Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog [Archive]

tabacco

07/16/2008, 10:04 pm

If you enjoy things that are:

Musical
by Joss Whedon
starring Neil Patrick Harris

You might enjoy Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (http://www.drhorrible.com). It's an online miniseries by the aforementioned Joss Whedon. It is, as promised, also a musical. Episodes one and two are up now, and three comes in a couple of days. The whole thing's free to watch on their site 'til the 20th. Highly recommended! They pull off some nice stuff given a total lack of budget :)

Also, we all want to support indie online distribution don't we? :)

Botap

07/16/2008, 10:25 pm

I'm not so big on musicals, but two out of three is good enough for me. I've been meaning to check that out. :)

Molokov

07/17/2008, 05:49 am

It's pretty hilarious so far :) can't wait for Act III

MarkDarin

07/17/2008, 07:39 pm

This is definitely the most awesome thing I've seen all week!

Maratanos

07/17/2008, 08:55 pm

Yeah, it's fun. I'm a little worried, though. The mood seems to be teetering a little. We'll have to wait for part 3 to find out if it goes off the dark end or resolves happily.

tabacco

07/18/2008, 10:46 pm

Part 3 spoilers:
Man, I didn't expect it to go that dark. I'm a little disappointed in that ending, actually.

Molokov

07/19/2008, 01:14 am

I agree, Doug. Was kind of abrupt too, but at least there may be room for sequels

tabacco

07/19/2008, 01:58 am

Here's hoping.

Kedri

07/19/2008, 02:00 am

For some reason, the people of the internet didn't Act 3 it so much...

I loved it, though. Comedy, tragedy, adventure, vengeance, and...do I have to tag all this?

MaxFan

07/19/2008, 02:56 pm

That ending was totally weak

patters

07/19/2008, 04:09 pm

Part 3 spoilers:
Man, I didn't expect it to go that dark. I'm a little disappointed in that ending, actually.

agreed, i love it because it is by joss whedon and has nathan fillion in it. hopefully it will have a sequel series

David E

07/19/2008, 11:31 pm

For some reason, the people of the internet didn't Act 3 it so much...

I loved it, though. Comedy, tragedy, adventure, vengeance, and...do I have to tag all this?I liked act 3 as well. Very awesome classic comic-style origin story, which I hope they use as a springboard for more horribleness. If not, it was still a quite enjoyable experiment.

wefeelgroove

07/20/2008, 08:03 am

That was really awesome, even though the ending kinda made me go "wait, what?" I definately wouldn't mind seeing a sequel or something along the same lines!

And wow, I actually feel really bad for Captain Hammer even though he's a self-centered jerk. D:

The Tingler

07/20/2008, 03:38 pm

I utterly loved it all. That ending really shocked me, in a good way. I can't say I disliked any of it.

MarkDarin

07/20/2008, 04:06 pm

It pretty much went the way I expected. It's the path of a super villian after all. I enjoyed Act 3.

I was under the impression that these three acts were acting as the set up for the DVD release. I could be wrong, but it makes sense to me.

Jake

07/20/2008, 04:55 pm

For some reason, the people of the internet didn't Act 3 it so much...

The Internet often doesn't like the ending of things (especially things that they get heavily invested in, like the works of Joss Whedon, JK Rowling, etc), because, I imagine, 1) it means they can't expand the universe to extreme extents in their collective imagination anymore once primary character arcs are officially sewn up by the creator, and/or 2) it didn't play out the exact way they would have done it. People eventually seem to come around, though, unless the ending is actually poor.

MarkDarin

07/20/2008, 04:59 pm

... Or it's the ending of Monkey 2. The internet will never come around to that one.

Jake

07/20/2008, 05:12 pm

... Or it's the ending of Monkey 2. The internet will never come around to that one.

Many people have, surprisingly.

Chuck

07/20/2008, 06:25 pm

Many people have, surprisingly.
Not me!

