The TVZ crew is proud to be nominated in our first year of podcasting for such an award. As the official site describes it:

This was a nice way to cap our first year of podcasting. If you attend Dragon*Con this year, we can always use a cheering section. Finally, thank you to our anonymous listener who nominated us in the first place. It’s our loyal listeners that make the show so much fun for us every week.

Some of these internet-exclusive shows exist as their own entity, others seem to exist to keep an audience interested in the show’s “brand” and still others operate as an alternate reality game (ARG) to build a loyal fanbase.

EXISTING ON THEIR OWN

Lonelygirl15:
My favorite guilty pleasure is lonelygirl15, a Youtube-exclusive ongoing sci-fi soap opera. The series just wrapped its third season. You can view all the episodes here on their official site. It deals with a small cast of teenagers who post video blogs about their lives and adventures combating The Order. The show’s hook is that it’s all taped by the actual cast, so everything is from a first person narrative structure. The show originally followed Bree, a home-schooled girl and her best friend Daniel. Eventually you learn that her parents’ religion, The Hymn of One, is a front for The Order, which selects girls who are “trait positive” to extend their own lives. Bree died at the end of season one, and her crew of friends, most prominently featuring Jonas, spend their time alternately on the run or researching ways to expose their enemies. It’s absolutely a soap opera, but the show gives out its episodes roughly daily in 2 to 3 minute chunks. Easily digestible.

2009: A True Story:
A very new webisode series you may enjoy if you like lonelygirl is 2009: A True Story. It’s a series of v-logs by a teenage girl which posits that on April 11, 2008 America was attacked by terrorists and the world faced a horrible apocalypse. The remaining U.S. government turned the Patriot Act into a totalitarian advertising campaign and the days for free thinkers are numbered. The show seems to be just a limited series for now, but boasts good production values for a web-only show.

Gemini Division:
On August 18th, Rosario Dawson and Justin Hartley (Green Arrow on Smallville) will star in Gemini Division, a 50-episode webisode series that NBC is hosting. Dawson plays a NYC cop who investigates the death of her fiance only to uncover a global conspiracy involving artificially created humans.

KEEPING THE BRAND ALIVE

Heroes:
NBC commissioned a 3-part webisode series to keep interest alive in Heroes. Honestly, they’re horrible. It exists mainly to give the viewer a small (foul) taste of what’s to come in their upcoming third season, which will deal with a range of super-powered villains. None of the main characters appear and the production values are far, far lower than the regular tv show. Do yourself a favor and skip it. Or read my review if you are still curious.

The Office:
Last year the Office was one of the first big shows to create webisodes to help tide their fans over in the lean summer season. The episodes were based on the accountants and was pretty darn funny. This year they made a 4-parter based on just ONE of the accountants, Kevin, and in my opinion the results were greatly diminished. It was still funny, and part 4 had a great turn by Craig Robinson, who is always a highlight of any Office episode as Daryl, the warehouse manager. The tone was accurate, but it just didn’t build to anything to quite justify its existence. If you’re an Office fan, you would appreciate it, but I don’t think it could gain a new fan in and of itself. But that’s ok, I don’t think that was the point.

ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
This summer, Sarah Connor Chronicles was one of the few TV shows to create a series of ARG webisodes. If you visit the fiction company Enitech’s website, you can view the series of episodes. I don’t want to spoil where it goes, but the premise is that a company has developed a digital camera that can detect tachyons and see into the future, which fans of Terminator know does not look good.

FROM THE PAST

Look for last year’s Office episodes, the 10-part Battlestar Galactica webisodes that built up to their tv-movie Razor, and any Lost webisodes (which function as an ARG). Also, do yourself a favor and look up Yacht Rock over at Channel 101.

IN THE FUTURE

One big project that was announced back in mid-2007 was a set of 10 webisodes for FARSCAPE, produced by Sci-Fi Channel and starring the main cast, written by the creators of the show. No definitive timeline has been given, but the creators/producers have repeatedly confirmed that it will happen and the Sci-Fi Channel website has an official announcement saying the same. Chuck and Dollhouse are two current shows that will have a webisode component this year.

