Review: 'Dr. Horrible' is charming Web TV
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BY MICAH MERTES / Lincoln Journal Star
After years of TV networks trying to defeat the Web, it turns out all it took was a supervillain musical miniseries starring Neil Patrick Harris.
Who would have thought?
The first act of Joss Whedon’s Internet-only TV series “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” streamed for free on the Web starting Tuesday. And audiences were so eager to see the first Webisode that the site crashed.
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Act Two debuts Thursday, with Act Three on Saturday. Each act will stream for free on drhorrible.com, but all three parts will vanish at midnight Sunday. Eventually, Whedon said, the series will be available on DVD.
Drhorrible.com posted this message on Twitter.com on Tuesday in an attempt to placate fans:
“We love you for crashing the site, we really do ... wait a few hours, we’ll be back up.”
So is the first act site-crashingly good?
Yes. Absolutely. It’s a supervillian musical starring Neil Patrick Harris, after all.
“Horrible” stars the man formerly known as Doogie as the inept (and ultimately kind-hearted) supervillain.
Horrible wants what all supervillains want: to rule the world and stuff. He’s got big dreams of being admitted into the Evil League of Evil, a society of villains, but he’s got a few hurdles to clear.
For starters, he’s not really supervillain material. None of his plans work, most of his devices are skittish and his evil “muuuu haaa haaa haaaaa!” laugh is so weak he’s having to take vocal lessons.
He’s in love with the sweet girl at the laundromat, but he’s too awkward to woo her. And his archnemesis, Captain Hammer (played by Nathan Fillion), keeps beating him up.
Oh, and he can’t help but break into song every few minutes.
“Horrible” has a charming made-on-the-fly quality. The series was, after all, conceived by Whedon on a whim during the writers strike. The writer/director/producer was bored and without a project, so he went outside the realm of how you’re supposed to do things in TV. He wrangled a few friends and family members together and made “Horrible.”
Whedon’s known for being a little different. He showed the world that a teen girl could be the savior of humanity with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” And he proved that the space opera and the spurs ’n’ six-shooters western need not be mutually exclusive with the short-lived but much-loved “Firefly.”
Whedon is such a refreshing exception to TV.
Instead of embracing the moronic, cliche and cookie-cutter predictable, he continually pushes the boundaries of not just the message but also the medium.
He’s not only helping change our perception of what TV is, he’s doing so with songs about rayguns.
Can’t wait to see the next two acts.
Reach Micah Mertes at 473-7395 or mmertes@journalstar.com.
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