3 Reasons "Dr Horrible" Isn't Horrible

[slumber]

Who'd have thought internet-related work would actually reduce my personal time on the internet? I haven't touched this thing for nearly a month, eurgh. (I have been reading posts, so I am all caught up and stuff.)

Anyhoo, by now I'm sure at least half of you are aware of Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. If you aren't, here's a bit of background.

Now, reaction to the series started out strongly positive (minus a few cries of "O-ver-RA-ted!", which we all expected anyway) but it has dwindled into discontent once the third installment came out. Understandably. The story veered into a totally different, yet apparently Whedonesque direction.

I still love it, though. And it isn't just Neil Patrick Harris, it's also-- gosh, so many things.

1. Penny remains untarnished. Okay, confession: I dislike Penny. While a friend wanted her to turn into a villain (with Dr Horrible, I presume), I don't think she could have turned into anything more than mush. Act III more or less preserves her as the do-gooder, and let's be honest here: there's not much more that can be done with a character like that. Her image as a beacon of goodness remains, without the annoyance of actually having her in the scene. (Captain Hammer's annoying enough, but at least he's incredibly flawed, which at least makes him interesting.) Penny's role and purpose has been served, which leads us to the second reason:
   
   
2. This series becomes backstory. People may have been viewing it as the whole arc beginning to end, but. It's just the beginning. There's a bigger story, and it doesn't end with Act III. I personally find that exciting, because when we see Dr Horrible next, he'll probably be different, but we know deep down he's not really like that, and we'll be rooting for his redemption. I will, at least. PLUS:
   
   
3. The stakes get higher. It's easy to make comedy out of a "low-rent supervillain", but the brand of Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is humor (look at the friggin' title!), and Act III's tone doesn't take away from that. We'll continue to see the subsequent productions as comedy, though they may be a bit dark, and I think Whedon can pull that off.

The way I see it, this isn't the end of Dr Horrible. Whedon came into it looking to circumvent the issues that plagued the WGA Writer's Strike, and you know what, I think he found a way to do it. I wouldn't be surprised (and right now I wouldn't begrudge him) if he milked this for all it was worth.

Here's what I think is coming out of Dr Horrible:

• DVD with a lot of extras, including a commentary in song
  
• an official soundtrack
  
• a comic book about Captain Hammer

Here's what I'd love to see:

• a full-length Broadway production (he sounded like he was joking, but...)
  
• more webisodes
  
• a movie
  
• a TV series (my vote's with this one, but I think Whedon should keep it an iTunes exclusive. How friggin' awesome would that be?)

And with all that they left hanging, with everything they hardly expounded on (see the list of villains credited at the Evil League of Evil), how could they not expand this?

PS. I haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, won't see it til ccharlotte comes up here this weekend, so I'm avoiding those LJ entries. Can't wait though!