We learned that residents of Eureka create robotic dogs and enter them in an annual dog show. We also learned that General Dynamics’ computers don’t have typical processors, but rather logic diamonds as their core. And as is not uncommon in Eureka –- and what’s really one of the nicest elements of the show -– it was Sheriff Carter, with his average intelligence, who put the pieces together to solve the mystery and also brainstormed a solution to save the town. (It’s a little hokey, but I truly enjoy this premise -– that it’s usually our “everyman” Carter, rather than a genius, who figures things out.)

Plus the “big picture” storylines advanced nicely. Zipping right along with the Allison-Nathan wedding plot, in this episode she went shopping for a wedding dress. And we saw more sneakiness from Eva Thorne: she roped Henry into doing some secret radiation testing for her, and he got all excited (as scientists do) when he detected something highly strange and rare called bariogenic radiation. I noticed that Eva told Henry she would be bringing corporate R&D people to Eureka for the dog show; to whose benefit is that, I wonder?

I can make only a few gripes, and minor at that: Although the mystery unfolded throughout the hour, it wasn’t in such a way that the audience could participate in solving it (which is always a nice treat when watching a show). And I didn’t really feel the urgency or immediacy of the pending volcanic explosion: the energy didn’t spin up as the show progressed. It kept a consistent pace and tone –- which was on the whole enjoyable (including some funny and some sweet moments), so the complaint will not affect my bottom line, which is that this one’s a good one.

Reviewer rating: 4 out of 5 S.A.R.A.H.s

Specifically, I was invited to audition for America’s Favorite Game Show a couple of weeks ago. Here’s how it works: once a year, Jeopardy! does an online contestant test. They advertise it for a couple of weeks, and you register online, and at the appointed time on the appointed day (if memory serves, they run a test for each time zone; the one for the East Coast took place at 8:05 PM), you log on at the website, and you take a 50-question test. You’re given 10 seconds to so to answer each question, all of which are written in the traditional Jeopardy! format of an answer (”This podcast was recently nominated for a Saturn Award”). Thankfully, you’re not required to respond in the form of a question (on the actual show, you’d have to say “What is ‘Television Zombies’” but on the test you could simply write “Television Zombies” instead). When you finish the test, you select the city cloest to you from a list of cities that Jeopardy! will be doing auditions in. Then, you…wait. If you’re randomly selected from among the people who did well enough on the test to pass, you’re contacted.

As I was in late May. I was told to come to the St. Regis hotel in downtown Washington DC on Friday, August 1st, at 11:30 AM. I was instructed to bring with me a list of 5 “interesting facts” about myself, one of which (should I be selected for the show) Alex Trebek will talk about in the brief “get to know the contestant” segment of the show.

Of course, being an anal-retentive trivia nerd, I arrived at 10:15 AM. Of course, I wasn’t the first one there (or even the second!). At the appointed hour, we were greeted by Contestant Coordinator Maggie, who’s friendly, and loud, and has more energy than any other ten people you could name. She took Polaroid photos of each of us (there were 20 of us in that audition group), and gave us an application to fill out, which we all dutifully did. We were then ushered into the actual audition room, where Maggie and her helpers talked about the show, and what sort of people they were looking for, and generally tried to get us excited. We then took a written version of the 50-question qualifying test, which was graded on the spot (of course, they didn’t tell us how we did).

Then, we were brought up in groups of 3 to play a few minutes of a practice game of Jeopardy! using the actual buzzers and everything. We were interviewed using one of our interesting facts, and asked what we’d do with any money we might win if we got on the show. And that was it. We were told that we were all in the potential contestant pool, and that we could be called any time in the next 18 months to go out to Los Angeles and appear on the show.

So there you have it; an actual brush with almost-celebrity. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll get the call from Jeopardy! and get my chance to play. I’ll be sure to report back when (if) I hear.

According to IMDB, Chris Roland (the series co-creator) has written or helped write all the episodes thus far. The same source also says only 4 of the 9 episodes thus far have been written or directed by anyone but him, including the pilot. Why then was this the best of the episodes yet? I don’t know. I do know I feel like revisiting past recaps and lowering my ratings. I gave last week’s “Devotion” a 4 1/2 which means I’ll need to start rating from 1-10 because it’s only getting better.

