SDCC 2010 Exclusive Dr. Horrible ELE Edition Custom Vinyl Figure by Jenny Wolf

One of the SDCC exclusives The Blot is looking forward to the most is also one of its most unknown: the Evil League of Evil Edition Dr. Horrible custom vinyl figure by Jenny Wolf! As you all know, The Blot’s a huge fan of Joss Whedon’s web musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and a vinyl figure of Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible is one of the greatest things ever! Not only that, but it also doubles as a How I Met Your Mother Barney Stinson vinyl figure…that’s two toys for the price of one.


This special San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Dr. Horrible colorway features Dr. Horrible in his Evil League of Evil red coat and black accessories (which he wears at the end of the web series), and comes holding a top secret ELE file folder. Each SDCC exclusive 5" Dr. Horrible figure comes signed and numbered by the artist and has a limited edition run of size of 50 figures. These awesome toys will go on sale the Thursday morning of Comic-Con at Dragatomi’s SDCC booth #3848 for $60 each. And for those of us not attending SDCC there is hope, any remaining figures will go on sale at Jenny’s online store sometime after the convention.


And for those of you hoping to get your hands on a Dr. Horrible vinyl figure in his traditional white coat, one is already in production! The OG Dr. Horrible colorway will be sold this fall as part of a three figure set, which will also include Captain Hammer and Penny action figures. Jenny’s Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog vinyl figure set will have an initial run size of 50 sets and will retail for $150 at her online store. Keep your eyes peeled to her online store SpaceMonkeyToys.bigcartel.com for more information!

Barneyism of the Week - Suits the Musical

If you’re following The Blot on Twitter, then you know last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, “Girls Versus Suits,” was the show’s 100th episode! That’s quite a milestone for a show almost canceled a time or two early in its existence. This was a hotly anticipated episode by HIMYM fans because it featured Neil Patrick Harris in the show’s first ever musical number, “Suits the Musical.”



The scene was truly legen…wait for it and I really hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the rest of the word is…dary, and my quoting of the song would never do it justice. So, for the first time ever here on The Blot Says…, I will not be transcribing the Barney-ism of the Week. Instead, I have embedded the song in its entirety above for your enjoyment. Please take a moment and soak up all 3 minutes and 39 seconds of its greatness and let me know what you think of NPH’s performance!

- Barney Stinson

“Girls Versus Suits”

How I Met Your Mother

Batman: The Brave and The Bold “Mayhem of the Music Meister” Soundtrack

Last Friday’s musical episode of Batman: The Brave and The Bold featuring Neil Patrick Harris as the Music Meister was amazing. Of course I’m a bit biased since I’m such a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother’s NPH, but ask anyone else who watched “Mayhem of the Music Meister” and they’ll tell you the same thing. It was definitely the most memorable cartoon I’ve seen on television in years.


The songs were both clever and catchy, and the writers did a great job working the songs into the episode’s storyline. The writers certainly could have taken the easy way out and inserted the songs as musical interludes throughout the show. But instead they made the songs part of the action, allowing the episode to keep its natural rhythm. Best of all, the Cartoon Network made sure to have the episode’s soundtrack available for download immediately after the first airing of the “Mayhem of the Music Meister.”

If you enjoyed last week’s episode of Batman: The Brave and The Bold as much as I did, then you’ll want to head over to iTunes or Amazon.com immediately to download/purchase the “Mayhem of the Music Meister” episode soundtrack. The soundtrack retails for $6.99 on both websites, and includes all 7 songs from last week’s episode plus the show’s official theme song. It really is a great soundtrack, and is just another perfect example of Neil Patrick Harris’ versatility and range. This is a must get for any NPH or DC Comics fan.

Barneyism of the Week - How To Keep A Girl From Becoming Your Girlfriend

How do you keep a girl from becoming your girlfriend?
Simple...
The rules for girls are the same as the rules for gremlins.

“Gremlins?” - Ted

Gremlins.

Rule Number 1 - Never Get Them Wet.
In other words don’t let her take a shower at your place.

Number 2 - Keep them away from sunlight,
i.e. don’t ever see them during the day.

