History WebVideo / DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog

* HeroesWantRedHeads: Ok, so the term "hero" is debatable but both Doctor Horrible and Captain Hammer go for Penny. Even if Hammer does just want to [[KickTheDog screw with Horrible]] (not to mention [[DoubleEntendre screw with Penny]].

** Dead Bowie being in the Evil League of Evil might be a shout out to ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', where David Bowie (voiced by not David Bowie) is the head of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

'''From this point forward there are unmarked spoilers. Read ''after'' watching the three-parter.'''

An aspiring supervillain trying to get into the Evil League [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment 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 and funded out of his own pocket as a more-or-less direct result of the [[UsefulNotes/UnionsInHollywood Writer's Guild]] [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes strike]] of 2007-2008.

The series was released for free until July 20, 2008. After that time it was placed on iTunes for purchase (USA, Canada and UK only) and for free with ads on Hulu.com (United States Only) with the revenue from both going to pay the cast and crew. Overwhelming response crashed the servers, and vigorous international response prompted the team to make the videos viewable internationally. A DVD was released in [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001M5UDGS December, 2008]].

There's an [[http://drhorrible.com an official site]] with liner notes for the various songs, merchandise links, and other goodies. There are also several {{prequel}} comics: three half-length ones on the Dark Horse Website/MySpace [[http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepresents page]] for Captain Hammer, Moist, and Penny, a full-length print [[http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/16-655/Dr-Horrible-one-shot one-shot for Dr. Horrible himself]], and a 3/4 length comic featuring the ELE and Johnny Snow that's exclusive to the trade paperback collecting all the previous comics, all written by Zack Whedon.

There is also a [[http://www.horribleturn.com fanmade prequel]], ''WebVideo/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 are the very well-received fanmade sequel ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydRjucxW9pQ Dr. Horrible's Unofficial Sing-Along Sequel]]'' and Doctor Octoroc's [[http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/8-bit-dr-horrible.php 8 bit version of the musical.]]

The DVD commentary takes two forms - a traditional commentary, and ''WebVideo/CommentaryTheMusical'', which is, yes, a whole other musical. Also see [[WMG/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog the zany theories page for the show]]. ''After'' you've seen the three-parter.

It received its TV premiere on Creator/TheCW network on October 9th 2012. CW Network President Mark Pedowitz also "said he hoped the CW would also have the inside track if Whedon opts at some point to continue the series", according to Reuters.

* AntiVillain: Dr. Horrible's motives may seem evil -- he wants money and power -- but it's less out of a desire for chaos and destruction than it is a desperate attempt to achieve respect, and his unrequited love for Penny is certainly not evil. He uses evil means (robbery and terror) because he has been driven to them by folks like Captain Hammer, who feels that anyone who's just like Dr. Horrible ''has'' to be a villain.

** Four prequel stories in ''[Dark Horse Presents''. Collected in "Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories".

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: During "Slipping", Dr. Horrible mentions the prospect of "Anarchy/That I run!"

There is also a [[http://www.horribleturn.com fanmade prequel]], ''WebVideo/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 are the very well-received fanmade sequel ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydRjucxW9pQ Dr. Horrible's Unofficial Sing-Along Sequel]]'' and Doctor Octoroc's [[http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/8-bit-dr-horrible.php 8 bit version of the musical.]]

Rumors swirled about a {{sequel}} for some time before being officially confirmed by [[http://www.whedonopolis.com/article.php?story=20100403171418153 Whedonopolis]]. Production keeps getting delayed due to Whedon's commitments to [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse a few little superhero films you may have heard of]], so the best that can be said about the plans is "Hopefully, someday."

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: During the song "Slipping," we get this gem that shows how Dr. Horrible's determination to get into the Evil League of Evil [[MotiveDecay clashes]] with his WellIntentionedExtremist philosophy:

* AsideGlance: Captain Hammer pulls one when the {{fan|boy}} [[{{Fangirl}} trio]] says "we'd do the ''weird'' stuff."

