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New Joss Whedon show announced: Dollhouse (1 Viewer)

Mikah Cerucco

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I don't consider myself a fan of the show at this point, but I did watch it, and I have to say "exactly" to everything MattCR wrote. One question, though... can the company see and hear everything the doll does? I'm pretty sure they can. The customers must not know this or that'd get rid of the security blanket of wiping the doll.
 

mattCR

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They can normally just hear. They covered this in the briefing before she became Ellie Penn, that for this assignment the handler would have special access and a video feed. Normally they are just wired for audio.

And they covered the bit about "The client cannot know" that they have any knowledge by saying that the handler f*(&d up by being present where the client might realize he was there, and they had to come up with a way to get out of the crisis.

The whole point of the dollhouse seems to be the ability to confide or share those moments and not worry about any one else ever having access; those kind of assurances.

That's why the freakout over the handler taking the shot went down.
 

KeithAP

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To expand on what MattCR said...

We don't have enough information about Dollhouse operations to say they are working outside of the government. They could be a defense contractor. We might see "Actives" on missions for the government at some point. The private party missions, like we saw in the first episode, might be allowed for funding reasons or they may be simply testing the system before the government uses them for its missions.

And the fact that certain agencies within the government aren't aware of their operations certainly doesn't preclude the Dollhouse from being a government backed organization.

As for why someone would hire a Doll for job rather than get a "regular expert", sure, anonymity would be important. But the show also made it clear the Actives are more than just a single expert. They are made up of multiple personalities. In theory they are customized for a specific operation in a way one person never could be. For example Echo was a hostage negotiator that spoke spanish. We don't know if those two skills were from the same personalty or came from two different personalties.

That being said, I think the show will certainly require some "suspension of disbelief." I just think it is way too early to pick apart plot points. We don't know enough about what is going on to do that.

-Keith
 

Mikah Cerucco

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It's never too early to pick apart anything. If the show doesn't work for someone for the reasons stated, so be it. Of course it's also valid for others to provide explanation of any points raised and to express that it is (at least for now) working for them.

I didn't watch the show intently as I was not a Whedon "fan" waiting for his next project, nor an Eliza Dushku fan. I saw Buffy, but only after the series was done (I watched it on DVD). Same for Firefly. If anyone else were doing this show, I probably wouldn't have even watched it (I'd just record a few episodes and see how positive the feedback is). So, I did miss a point here and there. But from my POV, watching or not will be a matter of if I like the premise and how it's delivered. I don't think it's a bad show.

BTW, as I mentioned before, I've not been an Eliza Dushku fan (that doesn't mean I don't like her... it means I've been indifferent). I saw her on Buffy. I don't even remember her being in True Lies. I didn't watch Angel so I didn't see her Faith character there. I don't remember her in Bring It On. I never got around to watching Tru Calling, though I like the premise. So no, she's never registered for me on the "oooh la la" scale. But her legs in that dance scene? OK, Yeah.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/989/dollhousexa7.jpg
 

Hanson

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Totally underwhelmed by the premiere. And yes, the premise just sounds... well... let's just say, far-fetched. It's hard to get into the show because I keep thinking, "this makes n-o-o-o-o sense whatsomeever".

Patrick, when are you replacing your stolen TV already? Do you need HTF to take up a collection? It kind of makes me sad.
 

mike caronia

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Wasn't Christian Slater in a very similarly themed show this year?
Different personalities in the same mind...canceled.

Dollhouse was kinda blah for me.
But I love Firefly so much, I'll give this a few weeks to develop..
 

PaulHeroy

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I have to admit, I'm a pretty big fan of everything Whedon has previously produced on TV and was greatly anticipating this show, but add me to the list of folks who were underwhelmed by the pilot. I'm certainly going to give it at least several more episodes to see how it goes because Joss has banked a ton of great TV credit with me, so I'm hoping to see some snappier dialog and interesting setups and stories. There seems to be a pretty good cast on hand too, so there is potential, but a lot of it fell flat. I'm hoping that's just due to getting a lot of introduction and exposition out of the way in a pilot.

