"This must be what pain feels like!"

Warning, possible spoiler. I won't know until I've ruined it, however, so be aware..

Or something to that effect.

I tell you, I have always liked Joss Whedon's work. His Firefly series is the best thing that you have not seen. Really. Staggeringly awesome. Of course I did not see Firefly when it came out on TV, which seems to have been the problem, really. I discovered it on DVD. Of course, it was Joss Whedon's work so I really had to pick it up. I heard about Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog long after everyone else did, apparently. I know that it is sneakily heading to a pay site before too long, possibly tonight, so I wanted to see it before it became prohibitively expensive. Like $1.50.

So, I packed up the ol' roommate, a can of ravioli, some external speakers for the computer, and headed down to school, where there is always a piping hot Internet connection waiting for me.

I had mixed feelings, honestly. It starred Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer and some chick as Penny. Seriously, she was so uninteresting that I found it hard to believe that two characters would fight over her. And that's the point, really. Dr. Horrible meets Penny at a laundromat but is totally shy. During one of Dr. Horrible's capers, Captain Hammer saves Penny's life and they start dating. We are meant to believe that while Captian Hammer usually loves 'em and leaves 'em, he sticks with Penny just to torture his nemesis. This gives Dr. Horrible the get-up-and-go he needs to commit the murder that will get him into the League of Evil, or something to that effect. Also there is a lot of singing.

I'll say it. Nathan Fillion was fantastic as Captain Douchebag. So, so funny as the slightly greasy ham. Also, he seems much taller when he is standing next to Doogie Howser than when he is standing next to Adam Baldwin. I would say watch the show for Fillion's performance. Seriously, I could give a flying hoo-ha about Dr. Horrible. Captain Hammer is the interesting character (if it hadn't ended in the particular way that it did, I would say there was a series in that character). Also, I encourage you to support this direct-to-the-web format. People have been speculating that Hollywood stories would eventually migrate to the web for their first run, and I think that this sucker is a good first step in that direction. This project came out of last year's writer's strike. Before content like this becomes available as a matter of course it needs to be profitable. Ignore for the moment that I did not pay to see it.

Look for appearances by David "They Got the Mustard Out, and I Have a Puppet's Hand Jammed in My Asshole" Fury and Marti "I don't remember the part she sang in Once More With Feeling but I think she may have been getting a parking ticket" Noxon.

HJ