Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog [Blu-ray]

Nearly a year after its DVD release, the web sensation written by the three Whedon brothers (Joss, Jed and Zack), plus Maurissa Tancharoen (a/k/a Mrs. Jed), is now on Blu-ray, complete with its array of quirky special features. Anyone who already owns the DVD probably won’t feel the need to upgrade, but for a first-time purchaser, this is the best way to make the acquaintance of the world’s most fiendish wannabe.

Studio: New Video

Rated: NR

Film Length: 42 minutes*

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

HD Encoding: 1080p

HD Codec: VC-1

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1; English DTS 2.0**

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese

MSRP: $19.95

Disc Format: 1 25GB

Package: Keepcase

Web Release Date: July 15, 17, 19, 2008

Blu-ray Release Date: May 25, 2010

*The disc jacket erroneously lists the running time as 92 minutes.

**The disc jacket sports the Dolby Digital logo, which is probably a carryover from the DVD. However, all of the audio tracks, including the commentary, are in DTS.

The Feature:

Billy a/k/a “Dr. Horrible” (Neil Patrick Harris) has a problem. His aspirations to become a super-villain keep interfering with his romantic interest in Penny (Felicia Day), the pretty girl he’s been admiring for months at the laundromat. As he’s singing to his online fans about Penny (“My Freeze Ray/Laundry Day”), his friend Moist (Simon Helberg) arrives with the mail, which includes a letter from Bad Horse, head of the Evil League of Evil (or ELE). According to the letter, Dr. Horrible’s application for ELE membership is actively being considered (“Bad Horse Chorus”).

Now Dr. Horrible has to focus all his energy on acquiring the final component for his master weapon, a ray that can stop time. But just as he’s on the verge of acquiring the missing element, wonderflonium, whom should he meet but Penny, who is out soliciting signatures to save a building for conversion to a homeless shelter (“Caring Hands”). Distracted, Billy nearly abandons his mission, but pulls himself together at the last moment (“A Man’s Gotta Do”). Unfortunately, the delay provides an opening for Dr. Horrible’s arch-nemesis, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), to intervene, and the crusading hero nearly foils Dr. Horrible’s plan. But as luck would have it, Captain Hammer is met with an unexpected distraction: Penny. Furious and appalled, Dr. Horrible slips away with the wonderflonium in tow.

As Billy, Dr. Horrible begins to stalk the now-dating Captain Hammer and Penny, and he and Penny become friends (“My Eyes”, “Penny’s Song”). On the Dr. Horrible front, things aren’t going well. The ELE demands that he kill someone (“Bad Horse Chorus (Reprise)”), and at first Dr. Horrible resists the idea. But his reluctance melts when Captain Hammer spots Billy, recognizes him as Dr. Horrible, and, with the maturity of a teenage bully, tells Billy that he plans to sleep with Penny just because Billy loves her. Billy immediately decides that it’s Captain Hammer who will be Dr. Horrible’s prize kill and his entry ticket to the ELE (“Brand New Day”).

Everything comes to a head at the dedication ceremony for the new homeless shelter, where Captain Hammer delivers an especially tone-deaf speech (“Everyone’s a Hero”). For those who haven’t seen it, I won’t say more, but the story’s resolution was controversial. I’m sure Whedon wouldn’t have it any other way.

As the famous quote from Spinal Tap goes, there’s a fine line between clever and stupid, and Joss Whedon is a grandmaster at walking it. Not since The Rocky Horror Show has anyone created anything so perfectly poised between shlock and brilliance. Indeed, as Rocky Horror was to old monster movies, so is Dr. Horrible to comic books – the cheesier, the better. (Fillion says in the extras that never before had a director instructed him to make a performance more cheesy.) Anyone familiar with the musical episode from the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will recognize the Broadway pastiche style, and anyone familiar with the nerd villains from that same season will immediately identify Dr. Horrible’s lineage.

Fillion and Day are both veterans of prior Whedon productions, and the landscape of Dr. Horrible is dotted with other familiar faces. (I especially liked writer/producers David Fury and Marti Noxon as unctuous newscasters.) But Neil Patrick Harris was new to Whedon World, and he’s a big part of what makes Dr. Horrible so effective. In addition to his extensive TV credits, Harris is an authentic musical theater star, having performed both Cabaret and Sondheim on Broadway. (I’ve seen him on stage, and the guy has the chops.) He brings complete professionalism and deadly seriousness to this ludicrous material, and that’s why it works so well.

