Blessed by the Potato

Well, Dr. Horrible Part 3 has been posted. It’s only 15 minutes, go watch it if you haven’t yet, then come on back.

Spoiler warning!

So, Dr. Horrible Part 1 and 2 were I think the best thing ever to come out of Joss Whedon’s brain. Better, for that brief 25 minutes, than even Firefly. I’ve watched each one about 20 times, and everything is just perfect: NPH’s facial ticks, that empty look in his face when he is first asked about Penny, the picture taken through the bushes, it’s just amazing. The songs are catchy and clever, and I was humming or singing them in my head for days afterwards. And there’s a great balance between the musical comedy aspects and the regular acting parts — which were incredibly well done. In just a few minutes of screen time there seems to be real depth to the characterization of Moist, Dr. Horrible, and Penny. Plus it was so incredibly true-to-life (slightly exaggerated of course, but it’s one of the best portrayals of a hopelessly romantic mad scientist I’ve ever seen).

The third and final part I felt was kind of a let-down today. It started off pretty strong, with Captain Hammer being such an arrogant tool that he drove Penny off, which is how I saw this part progressing in my mind. I really liked the very brief part with Penny in the laundromat with two frozen yogurts (what a crazy random happenstance!). But then they put a twist on it and went in another direction completely. Twists and going in a different direction is ok, just to get that out there, but they turned it from a musical comedy into a musical tragedy, which really didn’t seem to fit the theme and feel of the first two parts (ok, not fitting the theme of the first two parts makes the twist more effective when it comes, but it doesn’t bring to a satisfactory ending the story that I’ve practically memorized in the first two parts). Plus the third part seemed to have a lot more singing and a lot less cutsey, clever acting parts in-between. Again, not necessarily a bad thing in general, but I didn’t find the songs as good or as catchy. I might still be singing “with my freeze-ray I will stop…” or “evil on the rise” or “it’s a brand new day” in the shower for the next few weeks, but I don’t think “So they say”, “Everyone’s a hero”, “You’re slipping”, or “Dr. Horrible is here” will get much play, so to say.

I’d prefer a different ending, but nonetheless, it’s the best super-villain musical comedy out there, so I’m going to buy it on DVD once that becomes an option.