History WebVideo / DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog

->'''Dr. Horrible:''' [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate I've got a [=Ph.D.=]]] [[CardCarryingVillain in horribleness!]]
->'''Moist:''' ...[[LampshadeHanging Is that the new]] {{catchphrase}}?

* {{Adorkable}}: Billy is a total dork and Penny is almost messianically good, so when they finally start talking it's the epitome of awkward sweetness. Awkward, of course, because we know that Billy is a villain and that Penny probably wouldn't like that.

* CardCarryingVillain: Dr. Horrible, who wants to prove his worth as a supervillain to be allowed to join the Evil League of Evil. Not to mention the ''actual'' members of the actual Evil League of Evil, like Bad Horse, [[Series/MisterEd of course, of course]]. Ironically, he just about epitomizes the ''opposite'' of that trope in all other respects.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: "It's not about making money, it's about ''taking'' money." Of course, this is blatant hypocrisy on Dr. Horrible's part, as the Transmatter Ray was supposed to transport the gold bar intact, and it's clear from "Slipping" that he is after cash and fame as well as social change.

** Interestingly, the strict actions of the hero and villain fit the usual template. Dr. Horrible stalks a girl, pays no attention to the good cause she's working for, and idolizes clearly evil villains (and all this before his flip). Meanwhile, the hero saves the girl, stops the villain, starts a new homeless shelter, and gives an "everyone can be a hero" speech. Of course, what's actually going on is completely different.

* DesignatedHero and DesignatedVillain: Invoked; thanks to the {{deconstruction}} mentioned above, Captain Hammer has a heroic demeanor but is a xenophobic, anti-intellectual, pompous MilesGloriosus with SuperStrength who prefers to beat up and humiliate Dr. Horrible rather than turn him over to the police; while Dr. Horrible is a classic WellIntentionedExtremist who is too introverted to pull off any serious crimes until, of course, Captain Hammer makes it personal.

** And also, Penny, who is pretty much an Ingenue, is an alto rather than a soprano as is traditionally done in musical theater.

* GainingTheWillToKill: Dr. Horrible insists at first that, while he wants to rule the world, he has no desire to kill people, because killing "lacks style". Of course, the reality is that he's too timid to try, a problem that's quickly rectified when Captain Hammer steals Penny to spite him. The song "Brand New Day" illustrates that there is, indeed, something that can push him to homicide: [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]]. Act III follows immediately by showing him [[NotSoHarmlessVillain converting his stun ray into a death ray]]. The ending, however, subverts the trope in that he never does kill anyone directly.
* GenreBusting: For its first two chapters, it's a musical, superhero {{deconstruction}}, romantic comedy [[VillainProtagonist about a wannabe mad scientist supervillain]] and his attempts at gaining power (frequently detailed, of course, in his video blog). Then the last chapter ends with elements of classic tragedy, the only remotely sweet and sympathetic character dying in the most gut-wrenching, Whedon-specialty way possible. The montage that follows, however, still includes some brutally funny moments.
* GenreSavvy: Doctor Horrible has a voice coach for his laugh, and respects Bad Horse's work on his terrible Death Whinny. He insists it's about standards. He uses the laugh appropriately later. Of course he has a stunning moment of savviness failure when he spends too long monologuing in Act III, giving the Freeze Ray time to run out of juice.

* IAmSong: "A Man's Gotta Do" starts out as Dr. Horrible but is [[MusicalisInterruptus hijacked]] by Captain Hammer before he even gets to the first chorus. "Bad Horse Chorus" is a He Is Song for the eponymous horse, of course. "Everything You Ever" is this for Dr. Horrible at the conclusion of the story.

** In Act III, Dr. Horrible's song "Slipping" is the musical equivalent of the supervillain's triumphant monologue. Of course, his two-minute song gives his Freeze Ray time to run out of power and release Captain Hammer...

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Pretty much the entire second half of the story.

