Special Features: Commentary! The Musical Commentary by the cast and crew Evil League of Evil application videos Making-of featurettes Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) stars as Billy, A.K.A. Dr. Horrible, a budding super-villain whose plans for world domination continually go awry. His two goals: getting accepted into the Evil League of Evil, and working up the guts to speak to his laundromat crush Penny, played by Felicia Day (The Guild). The only thing standing in his way is Captain Hammer, Billy's superhero arch-nemesis played by Nathan Fillion (Firefly). With one big score, Billy could get into the E.L.E. and earn the respect of Penny, but only if he can keep her away from the dashing Captain Hammer...
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Conceived as an "online miniseries event" during the 2008 writers' strike, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 42-minute musical romp that bears the distinctive stamp of Joss Whedon. Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) plays the title character, who video-blogs about his twin goals to join the Evil League of Evil and to woo the fair Penny (Felicia Day, of Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Web series The Guild), a woman he met at the local laundromat. Dr. Horrible is foiled on both fronts, however, by his arch-nemesis, the self-absorbed superhero Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion, Whedon's Firefly).
Dr. Horrible was written by Whedon, his brothers Zack and Jed, and Jed's fiancee Maurissa Tancharoen, and the songs were written by Joss and Jed (who also produced, orchestrated, played, etc.) with some lyrics by Tancharoen. (Jed and Tancharoen have backup singing roles.) The offbeat, off-the-cuff humor is laugh-out-loud funny, and just like Dr. Horrible wants to take over the world, the songs will take over your head: they're engaging ("My Freeze Ray'), stirring ("My Eyes"), and sweet ("Penny's Song'). "So They Say" is particularly evocative of Jonathan Larson's Rent, but as with Joss Whedon's musical episode of Buffy, "Once More with Feeling," the influences are diverse. It's hard to imagine a better cast. Harris, who's sung Sondheim on Broadway, is a great lead and clearly the best singer, Day is completely charming, and who better than Captain Tightpants to play the pompous superhero? One could argue about the ending, and the independent budget shows, but Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a complete hoot for people who enjoy musicals with quirky humor. Plan on watching it multiple times. --David Horiuchi
On the DVD If you've already watched or downloaded Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a number of bonus features might entice you. There are two commentary tracks: Harris, the three Whedons, Tancharoen, Day, and Fillion recorded a spirited track discussing the movie, and there's also "Commentary! The Musical" in which they ignore the movie and sing about the writers' strike and each other (e.g., Fillion sings "I'm Better than Neil")--the songs aren't as good as the Horrible songs, but it's good silly fun. A 20-minute making-of discusses the cast, the recording sessions, and how the movie became a phenomenon, and 10 videos (a half-hour total) were recorded by fans who want to join the Evil League of Evil. And when's the last time you wanted to pause the FBI warning? --David Horiuchi
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Dr. Horrible is Excellent:
A very amusing comic-musical. If you like Joss Whedon's work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will probably enjoy this comic-super-villain-inspired bit of fun. As with all of Whedon's best stuff, the sharp witted comedy comes mixed with some legitimate drama and emotion.
Dr. Horrible is brilliant.:
I don't want to drop any spoilers into the review. Suffice to say that everything about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog works. It was a pleasure to see online when it was first released and the DVD takes it a step further. For those of you who don't know, during the Writer's Strike a couple of years ago, Joss Whedon (creator of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer", "Angel" and "Firefly") and his brothers and friends decided to make a film and release it on the Internet for free. And so was born Dr. Horrible. From the... more info
Absolutely Genius:
I came across this show thanks to a friend of mine. She told me it was an absolute must see. She then proceeded to sit me down and had me watch it right then and there. I had no idea what to expect. I have to say, what then proceeded for the next 40 odd minutes was brilliant. Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog had me enchanted with it from the moment the show began all the way up until the ending note. Neil Patrick Harris plays an "Evil Genius Scientist" known as Dr. Horrible/Billy, along with Nathan... more info
Great little movie!:
I wasn't sure about a musical, but with Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris, I had to give it a try. I'm glad I did! I loved the characters, the music was fun and the story was great. I love the attempt to engage a new business model in delivering movie entertainment without the traditional studio model. My only criticism (and it's mild) was the ending. While I like that Joss didn't go with the obvious "boy gets the girl", the brief sadness of the ending seemed a little out of tune with the... more info
