Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog / Its full title is Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and it’s an Internet phenomenon. Born during the TV/movie writers’ protracted strike in 2008, in which both media were shut down with no production happening, this anomaly debuted as a free-streaming miniseries. It soon became a kind of stealth sensation (at first) with download overload, and is fast becoming a staple for high school productions. Plus, it now has its own action figures.

From obscure origins (by commercial standards), it is now mainstream (read: money-making) with a brand spanking new DVD release. This DVD, with printed accolades on its cover from TV Guide, the American Film Institute, TIME and the Washington Post, contains the original three-part 42-minute film and 90 minutes of extras. Since legal regulation always lags behind new media a bit, industry figures were free to produce material for as-yet-unregulated conduits of communication.

So, deep-pockets TV impresario Joss Whedon (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) went into action, gathered actors, composers (including three Whedon brothers) and tech people. Using locations including the Universal Studio backlot, green-screen, and its own specially built sets, Whedon proceeded to “create” The Blog, which is billed, rather grandiosely, a “sci-fi musical romp.”

It’s the kind of production that looks like a lot of fun to do, and the fact that it perhaps unexpectedly caught on with a rerun-weary television audience is the way new media has always worked–with a little money, end-run production, luck and timing.

Writer-director Whedon collected an acting troupe, featuring Neil Patrick Harris, whose singing chops were revealed in Broadway’s Cabaret, Nathan Fillion, from Whedon’s Firefly, and Felicia Day, who had a recurring role on Buffy, plus assorted characters and relatives for supporting work. A pastiche-script was assembled, a tech crew arrived (all professionals) and shooting began. What emerged was a sometimes charming, sometimes funny, sometimes engaging recognizable plot.

If the Internet venue was new (TIME called this Blog one of the best inventions of 2008), the content was not. “We enter the future looking into a rear-view mirror,” wrote futurist Marshall McCluhan, and certainly that’s so here. The story is made up from bits and pieces from other stories, both TV and movie staples. The songs, mostly by the Whedons, seem to be heavily influenced by Sweeney Todd’s lesser songs, the centuries-old diseur/diseuse (talk-singing) tradition. Nonetheless, two of the tunes have become bona fide hits, those being “My Freeze Ray” and “My Eyes.”

So, now for the uninitiated, here’s the story. Dr. Horrible, a fledgling villain (Harris) who yearns to be included in the “Evil League of Evil,” has a distraction: he has a sweet crush on a girl from his laundromat. And he has an arch-nemesis, Captain Hammer (Fillion), a hunk who wishes to pulverize Dr. Horrible. Our hero/villain needs to impress the gal Penny (Day) and somehow best Hammer, but how is he to do it? You’ll learn in odd detail if you watch this production, which is now on video-emporium shelves and selling well (we’re told).

Filled with retro-sci-fi tropes, toe-tapping derivative songs, and a few post-modern effects, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog has a resonance for its (mostly young) audience, using the innovative to embrace the familiar. Should you see this “new media” experience? Not necessarily. Should you be aware of what it is and how it happened? Very definitely maybe.

Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog: Act 1, Part 1

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