And Rule Number 3 - Never feed them after midnight.
Meaning she doesn’t sleep over
and you don’t have breakfast with her.
EVER.

“What about brunch? Is brunch cool?” - Ted

No Ted, brunch is not cool.

- Barney Stinson

"Definitions"

How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother is finally back, and it couldn’t have happened soon enough. Can you believe HIMYM is already into its fifth season!?! All I know is The Blot’s been going through some serious withdraw ever since the end of last season. That Barney/Robin cliffhanger from last season really left me wanting more. And I hoped everyone turned in to watch the great Neil Patrick Harris host the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.

I can honestly say NPH was the best part of the show, and he definitely made the unbearably long award show watchable. My favorite part by far was the Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog sketch featuring Harris, Castle’s Nathan Fillion (Firefly), The Big Bang Theory’s Simon Helberg and Felicia Day (The Guild). Not only did we get an all new Dr. Horrible sketch/song, but Dr. Horrible also took home an Emmy! How cool is that? If for some reason you missed last night’s telecast, you can watch the really funny Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog clip below. Do it now or be forever sorry!

Barneyism of the Week - Barney’s Theory On World Peace

So I explained to her, I said Madeleine every single international conflict essentially boils down to sexual tension.

“Every international conflict?” - Ted

Every single one, Dude.

“So the crisis in the Middle East could be solved by…” - Ted

Gaza Strip-pers, next!

“Apartheid?” - Ted

Apart-thighs, what else you got?

“The Cold War?” - Ted

Mrs. Gorbachev, take down those pants.

- Barney Stinson

"Benefits"

How I Met Your Mother

Neil Patrick Harris Hosting Saturday Night Live

I hope everyone caught NPH hosting Saturday Night Live this past weekend. I know I’m a bit biased, but it was by far the best SNL episode of the year. It was definitely one of the funniest episodes in years, and I’d even go so far as to say everything from the opening monologue to Weekend Update was actually laugh out loud funny. But the best part of the show was this week’s Digital Short, an Orchestral Ode to Doogie Howser, M.D. If you missed last night’s episode head over to Hulu.com where you can watch 10 different sketches/clips from Neil Patrick Harris’ episode and check out the aforementioned Digital Short below:



The Cast of How I Met Your Mother Cashes In

Another big announcement I wanted to make sure and mention this week was the news that the entire cast of How I Met Your Mother received salary bumps last Friday! (link) After a long renegotiation, “Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan recently inked new deals with producing studio 20th Century Fox TV that will bring their salaries up to $90,000 - $120,000 per episode.” (link) Why that’s big news is that after three and a half seasons, HIMYM seems to have finally fought its self off the renewal bubble and secured its place in the CBS Monday night comedy lineup.

It also appears like a fifth season on CBS is all but assured with HIMYM’s ratings rising consistently ever since the half-hour comedy returned from its writers strike hiatus. The sky is definitely the limit for How I Met Your Mother now that 20th Century Fox has secured lucrative off-network syndication deals for the show and added an additional year to the five actors’ original seven year contracts. Here's hoping those contracts play out and there are at least four more season of How I Met Your Mother to look forward to!

Neil Patrick Harris To Host Saturday Night Live This Weekend

The January 10th, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live is shaping up to be the most legen…wait for it…dairy episode in the history of SNL. Why you might ask? Is it because it’s the first episode of 2009? Nope. Is it because this week’s musical guest is Taylor Swift? Not a chance. It’s going to be awesome because it’s being hosted by How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris!


Saturday Night Live has been on a tear this season and I’m pretty confident it’s going to be just as good this Saturday night with Harris hosting. I’m hoping, no wait, expecting a really funny Doogie Howser, M.D. parody, as well as a new musical Digital Short starring NPH. If you can’t wait til Saturday for SNL with NPH then check out this Saturday Night Live promo video feature Neil Patrick Harris and Will Forte:



Saturday Nighty Live airs Saturdays on NBC at 11:30/10:30c.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog DVD Available For Pre-Order On Amazon.Com

The Blot was pretty excited to find out that Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion is now available for pre-order as an Amazon.com exclusive. Best of all, it comes with bonus material including a musical commentary track! One interesting tidbit is that Amazon is manufacturing the DVD based on demand using DVD-R recordable media. I guess this is a way to cut down on costs and make Dr. Horrible profitable enough to actually manufacture. One upside to this is that there is no regional encoding, meaning it will play on all DVD players worldwide.


