i love buffy the vampire slayer. it’s one of the best television shows of all time, period. yeah, yeah, the basic plot is a little cheesy, with the whole “one girl in all the world” thing (you can either suspend disbelief in the name of entertainment, or you can’t), but what makes the show is joss whedon. the characters he created and the writing on the show are awesome, pretty much throughout all seven seasons. one of my favorite episodes is “once more, with feeling,” in which a musical demon (this is the cheesiness i was talking about) makes everyone sing and dance as though they’re on a broadway stage. the best part about it, aside from the surprising (with the exception of anthony stewart head*, who played dr. frank-n-furter in a london rocky horror picture show revival) musical talents of the cast, is the music whedon wrote for this episode. the songs are shockingly well-written, both musically and lyrically. i actually own the soundtrack on cd. it may or may not make me cry in spots. ahem.
anyway, since i first saw this episode, it has occurred to me more than once that a full-length, whedon-penned musical would be a thing of brilliance. and, as i just discovered on my friend’s media blog, such a thing does, in fact, exist!
“dr. horrible’s sing-along blog” stars neil patrick harris, nathan fillion, and felicia day, and it’s totally awesome and funny and bittersweet and everything you’d want it to be. i never watched firefly, so nathan fillion will always be caleb from buffy and the cop (sheriff?) from slither. come to think of it, i need to watch firefly. why haven’t i? hmmm. anyway. neil patrick harris, of course, was doogie howser back in the day. (dude, what ever happened to wanda?) i know he’s been in other stuff since then, but i don’t think i’ve actually seen any of it. no matter; he’s hilarious. so that’s my endorsement. you should go watch it before it’s gone.
*giles’s brother, murray head, was judas iscariot in the original jesus christ superstar! he also sang that song, “one night in bangkok,” which is from the tim rice musical, chess. i knew all that stuff about murray head, but i never realized he & giles were brothers.
I recently downloaded that soundtrack, and I have to admit I get a little misty at points, too. (And for about a month after I got it, I kept waking up every morning with a different song stuck in my head.) It’s so good (and I say that as someone who only rarely likes musicals)! I love the track from the demo where Joss and his wife sing “Give Me Something to Sing About.” I bet they are awesome people to hang out with. Annnnnd, now that I have completely dorked out, let me also add that I am SO EAGERLY awaiting Dollhouse.
Oh, and also: so psyched you are blogging. I have added you to my links (let me know if that’s not OK)!
Um, YEAH you need to watch Firefly. Run, don’t walk. I love Buffy and Whedon musicals as well.