“Dr. Horrible's
Sing-Along Blog,” conceived by “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” creator Joss
Whedon, has become a sensation on the internet since its release Tuesday.
The musical miniseries is supposed to have three parts, and
the heavy traffic crashed the server for the free-view website when the first
part was posted. The iTunes downloadable version also became, at the price of
$1, 99, the No.1 video. The show creators said the site was getting 200,000
hits per hour, at its best, and then it crashed when 1,000 people tried to
access it in one second.
Whedon co-wrote the Internet musical with actress Maurissa
Tancharoen, his brother Zack Whedon and half-brother Jed Whedon. Joss Whedon is
famous among the film writers in Hollywood, as he contributed to the success of
several TV hits besides “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” such as “Angel” or the
upcoming Fox series “Dollhouse.”
The musical series’ main character is played by Neil Patrick
Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”), who is a wannabe mad and evil scientist, who
can’t manage to be neither mad nor evil. Dr. Horrible is very frustrated
because he can’t achieve world domination and enter the “Evil League of Evil.”
In vain does he practice maniacal laughing with his vocal coach…It seems that
he is simply not good at doing evil. And maybe the fact that he’s a good singer
doesn’t help him too much…Neither does his love for a girl at the local laundromat.
However, Dr. Horrible doesn’t give up easily, so he keeps
trying to conquer the world, as well as the heart of his beloved
laundromat-girl, while also stopping from time to time to sing funny songs.
“I love singing and combining that with portraying a rather
heinous character,” says Harris, as quoted by USA Today.
The second part of the successful musical was posted on www.drhorrible.com Thursday and the final
episode will appear Sunday. All the three segments will be available for free
on the site until Sunday, and then only available via iTunes. A DVD with extras
is also being prepared.
Whedon, who funded the project with his own money, said he
hoped to use the money from iTunes and DVD sales to pay the cast and crew.
