Dr.
Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Webseries Review
Dr.
Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the webseries
creation from Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind Joss Whedon,
siblings Jed and Zack, and Jed’s fiancé Maurissa Tancharoen,
initially hit the Internet during the summer of 2008 and quickly crashed
after 200,000 eager viewers-per-hour flooded the website’s servers
within the first few hours. Simultaneously released on iTunes, Dr.
Horrible likewise became the top TV download in a relatively short
time, and media outlets from USA
Today to Variety
dubbed the three-part web “mini-series” a monumental event
in the short history of Internet video. The Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences has honored the series as well, awarding it an Emmy in
2009 for “Short-Format Live-Action, Special Class.” Eventually
released on DVD (with an accompanying musical commentary), Dr. Horrible
has even been screened in local theaters, similar to how the musical
episode of Buffy once stormed across the nation before legal
considerations shut it down.
The webseries—which
Whedon describes as “the story of a low-rent super-villain, the
hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat
he’s too shy to talk to”—stars Neil Patrick Harris
as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion (who worked with Whedon on Firefly
as well as its big-screen adaptation, Serenity) as Captain
Hammer and Felicia Day (potential slayer Vi in Buffy) as Penny.
While a musical in style—and both entertaining and comic in nature—Dr.
Horrible is actually more detailed and depth-oriented than one
might expect; each of the characters evoke a naïve innocence, while
the narrative itself explores what happens when that innocence both
fades and eventually shatters.
All the
elements of Dr. Horrible click in top-notch fashion, from the
writing to the acting to the music itself. Harris, for instance, shines
as the title character. His vocal abilities go beyond impressive to
Broadway-quality, while his acting effectively switches from comic to
knee-weak-romantic to determined-evil without ever missing a beat. Fillion,
meanwhile, portrays the self-indulgent Captain Hammer with straight-forward
smugness coupled with the same charisma he brought to Firefly’s
Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Just as Harris instills a likeable quality
in Dr. Horrible despite the character’s inherent villainess, Fillion
does the same for the arrogant Hammer. As for Day, the Buffy
Season Seven actress similarly strikes the right balance between meek
innocence, naïve optimism and a starry-eyed belief in mankind.
While her initial vocal performance comes across as a little “weak,”
this is simply a reflection of Penny, and the singing grows stronger
as both the story and the character’s confidence evolves. Day
brought a full arsenal of both dramatic and comedic acting abilities
to her own recent webseries, The
Guild, and does the same for Dr.
Horrible, effectively establishing herself as the predominant female
talent in the still infant online medium.
The music,
although co-written with brother Jed, invokes the same classical vein
that Joss Whedon mined in the Buffy musical episode, “Once
More With Feeling,” and runs a full gamut of styles; the initial
laundromat sequence is whimsical in nature while later numbers range
from rock to a touch of gospel, and the song collection conjures comparisons
to both Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and Jonathan
Larson’s Rent. The underlying instrumental score, composed
strictly by Jed, effectively evokes the comic-book nature of the webseries
while also adding to the impact of the emotional climax.
Although
the initial success of Dr. Horrible raises the possibilities
of a sequel, in many ways the webseries is more effective as a one-shot
endeavor. The inherent comic nature of Joss Whedon is evident throughout,
with some of the funniest moments and dialogue coming in Act III. The
resolution of Dr. Horrible is also a classic example of his
ability to pull the emotional rug out from under the viewer’s
feet. The inevitable final confrontation between Dr. Horrible and Captain
Hammer not only effectively brings the webseries to conclusion, but
transforms the two arch rivals from isolated innocence into full realization
of their inherent natures. Suffice it to say that after their epic battle,
neither Dr. Horrible nor Captain Hammer will ever be the same again.
The whimsical and comic nature of the webseries likewise evaporates
in the final musical sequence as the title character completes his evolution
from wannabee to full-fledged super-villain, while the simple, abrupt
ending adds to the emotional wallop that Whedon has developed into a
personal trademark.
In the
end, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is more than a trailblazer
on the World Wide Web terrain, but a classic parable about the perils
of naïve innocence, “watch what you wish for” lesson-learning
and the cost one eventually pays when guided by blind ambition. It is
also whimsical, romantic and comedic while equally living up to the
“sing-along” wording of its title. The Whedon Clan has created
a webseries that not only brings attention to the potential of the online
medium, but a forty-two minute narrative masterpiece for these technologically-changing
times in which we live.
Anthony
Letizia (July 21, 2008)