We start with a recap of last week’s shooting at the Glass Door. 01 takes a bullet from a Vexcor hit man and disappears into his shower, moving to Gammaverse. (Remember, 01 moves between versus with the help of water.) He wakes up on a beach in Gamma, walks along till he finds a house and then enters the house, he’s covered in his own blood. Gamma is very vibrant and colorful, the house is a beautiful wooden number with lots of plants. 01 drags himself upstairs to where a woman is brushing her hair. She sees him, screams, he falls over.

In Betaverse, Charlie and Karl Lubinsky are in a discussion about how Charlie is tired of being in Beta and wants to go home. He starts putting things together about how Corbitt (Andrea Bridger’s hit man) and Krogg (Vex-Cor scientist) could be in Beta. He figures Vex-Cor has or had a machine that did all this. We switch to Julius Galt who is signing his approval for new plans for some Vex-Cor construction. Ren Porter and Julius then talk about finding Andrea Bridger, how someone helped her and killed her Vex-Cor monitor. They recognize that the person doesn’t exist in Beta so it must be someone from another company.

Charlie’s got his camera out and he and Karl are watching all the new Vex-Cor construction, except it’s not construction, it’s just a lot of digging. Back in Galt’s office, Ren shows Galt a photo of Karl Lubinsky, says he’s somehow involved and needs to be silenced. Ren also reads a Lubinsky article online about how a Vex-Cor reactor project was never approved by the Dept of Environment and that Vex-Cor changed its story. Charlie and Karl circle all the spots on a map where Vex-Cor is digging. The sites make a perfect circle - Vex-Cor is trying to rebuild its facility.

We quickly see Reena who is still with the dead Rosalie. She says, “You’re in a better place now.” Galt is overseeing construction and the project manager says they’re behind schedule but it’ll all be ok.

In Gamma, 01 is in bed, bandaged, and being cared for by a woman named Marley. He dreams of debauchery and in a creepy dream montage strips naked and begins kissing on Essa Rompkin while his dad watches. I’m not sure if Brion Boxer and Essa Rompkin are married or just sleeping together, but it’s all very Oedipal. The lady taking care of him has two young children, they all seem very worried about 01.

Ren catches CJ looking right into a CCTV camera. Apparently Cape Town is much like London with its Nanny-State security cameras on every street corner and of course all the typical action genre characters who can tap into that system.

Reena is now going through Rosalie’s house, eating food, trying on clothes to the tune of Dinah Washington’s “What a difference a day makes.” The phone rings, she doesn’t answer it. The music carries over to a delighted Julius Galt, celebrating 01’s death.

Karl receives a phone call from an apparent informant. He goes to leave and Charlie says he shouldn’t or at least Charlie should go with him, packing heat. Karl agrees to ignore the call and stay in. Charlie says he has to go check out these new sites and leaves Karl. We next see Charlie in a Vex-Cor jumper taping into phones. Karl has left and met this informant in the woods. It turns out to be Ren Porter. He knows Karl is working with Charlie, but he doesn’t know who Charlie really is. They threatened Karl with a flaming tire necklace and he eventually caves. Charlie gets into Vex-Cor, snoops around, ducks into a bathroom and overhears two idiots talk about the new board room and the new link up. Charlie goes up stairs to the new board room which is under construction. There are names taped to the floor and I get the impression they are the board members, but when watching it the first time, it was almost like the names were grave markers and the people named were possibly buried in the cement floor. I know it was odd to think that, but I can’t imagine someone building a board room and taping board member names to the floor before it’s all done. Anyway, CJ does some electrical work, probably taping more cameras or phone lines.

Reena is walking along, sees a Vex-Cor sign and gets upset. Upset enough to forget she’s wearing a dead woman’s clothes.

Back at Karl’s, Charlie helps Lubinsky clean a cut he got and they talk about how the information wasn’t what he thought it would be. He doesn’t tell Charlie anything. They talk about Vex-Cor a bit, Charlie takes Karl to Paula’s diner. Karl gives up a little about the meeting, but says he didn’t tell them anything. Charlie makes a poignant comment about the Greek myth of Cassandra, how Karl has always told the truth but no one has ever listened to him, he must be tired of always telling the truth. Karl excuses himself to the restroom. Two suits enter. Charlie tells Paula to get down. As soon as she does, the two suits open fire and Charlie returns it, killing both men. Karl returns from the washroom, sees Charlie and runs. He has given Charlie up. Shortly thereafter, a blond woman in a black SUV rolls up and tells Paula to forget she saw anything, then has some men remove the bodies.