* BlackAndGrayMorality: The [[DesignatedHero "hero"]] is worse than the [[DesignatedVillain "villain"]], and the only unequivocally good character is an InnocentBystander, and she dies.
* BlatantLies: "What a crazy random happenstance," "we're meeting now for the first time," "when I fell deeply, deeply in love with my serious long-term girlfriend Penny," and "And I am fine / And I won't feel a thing." to name a few.

-->'''Billy:''' "Listen close to everybody's heart / and hear that breaking sound / hopes and dreams are shattering apart / and crashing to the ground."

** There's a ''reverse'' BrickJoke, where the punchline happens ''before'' the set up. In "Slipping", Dr. Horrible pauses his song for a second to tell a reporter "Yeah, it's two 'R's, H-O-R-R-I..." Then, in the prequel comic explaining how Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer first met, a newspaper headline reads "Captain Hammer Confronts New Villain: Doctor Horible!" Evidently, he was being careful not to let them make a mistake the second time around.

* CanisLatinicus: The seal of the Evil League of Evil bears the phrase "Homines Non Boni Seriose" which can be translated as "Seriously Not Good Guys."
* CannotTalkToWomen: Billy is so [[ShrinkingViolet painfully shy]] that his first on-screen attempt at talking to Penny at the laundromat ends with him mumbling unintelligibly, and his second attempt ("Love your hair.") becomes a DidIJustSayThatOutLoud moment for him when she turns around in surprise. He backpedals hastily, "No, I- I, I...love the air." At one point he tells Moist that he is so close (surely only a few weeks at most!) to achieving "real audible connection" with Penny. He never gets around to actually telling her that he loves her.

* CarFu: "Captain Hammer threw a car at my head."

** Penny sings, "So keep your head up Billy buddy" to Dr. Horrible in Act II. Later, when Dr. Horrible gate-crashes the Captain Hammer statue unveiling at the end of Act III, he pep-talks himself into killing Hammer, singing, "head up Billy buddy," thus clueing in Penny that her friend Billy is the villain.

* ColourCodedTimestop: The Freeze Ray does this, with the color being blue. "It's not an ice beam."
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: During "Slipping," Dr. Horrible mentions the prospect of "Anarchy/That I run!"

-->'''Captain Hammer:''' "Everyone's a hero in their own way / everyone's got they villains they must face / they're not as cool as mine / but folks, you know it's fine to know your place."
-->'''Captain Hammer:''' "A hero doesn't care / if you're a bunch of scary alcoholic bums."

* CueCardPause: "[[KillThePoor I hate the homeless]]...ness problem that plagues this city."
** Lampshaded: "I don't need tiny cue cards."
* CutLexLuthorACheck: "It's not about making money, it's about ''taking'' money." 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.

--> '''Captain Hammer''': [holds up his fists] "These are not the Hammer." [leaves then returns] "The Hammer is my penis."

-->'''Dr Horrible/Penny''': "There's no happy ending.. so they say."\\
'''Dr Horrible''': [[{{Foreshadowing}} "Not for me, anyway..."]]

** Captain Hammer's gloating at the laundromat, when he tells Billy/Dr. Horrible that he will date Penny solely because Dr. Horrible has a crush on her. He grinds it into Horrible's face (metaphorically) with, "...and ''I'' get what ''you'' want."

* EvilMinions: Moist barely qualifies as a henchman, because in his own words, "Even at my most badass, I can only make people feel like they want to take a shower." He at least tries to play the part by offering Dr. Horrible some rather vicious ways to get into the Evil League of Evil, such as killing children and old ladies.

* FeetOfClay: Penny starts seeing Captain Hammer as he truly is during Act III: an egotistical {{Jerkass}} bully with superpowered brawn. Hammer's final attack on Horrible really shows what's BeneathTheMask and shows him for the punk he is. Subverted with Penny's line, which demonstrate that she still believes in hope -- "Captain Hammer will save us."

