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

Movie 5.0I was first introduced to the existence of Dr. Horrible a couple of years ago during the summer of '08 when the writer's strike was still in effect. I was instant messaging with a friend of mine in California when she mentioned something called "Dr. Horrible," and she wouldn't leave me alone because I had no idea what she was talking about. So she found me some streaming links of the show, I watched them, and found them thoroughly amusing. A year later, I finally discovered Joss Whedon's masterpiece in Firefly and its man-child Serenity, developing a new respect that is probably more prevalent in the rampant fandom out there than anything else. And another year after that, in only my second viewing of Dr. Horrible I think I'm starting to see why Joss has so many fans. Dr. Horrible is an oddity, to say the least. Its short running time, low-budget roots, Internet crowd, and yet addicting quirkiness have come to entertain millions of people. But with star power like Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day, is it any surprise? While only running a mere 42 minutes (the equivalent of a single TV series episode), I find it amazing how so much comedy, drama, and tragedy were crammed in. And to top it all of, it's a musical, but not just any musical, a supervillain musical! Such subtle emotions like love, hope, and a greater calling to do good (or horrible) things is just one of the many characteristics I think any person goes through, be they regular Joe's or aspiring super people. NPH, in all of his natural charisma, plays the role of Dr. Horrible flawlessly. I never watched Doogie Howser growing up, but the "cool guy" image he's had ever since Harold & Kumar has been a joy to watch. Nathan Fillion is essentially an egomaniac superhero that, if you're any familiar with his work in the Firefly universe, makes for some great comedy relief. And finally, Felicia Day plays the cute damsel and love interest of the two with great, uh.. cuteness. Props to her for a beautiful singing voice, too. If you've yet to see this, Dr. Horrible is an over-the-top, silly, and wacky musical satire concoction that's short in length, but certainly a winner.Video - 4.0Being a made-for-Internet production and filmed in a total of two weeks, you'd think something low-budget like Dr. Horrible wouldn't translate well to BD. But in fact, it actually looks pretty good. The color scheme doesn't amount itself to much outside of Dr. Horrible's lab coat, Captain Hammer's black t-shirt, and various amounts of street clothes, but image detail is still quite good. Skin textures are relatively tight, and contrast levels give the overall picture a kind of cartoony look. On the flip side, there's also a lot of noise in the darker or more dimly-lit scenes, and a few instances of artifacts/debris pop up every now and then. There's also the issue of contrast getting blown out of proportion during the "special effects" sequences, like when a giant Dr. Horrible is wreaking havoc on the city. But given that the budget was probably half the cost of some sports cars, I think it looks great.Audio - 4.5Dr. Horrible is presented with a very excellent DTS-HD 5.1 track that better captures the true essence of the show. Dialogue is clean-cut from the center channel with what few, if any, sound effects coming mainly from the front sound stage. But the real star of the show (the music) is phenomenally delivered and dispersed throughout every speaker. Accompaniment itself actually has a decent amount of separation from the vocals resulting in a fine representation of the show's soundtrack. High and low ends of the music/vocals never waver and almost make you think it should just be an audio BD. Integration of the pre-recorded songs to the video are flawless as well, and the BD as a whole really does justice to the musical numbers. The only downside, really, is the lack of LFEs. There is one point in the show where something blows up making for a quick little rumble, but that's it. Certainly, the music sounds as good as it ever will, though.Extras - 5.0Comes with 2 commentaries, making-of, Evil League of Evil application videos, outtakes, and a brief interview with the ELE itself. Probably the funniest and most innovative special I've experienced yet, though, is the musical commentary. Whedon and gang actually went through the trouble of composing and constructing songs and dialogue in a semi-Broadway fashion to fill in pretty much every single second of the feature's run time. Dialogue is high-pitched and fast just like you'd hear on stage, and a lot of the songs are quite entertaining, yet perfectly comprehensible as potential standalone commentaries themselves. It's just as strange, quirky, and fun as the show itself. Also of high entertainment value are the ELE applications. Much of the applicants are very creative considering these are low-budget and fan-made, and I think it's awesome that Whedon was cool enough to actually put them on the disc. The making-of is only about 20 minutes, but provides quite a bit of insight to the composition of the idea, the music, and the casting. Rounding it all out is a painfully short ELE interview, which is funny in its own right, but I would've loved more Fake Thomas Jefferson and Dead (David) Bowie screen time. All in all, the extras are a joy to watch and compliment the feature very well.Overall - 4.5In the last couple of years, Joss Whedon has really managed to capture my attention with his brilliant attention to quirkiness. First was Firefly and Serenity, and now now Dr. Horrible. The comedy is subtle, snarky, and genuinely funny all at the same time. With outstanding performances by the main three cast and a very catchy soundtrack, Dr. Horrible became an Internet sensation, and rightfully so. Presented by New Video with adequate video, excellent audio, and all the goofy extras that were on the DVD, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog comes highly recommended an is a must-have for Whedonites.

I cannot say enough good, nay GREAT things about this, so I won't even try or I'm likely to run the Amazon servers out of usable space in a real hurry.But it has become a little tough to find these days, so being able to own a copy pretty quickly and painlessly thanks to Amazon is no small thing in my book.Thank you.

Ordered this for a friend for Christmas. It was perfect!!

