Whenever a good idea comes along, it doesn't take much time for people to claim they thought it up first. That seems to be the case with Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, the Joss Whedon-created miniseries that streamed online last weekend and is now available on iTunes. Spout reports that legions of commenters calling themselves the Army of Toy Soldiers have been pummeling the site with complaints that Dr. Horrible is a direct rip-off of Dr. Steel, an online show that's several years the senior of Whedon's program. Wired spoke to Dr. Horrible co-writer Mauria Tancharoen, who said they've never heard of Dr. Steel, but don't mind that it exists. The Toy Soldiers, however, appear to be gearing up for a confrontation, possibly one that will go down this week at Comic Con.

Whatever. Dr. Steel offers plenty of entertainment value in its own right, and it does feature a maniacal supervillain with a catchy singing voice (see above). But it also contains more razzle-dazzle weirdness than plot, and Dr. Horrible is pretty much a straightforward narrative. One Toy Soldier member has argued that if they don't speak out, their silence will imply that Dr. Steel stole its concept from Dr. Horrible. That logic holds up -- but either way, we're dealing with two very separate programs here. If anything, the immediate exposure of Dr. Horrible can only help Dr. Steel gain more attention. Once noticed, people should be able to tell the difference.

If you're an iTunes subscriber and a Joss Whedon fiend, you were probably giggling yesterday as most fans (like me) kept desperately refreshing and going back to drhorrible.com all day to see Act I of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Now it's up on the new server with no problems and a lot of singing goodness. Free! Some days I really, really love the Internet!

Having just watched Act I for myself, I can tell you that it is so worth the 13 minutes and 49 seconds. It starts off mellow (but still funny), and soon enough -- there are simple, yet ridiculously catchy songs, evil schemes and deeds, and that charming Captain Hammer.

Think Venture Brothers done Whedon style, and the only critique I can come up with right now is that "The Evil League of Evil" doesn't sound as cool as "The Guild of Calamitous Intent." Still, I'm happy. Neil Patrick Harris. Nathan Fillion. Felicia Day. Pure, musical awesome.

Oh yeah, and the MySpace page even has a comic!

Cabin in the woods, ooooh. A cabin in the woods (yeah). I don't know if it'll be about five college students on their way to an old, abandoned cabin in the woods, but there's a project on Joss Whedon's plate that isn't Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog or Dollhouse. In a discussion with MTV, the uber-awesome Buffy creator talked about the projects that are coming to fruition, and those that are falling to the weight of busy schedules. We already know about the awesome Dr. Horrible, and the sing-along commentary, but what else is there?

Cabin in the Woods. While this may seem more like Sam Raimi territory, it's actually a project being cooked up between Whedon and Buffy writer and Cloverfield scribe Drew Goddard. The latter says: "It's got a harder and darker edge, but it's also got classic Whedon qualities. It'll rip your heart out and be heartfelt at the same time." He wouldn't say what it's about other than how it'll be their take on the horror-filled cabin experience. Right now, Whedon says that they're working out budgeting, and hopefully it'll be figured out soon. Considering the depth he brought to the vampire slayer, I can only imagine...

However, if you were hoping to see Joss involved in Brian K. Vaughan's Runaways production, dream on. Whedon already has "guilt" over his busy-ness and lack of involvement in the project. He's also got Serving Girl, a short he planned with Summer Glau, on the back burner because he's got his gigs lined up while Glau is "busy terminating everybody."

"I'm only one man!" he cried to MTV. That may be the case, but he's a man while awesome-sounding projects on the way.

Feel free to tell me I'm wrong here, but I don't ever remember a DVD that carried a director's commentary set entirely to music. Maybe I'm nuts and totally missing a title or five, but I can't imagine this is all that popular. Joss Whedon gave TV Guide an exclusive look at his new musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (which is just the most awesomest title in the history of EVER!), and in an interview with the director, he says the DVD (which he hopes will make a little money so that the people who worked on this thing for nada can get something back) will include "A musical commentary that is a completely original musical, that is all commentary songs, and we're writing that now." He adds, "We're just piling it on. We're like, we're going to make more fun of the idea of extras than anything else."

The musical itself will debut on the internet for free in three chapters (Whedon calls it an "Internet miniseries event"), with Part 1 arriving on July 15, Part 2 on July 17 and Part 3 on July 18. You can view them all over at the film's official site, which is currently hosting a teaser. Check out TV Guide for a mildly spoilerish review, then let us know what you think about this bold, adventurous project. Additionally, check out this 8-page online comic about Dr. Horrible's nemesis, Captain Hammer, written by Zach Whedon.

A musical commentary? Really? What other films deserve a musical commentary?

[Thanks AJ]

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

I might adore Joss Whedon, but I don't think I'm biased when I say that the above trailer for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is the best thing since sliced bread. Check it out above. Aren't I right? Good lord, I could watch the trailer on repeat. It's further proof that with enough talent, you don't need a lot of money to make something great. Yeah, this isn't exactly a big-screen piece of cinema news, but we're talking Nathon Fillion, Neil Patrick Harris, Adam Baldwin*, Felicia Day, and Joss Whedon -- all of whom have been in films, most of whom have been in some pretty awesome films (or made them).

