By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
The DVD for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was released on Friday. Having pre-ordered from Amazon, I received it yesterday, and since I’m home for the holidays, forced my parents to watch it with me last night. At only $10, for a fan it’s probably worth buying just to have the musical in DVD form. However, it happens to have some really neat special features as well.
The best part is definitely Commentary! The Musical, a full commentary track consisting of original songs by the actors and crew about the making of the film. It’s completely silly, featuring numbers like Nathan Fillion singing about how he’s better than Neil Patrick Harris (“So he was on Broadway while I was in soaps, but who’s got the high score on Ninja Ropes?”), Felicia Day plugging The Guild (“I have dozens of fans! Bakers dozens!”), and groupie #1 (and writer) lamenting that she didn’t get the role of Penny because she’s Asian (“If there is a part for us, it’s a ninja or physician or a goofy mathematician or a groupie in the chorus…”). There’s also an entire song about the iPhone game Ninja Ropes. This commentary track doesn’t really follow the action on the screen at all (it’s basically just an audio featurette), but there’s also a regular behind-the-scene commentary track that provides more of the traditional insights.
One of the great things about the “Making Of” featurettes is that it’s clear how much the cast and crew really get along, and they’re all extremely laudatory of each other. Even though Joss got the lion’s share of the glory, it’s very obvious how much of a group effort the writing and the music was. Those Whedons are a very talented family. There’s also a great featurette about the fans and the reaction to the musical–it’s always nice to get a feel for how much the creators of something appreciate their fans (Jed: “All you want to do in life is to create something that people will dress up as.”).
There are also apparently easter eggs on the DVD, but I haven’t had a chance to go hunting for them yet.
The bottom line is that if you’re a fan of Dr. Horrible, it’s definitely worth shelling out the $10 for the DVD. Not that everyone’s a fan. This is definitely one of those things that a lot of people just don’t get. My dad, for one, said, “And to think, I could have gone my whole life without seeing that.”
As Dr. Horrible would say, “Wow, sarcasm. That’s original.”