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Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" Web Series - A hit on the Internet, but can DVD do the same ?

Monday 21 July 2008, by Webmaster

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is certainly not a blog, but it is most definitely a server-busting web hit.

The big question is what comes next for this musical superhero web series. Now available online in its entirety at drhorrible.com – until the end of today, so go if you haven’t seen it – this three-part web series is the brainchild of Joss Whedon and stars Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion as the titular supervillain and his arch-nemesis, Captain Hammer, respectively. Oh, and it’s a musical.

The web series debuted last Tuesday and the response was so great the servers started melting as if Superman himself gave them a blast of his heat vision.

"It was nuts. We underestimated how many people would be watching," says Joss’s brother Zack Whedon, who helped write the series. They’ve since upgraded their server, and fans have been flocking to the 40-minute tale. In the end it’s a love triangle involving a well-meaning Penny (Felicia Day), a nebbish supervillain (Harris) and the pompous hero who keeps foiling/beating him up, Captain Hammer (Fillion).

Make no mistake, this isn’t your usual YouTube-quality video.

"Initially when Joss said he wanted to do this thing, we were like, oh great, we’ve got a buddy with a video camera that’s pretty nice. And he was like, `Yeah, I think we might be slightly higher scale than that’," Zack Whedon says.

Fillion, the Albertan who starred in Whedon’s Firefly, also didn’t need much convincing to join.

"You know, it’s always a great thing when a director looks at you and says, `Even cheesier,’" Fillion says of the experience. "It’s like I’d say, if I have to give you a 60-per cent cheese factor, what would you like to see? `87 per cent!’ No problem, I can do it."

Fillion also says singing didn’t frighten him: "I can carry a tune in a bucket. I was a karaoke host back in Edmonton, Alta. It was one of my part-time jobs working my way through university."

Fillion, the rest of the cast and the creators are heading to the San Diego Comic-Con next week, and while there’s no release date for the DVD yet, the plan is to create an elaborate set of extras, including a musical commentary track. Monetizing web video is something that many people have been trying to crack – many without much luck. But Dr. Horrible could be different because of the big names involved. Of course, according to Zack Whedon, whatever happens next is gravy.

"This wasn’t ever really about money, it was about doing something with complete creative freedom," he says.