I liked all of Dr. Horrible, a lot, which surprised me because I'm one of the only fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer who didn't like the musical episode. I've read people saying that the ending of Dr. Horrible didn't work because Joss Whedon always does that kind of thing; all I know is that it worked for me. I was surprised by it, and it's a lot more memorable than the ending I was expecting would've been.

V_Ben

07/21/2008, 03:45 pm

I loved every minute of that show :P

Tester Scott

07/21/2008, 05:32 pm

At first the ending through me off guard and I wasn't sure what to think. After watching it a couple times I realized it couldn't have ended any other way and love the project as a whole.

doom saber

07/21/2008, 11:14 pm

l love the whole musical. My fav song is at the beginnin of act III called the perfect day

Too bad, the musical is taken off the site and is now only at itunes for a small fee. Cannot wait for the musical to come out on dvd!

tabacco

07/21/2008, 11:21 pm

I paid the $3.99. Well worth it to support those guys. Also, Scott's under strict orders to buy me stuff at comiccon if they have something good.

Rather Dashing

07/22/2008, 02:33 am

It's a great price, but I refuse to buy anything off iTunes. It's kind of sad that such a great production has to lose my purchase due to their choice of vendor. It would have been different if they were simply offering video downloads direct from their site, but meh.

However, the DVD is coming soon. At least, according to their Twitter:

"Get it on iTunes! We're working on iTunes international access. CD coming soon, DVD to follow, both will be available all over the world."

Emphasis mine.

So I think I'll get that version. Physical copy, which is always nice. Also, no iTunes DRM. I understand the point of DRM, and if it generally stays out of my way in normal use then I'll accept it. But the iTunes stuff has made it prohibitively difficult to simply get the files onto a non-Apple MP3 player. I honestly don't *want* an iPod. So no iTunes for me, because I consider "Moving legally purchased music files from my computer to my legally purchased MP3 player" to be within the realm of normal use.

patters

07/22/2008, 06:06 am

So I think I'll get that version. Physical copy, which is always nice. Also, no iTunes DRM. I understand the point of DRM, and if it generally stays out of my way in normal use then I'll accept it. But the iTunes stuff has made it prohibitively difficult to simply get the files onto a non-Apple MP3 player. I honestly don't *want* an iPod. So no iTunes for me, because I consider "Moving legally purchased music files from my computer to my legally purchased MP3 player" to be within the realm of normal use.

its pretty easy to remove drm from itunes music, in a way that i cannot see as illegal. you only need a writable cd.

the only reason i have an ipod classic is because there is no other mp3 player which i can fit all of my music on for sale in the uk.

Rather Dashing

07/22/2008, 06:37 am

patters

07/22/2008, 07:06 am

I have several issues with the CD writing method, the least of which being the compression issues. I would rather get my music in MP3 form and get it on my player of choice. It's simply not adequate for me. Further, that method doesn't exactly work for videos. Like, say, Dr. Horrible. =p

personally i don't like mp3 i have always used other formats, if possible. Also if i can avoid it I will avoid downloading at all costs, and buy the cd, hence my 300 ish cd collection and about 30-50 downloaded songs of itunes and the like.

tabacco

07/22/2008, 08:41 am

First of all, it's video. Second of all, it's only $4. Up to you, though.

Dolph Hauldhagen

07/22/2008, 10:09 pm

I loved it to bits. I have been waiting for another Whedon musical since that buffy episode, "Once More with Feeling." Oh gosh that was nerdy.

I mean I was surprised by the end too at first, but then again it's Joss Whedon and he's always killing of nice characters in his stories.

MaxFan

07/22/2008, 11:06 pm

I liked the third act mostly, it was only the VERY end I didn't get what happened to Dr. Horrible, seemed like an odd reaction, but then again love can make you do weird things, so maybe...