01 is conscious and walking about, his wound is patched. He and this woman kiss, she calls him by name. He says he feels reborn. Something is going on here.

Reena digs a grave in Rosalie’s backyard, puts Rosalie in it and is nice enough to have flowers and moment of silence.

Karl is staggering drunk along the nighttime streets of Cape Town. Charlie catches up to him and Karl expects to be killed. He says they knew he was a coward and they broke him easily. Charlie says, “Everybody breaks.” Galt and Ren are watching the discussion via CCTV. Charlie says he has to disappear for a while, but thanks Karl for being his friend. Galt is now positive this guy is with another company.

In Gamma, 01 and Marley are walking along the beach. The kids run up from behind and shout “Daddy!” They’ve found butterflies, caught them in a jar. 01 let’s them go, tells the kids to be good to their world. The kids want to know if the butteflies will come back. 01 says, “Eventually, everyone comes back home.” Marley says don’t go back, but 01 says he has to. (Note, the show never said her name was Marley, I had to look at IMDB and found her name is Marley Boxer and the kids names are Sasha and Ripley Boxer. Technically, this means Brion has grand kids. I wonder if he knows?)

A drunken Karl is awakened in his house by Ren Porter lighting a match. Ren says it’s funny how much Karl helped them in one day after spending 30 years trying to hurt them. (I may have the years wrong, seemed like a long time.) Ren then gives Karl a stack of rand, Vex-Cor rewards their friends.

At Paula’s diner, Charlie tells Paula he has to disappear for a while. She surprises him (and me) by saying, “How about forever?” She’s not really happy with this guy who never talks about himself being involved in nefarious activities. She had to lie to the police about what happened. He agrees without much fight and leaves.

The last scene is an HR coordinator at Vex-Cor hiring “Rosalie.” Reena says when asked that her best trait is that she is “determined.” Big smile, fade to white.

So let’s recap.

Vex-Cor is building a CERN like facility under Cape-Town. Karl sold Charlie out to Vex-Cor to save his own skin. 01 has a wife and family in Gamma. Galt thinks Charlie is working with another company.

What I noticed in this episode is the amount of time in between scenes. 01’s recovery may have taken days. Reena could have spent days in Rosalie’s house before venturing back out to eat ice cream and look for jobs. It’s never been an issue with me how much time passes, I just found it interesting enough to point out that Charlie Jade was never big on being very linear, more they tend to plug scenes in as they help the plot move. This episode also moved quickly and efficiently. The editing is getting cleaner, the cinematography (televatography?) is relying less and less on tricks and focusing more on letting the actors inject the emotion into the scenes. Everything this time around seemed cleaner, shinier, almost higher resolution - like your home after a good spring cleaning. It’s the same places, same people, but they seemed sharper.

And two surprises at once. Karl, after all his dogged intrepid reporter days, is a coward who’d sell out his friends in a heartbeat. Truth be told, if I was threatened with a tire necklace, I think I’d cave too. I’m not a super soldier. I’m sad about it, but his character acted human. The other surprise was 01’s continued character depth. I mentioned earlier his conversation in a previous episode with an older man in Gamma and how he seemed like he was a different person. Turns out I was more right than I thought and this new personae throws everything about him into question. He may have been created/fathered by Brion Boxer, but where does his heart lie? It also ties him more to Reena - both want to see Gamma saved and both are willing to do whatever they can to do it.

Meanwhile Charlie just wants to get home. If he needs them, I’ll give him and this episode 4 1/2 blue stones.

Download audio file (tvz52.mp3)

Click here to download the episode.

Here are the things to comment on: (1) characterization and (2) advancement of big-picture storylines.

Characterization: In this episode, characters were used well. Jack’s friendship with Henry was nicely highlighted. Jack and Allison were uncomfortable in close proximity, and Allison and Nathan were a committed couple. Fargo and Vincent made a great pair, adding humorous intervals to the sheriff’s investigation. Deputy Jo Lupo had a nice little cameo. Eva Thorne was snarky but also smart.

