Supervillains singing
In case you haven't been paying much attention to this Internets thing and haven't heard, let me be the one to inform you that the time is now to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the low-budget musical comedy internet miniseries by Joss Whedon about an aspiring suburban supervillain, the sweet humanitarian he has a crush on, and the do-gooder arch-nemesis who comes between them, played respectively by Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, and a delightfully hammy Nathan Fillion. Acts I and II are online now (streaming free on the site through Hulu, and also on iTunes), and Act III will be available on Saturday, July 19th. The lot will be taken down promptly on Sunday the 20th at midnight, so don't miss it.
Whedon takes a moment to explain the impetus behind this strange little project:
Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.
Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.
The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.
It's the perfect treat for fans of Whedon's work: hip, unpretentious, self-aware genre comedy, silly and funny and touching. The songs aren't half catchy, either. If you couldn't stand Buffy or Firefly this probably isn't for you, but if you're largely unacquainted with Whedon's work and devoted fan cult, there's nothing here to alienate you -- it's just some good fun, with mad science, bulging muscles, plots, heists, and laundromats. And a fair bit of singing.
UPDATE 07/29: All three acts are available for free again on Hulu for a limited time, so you have another chance if you missed it the first time!
Whedon takes a moment to explain the impetus behind this strange little project:
Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.
Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.
The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.
It's the perfect treat for fans of Whedon's work: hip, unpretentious, self-aware genre comedy, silly and funny and touching. The songs aren't half catchy, either. If you couldn't stand Buffy or Firefly this probably isn't for you, but if you're largely unacquainted with Whedon's work and devoted fan cult, there's nothing here to alienate you -- it's just some good fun, with mad science, bulging muscles, plots, heists, and laundromats. And a fair bit of singing.
UPDATE 07/29: All three acts are available for free again on Hulu for a limited time, so you have another chance if you missed it the first time!
Labels: film + television, sci-fi, video, webseries
brewed by Jess Haskins at 04:21
2 Comments:
Thanks for pointing this out!
Well, that was wonderful. I can't wait for the dvd. And the soundtrack...especially the soundtrack.
I did find a collection of the songs here, which helps when you can't get them out of your head!
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