Friday, January 23, 2009

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog


Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly) and his brothers + Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, How I Met Your Mother) + Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Desperate Housewives) + Felicia Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Guild) + Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) + other people you probably won't recognize + singing and humor - Big Hollywood Budget = Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Who says math is bad?

Dr. Horrible came along as an answer to the Writer's Strike of 2007-2008, as a production with a humble budget, developed and carried out by a bunch of Joss's friends and family members. It's a supervillain tragicomedy musical (I know; not another one, right?) about the rivalry between the villainous and angsty Dr. Horrible (Harris) and his excessively macho arch-nemesis, Captain Hammer (Fillion), and the girl whose affections they both seek (Day).

As the title suggests, the film is presented in a sort of video blog format with lots and lots of singing. The songs are catchy, and I was actually surprised by everybody's vocal performance--who knew theatre people could sing? The writing, acting, and humor are all top-notch (unless you don't like a bit of dirty humor every now and again), and it's virtually impossible to tell that this isn't a Hollywood production.

The movie was originally presented in three parts, which are now available all in one nice 42-minute-long Hulu video right here. Both the movie and the soundtrack are available on iTunes and Amazon (Region-free! Hee hee!). Felicia Day, however, is not available, so don't ask.

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