Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
File:Doctor Horrible Poster.jpg Promotional poster
Created by	Joss Whedon Jed Whedon Zack Whedon Maurissa Tancharoen
Written by	Joss Whedon Jed Whedon Zack Whedon Maurissa Tancharoen
Directed by	Joss Whedon
Starring	Neil Patrick Harris Felicia Day Nathan Fillion
Music by	Joss Whedon Jed Whedon
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	3
Production
Producers	David Burns Michael Boretz
Running time	approx. 42 minutes
Original release
Release	July 15 – July 19, 2008

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 40-minute, 3-part musical comedy produced for the Internet, telling the story of a low-rent supervillain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to. The movie was written by Joss Whedon and his brothers Zack Whedon (a lesser known television writer), Jed Whedon (a composer) and Jed's fiancée, Maurissa Tancharoen (an actress). The writing team penned the musical during the WGA Writer's Strike. The idea was to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike.

Whedon says plans are being made to find a venue for the series that will enable it to earn its money back and pay the crew, with a first release on the Internet, then iTunes with a further release on DVD, with some "amazing extras."

According to TV Week, the musical's fansite launched in March 2008 despite the official site containing nothing more than a poster. The Teaser Trailer hit the web three months later on June 25, 2008. The episodes will air on July 15, 17 and 19, remaining available until July 20. Episodes will be hosted on Hulu and in the U.S. and Canadian iTunes Stores. Despite Hulu not normally being available outside the U.S., Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is accessible internationally and the videos are available to view (though there was initially an extended period of technical difficulties for international videos). Currently, only Americans and Canadians can purchase the show on iTunes.

Whedon funded the project himself, and enjoyed the independence of acting as his own studio. “Freedom is glorious,” he comments. “And the fact is, I’ve had very good relationships with studios, and I’ve worked with a lot of smart executives. But there is a difference when you can just go ahead and do something.” As a web show, there were fewer constraints imposed on the project, and Whedon had the “freedom to just let the dictates of the story say how long it’s gonna be. We didn’t have to cram everything in–there is a lot in there–but we put in the amount of story that we wanted to and let the time work around that. We aimed for thirty minutes, we came out at forty two, and that’s not a problem.”

Captain Hammer (Nemesis of Dr. Horrible) Online comic is now available. It will be printed later this year in a Dark Horse Presents graphic novel.

1. This is a complete rip-off of Dr. Steel. www.doctorsteel.com 2. Even the name is stolen from Dr. Steel’s first compilation album “Dr. Steel’s Read-A-Long” album. 3. This isn’t funny and the music is even less inspired. If you want to see something good, check out the real deal.

Official Website

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Episodes

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog consists of three episodes or acts of approximately 15 minutes. Episodes will air at the Official Dr. Horrible Website and will be available for free viewing until July 20. Like many TV programs they will later be made available to download for a nominal fee and will be available on DVD at a later date.

Act I

Act one premiered on Tuesday July 15 2008.

We are introduced to Dr. Horrible through a video blog in which he responds to his watchers' emails, including his tale of a recent "75%" successful gold heist using a transmatter ray (in which gold bars return as sludge that smells like cumin), his assertion that Captain Hammer and NOT Johnny Snow is his nemesis, and his plans to create a time-freezing ray. When a reader asks who the "she" is that Dr. Horrible often references, he launches into song about Penny, the girl he likes from the laundromat but who he can't seem to get the courage to talk to (although he hopes his freeze ray will allow him the time to find the right words to say to her). His roommate Moist arrives with a letter from Bad Horse, the head of a league of supervillains, saying Dr. Horrible's application is being considered but he must do something worthy of proving himself soon. Dr. Horrible is pleased, since he is planning on stealing the final ingredient for his freeze ray (a case of wonderflonium) the next day. While the heist is in progress, however, Penny runs across him and asks him to sign a petition to turn a city building into a homeless shelter; his distraction over the wonderflonium causes him to give her the brush-off. Dr. Horrible is dismayed by his poor romantic performance but sings that a "man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" and still manages to pull-off the heist by remotely controlling the van the wonderflonium is in - at least until Captain Hammer comes along and smashes his control mechanism on the van. The van runs amok as Dr. Horrible struggles to control it, and as it veers towards Penny, Captain Hammer throws her into a pile of garbage and braces to stop the van; Dr. Horrible then succeeds in stopping the van inches before it would have hit Penny, and Hammer merely shrugs off the van's sudden stop. Dr. Horrible attempts to confront Hammer about throwing Penny into garbage, but is apprehended and held choking in one of Hammer's hands instead, Hammer telling him it's "lacy, gently wafting curtains" for him, but when Penny gets up out of the garbage Hammer forgets all about Dr. Horrible and the two serenade each other. Dr. Horrible is clearly upset over losing the girl, but manages to make off with the wonderflonium he needs for the freeze ray while Captain Hammer is distracted, exclaiming "balls!".

Act II

Act two will premiere on Thursday July 17 2008.

Act III

Act three will premiere on Saturday July 19 2008.

Tracklist

Act I

• "Freeze Ray"
• "Bad Horse"
• "Penny's Song"
• "What A Man's Gotta Do"

Cast and characters

Actor	Role
Neil Patrick Harris	Doctor Horrible / Billy, a supervillain of the mad scientist variety
Nathan Fillion	Captain Hammer, a superhero and Doctor Horrible's archnemesis
Felicia Day	Penny, Doctor Horrible's love interest and volunteer for the Caring Hands homeless shelter.
Simon Helberg	Moist, Dr. Horrible's roommate, who has the ability to dampen things.

Crew

Name	Title
Joss Whedon	Director
Joss Whedon Zack Whedon Maurissa Tancharoen Jed Whedon	Written by
Joss Whedon Jed Whedon	Music
Joss Whedon Jed Whedon Maurissa Tancharoen	Lyrics
Jed Whedon	Score and Orchestration

External links

• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Official Site
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Official Fan Site
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Official Myspace
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Official Facebook
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Official Twitter
• Captain Hammer (Nemesis of Dr. Horrible) Online comic