Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 2008 musical comedy-drama miniseries made in three acts, produced exclusively for Internet distribution. Filmed and set in Los Angeles, the show tells the story of an aspiring supervillain named Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris), his nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), and a charity worker who is their shared love interest, Penny (Felicia Day).
The series was written by writer-director Joss Whedon, his brothers Zack Whedon and Jed Whedon, a television writer and a composer, respectively, and writer-actress Maurissa Tancharoen. The team wrote the musical during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America 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. Reception has been overwhelmingly positive. On October 31, 2008, Time magazine named it #15 in Time'''s Top 50 Inventions of 2008. It also won the People's Choice Award for "Favorite Online Sensation", and the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. In the inaugural 2009 Streamy Awards for web television, Dr. Horrible won seven awards: Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series, Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series, Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series, Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Harris), Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Music. It also won a 2009 Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs.
PlotDr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog consists of three acts of approximately 14 minutes each. They were first released online in July 2008 as individual episodes, with two-day intervals between each release. Note: The following summary contains song titles in parentheses. These are the songs that are sung by the characters in the series.Act I Dr. Horrible films an entry for his video blog, giving updates on his schemes and responding to various emails from his viewers. Asked about the "her" that he often mentions, he launches into a song ("My Freeze Ray") about Penny, the girl he likes from the laundromat who only knows him as his civilian alter ego, Billy. Horrible's roommate, Moist, brings him a letter from Bad Horse, leader of the Evil League of Evil. The letter informs Dr. Horrible that his application for entry into the League will be evaluated based on his next heinous crime ("Bad Horse Chorus").
The following day, Horrible prepares to steal a case of wonderflonium for his time-stopping Freeze Ray by commandeering the courier van with his Horrible Van Remote, a remote-control device of his own making. Penny appears, asking him to sign a petition to turn a condemned city building into a homeless shelter ("Caring Hands"). However, the remote requires his attention, and he appears uninterested in her and her cause. As she leaves, Horrible is conflicted, but eventually opts to steal the wonderflonium instead of following Penny. Captain Hammer appears and smashes the remote's receiver, inadvertently causing the van to veer towards Penny, whom he manages to push out of the way, and into a pile of trash. Horrible eventually regains control of the van and stops it just in time, unfortunately making it appear that Captain Hammer stopped the van with his bare hands. Captain Hammer beats Dr. Horrible, then stops when Penny emerges from the trash to thank him. Horrible escapes with the wonderflonium, leaving the two as they serenade each other ("A Man's Gotta Do").
Act II Dr. Horrible stalks Penny and Captain Hammer on their dates ("My Eyes"). At the laundromat, Penny befriends Billy, Horrible's alter ego. Horrible reveals in a blog that his Freeze Ray has been completed, and that he plans to use it the next day. The next blog after that, he reveals that he has failed, as Captain Hammer and the LAPD turned out to be watching his blogs. Bad Horse reprimands Horrible for his failure, saying that the only way to be inducted now is to commit an assassination ("Bad Horse Chorus (Reprise)"). Horrible agonizes over whether he's ready to commit murder.
Billy chats with Penny over frozen yogurt about their problems ("Penny's Song"). She motivates him to have hope, but Billy panics when Captain Hammer suddenly drops by to visit. He feigns ignorance on recognizing Hammer, but the moment Penny leaves, Hammer reveals that he knows Billy is Dr. Horrible. Hammer taunts Horrible about his crush on Penny and reveals that he only wants her so he can take her away from Horrible. Horrible finally gains the resolve to kill, in order to gain admission into the Evil League of Evil, and targets Captain Hammer ("Brand New Day").
Act III Under Penny's influence, Captain Hammer launches a crusade to help the homeless and clean up the city's structural issues. Waiting at the laundromat for an absent Billy, Penny ponders her relationship with Hammer while Dr. Horrible goes into seclusion to turn his stun ray into a death ray ("So They Say"). At the opening for Penny's new homeless shelter, Captain Hammer makes a speech that degenerates into condescending self-praise ("Everyone's a Hero"). Penny, embarrassed and disillusioned, quietly tries to leave, but Horrible appears out of the red curtain that was supposed to conceal Hammer's statue. He renders Hammer motionless with his freeze ray, then taunts the shocked crowd and reveals his completed death ray ("Slipping"). He hesitates to kill Hammer, however, fearing what Penny will think if she witnesses it.
Hammer suddenly breaks free from his paralysis and punches Horrible across the room, damaging the death ray. He picks up the death ray and prepares to use it on Horrible, but the death ray explodes and causes Hammer to feel pain for the first time in his life. Wailing childishly, Hammer flees the scene. Horrible fears he has vanquished his nemesis without committing the murder required by the League, but then finds Penny fatally impaled by shrapnel from the exploding death ray. She recognizes him as Billy and dies in his arms, deliriously believing Captain Hammer will help them.
