The UK’s Guardian look at which US shows could be making their way to the UK next year, among them is of course Dollhouse, but obviously they haven’t done their research as they describe the show as ‘involving clones’!
Dollhouse – Fox What’s it about? Joss Whedon returns to the small screen with this Attack of the Clones-style drama starring Eliza “Faith” Dushku. Why might it work? It’s Joss Whedon. And Eliza Dushku. Plus it involves clones and wiped personalities and secret missions. For many people it’s the most eagerly awaited new drama of the season. What could go wrong? Whedon’s dramas often start slowly – Buffy and Angel didn’t hit their stride until season 2, Firefly was just getting good as it got cancelled after a handful of episodes. The concern is that Fox won’t have the patience to nurture the show.
It is interesting to consider which UK channel will pickup Dollhouse. ITV bought ‘Bionic Woman’ last year along with the likes of ‘Dexter’ and ‘Dasies’. However I think Dollhouse would be more suited to the BBC or Channel 4 – who had a good reputation for purchasing creative shows until they let ‘LOST’ slip through their fingers.
does this intrigue you? Is watching Eliza Dushku’s Echo have a different persona implanted on her each week, while searching for the truths of who she really is and how she got stuck in “the Dollhouse,” something you’re up for? – EW.com
Scifi.com have an article in which Joss Whedon reveals that the show is not another “Alias“, and will have it’s own identity, even if part of that identity is asking ‘who am I?’:
“That’s really what the show is about. It’s about plumbing the depths of our identity.”
“It’s sort of taking the role of a Frankenstein monster and saying, ‘Who am I? Who created me? Why am I like this? What’s good about me? What’s bad about me? What’s eternal about me? And what’s just evanescent?’..And everyone in the show is dealing with that same issue, but for a different reason. That, to me, is the heart of the thing: ‘Well, who are we?’”
“There will be a flow-through of the show as well, about [Echo] and the characters surrounding her and how the Dollhouse works, how it doesn’t work, and her burgeoning self-awareness..Between these engagements, she’s this complete innocent and starts to go, ‘Hey, here I am in the Garden of Eden. What’s this apple, and what do I do with it?’
The Joss’d podcast have an interesting interview with Jill Golick- one of the first people outside of Team Whedon to get their hands on the pilot script for Dollhouse. In the interview she notes the influence that Whedon must carry with the FOX hierachy due to the level of control that he seems to have maintained over the structure of his show. She also states that Dollhouse wont be as ‘episodic’ as many fans are fearing – she points to the fact that the script tells an over-arching story. Another thing she mentions is that the writing in Dollhouse doesn’t belittle the intelligence of the audience – there’s little explanation as to what is going on, instead fans are required to work out for themselves what is happening in this ‘Dollhouse world’. Which is great news for me, as I like to be challenged rather than spoon-fed!
You can listen to the entire interview here - it’s about 27 minutes in if you want to cut straight to the chase.
In the recent trailers we see head honcho of the Dollhouse facility, Adelle DeWitt, make the direct comparison between “robots” and an “active”. Whilst many of us would consider ‘programmed dolls’ to be closer to robots than ‘humans’, she tells it straight: “An active is the truest soul among us”.
So what does this mean exactly? Are we looking at science so evolved that it transcends humanity, freewill, choice..memory? In theory an active appears to me to be a puppet on a string – told what to do, where to go, who to be. How is this a ‘true soul’? Do we really live in an age were being able to purge memories and become someone different each day, represents a true soul?
If I’m asking these questions, imagine the kind of questions Echo will begin to ask when she starts to remember fragments of who she was last time around!?
Of course the head honcho is biased in all of this – it’s her programme, of course she’s going to promote it in a good light. We, the viewer, can be more objective as to whether or not the ‘dolls’ are in safe hands.
As I’ve mentioned before, I just LOVE this premise - I can’t help but be fascinated by intelligent and ‘fun’ ideas like this one Joss Whedon cooked up over lunch with Eliza Dushku.
We’ve got 8 long months to wait until we’re fully immersed into the ‘Dollhouse’, but why wait til then?..I’m beginning my speculating and theorising now!
It’s just come to my attention that the comments system has not been operable – probably since I started this blog. D’oh! Apologies if you have been trying to leave a comment and been hit with an error message. I’ve now looked into the problem and resolved it, so all comments should get through from now on.
So if you have anything to say about anything posted on the blog and the show itself – whether it’s positive or negative or inbetween - then feel free to share your thoughts – this blog will only be as good as the show and the ‘WDH.com’ community!
Also, if you notice any teething problems or errors pages, links not working etc, please feel free to let me know so that I can iron out any kinks in the system. I also hope to improve the blog and the interface the closer we get to January!
That’s the question that I’m left asking after watching this sneak peak of Echo arguing with FBI Agent Paul Smith over her “missing sister”. We know that the “actives” are ‘volunteers’ in the Dollhouse programme – at least that’s what we’re led to assume. Which means that they all had lives before they became ‘pure souls’. This begs the question of whether Echo really does have a sister who went missing before she became an active (was this the reason for her ‘volunteering’ to become an active – to forget the pain of losing her sister?)..or whether Echo has been implanted with ‘false memory’ by her employers in order to throw Paul Smith (who is on the hunt of this secret Dollhouse) off the scent..
It’s an interesting scene and is sure to lead to rabid speculation by fans the closer we get to January (are we there yet?). Hopefully FOX will be so kind and release more ‘sneak peeks’ like this one over the coming months.
Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse gets another mention in the LA Times, as they analyse the new shape of television in the wake of the writers strike:
Great pilots do not, alas, invariably lead to great series. But pilots have been like internal-combustion engines or barrel-loaded muskets — the best bad idea until a better idea came along.
Not this year. Three NBC series — the comedy “Kath & Kim” and the dramas “My Own Worst Enemy” and “The Philanthropist” — were ordered straight to series with no pilot. Writer-producer Joss Whedon of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fame bypassed the pilot process in winning a midseason 13-episode order from Fox for “Dollhouse,” his latest sci-fi drama.
Okay, so January’s a long time away, what else is a prospective fan of the show to do but speculate over unimportant details such as the opening credits of the show?
Thankfully someone else has done the speculating on my behalf and has put together this pretty cool mock-up of the Dollhouse credits:
In the 
Site Update – Comments System Fixed
by Roco on May 21, 2008 · 2 comments
Hey folks,
It’s just come to my attention that the comments system has not been operable – probably since I started this blog. D’oh! Apologies if you have been trying to leave a comment and been hit with an error message. I’ve now looked into the problem and resolved it, so all comments should get through from now on.
So if you have anything to say about anything posted on the blog and the show itself – whether it’s positive or negative or inbetween - then feel free to share your thoughts – this blog will only be as good as the show and the ‘WDH.com’ community!
Also, if you notice any teething problems or errors pages, links not working etc, please feel free to let me know so that I can iron out any kinks in the system. I also hope to improve the blog and the interface the closer we get to January!
Cheers! :)
{ 2 comments }