DanH

07/24/2008, 10:08 am

I don't think it could or should have ended any other way. Was anyone really expecting him to fall in love, turn good and have a happy life with the woman of his dreams? As Mark said, it is the path of the super villain. His main goal in life was to be a super-villain, and he would never be able to completely achieve that until he suffered a great tragedy that fulfills his life goals, has him carry the tremendous guilt of destroying his one chance at happiness and severs the last ties he had to humanity...or something.

Rather Dashing

07/24/2008, 01:10 pm

It wasn't even that so much as that it was so ABRUPT, though. And His reservations about killing to join the Evil League of Evil, the show of Captain Hammer's complete jerkitude, and Dr. Horrible's advancing relationship with Penny....dramatically speaking, seemed to be leading to SOMETHING. I wasn't sure what, and yeah the "turn good and live the life of his dreams" was one. I certainly thought he was going to denounce the Evil League of Evil at some point, just because the way they did things was so contrary to what he wanted.

Kedri

07/24/2008, 02:53 pm

His main goal in life was to be a super-villain, and he would never be able to completely achieve that until he suffered a great tragedy that fulfills his life goals, has him carry the tremendous guilt of destroying his one chance at happiness and severs the last ties he had to humanity...or something.

That's it! I couldn't put my finger on it, but that's why I liked the ending.

MaxFan

07/24/2008, 09:53 pm

Klemmins

07/30/2008, 11:24 am

I thought that the whole thing was well-scripted, well-made, well-acted, well-written, and uh... well, well-everything. I'm definitely buying the DVD, and this miniseries is sure to become a cult-classic.

tabacco

07/30/2008, 11:29 am

For those who missed it, it's now free on Hulu, but with some commercials:
http://www.hulu.com/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog

Rather Dashing

07/30/2008, 11:29 am

I just checked the official Twitter, and Dr. Horrible is back up in an ad-supported form.

http://tinyurl.com/6fdwss

Perfectly allowed, the content creators added the ad-supported version.

EDIT: Stupid tabacco.

LuigiHann

07/30/2008, 11:44 am

<3 Hulu.

I like this show a lot. Just campy enough to work brilliantly.

TrogLlama

08/04/2008, 12:49 am

On the ending:
Just finished watching it, and... well, I've seen this kind of ending before. Watchmen, which I just finished, had one, too (although the effect of said ending is on a different level; Watchmen was far darker in tone). It's an ending that's morally ambiguous and brings no real conclusions. It's an ending that you wish was something different, but you know that it couldn't have been anything different, because anything else just wouldn't have had the same impact.
I mean, I wasn't expecting it, even after looking at some of the spoilers here. It was sad, but it wasn't too sad. The villain protagonist becoming an unfeeling sociopath I can deal with. The hero antagonist being a wussy and needing therapy I can deal with; hell, it was funny. What really brought it home was the very last shot. The implication (which I may have just made up) that he still had some humanity left somehow only made everything worse.

Derwin

09/04/2008, 05:58 pm

Thanks to Rock Band DLC, I have discovered a song that fits Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog almost perfectly. It is from 2004, and from the beautiful mind of Jonathan Coulton. It is called Scullcrusher Mountain. Take a listen. You can get it free off of his website at http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads/ by clicking the smiley face next to the song (the album is Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow). If you like it, you can support him by buying the song for a dollar, or buy the whole album, or buy it on Rock Band. It is sweet.

"The voices that control me, say I shouldn't kill you yet"

tabacco

09/04/2008, 06:18 pm

TrogLlama

09/04/2008, 10:10 pm

For the record, the soundtrack was released just the other day.
Unfortunately, it's only on iTunes.

tabacco

09/04/2008, 10:31 pm

Already bought it :)

Derwin

09/06/2008, 07:37 pm

You might find a few of his songs that fit. Check out the tracks Better (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Better) or The Future Soon (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/The%20Future%20Soon) :)

Thank you... I don't have $70 to spend on his entire collection, and I was looking for more of his "pop-sci" songs. Thanks Doug!