Horrible realizes that Penny's death counts as the required murder and the infamous act has made him a true villain. Captain Hammer is last seen sobbing on a therapist's couch. Horrible dons a new costume and attends a party to celebrate his induction into the League, taking his seat among other villains including Bad Horse, who is revealed to be an actual horse. He declares his intention to subjugate the world, but is shown in the last scene, out of costume as Billy, staring blankly into his blog camera in his basement, despondent ("Everything You Ever").
Soundtrack
The musical contains 14 songs, including credits and reprises, but the song titles were not yet identified at the time of broadcast. The soundtrack was released through the iTunes Store on September 1, 2008 and was released on CD in the US on December 15, 2008.Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Soundtrack made the top 40 Album list on release, despite being a digital exclusive only available on iTunes.
Musical numbers Act I "Dr. Horrible Theme" – Instrumental "My Freeze Ray" – Dr. Horrible "Bad Horse Chorus" – Bad Horse Chorus "Caring Hands" – Penny "A Man's Gotta Do" – Dr. Horrible, Penny & Captain Hammer
Act II "Dr. Horrible Theme" – Instrumental "My Eyes" – Dr. Horrible & Penny "Bad Horse Chorus (Reprise)" – Bad Horse Chorus "Penny's Song" – Penny "Brand New Day" – Dr. Horrible
Act III "Dr. Horrible Theme" – Instrumental "So They Say" – Movers, Captain Hammer Groupies, Penny, Captain Hammer, News Anchors & Dr. Horrible "Everyone's a Hero" – Captain Hammer & Groupies "Slipping" – Dr. Horrible "Everything You Ever/Finale" – Dr. Horrible & Groupies "End Credits" – Instrumental
Cast
Neil Patrick Harris as Billy/Dr. Horrible: An aspiring supervillain of the mad scientist variety with the catchphrase "I've got a Ph.D. in Horribleness". He desires to become a member of Bad Horse's Evil League of Evil. He uses his inventions to take over the world and enact social change for the betterment of humanity. His socio-political beliefs include the paradoxical idea of autocratic anarchy: "The world is a mess, and I just... need to rule it". As Billy, he struggles to make a romantic connection with Penny. Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer: Dr. Horrible's archenemy, a superhero who possesses super-human strength and near-invulnerability. Hammer is self-centered and enjoys harassing Dr. Horrible even when the situation does not warrant it. Felicia Day as Penny: Dr. Horrible's love interest. Rising above a troubled past, she is idealistic, generous, and volunteers at a homeless shelter. Simon Helberg as Moist: Dr. Horrible's friend and sidekick, who has the underwhelming ability to dampen things. Dr. Horrible calls him "my evil moisture buddy".
Several colleagues of Joss Whedon have cameo roles in the series. Marti Noxon, an executive producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, portrays a newsreader alongside Buffy and Angel writer David Fury. Buffy and Angel writers Doug Petrie and Drew Goddard cameo as supervillains Professor Normal and Fake Thomas Jefferson, respectively. Jed, Joss, and Zack Whedon all provide the singing voices for the song Bad Horse Chorus. Zack also plays the man who rolls the gurney out of frame with Penny. Jed Whedon also appears as the supervillain Dead Bowie, while Maurissa Tancharoen, Steve Berg, and Stacy Shirk play superhero/supervillain groupies. Tancharoen also performs the background voice on the song Everything You Ever.
Production Joss Whedon funded the project himself (at just over $200,000) 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." Some of the music was influenced by Stephen Sondheim.
The production of the DVD included a contest, announced at Comic-Con, in which fans submitted a three-minute video explaining why they should be inducted into the Evil League of Evil. Ten winning submissions have been added to the DVD release.
Recording locations The songs were recorded in a small studio set up in Joss Whedon's loft. Dr. Horrible was shot in Los Angeles, with five locations on one soundstage, and one day of filming at the Universal Studios backlot street set, including the scenes of the van heist, and the giant Dr. Horrible crushing people beneath his feet. Dr. Horrible's home, used for blogging scenes as well as the final party scene, is the house featured in the "Mad Scientist House" episode of Monster House.
Distribution Whedon has said that the plan was to find a venue for the series that would enable it to earn its money back and pay the crew. This plan was to release the show onto the Internet, with an iTunes release to follow. If the Internet and iTunes releases were successful enough, Whedon planned to greenlight an official DVD, which would include some "amazing extras".
The musical's fansite launched in March 2008 (despite the official site containing nothing more than a poster at the time) and was the first place to publicly release the teaser trailer three months later on June 25, 2008.
Online