* FinalSpeech: Penny's LastWords are to ask if Billy is alright, and to reassure him that "Captain Hammer will save us." Brutally ironic considering that she'd just seen both Hammer and Billy show what's BeneathTheMask, and in her dying moment she chooses Hammer. Whether she was delirious or not, her attempt to comfort Billy ends up twisting the knife in the cruelest possible way.

--> "'Cause the dark is everywhere and Penny doesn't seem to care that soon the dark in me is all that will remain..."\\\

"It's not a death ray..."\\\
Hammer (to Penny): "The only doom that's looming is you loving me to death..."

* FreezeRay: Although in this case, Billy's Freeze Ray is a stasis weapon rather than a real FreezeRay-- it's his rival Johnny Snow that has the "ice beam."

** Penny drops a LampshadeHanging by saying, "I wonder what you're Captain of..."

-->'''Captain Hammer:''' "I don't go to the gym. I'm just naturally like this."

* HellishHorse: Bad Horse is a black horse who doesn't look like anything special but his CoconutSuperpowers include a "terrible death whinny." He must have done ''something'' evil to cause Penny to look horrified at the mention of the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Thoroughbred of Sin]].

* HeroismMotiveSpeech: Parodied with Captain Hammer's song "Everyone's A Hero," where he gives a speech about how being a superhero is all based in philanthropy, except he's both incredibly narcissistic about how cool it is to be a real superhero and incredibly insensitive towards the people he's supposedly helping.

* HopelessSuitor: Dr. Horrible to Penny, with the difference that Hammer ''knows'' that Billy the laundry buddy is not "just a friend."

* INeedToGoIronMyDog: "Oh goodness, look at my wrist, I gotta go."

--> "This is so nice / I just might sleep with the same girl twice / They say it's better the second time / they say you get to do the weird stuff."
--> "I thank my girlfriend, Penny / Yeah, we totally had sex."

** In "Penny's Song", she sings "So keep your head up, Billy buddy" to try to cheer Dr. Horrible up and get him to be more optimistic. Then in "Slipping", Horrible repeats the line... to build up his courage to kill Captain Hammer. (This also clues Penny in that her laundry buddy and Dr. Horrible are the same person.)

** A smaller one, but in Act I Dr. Horrible informs the audience to "tell their friends" about the Freeze Ray. In Act III he says the same, but to "say it was [[StealthPun Horrible]]."
* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The final component for the time-freezing ray is [[AppliedPhlebotinum "Wonderflonium."]] (Which must never be bounced.)

* KentBrockmanNews: "It's a good day to be homeless!" Also: "Next up: Who's gay?" (Cut to a shot of Dr. Horrible's hands working in the lab - possibly an ActorAllusion to Neil Patrick Harris - then straight to Captain Hammer's flaming fanboy.)

* LameRhymeDodge: "Love the...uh...air."
* LargeHam: Captain Hammer, especially in-universe. ''Especially'' in-universe. Dr. Horrible, by contrast, is mostly subdued...up until "Slipping," where he goes full ham as only a singing, DeathRay wielding supervillain in top EvilGloating form can.

-->'''Billy:''' "Tell you how / how you make / make me feel / what's the phrase? / Like a fool / kinda sick / special needs / anyways..."\\

'''Billy:''' "It's not a ''perfect'' metaphor..."\\

'''Billy:''' "Sometimes, there's a third, even deeper, level, and that one's the same as the top surface one."\\

'''Billy:''' "Like with pie."\\

'''Dr. Horrible:''' "See you at the aftermath. Peace!" ({{Beat}}) "But not literally..." (click)\\

'''Captain Hammer:''' "The only signature that he needed was my fist. With a pen in it—that I was—signing with."\\

'''The Mayor:''' "Justice has a name, and the name that it has, besides justice, is Captain Hammer."\\

'''Captain Hammer:''' "It may not feel too classy / begging just to eat / but you know who does that? Lassie! / and she always gets a treat."\\

'''Captain Hammer:''' "But home is where the heart is / so your real home's in your chest."\\

-->'''Captain Hammer:''' "Give my regards to Saint Peter ... or, whoever has his job but in Hell."\\

* MissingStepsPlan: "Yes, it's true I was vague on the how..."