If you pre-order Joss Whedon’s internet sensation right now you can get the DVD for just $9.99 (instead of its listed retail price of $14.99). Plus, if your total order is over $25.00 you will qualify for free shipping making Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog DVD super cheap.

If you’re looking for more stories from the world of Dr. Horrible then check out these great free online comic books courtesy of Dark Horse Comics and MySpace. The first story features Dr. Horrible’s archenemy Captain Hammer. It is entitled Captain Hammer: Be Like Me! and was written by Zack Whedon and drawn by Eric Canete. The second story is a secret origins tale and features Dr. Horrible’s slightly wet sidekick Moist! It’s entitled Moist: Humidity Rising and was written by Zack Whedon and drawn by Farel Dalrymple.

How I Met Your Mother’s The Bro Code Is Set To Be Published

The Blot Says... hasn’t had that much How I Met Your Mother news this summer, but this post should make up for that a little bit. According to the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan, “The Bro Code, a book of advice by Barney Stinson of How I Met Your Mother, will be on bookshelves in late November.” (link) How cool is that? First Neil Patrick Harris gets nominated for an Emmy and now this.


You may remember The Bro Code from the HIMYM Season 3 episode “The Goat” where Barney explained that it was a list he had compiled “of all the things a true male friend – a bro – should or should never do to his pals.” (link) As it turns out, Barney violated his very own Bro Code when he slept with his best friend Ted’s ex-girlfriend, Robyn. From what we’ve seen already, The Bro Code is basically one giant Barney-ism, and I for one can’t wait to find out more about the rules that Barney lives his life by.


Earlier this summer a deal was struck to bring The Bro Code to life, which sent “co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas [along] with Matthew Kuhn, the staff writer who is responsible for Barney's blog,” scrambling to complete this now legen…wait for it…dary tomb of how every Bro should live their life. (link) Thomas views this upcoming How I Met Your Mother book as “just this off-network continuation of the Barney legend,” a legend The Blot hopes will continue to grow for many seasons to come. (link)

Look for The Bro Code to hit stores in late November 2008, making the book an excellent holiday gift for that special someone in your life (hint, hint!).

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

The Blot had a killer birthday weekend. Not only did I get to finally see The Dark Knight in IMAX, but I got a sweet Joker Variant Dr. Destruction figure and got to watch the ridiculously awesome Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I should have written about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog before it came out, but for some reason I never knew when it was going to debut until it was much too late.


You see it’s not actually a blog at all, but a three part musical miniseries created by Joss Whedon during the writers strike. Whedon described it as “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,” and best of all it stars How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion (Desperate Housewives, Firefly) and Felicia Day. Let me just say it’s awesomeness is indescribable.

While the musical was originally aired for free all of last week, all three Acts were taken down as of midnight last night. I actually didn’t get to watch it until this weekend, because when I tried to watch Act One on Tuesday I learned that the site had gotten so many hits it crashed and fried the servers almost instantly upon release. Talk about the power of the fans of the Whedon-verse! I really don’t want to go into much detail about the show since in total it is under 45 minutes long, but trust me it’s really good and definitely worth a viewing.