Ultimately, the crisis of the week was a throwaway (forgettable snake man and a sort of dumb first-love teen sidebar), which is regrettable but not an obstacle to enjoying the show, because the characters were so well played. A real strength of this episode.

Big Picture Developments: Eva Thorne has not only pardoned Henry Deacon and returned him to town (yay, because I love actor Joe Morton), but also uncovered some sort of top-secret government film footage from 1938 that looks like mushroom clouds over Eureka. Interesting! The town history posted on the Sci Fi website describes Eureka being conceived and created by Harry Truman and Albert Einstein after World War II, so perhaps Thorne is onto a bigger, darker secret of Eureka’s pre-history…

The episode also unveiled the new consumer research products lab at General Dynamics, where “research meets commerce,” according to Thorne. This is interesting; and I haven’t yet assessed the product placement (Degree deodorant) because I think it might warrant its own post/analysis at a future time – once we see how this plays out. The show is not at all subtle with this experiment: not only commercials but also a segment on the show claimed Degree was “made in Eureka,” and the Degree logo stares at us from box labels and lab coats at General Dynamics … from a quick poke into fan blogs, I can see that this has highly irritated many fans, but I’m willing to wait and see what they do with it. I appreciate that they’re trying something different with show sponsors and product placement — to me, the self-aware way this has been executed fits into the show’s overall playful tone (but I would agree with the complainers that there needs to be a limit).

Reviewer rating: 3 out of 5 S.A.R.A.H.s

But no one ever bit for some reason. Anyway, here were are years later and the trailer that the team put together has finally shown up online. Enjoy it while you can!

Joss Whedon is possibly the most beloved television creator/producer/writer of our time. It’s obvious that I have a man-crush on him. I even met him once at a comic shop while he was perusing for stuff. Coincidentally, I got him to sign a copy of my Astonishing X-Men, but I totally forgot to get something for my mother who is also a huge, huge fan. She was peeved. Why do I mention this? Basically I wish to acknowledge my bias when going into see anything new he creates. However, trust me when I say I’ve removed myself from that bias as much as possible to review this stellar piece of entertainment for you all. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading now and do so, even if you’re not a fan of Joss. This review is full of omgspoilerz. And if you wish to know more, check out my preview here.

Act I introduces us to Doctor Horrible, the doctor with a PHD in Horribleness. He is dressed in a white Frankenstein outfit with engineer goggles above his brow. He’s sitting in front of the camera doing a video blog, taking emails, and reviewing recent events in his life. He receives an email inquiring about a woman that Dr. Horrible vaguely references on occasion. Then the real show starts. We get our first song in a laundromat, which introduces Dr. Horrible’s love interest and obsession, Penny. She’s seems nice and is very girl-next-door pretty.

Dr. Horrible’s buddy, Moist (known for his overactive sweat glands), interrupts the song with real mail. Dr. Horrible has received a letter from Bad Horse, the leader of the Evil League of Evil (read by song through his cowboy henchmen). Dr. Horrible’s entry into the E.L.E is pending and he must prove himself. So starts his next diabolical scheme - a Wonderflonium heist. Wonderflonium is the final resource for his Freeze Ray.

The heist begins with Dr. Horrible - dressed as his secret identity, Billy - tossing a device onto the van which will soon carry the Wonderflonium. Quickly, he’s interrupted by Penny, who’s on the street getting signatures for a building for the homeless. Perfect timing for the Doctor, this being his first interaction with Penny, but in the middle of a very important heist. The whole interaction is pretty funny as he tries to act cool, but at the same time, he’s completely preoccupied. In the end, he signs, and she goes away. Which means it’s time to change costumes and get down to business.

As Doctor Horrible is remotely controlling the van with the Wonderflonium inside, Captain Hammer comes to save the day (and take over the song about what a man’s gotta do). Hammer damages the device and hops off the van, but in the process puts everyone in danger, as it does not stop the van, but rather makes it uncontrollable. This is when you get a taste of what kind of skeeze Captain Hammer is, as he’s more preoccupied with looking the hero and reaping benefits than being the hero.