Video:

Dr. Horrible was shot on HD, and the Blu-ray image is smooth, clear and noise-free. However, the image is noticeably less detailed than one would expect from a feature film or a network TV show. Whether this results from the minuscule budget (reportedly around $200,000) and the constraints it imposed on time and lighting, or from other factors, is impossible to determine, but anyone expecting an image that “pops” will be disappointed. Still, while I don’t have the DVD for comparison, it is clear in big scenes like the homeless shelter dedication or the outdoor stunts shot on the Universal backlot that the Blu-ray resolves a level of detail of which NTSC resolution would not be capable without large amounts of video noise and aliasing. Since there was no film-to-tape transfer involved, I have to assume that this is how Dr. Horrible looked when it emerged from the editing room, and the Blu-ray is presenting it at its best.

Audio:

The audio is the real treasure of this release, because – well, did I mention that it’s a musical? The DTS lossless track delivers the vocal performances and the backing instruments with an open, airy presence that seems to suspend itself in the middle of the listening space, and it’s a pleasure to listen to. If you’ve only heard Dr. Horrible as a web download, this track will be a revelation.

Special Features:

Unless otherwise noted, all special features are in standard definition, have a 1:78:1 aspect ratio and are enhanced for 16:9. On the DVD, certain special features were hidden as “easter eggs”, but on the Blu-ray they’re all listed on the menu.

FBI Warning. I know – what’s so special about this routine adjunct? Pay attention as the disc loads, and you’ll find out.

Commentary! The Musical. Selecting this track plays Dr. Horrible with an entirely different musical score. It begins like this:

                              Commentary! Commentary!

                              That’s what this is, it’s a commentary.

                              Everyone loves these making-ofs,

                              The story behind the scenes.

                              The way that we got that one cool shot,

                              And what it all means.

                              We’ll talk about the writing,

                              We’ll probably say it’s great.

                              And the acting’s so exciting

                              Except for Nate. [Fillion: I phoned it in.]

High points of Commentary! include extra Stacy Shirk’s ballad about how she bribed Whedon to get her own number (“Ten Dollar Solo”); Fillion’s musical assertion of superiority (“I’m Better Than Neil”); Simon Helberg’s rendition of Moist’s “cut” number (“Nobody Wants to Be Moist”); Zack Whedon’s rapping dismissal of musical theater (“Zack’s Flavor”); Maurissa Tancharoen’s lament over typecasting (“Nobody’s Asian in the Movies”); and Neil Patrick Harris’ cri de coeur over having to carry the entire production on his shoulders (“Neil’s Turn”).

It’s at least as funny as the main feature. Maybe more so.

Filmmakers’ Commentary. The three Whedon brothers, Tancharoen, Harris, Fillion and Day join for a more traditional commentary track. With seven participants, you can’t alway tell who’s speaking, but as boisterous as the crowd gets, they manage not to talk over each other, and they end up providing a fair amount of information about the tightly scheduled shoot. And yes, they commit many of the same sins they deftly skewer in Commentary! The Musical.

The Making of Dr. Horrible Featurette (20:42). This featurette is divided into three parts – “The Movie”, “The Music” and “What Just Happened” – and provides general background on the development and creation of Dr. Horrible and its ultimate release.

ELE Application Videos. (SD; 4:3) (30:50). Musical submissions from fans after the release of Dr. Horrible. There are some very creative people out there.

Outtakes (1:57). Set to music and not nearly as funny as the outtakes from Firefly, Angel or Buffy.

Behind-the-Scenes (1:04). Whedon and the actors working on the sequence accompanied by “A Man’s Gotta Do”.

Evil League of Evil Interview (3:15). Seen only briefly in the finished film, the ELE is here interviewed by an off-camera voice that unmistakably belongs to Joss Whedon.

Teaser Trailer (0:56). This is the teaser released on the Dr. Horrible website on June 25, 2008.

In Conclusion:

Although a sequel is rumored to be in development, for the moment Dr. Horrible remains one-of-a-kind. Excuse me now, while I go listen to Commentary! The Musical one more time.