TIME's Best Inventions of 2008
From a genetic testing service to an invisibility cloak to an ingenious public bike system to the world's first moving skyscraper — here are TIME's picks for the top innovations of 2008
15. The Direct-to-Web Supervillain Musical
Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) is just your average lovelorn bad guy trying to make it big — he's got some dubious weapons, a secret hideout, a square-jawed nemesis (Nathan Fillion) and a video blog. Oh, and he sings. Think The Diaries of Lex Luthor as told by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon conceived and produced the online video Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog during the writers' strike. It's hard to imagine a studio green-lighting an idea as weird and ostensibly uncommercial as a 43-min., three-part online supervillain musical. But in a medium that rewards the unconventional — the Web — Dr. Horrible was a hit. After its July debut, the series reached No. 1 on iTunes' video chart, with 2.2 million downloads a week. Now there's a sound track, Web comics and a dvd on the way. Cue the maniacal laughter.
View the full list for "TIME's Best Inventions of 2008"Latest Lists
Most Popular »
- Did Amanda Knox Get a Fair Murder Trial?
- Celebrity Chefs Show How to Lose Weight
- How Strong Is the Evidence Against Amanda Knox?
- Meg Whitman: Is California Ready for Another Celebrity Governor?
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- India, Pakistan and the Battle for Afghanistan
- Why Fake Snow Is Filling Beijing's Bird's Nest
- Amanda Knox, Convicted of Murder in Italy
- Hate Your Job? Here's How to Reshape It
- Slow Times At My 20th High School Reunion
- Paris: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- Could Zuma Be What South Africa Needs?
- Troubling Rise of Facebook's Top Game Company
- Having It Both Ways in Advertising
- Riding the Waves of Irrational Behavior
- Shanghai: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- The Dollar in Danger
RSS