I'm a teacher who hardly ever uses films. I'm very choosy about what I use, whether it's a document, a piece of literature, or a political cartoon. When it comes time to teach/reteach plot line and the elements of the short story, in both my honors and regular classes, I use this film. Why is this the perfect film for both boys and girls? For both Honors and regular classes?1. The Whedons have instant credibility, especially now that The Avengers was so successful with a wide audience (Joss wrote its screenplay, as well as the one for Toy Story). Students also recognize the cast from shows like Castle, The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother, so they're in it.2. Omniscient point of view: Musicals are the perfect genre to teach this point of view. It also reinforces the truth that film is a form of literature. Students become aware that a film can be in the first person if there is a voice-over in the first person. Otherwise, it is third person. Kurosawa is a great filmmaker for showing more than one character's interpretations of an event, but this uses popular culture icons and the timeless superhero motif to make a musical cool! It also shows that omniscient doesn't necessarily mean you know EVERY character's thoughts--just the important ones to the conflict.3. There are both major and minor conflicts that are easy to identify. There are three clear conflicts, all three of which Dr. Horrible exposes in the first scene. Every student benefits from this complex structure AND understands it. It's not beneath the honors students, and the students in the regular class can follow it and identify it, as well. They can also see how climax in a plot line can be in the same scene for every conflict, but different parts. Best line with a double meaning to discuss that addresses two of the conflicts in one: "The world I wanted at my feet". GENIUS!4. Resolution symbolism. At first, when the film goes dark, students call out, "It's over? What?" Then we have an amazing discussion where it comes out that the simplicity of the ending really exposes Billy's darkness and loneliness and how utterly human and broken and incomplete he is when he's alone.5. You can understand every single word in the lyrics. The enunciation is perfect.6. There's love and superheroes. How perfect is that?7. Every song is catchy, and the dialogue is witty. During class, students react the whole way through. Some of my students are still singing the songs. They have also come back to me and told me they've watched it several times since class. They talk to others about it. Even after they're my students, they come back to visit me, ask me what we're doing, and ask, "Have you shown them Dr. Horrible yet?" It's a hit!8. It catches you off guard. You think it's gonna be funny, and then you're hit with a curve ball.9. The end of each act is a perfect discussion place, if you feel like your class needs to discuss and clarify complications.10. This has elements of a Greek tragedy, not only because of the three acts, but with our flawed hero whose own ambition is destroying him.11. Themes involve the darkness and frivolity of society, false prophets, what a hero truly is. Powerful depth for a film that seems to be a comedy.12. It's short, only 42 minutes long, and yet so much happens. These men are geniuses! Thank goodness for that writer's strike where they just got bored sitting around and decided to come up with this gem!WARNINGS:1. There are two sexual references, one involving the word "penis". Students can handle this. Don't prepare them for it or make a big deal out of it if students giggle. It's funny. It even goes to show the shallowness of Dr. Horrible's nemesis, Captain Hammer, and how he hides his true self from everyone by Billy who is in awe at their blindness--the references are not just there because sex sells. They have a purpose.2. If you don't talk to them about what musicals can do as literary genres and point of view, many students will act too macho whenever a character begins to sing. They will guffaw, turn away, or in some other way act like it's silly. Just tell them that they are mature, young adults and that you have a Plan B if they can't handle this. Then after you show them the movie, tell them what you saw that you liked about how they were audience members.I feel like I can guarantee success with this one. Let's just say that it would be hard to fail. Your students will love it, and you will never be accused of trying to get out of teaching for awhile by merely showing a film to your class.

Comedy GoldI found this on youtube at first, and loved it so much I had to buy it

Buena película, divertida y el precio me pareció adecuado, ya que es algo difícil de encontrar de manera legal

Bellissimi i bonus (tra cui Commentary!)

Junto a la serie "Firefly", "Doctor Horrible" es lo mejor que ha hecho nunca Joss Whedon, que me perdonen los fanáticos de Buffy (serie que para mi hubiera sido otra obra maestra absoluta también, si no tuviera tantos episodios malos y olvidables en las últimas temporadas...es una opinión personal, por supuesto).Con muy pocos medios, muchísimo talento, un ramillete de actores en estado de gracia, unas canciones maravillosas e inolvidables y una historia con muchas más lecturas de lo que en apariencia pudiera parecer, Joss Whedon creó su obra más personal y poder tenerla en DVD es todo un lujo.La edición es perfecta. Solo se echan en falta subtitulos en español en los extras.Una gran compra.

Ici je ne reviendrais pas sur la qualité à proprement parler de cette mini-série qui dès le premier visionnage m'a littéralement conquise, mais sur cette édition DVD que je viens de recevoir. En effet, ne possédant pas de lecteur Blu-Ray, et le DVD étant en Zone 1, le choix était cornélien ! Autant vous dire que j'ai choisi la version DVD sans garantie que je puisse le visionner un jour et je peux vous dire que je n'en suis nullement déçue ! En effet, le DVD passe très bien sur mon lecteur (pas de soucis de zones, surtout que je n'ai pas un lecteur dernier cri) et de plus, chose qu'il n'y avait pas marqué dans la description du produit, il y a bel et bien une version sous-titrée Français (ainsi qu'Anglais, Espagnol, Allemand, Chinois et même Japonais) ! Donc pour tout ceux qui n'ont pas envie d'investir dans un lecteur Blu-Ray, sachez que la version DVD est tout à fait opérationnelle et est sous-titrée pour le plus grand bonheur de ceux qui comme moi ne sont pas réellement bilingues.En bref, achetez ce petit bijou sans plus tarder car vous serez comblés autant sur le plan artistique que matériel !