I wasn't sold on Dushku's portrayal of the expert negotiator, either. But that brings to mind a larger question that I don't think I've seen raised - how do the Dollhouse folks gain access to the personalities/abilities in their database? Eleanor Penn was deceased, so I can see how it might be easier in that case, but surely they're not restricted to dead folks. I'm sure they'll need a good bit of access to experience with current and cutting edge tech and that seem like a very constrained supply if they can't access living folks. So it seems like a fairly big and obvious point that'll have to be addressed and explored, to see how they add expertise to the persona database.
 

Henry Gale

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Surprised at the lack of confidence in Mr. Whedon’s skills.
Remember the first episode of Firefly?
Was Buffy a cult hit after the premier?
Did Joss stay away from TV this long just to come up with a dud?
How about a little well earned trust?
 

Ken Chan

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That was a while back; she played Arnold's teenaged daughter when she was about 13. Ended up out on the crane, jumping onto the Harrier....
 

Jason Seaver

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Hey, he's earned a little skepticism, too. The last couple years of Buffy weren't very good (though that likely has as much to do with Marti Noxon as Whedon); Warner tossed the Wonder Woman script that they undoubtedly had spent a lot of money on, and that horror movie project at Universal seems to have disintegrated. As good as Buffy, Angel, and Firefly were, nobody bats 1.000; Dollhouse is, at least early on, looking like it may be a dud.
 

JohnS

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Just watched the pilot, and I'm going to stick around and see where this show goes. I'm a Whedon supporter!!

I think the show has a great premise.
 

Josh Steinberg

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It took me a couple days to get around to watching the pilot, but it was about what I expected.

I should take this moment to point out that I hate pilots. I'm sure there are a couple exceptions, but for the most part, they wind up being pretty dull with all of the exposition and setup. The problem is that, most of the time, as a TV viewer you're being asked to enter a world already in progress, but it doesn't feel that way when all of the dialogue is like, "So, Co-Worker-Friend, what is it that we do at this place where we've worked together for years, and please speak slowly in complete sentences when answering for those playing the home game" and that sort of thing. It's just the nature of the beast, I think, that in order to set up the characters and the situations that they deal in, the first episode (or few episodes) suffer as dramatic works because they need to be more than that.

I never would have imagined, for instance, after the first couple episodes of T:TSCC (pretty awful start) that it would evolve into one of the best sci-fi offerings on network TV in a long time. And yet it has.

A coworker just loaned me her copy of Veronica Mars, Season 1, a show I've heard good things about and have been told by multiple people that I would like. I've watched the first eight or ten episodes and it hasn't really done anything for me yet; I'll probably finish out the season, but if the remaining episodes are like the first few, I'm probably not in it for the long haul. But I know I needed more than one episode or even two or three to make that call.

I'm a huge fan of Buffy, but I didn't start out that way. My old college roommate kept trying to talk me into watching the show, kept telling me I'd totally love it, that I should borrow his DVDs, etc. I borrowed Season 1, and the first disc did absolutely nothing for me. Had I not walked in on him watching some episodes from Season 5 or Season 6 (don't remember), and seen how riveting those episodes were, I probably wouldn't have been compelled to stick around.

My point being: for my own enjoyment of Dollhouse, I can't nitpick too much or make too many criticisms after a single episode, because I don't know where it's going. And I think one of the joys in watching a show, at least for me, is the journey, finding out what the show is really about and what's going on underneath the surface. What's going on behind the scenes is what makes shows like Dollhouse interesting to me, but in order to get to that point, they need a few episodes to show us the front of the store first, so to speak.

If it was a new show with an interesting premise where I didn't know about the cast or crew, I'd give it at least a few episodes. Since it's a new show with a cast I am familiar with and a crew that's done work I've enjoyed before, I'll give them the season. The real test for me with these things is - after the season finale plays out, am I interested in finding out what happens next? And it's way too early for me to be able to answer that.
 

Steve Y

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Saw the "pilot" (well, the aired pilot) and I agree that the premise is interesting, and I loved the concept that the girls' memories are patched together from deceased people. The BENEFIT of the services of the Dollhouse, considering the cost of those services, was NOT clear to me, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief there (if you're on the board with the basic premise, might as well go all the way.)

The last scene was too cryptic - does anyone have ANY idea who those people in the room were? I mean, there wasn't even a hint of a clue to what the scene was even referring. It left me with "huh?" