Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)

Neil Patrick Harris stars in the title role, an evil supervillian -- with a good heart -- who wants two things. He wants to join the Evil League of Evil, and he wants to go out with that cute girl from the Laundromat, Penny (Felicia Day), to whom he can't muster up the courage to speak. As fate would have it, she speaks to him -- right in the middle of one of his evil deeds -- and the arrogant, selfish superhero Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) comes along to "rescue" her. She begins "dating" the hero, leaving the heartbroken Dr. Horrible to throw himself into his work, creating his evil "freeze ray."

Characters occasionally break into song, and Dr. Horrible narrates these events on a kind of video blog, with his old-fashioned movie laboratory in the background. Simon Helberg co-stars as Moist, another supervillain with the ability to make things damp. As on the famous "Buffy" episode Once More, with Feeling (2001), the songs here are funny and sweet and not a little touching, and Whedon films the numbers with fluid ease. Better still, the compact story does not go where you would expect, and it leaves off with a kind of stunning click.

In 2010, New Video released a terrific-looking Blu-Ray edition. Like the DVD, it comes with "Commentary! The Musical," a new, all-musical commentary track with the cast and creators, as well as a more traditional commentary track. Then we get a making-of featurette, and other funny videos.