Given that I am in love with Neil Patrick Harris (I know he's gay, don't remind me) I am definitely going to check this out.
*Sigh*. Joss Whedon and NPH. I cna die happy.
Texting...it's very important or I would stop.
Heeeee I love NPH. as Barney, as Doogie, as Horrible. ANYONE.
i need to make a shirt that says "you had me at mwa-ha-ha!"
at comic-con two years ago i saw joss whedon. i could have reached out and touched him. instead i stood paralized to the spot, squeezing my husband's arm so tight it went numb (also he kinda screamed) and eeeek!-ing, as joss walked by.
pathetic.
My theory is that Penny is secretly either a superhero or a supervillain herself. She must be getting pretty messy if she has to do laundry EVERY Wednesday AND Saturday.
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