Dollverse have posted a review of episode one of Dollhouse. It’s titled “Echo” (no surprises there) - and you can read all about it here. Be warned, spoilers.
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According to Tohper Brink, the Dollhouse mind-wiping guy, the Dolls are all “volunteers”, which means they made a conscious decision to join the secret government programme. I find this interesting because essentially it means that they left their morals and integrity at the door. They must have known when they signed up that part of their ’programming’ would include doing ’bad things’ – crime, murder, adultery.. Just some of the assignments that the Dolls might be ‘hired’ for. However, I wonder whether we can truly hold them responsible for the crimes that they commit whilst in this ’5 year’ stint of mind-wiping? After all, they may have consciously joined the Dollhouse, but they’re not consciously doing the things that they are being made to do. Can a person be responsible for something if they are not conscious..not ‘aware’ of what they’re doing? Or does there exist a part of the dolls which deep down knows whether they are doing ‘good’ or ‘bad’? Is this where Echo’s self-awareness eventually comes from – this intangible urge to resist command? If so, what could this urge be? Residue memory? Instinct? The soul, perhaps?
The soul is believed to be the very thing which makes us all unique – it’s believed by many to be the self aware essence, something which can survive life and death..and memory loss. The soul is indomitable.
Which brings me to this thought: If the soul can survive all..imagine what it would be like for that one constant to experience a plethora of different minds and personalities. Is this why Adelle believes that “an active is the trust soul among us”..? Something I’m looking forward to Dollhouse exploring is whether the soul can survive the new imprinted experiences, or whether ultimately the soul will be changed forever by the unconscious experiences forced upon it?
Another question concerns whether or not the “actives” can really go back to their normal lives once their 5 year stint is over? These aren’t machines, these are people who have lived machine-like lives for 5 years – surely signing up to be an active is nothing but a death warrant!? Then we have the government conspiracy angle – how long before we find out why the Government are funding this operation?
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We’ve just opened a brand new forum for the site. The Watching Dollhouse Forums are live and ready for fans (and potential fans) of Dollhouse to discuss and speculate the show, and to interact with other Dollhouse fans from all around the world. This forum is new, but feel free to join up and become a part of what we think will be a fantastic community! Everyone is welcome! We are really committed to making both the blog and the forum friendly, fun and engaging aspects of the ‘Dollverse’.
Our forums are top of the line and come equipped with all the modern gizmo’s that the kids are into these days, including member albums, member created social groups, and of course easy to access Dollhouse and off-topic sections (and much more).
You can find the forums by clicking the ‘Forums’ link in the navbar above, the ‘forums’ banner image on the sidebar or by going here. Oh, and of course it’s free to join.
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Last week I wondered which UK broadcasters would pick-up Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse for the UK. Digital Spy are now reporting that this year there is less urgency amongst these broadcasters in the wake of the writers strike less new shows being produced:
Jay Kandola, ITV’s director of acquisitions, said that executives making the trip to LA had been a little surprised by the lack of completed pilots: “We knew that the writers strike had happened but it was still a bit of a shock.”
Kandola said the market to bring shows to the UK was not as strong as it had been and predicted that the slower buying pattern would continue next year.
David Smyth, Sky One acquisitions head, said of the trend: “It will be a lot more like the unscripted marketplace, where ideas will come up all the time. You find out about them and you bid for them but there isn’t necessarily a market that showcases that.”
Amy Barham, who holds the same position for Virgin Television, agreed: “It doesn’t feel like you have to make your move a week after May 17.”
However, it is still predicted that both Dollhouse and Fringe will be snapped up later on in the year. I still think that the show would be best suited to the BBC or Channel 4.
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FOX has released a new video of Dollhouse mastermind Joss Whedon and actress/producer Eliza Dushku talking about their upcoming show. I gotta say, I love the new tag-line: “Who Do You Want Me To Be?”. Check it out below:
Also, you may have noticed that there’s now a Gallery on the site – feel free to check it out (it’s still in the early stages, mind).