* MostDefinitelyNotAVillain: When Dr. Horrible meets Captain Hammer in the laundromat, the first thing he says is "We're meeting now for the first time."

** Act I has Moist interrupting "My Freeze Ray," Dr. Horrible interrupting "Caring Hands" with a scream of surprise, and Captain Hammer stealing "A Man's Gotta Do"

-->"Any dolt with half a brain/ Can see that humankind has gone insane/ To the point where I don't know if I'll upset the status quo/ If I throw poison in the water main..."
** Also: "The world is a mess, and I just...need to ''rule'' it."

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: The Freeze Ray and some of Dr. Horrible's other inventions. During "So They Say," we can see Horrible working out plans on the whiteboard to convert the Stun Ray into a DeathRay.

* OhCrap: "...that's not a good sound..."

--> "It's a brand new me / I got no remorse / Now the water's rising / But I know the course / I'm gonna shock the world / Gonna show Bad Horse / It's a brand new day / And Penny will see the evil me / Not a joke, not a dork, not a failure."

* PowZapWhamCam: As Dr. Horrible encroaches more and more on Billy's psyche, the shots of him become more angular and starkly lit, culminating at his sudden appearance at the shelter dedication. His "Last Shot of Remorse" ("A thing...") has him completely out of uniform, just [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain looking pitifully like he needs a hug]].

* PsychoticSmirk: Dr. Horrible, at the end of Act II as he starts singing "Brand New Day."

** Similarly, "Everything You Ever" starts with the lines "Here lies everything / The world I wanted at my feet." while Penny is literally lying at his feet.

* ShinyNewAustralia: TropeNamer. Dr. Horrible plans to give Penny Australia once he takes over the world according to "Brand New Day."

** Also, the head of the Evil League of Evil is "Bad Horse." And the company who puts out most of Joss Whedon's comics (including the Captain Hammer comic) just happens to be called "Dark Horse." Okay, could be coincidence, but still.

** In the Song "Brand New Day" Dr. Horrible sings, "And she may cry, but her tears will dry, when I hand her the keys to a shiny New Australia." This is a nod to Superman II, and Lex Luthor telling Zod he will help them defeat Superman in exchange for A little parcel of land...Australia!

* StalkerWithACrush: Dr. Horrible dons various flimsy disguises to blend in and observe Captain Hammer's wooing of Penny. And one of the Captain Hammer fans is an extreme example of this. "This is his hair." "This is his dry-cleaning bill...four sweater-vests!"

** Dr. Horrible talks about how he successfully transported gold bars from the bank to his lab. He holds up a Ziploc bag full of the gold, which has turned out liquefied (the pun is "bullion" for metal bar/"bouillon" for soup). That one gets a subtle lampshade from the Doctor when he says it "smells like cumin."
** Captain ''Hammer'' is introduced as being a corporate ''tool''. Also, since "[[ICallHimMrHappy the hammer is [his] penis]]," he's Captain Penis. And he's a dick.

** "It's two Rs actually, H-O-R-R... yeah." What kind of journalist would misspell "Horrible"? The kind who's writing down "Whorable".

* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: "The League is watching. This is something I have to do alone." Also, the whole "A Man's Gotta Do" song.