The van continues to barrell down the streets. Penny is in its path. Dr. Horrible is freaking out trying to stop it with his remote. Suddenly, Captain Hammer jumps out of the middle of nowhere, pushes Penny into a bunch of garbage, and waits for the van, arms extended. Dr. Horrible’s device regains enough function to stop it at the last second. Captain Hammer obviously takes credit for it all, and it works on Penny like a charm. Dr. Horrible can’t believe his eyes or ears, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. So, he takes the Wonderflonium and labels the entire situation, “BALLS.”

The world is a mess, and I just… need to rule it.

Act II jumps right into the lamentation of Dr. Horrible as he follows Penny and Captain Hammer around on a date without their knowledge. It’s pretty creepy, but you get a sense of the very shallow and cliche experiences these two characters are having, even if Penny seems to be deluding herself with stars in her eyes. It’s obvious that Dr. Hammer is in it as a conquest.

Back at the laundromat, Billy hangs out with Penny. They share some frozen yogurt. He finds out that Penny is going to continue seeing Captain Hammer. This crushes him.

Sometimes there’s a third, even deeper level, and that one is the same as the top surface one… like with pie!

Cut to later, and Dr. H is doing another blog. There’s a major question about his blog. Why has he not been arrested, if his face, motives, and plans are plastered on the internet? We get a bit of the answer. The police and superheroes do watch his blog and foil his plans. However, in this universe it seems that heroes and villains aren’t like normal people at all and the law only works on a physical sense, instead of a social/financial/political sense that you’d get in our world. It also seems that in order to hide your secret identity, all you have to do is put on a pair of goggles. Dr. Horrible’s plans to use the Freeze Ray on the Mayor are averted and Bad Horse changes the guidelines for successful entry into the E.L.E. Now he must kill.

At the Laundromat again, Billy discusses his dilemma (in the vaguest way) with Penny over frozen yogurt. Billy beats himself up, and Penny comes back with a song to lift his spirits. We get our first intimate moment between the two, but it’s far from close, as the subject quickly turns to Captain Hammer and how he’s probably going to stop by the laundromat.

Oh. Goodness. Look at my wrist. I gotta go.

Billy tries desperately to drop everything and leave, but fails on his way out the door. Captain Hammer has arrived. Penny introduces the two and Hammer seems oblivious to Billy as he tells Penny that the homeless will get a new home. Thanks to him, of course. Penny’s delighted and steps aside to take care of her laundry. Hammer recognizes Dr. Horrible and things turn awkward. Dr. Horrible’s crush is evident, which spurs Captain Hammer to take what Horrible wants, but not without a half dozen sexual innuendos.

The Hammer is my penis.

Dr. Horrible recollects everything terrible Captain Hammer has done to him. Now, Hammer wishes to take Penny away from him? Everything is clear and Dr. Horrible is entering a brand new day. Captain Hammer must die.

Act III starts with Dr. Horrible working in his lab. We get to see what the public thinks about Captain Hammer. They all love him of course and are looking forward to the press conference about the Hammer sponsored homeless shelter. We’re introduced to a group of fans, two females and one very effeminate male, who are really funny and creepily in love with Captain Hammer. Finally, we see Dr. Horrible change his Stun Ray into a Death Ray, via a piece of tape.

At the press event, Captain Hammer is being his usually douchy self, as he is overly-praised for helping the homeless. Somehow it always comes back to him. There’s even a statue made of him waiting to be revealed. He starts a pseudo condescending, but totally silly, diatribe that leads into a song about being a hero. Penny can’t handle it and slips off the stage. Near his climactic finish, Dr. Horrible unveils himself from where the statue was to be, freezes Captain Hammer with his Freeze Ray, and laughs in one of the best villainous laughs in the history of the small screen.

