::A Geek in Korea::

The “It” thing on the Internet at the moment is Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It’s a web musical about a super villian’s video blog, his attempt to woo a crush, and the dickish superhero that swoops in, steals the girl, and ruins his supervilliany at every turn. I had heard about Dr. Horrible from a Browncoat that follows me on Twitter. This would be one of the few times Twitter actually provided me with anything useful.

Dr. Horrible is freaking awesome. The songs, the acting, the story. Everything. After going to see Mamma Mia and Spamalot in the West End of London, I’m fine with seeing a good musical. It’s not an attack on someone’s masculinity to watch people singing during a show. People go to rock concerts, but that’s okay? I don’t get that distinction any more. I think the general problem with musicals is this: Bad musicals suck ten times worse than any other medium ever invented, and there are TONS of bad musicals. A great musical can provide you with lots of great songs to whistle, and they are a lot of fun to watch. It must be my willingness to suspend my disbelief more now that when I was a cynical college age kid, but I totally dig Dr. Horrible. Kudos for Joss Whedon for making it on par with the legendary Buffy episode “Once more, with feeling“.

By now, the content has been removed from the website, and the only way to see it is via iTunes. For $4, this is entirely worth the price of admission. The storyline is great. It hits all the right buttons for me as a Buffy/Angel fan, and I think the way they played out the three episodes to get people hooked during the week to build buzz was brilliant marketing. Too bad the show will be off the Internet before non-techies really get to appreciate it.

The idea of somewhat big name stars, somewhat big name writers, and low budget Internet only web episodes is something I am very interested in. Felicia Day, the love interest in Dr. Horrible is ahead of the trend by releasing “The Guild” on Youtube. She’s going to gain exposure and lots more attention now as a web star than a lot of other actresses would starring in a minor roll in a drama like Buffy and other television shows.

I’d like to see this trend continue. I know this is mainly a result of television strikes happering the work of writers and actors being available at an odd time, but I’d love to see more creative risks taken on the Web like this. Anything more original and creative is good by me.