But to keep this on the movie track: I hereby declare that no one should make a crappy spoof movie unless Joss is involved. Watching the trailer, I kept thinking about Date Movie, Disaster Movie, and all the rest of the crap that has come out, and how Whedon could've made them monumentally better.

And one more thing: When is Nathan Fillion getting his own superhero or bad-guy role on the big screen? Look at him -- he's perfect for it!

*Unfortunately, the man with the goggle-like thing, that I mistook for Adam Baldwin, is actually (I think) Rob Reinis.

Earlier this month, Marvel Studios, basking in Iron Man's smashing success, announced its production schedule for the next few years: nothing in 2009, Iron Man 2 and Thor in 2010, Captain America and The Avengers in 2011. A couple of weeks later we got a scoop that two more Spider-Man sequels might be in the works, to be shot simultaneously. Now, Marvel has tweaked its earlier announcement with a rarity: the possibility that a comic written this century might get lavish big-screen treatment. Runaways, written by Lost writer and co-producer Brian K. Vaughan, is now in development with Vaughan himself writing the screenplay (another rarity). There's no director, cast or release date just yet.

The comic, which is available in a series of volumes like this one, follows six kids who discover that their parents are actually a cabal of super-villains. They run away and vow to fight, discovering their own inherited powers in the meantime. It's a killer concept, and the teen-oriented material could have very broad appeal. What's interesting, too, is that Joss Whedon recently took over the series from Vaughan; might he get involved in the movie sooner or later? I suppose it might depend on how his new show fares.

It is no end of strange that with all the superhero movies being greenlit, one of the biggest comic book icons has languished in development hell for years. How is it that the Hulk managed to get remade before Wonder Woman landed a single movie?

We've heard it before, but she may finally be on her way. IESB.net caught up with Joel Silver at the Speed Racer press junket, and to everyone's surprise, Silver mentioned the future of the Amazon superheroine. Silver says he has two new writers working on the script -- Matthew Jennison and Brent Strickland, authors of the WWII Wonder Woman script that Warner Bros bought last year.

The two are writing a whole new script, shying away from any origin story, but instead one looking at her background, and her homeland of Paradise Island. I don't know, that sounds like an origin story to me. No word on what has happened to the WWII spec.

So ... during a recent chat with AICN, Neil Patrick Harris said: "I'm doing a web short film that Joss Whedon is directing and wrote called DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-A-LONG BLOG. That's a musical about super villains and crossing my fingers for the next round of Dancing With The Stars. (long pause) No ..." This, of course, led to a flurry of comments over at Whedonesque, and Joss himself finally weighed in, giving us another reason to love the Internet.

Joss says: "The bag is catless. During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each." He managed to get interest in the project, and this week, they started shooting. As Whedon describes it: "It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to." I'm getting flashbacks to The Venture Brothers and 40 Days and 40 Nights, but I don't care!

Just to make it even better -- NPH is Dr. Horrible, who I presume is the super-villain, Nathan Fillion is Captain Hammer (mean ol' superhero?), and Felicia Day is Penny. Day, by the way, was the young newbie slayer Vi on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Now if only Joss could give us more, regular, moving media work.

Up there you have uber geeks Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith (who is now, believe it or not, a professor) trying to make the perfect woman in Weird Science. They give their perfect woman a handful of boob (because the rest would be a waste), and a mixture of Albert Einstein and Diamond Dave to fill her brain. (What could be more well-rounded?!) The result -- out pops Kelly LeBrock.

Now, in a podcast with SciFi Wire about artificial intelligence, geek hero Joss Whedon discusses his dislike for the film: "I hate Weird Science not a little. I find it offensive, the boy fantasy of building a girl. Obviously, we were doing the nasty version of it [in Buffy the Vampire Slayer], because I find it grotesque."

But what do you think?

An added bonus for Whedon fans: He's working on a film script with Drew Goddard -- that writer from Buffy who recently penned Cloverfield.

The ever-lovable, wonder-writer/director Joss Whedon needs to get a few projects on the go. After running himself ragged with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, he brought the world a small helping of Firefly, a pretty kick-arse movie adaptation Serenity, almost made Wonder Woman, and continued the story of the slayers in comic form. Having handed over the reigns on that, what's left to do? It's not like Veronica Mars is still around for him to guest on! Well, he's still working on his supernatural Goners script after getting a bunch of studio notes, but Whedon never takes it easy, so it's not a surprise that after reviving his first beloved series, there's rumors of a Serenity 2.

Oh yes, the Browncoats might come back -- not necessarily to the big screen, but to DVD. While the film's box office didn't live up to expectations, it has, unsurprisingly, had a heck of a stint on disc. Moviehole recently chatted with Alan Tudyk (Wash), and he said: "They had to put [the new DVD] out because they've been selling out of the other one, and so Universal's like 'So, let's do another one.' And now... there's now a chance there's going to be another movie." Well, this is just about the most solid Whedon rumor you can get. While he always has a million potential projects swimming in his head, it's big news if the studios can see an audience and get interested in the idea.

So, does this make you giggle with schoolgirl-like glee? If so, keep picking up those DVDs and we might just see Serenity fly again! But heck, they could even keep the ship docked the entire time and show a lot of Summer Glau butt-kicking. Who wouldn't be up for more of that!?