If you missed out and would like to see Whedon at his musical best, you can download all three parts here on iTunes for $3.99 or wait for it on DVD, which will have some of “the finest and bravest extras in all the land.” (link) More details about the DVD will be released later in the week at San Diego Comic-Con 2008. Until then enjoy the official trailer of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog:

Neil Patrick Harris “Clarifying” His Britney Comments

It seems like someone at CBS didn’t appreciate Harris’ comments last week, because he is already talking to the media again and backpedaling on his comments about Britney and the show’s decision to bring in well known guest stars. According to a statement Neil Patrick Harris gave to EW.com in response to the AP article, Harris believes that the writer “took some quotes of mine and speculated an opinion about their intent.” (link) Harris went on to state that “Britney did a great job on the show. She really did. In fact, we are all hoping she returns rather soon to reprise her role as Abby.” (link) Really? Everyone is hoping she returns? There’s not a chance in hell I believe that statement rings true with everyone at How I Met Your Mother. What I do believe is that a Spears return is already in the works and Harris had to do a quick reversal before the issue escalated with the Spears camp.


Harris went on to say, “look, that episode garnered our highest ratings of the season — I would never ignore or disrespect that fact. I am just very protective of our show, and its content. I have a high standard of quality, and hope to maintain it on every level. Television is big business, I understand that. I have great faith in our casting department, as well as [Twentieth Century Fox Television] and CBS, to find the appropriate person for every role on our show. I was remiss in speculating otherwise.” (link) If that doesn’t reek of meddling by CBS and the Exec-Producers of HIMYM, then I don’t know what does. The actor ended his statement by saying, “my job description is to act, and I should really do just that.” (link) Sounds like someone got a pretty big scolding for talking to the media, what do you think?


In Harris’ defense, the AP has gone back and issued a clarification to their original story by stating that “Harris did not say that he opposed a return engagement for Spears” on How I Met Your Mother and that the writer wrongly claimed that Harris did. (link) Sounds like a lot of semantics from both sides, with everyone trying to cover their position and previous comments. Here’s hoping for only good things in How I Met Your Mother’s future and many more seasons on CBS.

Neil Patrick Harris Speaks Out On HIMYM's Stunt Casting

Who knew Neil Patrick Harris read The Blot Says…? NPH gave an interview to the Associated Press yesterday and was quoted in saying “I worry that if they start Will and Grace-ing us too much, that the show will suffer.” (link) Now where have I read that one before? Regardless I’m glad to see there’s someone on the cast of How I Met Your Mother that feels the same way I do.


Harris also stated that unfortunately he’s “in the minority that our show does not need stunt casting in order to succeed.” (link) I’m interpreting that to mean there is a lot more stunt casting in the works. With appearances by Enrique Iglesias, Mandy Moore, Britney Spears and Sarah Chalke already in the can this season and upcoming appearances by James Van Der Beek and Alan Thicke in the highly anticipated Robin Sparkles episode, I don’t see how the could possibly do any more stunt casting than they already have.

Harris also stated that “we’re all really proud of the content of the show. I mean, viewership is not our game. It’s the network and the studio’s game, you know. It’s the promotion department’s game. We wish we weren’t opposite an awkward reality dancing competition, but we have no say about that.” (link) I’m glad Harris is speaking out and standing up for the show because he is 100% right. I really loved the quote about the “awkward reality dancing competition,” I started laughing out loud when I read it.


It’s a real shame the executive producers are messing with the show’s chemistry for a small increase in viewership. Longterm this stunt casting is really not in the show’s best interest. When the interview turned to storylines on the show, Harris was asked who might be the secret slanderer running Barney’s reputation introduced last episode to which NPH replied, “No telling, but based on the stunt casting we've done in the past I'm guessing Tara Reid." (link) How funny was that response? It sounds like the show has at least one unhappy cast member, and an important one at that. Hopefully the show’s creators will realize what a gold mine they have with the cast already in place and that with the right promotion the show can still greatly improve its ratings.


In other news, contrary to previous reports it sounds like Sarah Chalke will be able to clear some time on her schedule to make a return visit to How I Met Your Mother. According to Michael Ausiello “Sarah Chalke is in advanced talks to reprise her role as Ted’s possible future wife” for a few more episodes this season. (link) Chalke’s return is one instance of stunt casting I can live with. Hopefully Doogie is ok with it it too, because the one character HIMYM can ill afford to lose is Mr. Barney Stinson…suit up!

The Best Movie Poster Ever!

No words are needed to describe this new promotional poster for the upcoming movie

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.

To see a trailer for Harold and Kumar 2 go here.