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In this interview with IGN, Joss Whedon made reference to the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I want to highlight this because Whedon seemed pleased that actor Tahmoh Pinekett found parallels between the novel and the early Dollhouse script.
I admit, I have never read the book, but I’ve since done a bit of researching and I can see Penikett’s point – the novel does share potential themes with what we know about Dollhouse – just replace the clone angle with the notion of “Actives”. For those of you who like to do your background reading on possible inspirations or connections to the Dollhouse premise, here’s a brief synopsis of Never Let Me Go (obviously, novel spoilers ahead):
Set in a (barely?) alternate England in the late 1990s, Never Let Me Go is the sum of Kathy’s memories. Kathy is one of many “donors” who have been brought into being for purposes that, while well-intended, can come to no good. Ishiguro’s novel touches on the issues surrounding human cloning and identity and “what if.” Then again, human clones are nothing new. Know any identical twins? They may be clones of one another, but that doesn’t preclude them from having discrete selves. Never Let Me Go doesn’t put science on trial; rather, it takes humans to task on the willful, too-prevalent misuse and misunderstanding of science to further parochial, sad ends.
More:
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, comes an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery that is at once heartbreakingly tender and morally courageous about what it means to be human.Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.
Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.
Never Let Me Go breaks through the boundaries of the literary novel. It is a gripping mystery, a beautiful love story, and also a scathing critique of human arrogance and a moral examination of how we treat the vulnerable and different in our society. In exploring the themes of memory and the impact of the past, Ishiguro takes on the idea of a possible future to create his most moving and powerful book to date.
So we have themes of ‘memory’, ‘identity’, ‘secret organisations’ and ’conditioning’ to name just a few of the potential parallels between this intriguing novel and Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. Frankly, I’m fascinated by this book, just as I am Whedon’s Dollhouse – there is an underlying quality about a premise which is ultimately about the characters. Yes, the scifi-global conspiracy fancy stuff is great, but without great characters then you’re struggling. Both the Never Let Me Go and Dollhouse ‘appear’ to adopt that focus.
Something I’ve been wondering since hearing about Dollhouse concerns the social and human questions that Whedon is trying to provoke through Dollhouse? After all, most writers write because they want to speak to the world (or someone) through their work, no? One aspect I’m already considering is the question of: Do memories define us, or are we defined by the potential to be whoever we want to be? And what of the tools (science) that facilitate progression – can it be regulated? should it be regulated? Who has the knowledge to really decide?
As I said, I haven’t yet read the book and obviously I haven’t yet seen Dollhouse, but I just find the possible themes interesting.
You can read find out more about Never Let Me Go here.
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I’ve had a couple of people ask me whether Dollhouse will air in Canada, so I thought i’d post this just incase anyone else is wondering – the answer is YES! Canadian broadcaster CanWest picked up Dollhouse a few weeks ago. I don’t think it will be long before the top broadcasters in other countries get in on the act.
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Tahmoh Penikett – An Agent on the Hunt
Tahmoh Penikett – IMDB | Wikipedia
Snippet:
Whedon tapped Battlestar Galacticastud Tahmoh Penikett to stand in as Echo’s twisted love interest and an FBI agent obsessed with the urban myth of a such a “Dollhouse.” – Wired.com
See Also: Eliza Dushku Profile
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At least there’s hope if FOX does cancel Dollhouse before it’s time. Perhaps it could continue in another form – comic-form to be precise. No, I’m not jumping the gun, I simply want to reference this interesting Whedon-related article, which talks about ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’ and how they have found new lives in a different medium. Interesting read here.
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More pictures of the Dollhouse Set:
You can’t quite see it with these photos, but the ones here certainly seem to have a circular theme – interesting because circles are often considered symbols of ‘unity’. A subliminal way to condition the dolls into believing that they are part of a ‘central organism’ (aka the Dollhouse programme), helping them to stay within the circle and to never stray with independent thoughts, beliefs, urges..?
Thanks to Dollmazing for the images.
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