Adventures in the World of Travel and Entertainment™ / Fans, Residents, Insiders
A dozen things you never knew about Dr. Horrible
Internet sensation Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was feted on April 14 as part of Paley Fest 2009. It’s the first web-based series ever honored at the festival that was designed to honor television.
And it's fitting that the series was so honored since it has received numerous other such honors including a People’s Choice Award, numerous Streamy Awards (for web television) and was named #15 in Time magazine’s list of the Top 50 Inventions of 2008.
Dr. Horrible is the creation of Joss Whedon (the creative force behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse) and his family. During the Writer’s Guild of America strike, the Whedons came up with the idea for the three-episode musical comedy as a way to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done. They called in numerous favors and got special union waivers to get the show filmed.
Neil Patrick Harris stars as mad scientist Dr. Horrible while Nathan Fillion plays his arch nemesis, Captain Hammer, a self-involved superhero. Felicia Day plays Penny, the woman both are interested in.
Fillion and Day joined Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon (a TV writer), Jed Whedon (a composer) and Jed’s fiancé Maurissa Tancharoen (who served as a producer on the Dr. Horrible shoot) for a discussion of the series. Harris was unable to participate in the panel since he was out of the country.
Here are some tidbits they shared.
1. The show was shot over 6 days in March 2008 and was streaming on the internet in July. Whedon says it was only 5 months between initial idea and the streaming, the shortest amount of time it’s ever taken him to get a series on the air.
2. Whedon doubts he could ever film a sequel, saying he “can never attempt to cash in favors like this again.”
3. Whedon knew Neil Patrick Harris through friends and when he approached Harris about playing Dr. Horrible, Harris immediately agreed. Whedon was so flabbergasted, that he inadvertently found himself trying to talk him out of it, but Harris was gung-ho to do it.
4. While many were surprised that Nathan Fillion could sing, Fillion knew he was up for the task since he hosted a karaoke night while working his way through college.
5. Fillion reports that he’s never before received acting notes telling him to play a part cheesier, but that’s exactly what Whedon kept telling him.
6. Dr. Horrible’s mad scientist lair was not a set, but a real room in an actual person’s house. The assistant director knew someone who is a real-life mad scientist who agreed to let them film in his house.
7. Whedon initially said that the laundromat they used was unsuitable for shooting because it was too small, but was told they could not get any other place. By the end, the laundromat turned out to be Whedon’s favorite site. He is especially proud that he got to do a “Busby Berkeley shot” with the dryer doors during one of the musical numbers shot there.
8. Felicia Day, who has been involved in another web-based series, The Guild, thinks that Dr. Horrible will be a seminal work. “When we look back,” she speculated, “I think Dr. Horrible will be the turning point for web based series.”
9. Zack Whedon reports their father raised them on show tunes, which accounts for the Whedon family’s fondness and fascination for doing musicals.
10. The Dr. Horrible trailer was accidently leaked when Jed Whedon uploaded it to test it and foolishly named it “Dr. Horrible.” Jed said, “Who knew there’d be people out there looking for Dr. Horrible?”
11. After it was leaked, Jed spent the next day hurriedly creating a website for people to go to.
12. When asked whether Captain Hammer’s line that he will hammer Penny with his penis will end up following him around for the rest of his career, Nathan Fillion laughed, “Those are the kind of things you want to haunt you.”
Nathan Fillion signing autographs after the panel. Photo by James F. Mills
Visit the Dr. Horrible website.
Watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
And it's fitting that the series was so honored since it has received numerous other such honors including a People’s Choice Award, numerous Streamy Awards (for web television) and was named #15 in Time magazine’s list of the Top 50 Inventions of 2008.
Dr. Horrible is the creation of Joss Whedon (the creative force behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse) and his family. During the Writer’s Guild of America strike, the Whedons came up with the idea for the three-episode musical comedy as a way to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done. They called in numerous favors and got special union waivers to get the show filmed.
Neil Patrick Harris stars as mad scientist Dr. Horrible while Nathan Fillion plays his arch nemesis, Captain Hammer, a self-involved superhero. Felicia Day plays Penny, the woman both are interested in.
Fillion and Day joined Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon (a TV writer), Jed Whedon (a composer) and Jed’s fiancé Maurissa Tancharoen (who served as a producer on the Dr. Horrible shoot) for a discussion of the series. Harris was unable to participate in the panel since he was out of the country.
Here are some tidbits they shared.
1. The show was shot over 6 days in March 2008 and was streaming on the internet in July. Whedon says it was only 5 months between initial idea and the streaming, the shortest amount of time it’s ever taken him to get a series on the air.
2. Whedon doubts he could ever film a sequel, saying he “can never attempt to cash in favors like this again.”
3. Whedon knew Neil Patrick Harris through friends and when he approached Harris about playing Dr. Horrible, Harris immediately agreed. Whedon was so flabbergasted, that he inadvertently found himself trying to talk him out of it, but Harris was gung-ho to do it.
4. While many were surprised that Nathan Fillion could sing, Fillion knew he was up for the task since he hosted a karaoke night while working his way through college.
5. Fillion reports that he’s never before received acting notes telling him to play a part cheesier, but that’s exactly what Whedon kept telling him.
6. Dr. Horrible’s mad scientist lair was not a set, but a real room in an actual person’s house. The assistant director knew someone who is a real-life mad scientist who agreed to let them film in his house.
7. Whedon initially said that the laundromat they used was unsuitable for shooting because it was too small, but was told they could not get any other place. By the end, the laundromat turned out to be Whedon’s favorite site. He is especially proud that he got to do a “Busby Berkeley shot” with the dryer doors during one of the musical numbers shot there.
8. Felicia Day, who has been involved in another web-based series, The Guild, thinks that Dr. Horrible will be a seminal work. “When we look back,” she speculated, “I think Dr. Horrible will be the turning point for web based series.”
9. Zack Whedon reports their father raised them on show tunes, which accounts for the Whedon family’s fondness and fascination for doing musicals.
10. The Dr. Horrible trailer was accidently leaked when Jed Whedon uploaded it to test it and foolishly named it “Dr. Horrible.” Jed said, “Who knew there’d be people out there looking for Dr. Horrible?”11. After it was leaked, Jed spent the next day hurriedly creating a website for people to go to.
12. When asked whether Captain Hammer’s line that he will hammer Penny with his penis will end up following him around for the rest of his career, Nathan Fillion laughed, “Those are the kind of things you want to haunt you.”
Nathan Fillion signing autographs after the panel. Photo by James F. Mills
Visit the Dr. Horrible website.
Watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
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