Saturday, July 19, 2008

Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog Review


The nerd which owns much of my heart and what little remains of my pop culture-infested brain has been constantly promoting the most unusual 3-act sci-fi musical comedy called "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Along Blog" and today (well, really tomorrow, the 20th) will mark the end of seeing it online for free. After tomorrow, purchasing it via iTunes or on the upcoming DVD will be your only choice.

Writer-director Joss Whedon (and some of his family) made this very surreal, very funny and ultimately very entertaining mini web-series. Building on the skills he learned from the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer ("Once More With Feeling"), he and his crew and the performers have indeed made something most unique.

Action and comedy, hubris and tragedy, goofiness and pathos all combine in this mini-musical and it is no wonder producers are seriously considering making this into a full-blown Broadway extravaganza.

Act I reels you in with some wry humor, Act II extends it into something more compelling and the 3rd Act payoff is more than worth the 40 or so minutes of the time you and your computer will invest to watch it. While Marvel or DC superheroes rake in mega-bucks at yer local multi-plex, Whedon delivers something much more interesting with Dr. Horrible. It's a sharply observed look at how incompetence can incubate something .... horrible.

In the YouTube age of self-produced silliness, Whedon has made a bit of Internet history. So stop reading this review and just go watch it.

5 comments:

  1. I'm with you. Great to see Joss doing something! I want more!

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  2. Found your blog via a google search for Dr. Horrible reviews. You're absolutely right, and it's such a wonderful feeling to see Joss (and family) doing more musical work.

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  3. Anonymous5:40 PM

    Yeah,
    It's August now and I just watched it for free. Where on earth did you get that bit of information from? I mean, sure you CAN buy it, but I highly doubt Joss Whedon would ever MAKE people pay for it.

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  4. from the official Dr. Horrible site, Joss wrote:
    "We intend to make it available for download soon after it’s published. This would be for a nominal fee, which we’re hoping people will embrace instead of getting all piratey. We have big dreams, people, and one of them is paying our crew.

    And somewhat later, we will put the complete short epic out on DVD – with the finest and bravest extras in all the land. We’ll go into greater detail about that at Comiccon, but we’re changing the face of Show Friendliness a second time with that crazy DVD."

    but yep, as of now it also has a link on the official site to watch it for free -- maybe that 5-weeks of being one of iTunes best-sellers has something to do with expanding the free viewing.

    and hey, why shouldn't we give Joss our money? he's a righteous dude, all the kids say so. :)

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  5. Anonymous3:23 AM

    You can view it for free, with only a few commercial breaks at www.hulu.com. It is a totally legal upload. They also have a lot of other programs you can view, if you don't mind a few commercials, including all of Firefly the series. :)

    http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog

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