he has a PhD in horribleness

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To the three or four of you who haven’t seen Dr. Horrible yet: you must must must watch it. On the train to Berlin last week I watched it seven times in a row. Seven!

Now, I know that my love for Joss Whedon and my lesser, latent love for Neil Patrick Harris may make you think that I’m not exactly objective about Dr. Horrible. I understand where you’re coming from, and it may make you feel better to hear me say this: the plot of Dr. Horrible is pretty uneven, and the end of act III left me a little cold. I tried to be as upset about what happened as they seemed to want me to be, but I couldn’t. But here’s a list of things that totally made up for it:

1. I can’t imagine the songs being any better. The first song from act II has been in my head since I first heard it.

2. I can’t imagine the acting/singing being any better. Nathan Fillion’s handsome-superhero face is hilarious, and Neil Patrick Harris is a surprisingly good singer. I’d only seen Felicia Day on Buffy briefly, but I liked her, too.

3. The dialogue is of course brilliant.

4. Joss Whedon’s half-brother Jed co-wrote Dr. Horrible and did some of the songs. Jed Whedon is in a band called the Southland; their last (only?) album had some good songs and some fair-to-middlin’ songs. You should listen to the good ones.

8 thoughts on “he has a PhD in horribleness”

  1. Oh Jetlag..

    Neil Patrick Harris has been on Broadway in Assassins and sang in the lead role for RENT in LA and has also been in Cabaret and Sweeney Todd.

    Just FYI..

  2. On that same train ride I took a break from Dr. Horrible to listen to an old Fresh Air interview with NPH, and they played a clip of him singing “Not While I’m Around” or whatever it’s called from Sweeney Todd. I guess I knew he was in Rent, but I forgot. Anyway, a lot of Neil Patrick Harris-related stuff happened while you were asleep on that train ride.

    DID YOU WATCH IT YET?

  3. I’m definitely going to have to check this out. As soon as I get home. (No speakers at work.) I loved Buffy and the musical episode they did. Which reminds me, I need to go buy more seasons on DVD…

  4. Not yet, I have to do that, I guess I will tomorrow morning when it is 3am and I am lying wide awake with nothing to do. (like today).

  5. I like Dr. Horrible better than the Buffy musical, but not better than Buffy overall. Here is the hierarchy:

    Buffy
    Dr. Horrible
    Once More With Feeling
    that Angel episode where he’s a puppet
    Angel

    I have not become properly obsessed with Firefly or any of the comics, so where those fall remains to be seen.

  7. ah, my Joss spectrum is as follows:

    Firefly
    Dr. Horrible
    Once More With Feeling
    Buffy (excluding large chunks of season 4 and much of season 5)
    Angel puppet episode
    Serenity
    Angel
    those large chunks of season 4 and 5 of Buffy

    I like the comics, but haven’t read them enough to put them in the hierarchy yet.

    I’ve made multiple people download and watch Dr. Horrible as well.
    Huzzah for nerdiness!

  8. I haven’t read any of the comics or seen Firefly, either. I was thinking about getting into the comics, but I’m not sure if it’ll be good enough for me. Sigh.

    I’m not really interested in Firefly.

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