Horrible sings about Hammer’s and society’s visage slipping, and he’s here to push it just a little more. He wants change, not only of the status quo, but he wishes to reap shallow rewards like most villains - money, fame, and women… or his his case, one woman. So, he pulls out his Death Ray and shoots wildly at the ceiling, frightening the people away and making his way towards Captain Hammer. Face to face, Horrible is about to pull the trigger, but his Freeze Ray shuts down unexpectedly. Of course, Hammer wakes and punches Dr. Horrible so hard that he drops and damages his Death Ray. Then, Hammer finishes the last word of his song before he was frozen (which is a really funny touch that I didn’t understand up till the third viewing). He picks up the Death Ray and heads over to the injured Dr. Horrible and aims. Horrible tries to warn Hammer about the now damaged and malfunctioning Death Ray, but it’s too late. He pulls the trigger and it explodes in his face sending shrapnel everywhere.

Captain Hammer is squirming on the ground, crying for his mommy, but visibly unharmed with no scratches, even on his clothes. He gets up and runs away like a 5 year old that just fell out of a tree, crying more out of embarrassment and feeling pain for the first time, than actually being mortally wounded. Dr. Horrible is also untouched. He picks himself off the ground and takes in his newly found victory. But it is quickly lost as he finds Penny lying on the ground against the wall. She has shrapnel in her chest and is on the verge of death. Horrible runs to her. Nearly weeping, he doesn’t know what to do. She recognizes him as Billy and in her dying breath tells him not to worry, because “Captain Hammer will save us.” Horrible places Penny’s body on a stretcher.

Dr. Horrible has accomplished his goal. He has defeated Captain Hammer, but not without great sacrifice. Penny’s death is seen as his fault, but to Dr. Horrible’s gain he’s allowed into the Evil League of Evil. We see his birth as a true supervillain. There’s a montage of newspapers condemning him; a bank robbery with bored, sad Dr. Horrible and fumbling Moist; Captain Hammer is in therapy, while his old fans are now Horrible’s fans; people greet and congratulate Dr. Horrible at a party in his laboratory. Finally a meeting with the Evil League of Evil. He dresses himself in a blood red version of his old costume. Doors open and we get our first look at the League and the leader, Bad Horse, who is an actual horse. The show ends with a shot of Billy looking in the camera, all alone, somberly stating “I won’t feel… a thing.” The End.

Whedon’s story is a comedic tragedy. It resonates with humor throughout, but is ultimately sad in the end. There is a tonal shift from the first two acts to the last one, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. If you compare this to other things he’s done, Whedon has a tendency to set many of his stories up exactly like this. Also, it’s not as if it’s all sunshine in the first two acts. The beginning of Act 2 is very dark, even if it becomes light very shortly afterwards.

Neil Patrick Harris makes this project shine. I’ve always liked him. I thought he was neat on Starship Troopers, and he is pretty much the only reason I ever watch How I Met Your Mother. His role in this, however, has solidified him as one of my favorite comedic actors and it’s quite surprising how nuanced and subtle he can be.

I’m not a big fan of Felicia Day’s singing voice. Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s a fine actress and absolutely adorable, but her voice is a bit too weak in areas, even for her sweet, gentle character.

Nathan Fillion is perfect in his role as the corporate tool, Captain Hammer. He brings a certain Mal cockiness and magnifies it 100%. The only thing I wish is that his song in the third act had been cut in half.

The music in this is fantastic. It’s very catchy and there’s a great variety of different styles with inclusion of many instruments. The more you listen to it, the better it gets. The great thing about each act is that they always conclude with the best song for their act and each act, I feel, gets progressively better leading to the climactic song (and my personal favorite).

My favorite part of this three act show is that while it may be the birth of a true supervillain, it’s more tragic, more touching, and more relatable than nearly all superhero origins. While Dr. Horrible is technically a villain, he’s far more heroic than Captain Hammer. He may have his priorities out of whack on occasion, but no hero is ever perfect.

A question I keep hearing is, “Do we need any more episodes following Dr. Horrible?” Well, no. I don’t think we technically need it, but do I want it? Yes, but this is definitely a project that is whole and unto itself. There’s no need to elaborate or bleed the stone dry, but if Joss can find a way to entertain us with these characters again without it seeming repetitive or trite, then count me in. I mean, how cool would it be to see Bad Horse in action?

If you haven’t seen it all yet and you can’t wait for a physical copy, I’d definitely recommend getting the “Season Pass” on iTunes and save yourself a couple bucks in the process. Please don’t pirate this, lest ye wish to hear the terrifying whinny of the Thorough Bred of Sin.