** Judging from the half-embarrassed way in which Billy stops singing when Moist enters, ''Freeze Ray'' seems to imply he really is singing, hence Alternate Universe, though the laundromat scenes are of course All In His Head. However, it's possible that they were going through his head while he was at the laundromat and that he really did say "Love your hair" out loud, pass it off as a comment about the air, and leave with the rest of the song playing in his head.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Penny dies to fulfill Dr. Horrible's quest to kill someone to join the Evil League of Evil, despite taking away his hope in the process. Her disposable status is even lampshaded by the news coverage of the death of "Captain Hammer's girlfriend, Whats-Her-Name". Of course, she's also the only genuinely good character in the show, sealing the crap firmly into the CrapsackWorld that Dr. Horrible will now rule over.

* VillainSong: It's called ''Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'', of course he sings the best songs, especially "My Freeze Ray", "Brand New Day", and "Slipping", which is this trope played straight to the moustache-twirling hilt.

An aspiring supervillain trying to get into the Evil League of Evil finds himself entangled in a LoveTriangle with his [[ArchEnemy arch-nemesis]] and a girl he knows from the laundromat. Presented as a three-part [[TheMusical Musical]] WebOriginal VlogSeries, created by Creator/JossWhedon out of his own pocket as a more-or-less direct result of the [[UsefulNotes/UnionsInHollywood Writer's Guild]] [[TVStrikes strike]] of 2007-2008.

* FaceFramedInShadow: During "My Eyes" while singing about the darkness in him rising, he stands so that [[Chiaroscuro only half his face is lit by a streetlight.]] When he mentions that it's rising, he steps back, allowing his entire face to be covered. The only light still hitting his face is from a hobo-fire.

* FaceFramedInShadow: During "My Eyes" while singing about the darkness in him rising, he stands so that only half his face is lit by a streetlight. When he mentions that it's rising, he steps back, allowing his entire face to be covered. The only light still hitting his face is from a hobo-fire.

* GagDub: ''CommentaryTheMusical'' at times has elements of this.

There is also an [[http://doctorhorrible.net/ official fansite]]. And a [[http://www.horribleturn.com fanmade prequel]], ''HorribleTurn'', that has been recognised by Joss as "[[PerfectlyCromulentWord itsy kitschy glitzy]]." Whether that is to be taken as a compliment remains to be seen. Also on the fan front is Doctor Octoroc's [[http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/8-bit-dr-horrible.php 8 bit version of the musical.]]

It also won the 2009 Emmy for ''"[[OverlyNarrowSuperlative Outstanding Special Class Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program]]"'', making it potentially the ''first'' show to have won an Emmy without having ever been aired on television. Possibly a unique honor; definitely exceptional. It also picked up the 2009 HugoAward in the more conventional "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form" category. It was also featured in ''Time'''s list of the best inventions of 2008.

* BittersweetEnding: Dr. Horrible has finally been accepted into The Evil League of Evil, has gotten fame and fortune for being the baddest bad guy, he's defeated his {{Jerkass}} nemesis, but Penny was killed, which leaves Dr. Horrible empty inside.

* PyrrhicVictory

** ''Now the nightmare's real/Now Doc-tor Horr-i-ble is here/to make you quake with fear/to make the whole world kneel...''

--> ''It's Doctor Horrible's turn/You people all have to learn/This world is going to BURN. BURN-'' [[MusicalisInterruptus Yeah, it's two 'r's: H-O-R-R, yeah, right-]] ''BURN.''
--> ''Now the nightmare's real/Now Doc-tor Horr-i-ble is here/to make you quake with fear/to make the whole world kneel...''

--> ''It's Doctor Horrible's turn/You people all have to learn/This world is going to BURN. BURN-'' [[MusicalisInterruptus No, yeah, it's two 'r's: H-O-R-R, yeah, right-]] ''BURN.''

* BadassBoast: Doctor Horrible:
--> ''It's Doctor Horrible's turn/You people all have to learn/This world is going to BURN. BURN-'' [[MusicalisInterruptus No, yeah, it's ''two'' 'r's: H-O-R-R, yeah, right-]] ''BURN.''

