Isn’t Life Strange?

Thanks again to my friend Dave, who has shocked the blogosphere by posting not one, but TWO blog entries over the past weekend, I caught the free showings of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog before it was pulled from the net late last night. 

The forty-minute musical is a creation of Joss Whedon, creator of television hits Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, as well as one of my favorite (but unfortunately canceled) television series, Firefly.  Conceived during the recent writers strike in Hollywood, Dr. Horrible is a fine example of what can be done with little money - and some good connections. 

The story is about an aspiring supervillain played by Neal Patrick Harris, who runs a video blog on which he relates his struggles and aspirations to his audience.  He wants to achieve greatness and recognition by his supervillain peers, as well as capture the heart of a woman he encounters in a laundromat.  But he meets resistance and interference from Captain Hammer, a superhero played to campy greatness by Nathan Fillion. 

I could go into detail about how much I liked everything about this show.  I’ll just say it was so thoroughly enjoyable that I watched it twice yesterday.  The musical numbers were well executed and the songs were masterfully written.  Harris was particularly good in his role as Dr. Horrible. 

As of right now, the three "episodes" of Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog are at the top of the "Top TV Episodes" list on the iTunes Store and can be purchased for $3.99 as a set.  If you’re familiar with the work of Joss Whedon and have not yet seen this, I wholeheartedly recommend spending the four bucks to have a little fun and take a look at a very interesting experiment in entertainment. 

If you’re curious and would like to learn more, you can read the "master plan" in Whedon’s own words here.  You can also find several links to stories following the reaction to the project here.