drhorrible.com

Joss Whedon has created a new universe. Sure, there's the Buffyverse where all things go bump in the night fester with spiked tooth and insatiable bloodlust. This new world features heroes, villains, adorable girls and songs; lots and lots of songs. This is usual fair for Whedon, whose musical episode of Buffy revolutionized television, sparked numerous copycats, vindicated fans and captured new ones. Not bad for an episode with a number entitled, "They Got the Mustard Out."




Dr. Horrible - the full title is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - follows the not-so-villainous exploits of Billy / Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother) in a daily vid blog explicating his newest inventions, frustrations with his arch-nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion, Firefly), swooning over his heart's desire, Penny (Felicia Day, Windfall), and devising plans of horribleness so the Evil League of Evil take notice.



Concocted by Joss while on the picket lines during the Hollywood writer's strike, Whedon enlisted the help of his brothers, Jed and Zack, and phoned in every favour still owed him, generating a mere six figure production cost. The sets look like sets, however, and test tubes containing neon-coloured liquids coiling over Bunsen burners channel the '60s Batman series, but that's what the gang was going for. It all fits the bill.




It's the strength of Whedon's writing and, ultimately, his love for his characters - his creations - and, well, finding a sadistic pleasure in their ceaseless melancholy, which enthralls fans and produces such mesmerizing television. Studios must have taken notice of the numbers - both cost and viewers (there were so many, their server crashed) - and begs the big question: Is a video blog, streaming on a personal / network website, the future of TV? Is the internet the final word in home media? Whether or not, Dr. Horrible has become such a hit, there are talks of a DVD release, a sequel and even Broadway.



And here I thought Whedon was riding on his monster return to the Buffyverse with his incredibly popular and critically acclaimed comic book visions of Buffy Season 8 and Angel Season 6. Oh, how I was wrong. Look out for Dollhouse featuring a former Slayer, Eliza Dushku (Tru Calling), premiering in January which should have all the familiar accoutrement associated with the originator of Joss-Speak. That’s the future, as it stands right now, the Doctor is in.

THE TV GUYDE