On the Bookshelf

The plan had been to post a book review today but there was unplanned for busy-ness today and it's not quite ready. Instead I have decided to follow up yesterdays review of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog with a review of Horrible Turn, the fan made prequel to Joss Whedon's creation.

Horrible Turn, set sometime back in the early nineties, gives you an insight into the pasts of Billy and Hammer. Why did Billy go from thinking that "the world is a mess and I just need to fix it" to "have to rule it"? Where do Billy's issues with Australia stem from? What lead him to creating the persona of Dr. Horrible? Why is it that everyone cannot help but love the idiotic and obnoxious Captain Hammer? Why does Johnny Snow insist that he is Dr. Horrible's nemesis? And where did Bad Horse come from anyway?

Horrible Turn will answer all of these questions. Of course, it all starts with a girl. Billy has a crush on the Australian foreign exchange student, Katie. When he, Wade (presumably Moist), and Kennard "Kenny" Hammerstein (Captain Hammer) discover that the prize for winning the maths competition is a trip to Melbourne (which Americans never seem to pronounce correctly), Australia, Billy sees an opportunity to spend more time with Katie. There's just one problem - Billy is pretty sure that the Evil League of Evil has marked the maths competition for their next attack! Fortunately Billy has invented Potion 10! A formula derived from flowers that will make everyone love each other. But Billy's plan depends heavily on Hammer and Johhny Snow. Are they intelligent and trustworthy enough to follow through?

Horrible Turn doesn't quite manage to achieve the same level of wit and humour that we see from Joss but it is in it's own right a very funny, well filmed, and well thought out prequel to the Dr. Horrible story, complete with Whedonesque tragedy. The songs are catchy and the singing is pretty good. My favourite musical piece from Horrible Turn has to be Hammer's song about how handsome and perfect he is while pulling out some great dance moves, closely followed by Billy's final piece where he creates the Doctor Horrible persona. In place of the Bad Horse Chorus we now have the Outback Sirens and the early nineties setting makes way for the usual gags about brick sized mobile phones being described as being "so tiny!" I loved the sexy cougar librarian.

Much of the plot, particularly the songs follow in the same formula from Dr. Horrible, such as Katie's solo being their version of Penny's Song sing of past loneliness and new hope, Billy's final song being their version of Slipping/Everything You Ever and Everyone's a Hero becoming Everyone's a Winner as Kenny discovers his new charismatic hold over people to match his ego. However, the blogging aspect is completely non-existent in Horrible Turn. It might have been interesting to see how the could have corporated it into the nineties setting. In Dr. Horrible Billy likes creativity and I wondered if perhaps they could have had him keep a diary but such a plot would probably have been too messy to incorporate into the sixty minute run time.

If you enjoyed Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, you have to give Horrible Turn a try. For a fan made project it is of excellent quality and you will definitely get a few laughs out of it.

Follow this link to go to the Horrible Turn website and watch the show. Be sure to watch past the end of the credits for a song from Johnny Snow and bloopers!

Terra