* BadassBoast: Doctor Horrible:
--> ''It's Doctor Horrible's turn/You people all have to learn/This world is going to BURN. BURN-'' [[MusicalisInterruptusNo, yeah, it's ''two'' 'r's: H-O-R-R, yeah, right-]] ''BURN.''

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dr. Horrible starts out as a Technical Pacifict: he refuses to fight an enemy in the city park due to the presence of children, he refuses to kill saying it isn't "classy", and he even keeps up this policy against his nemesis Captain Hammer, despite the constant physical abuse he gets from the Captain. This holds up until the end of Act II, when Hammer reveals that he's dating Penny for ''no other reason'' than because Billy is in love with her. This leads into the song, "Brand New Day", where Horrible states that he's finally snapped and found the motivation to kill.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Captain Hammer, who Dr. Horrible/Billy's crush, Penny, thinks of as really sweet on the inside, despite being [[TheAce a bit full of himself]]. The truth is Captain Hammer is only being nice to Penny to get in her pants and ''simultaneously'' piss off the eponymous character. Lampshaded when Penny states that he must have a deeper layer that's totally different from the one on the surface, Bily replies that he sometimes there's a third, even deeper level, and that one's exactly the same as the top surface level.

* DyingLikeAnimals: The people of L.A. worship the DesignatedHero Captain Hammer even while he's insulting them to their faces, and despite the presence of real heroes like Penny. Dr. Horrible calls them out on this in "Slipping", only to fall victim to a similar kind of worship after defeating Hammer.

* DevelopmentHell: The sequel, which is possibly delayed to 2015 due to Joss Whedon's commitments to the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.

* [[HeroicBSOD Heroic (Villainous?) BSOD]]: Dr. Horrible twice: first at the beginning of Act II after Penny and Captain Hammer have hooked up, and then the very last shot of Act III.
** Captain Hammer, running away whilst crying for "someone maternal" and then later seen in ''therapy'' counts.

** Neither did the costume designer, Shawna Trpcic, according to [[AllThereInTheManual Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Book]]. She designed a Japanese samurai-style costume before being told that Bad Horse actually was a horse. (She then asked about making metal costume pieces or feathers for the horse, until Joss Whedon told her, "Shawna, it's a horse. Let it go.)
* HollywoodNerd

** There seems to be a Serenity model hanging in Billy's house, framed rather conspicuously in the background of any shot of him vlogging. According to WordOfGod, this is actually just a silhouette formed by several pots and pans hanging up and quite unintentional.

* ViralMarketing: The word spread about Dr. Horrible by word of mouth and word-of-internet. So fast and so far that the server was not prepared for the load and went down.

---> '''Captain Hammer:''' *leaves*
---> '''Captain Hammer:''' *returns*
---> '''Captain Hammer:''' [[DontExplainTheJoke (The hammer is my penis.)]]

* WasItReallyWorthIt

'''Dr. Horrible:''' [[LampshadeHanging Glurk???]]\\

*** '''Doctor Horrible''': It's not a death ray or an ice beam / That's all Johnny Snow!

*** ""Doctor Horrible"": It's not a death ray or an ice beam / That's all Johnny Snow!

*** *Doctor Horrible:* It's not a death ray or an ice beam / That's all Johnny Snow!

* ProductPlacement: Dr. Horrible uses a remote program on his iPhone for nefarious purposes. Guess who's sponsoring the episode downloads. It was actually NathanFillion's personal iPhone, so this is more a coincidence than anything else. For some reason, for "Bad Horse Chorus (Reprise)", Horrible has a flip-phone, instead of an iPhone.
** Probably to prevent triggering any remote-operated rayguns or vans while relaying instructions to Moist. Or maybe he just uses the iPhone as Billy in case his number is ever traced.
*** Alternatively, the iPhone is his personal crime phone and the flip phone is a burner phone given to him by the Evil League of Evil.