Yeah, you read that right.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is the latest creation from Joss Whedon: hero to nerds everywhere. As CJS readers may or may not be aware, Whedon is the original screenplay writer of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, both the original movie and the TV series, of which he was also the executive producer. Whedon also produced Firefly, which I consider to be the greatest (albeit short lived) Sci-Fi television series of all time. Firefly was unfortunately abused by the FOX network and subsequently canceled presumably by the same geniuses who thought it prudent to similarly abuse and then cancel Family Guy in it’s prime. Whedon also co-wrote the screenplay for Toy Story, Alien Ressurection and several episodes of the TV series Roseanne in addition to creating and produced the Buffy spinoff Angel, and most recently has directed several episodes of the American version of The Office.

As far as I’m concerned, Whedon is one of the most talented creative minds in the entertainment business. Somehow managing to blend science fiction, humor, and humanity into a package that is entirely unique and somehow manages to never take itself too seriously. Whedon also has a knack for discovering and casting female actresses, and writing characters for them that is simply unbelievable.

Dr. Horrible was apparently created during the Hollywood Writer’s strike as some kind of brilliant scheme to stick it to the man, which I can always appreciate. Read the whole story here. The result is a cheaply produced, but brilliantly charming and funny three part web only series that started to hit the Internet yesterday with little ado and fanfare.  The first episode starts off a bit slow, but give it a minute, it picks up quite nicely.

ACT ONE (Wheee!) is currently available

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.

But be sure to act fast, all three episodes will go away on midnight Sunday July 20th, and after then will only be available to be downloaded for a fee on iTunes, and possibly for sale via DVD sometime down the road. If the next two episodes are as deliciously likable and corny as the first, I sincerely hope the series makes it to DVD. I’ll never bother with iTunes, but I’ll happily plunk down $20 to add this to my permanent collection.

Whedon’s latest is a small 3 episode project available on the Internet 100% free of charge (fot a limited time). Via the official website using hulu player. (I know many CJS readers are unable to use YouTube’s player at work. I hope the case is different for hulu, if not its probably worth watching at home). Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog really must be seen to be understood, but I’ll whet your appetite by saying it stars none other than Fake Dr. Doogie Howser himself: NPH as the super-villain protagonist, and Nathan Fillion (aka: Capt. Mal Reynolds of Firefly fame, and apparently Dr Adam Mayfair of Desperate Housewives) as his superhero arch-nemesis.

Oh, its also a musical.

Enjoy.

Senor.Limon@crujonessociety.com

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