** ''Spring'' (A trellis of roses grow as Dr. H. is smacked into a wall, punched in the stomach, and kneed in the groin.)
** ''Summer'' (Captain Hammer punches Dr. H. in the face repeatedly, pausing to smile for a camera-toting tourist in a Hawaiian shirt.)
** ''Autumn'' (Dr. H. is hung suspended over a pile of fallen leaves in a brutal Atomic Wedgie.)
** ''Winter'' (Captain Hammer spins through a snowfall with Dr. H over his shoulders in mid-TKO as a charity Santa Claus rings his bell.)

-->'''Groupie number 2:''' "This is his hair."

** During the scene where he video-blogs the tale of his latest failure, about how Captain Hammer threw a car at his head, he looks mostly resigned. Then, after a pause he rallies himself and strikes a firmly (fake?) upbeat tone, "Not to worry though! Because I'm..." But that's the exact moment when his tic starts up again, belying his optimistic tone.
** At the laundromat, when Penny touches Billy's face to cheer him up but then aborts their AlmostKiss by suddenly blurting out, "Anyway that's what Captain Hammer says...". Upon hearing his rival's name Billy flinches, hunches his shoulders and squints his eyes hard. Moments later, Billy runs smack into Captain Hammer's chest and tries to avoid meeting Hammer's eyes. After Penny introduces them, Hammer greets him with mock affability, "''Oh!'' Billy, the ''laundry buddy!'' Well it is ''very'' nice to meet ya!" and then adds, "You look ''horribly'' familiar." at which point poor Billy's nervous eye twitch becomes really pronounced.

** A big one in the middle of "Slipping," though that may just be him closing his eyes in frustration at the stupidity of the world around him, and it happens again at the "Billy buddy" line, as a sign that he's not quite all evil... yet.

--> "I also need to be a little bit more careful about what I say on this blog. Apparently, the LAPD ''and'' Captain Hammer are among our viewers. They were waiting for me at the Mayor's dedication of the Superhero Memorial Bridge... the freeze ray takes a few seconds to warm up and I wasn't..." (pause) "Captain Hammer [[CarFu threw a car at my head]]."

--> '''Dr. Horrible''': "The world is a mess, and I just need to...rule it."

* BadassBaritone: Nate Fillion delivers Captain Hammer's songs in a resonant baritone that sounds quite heroic.

* DreamTeam: Written, directed, and produced by Creator/JossWhedon, with acting by Creator/FeliciaDay, Creator/NathanFillion, and Creator/NeilPatrickHarris.

[[caption-width-right:300:[-Our hero... villain... ''protagonist'', flanked by everyone. Except Bad Horse.-] ]]

* DownerEnding / BittersweetEnding: Captain Hammer is revealed for the punk he truly is. Penny dies, fulfilling Bad Horse's requirement for a murder. Dr. Horrible becomes a famous supervillain and gets admitted to the Evil League of Evil. But now, the world is an empty place, full of haunting memories. Billy's last shreds of idealism and innocence are gone.
--> '''Dr Horrible/Penny''': "There's no happy ending.. so they say."
--> '''Dr Horrible''': [[{{Foreshadowing}} "Not for me, anyway..."]]

* LoveTriangle: TriangRelations type 7. You may think type 4, since Penny never gets the chance to reciprocate Horrible's affections before she dies, but note how she buys two frozen yogurts and looks whenever somebody comes in the door in Act 3.

* ToTheBatnoun: Parodied. In his prequel comic, after concocting a new way to fight Captain Hammer, Dr. Horrible tells Moist to "Fetch the Horrible Mobile!" ...which is just Moist's perfectly ordinary car. Moist wishes the Doctor wouldn't call that because it's "a very reliable car".
** Captain Hammer also claims to own several Hammer-themed items, including the Hammer-Cycle and the Hamjet, although we never see them.

The DVD commentary takes two forms - a traditional commentary, and ''WebVideo/CommentaryTheMusical'', which is, yes, a whole other musical. Also see [[WMG/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog the zany theories page for the show]]. ''After'' you've seen the show.