'Doctor Horrible' Sequel, Soundtrack Planned
Joss Whedon's huge splash on the Internet looks to expand in the near future.
Whedon told a capacity Comic-Con crowd Friday that a fourth part is planned for his Web series "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," which had a highly successful release two weeks ago.
"Besides the fact that we all had an enormous amount of fun, this really was designed to be a model for a new way to put out media," Whedon said. "A new form of artistic community involves all of you guys and all of us, and maybe not so much some other people."
Those other people, of course, are the networks which have been a nemesis of Whedon for some time, especially with the 2002 cancellation of "Firefly" on Fox.
"I'm not trying to bring down the studios, I still work there," Whedon said. In fact, he has a new series coming out on Fox in January called "Dollhouse."
"I love 'Dollhouse' and I love what we're doing. But things are changing. And it's really important that as they change, they change for the better. 'Dr. Horrible's' about that. It's about putting power in different hands ... the wrong hands."
Neil Patrick Harris, who has the title role in the show, said he was on-board as soon as Whedon's message hit his iPhone.
"Being Billy and Dr. Horrible is sort of like being in Joss' mind a little bit," Harris said. "If you read his blog entries and scripts, he adds these bits where you feel like you can see his mind joking and talking even as he's writing stuff out."
The three-part blog series was written by Maurissa Tancharoen as well as Joss Whedon's brothers, Jed and Zack. While most other people who put together a successful project might want to take a break to enjoy that success, the writing crew already is preparing for a DVD release, which will be far more than simply 45 minutes of Whedon musical talents.
"You probably heard about 'Commentary: The Musical,'" Jed Whedon said. "If you haven't, there is going to be commentary that we're writing songs for."
There also will be a chance for fans to be involved. The crew is preparing to accept video from fans featuring their character they would like to be accepted into the Evil League of Evil. The 10 best videos will be picked and included in the DVD release.
Nathan Fillion, who was a part of "Firefly," seemed to be in Captain Hammer character mode, making sure he reminded the crowd what the hammer really is. When a fan asked if Whedon would expand his Web production work from some of his other past productions like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly," he told Fillion that it would be perfect for him.
"You would actually make more than what you did on 'Dr. Horrible,'" Whedon said. "Dozens and dozens of dollars."
"You already killed all the guys I don't like working with, so I'm in," Fillion joked.
The soundtrack for "Dr. Horrible" is expected to be released in a couple weeks, Whedon said. In the meantime, Fillion shared a small added bonus for fans who might want to get their own van remote control like "Dr. Horrible" can find it on the Web. The remote control can be found at www.thesoftwire.com/horrible_remote.html.
Keep reading Airlock Alpha all weekend for up-to-the-minute reports from the floor of Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Feeling a little horrific? Get your daily dose of horror news straight from The Doll, Rabid Doll that is at www.RabidDoll.com.
Hear Michael Hinman on SyFy Radio every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SyFyRadio.
About the Author
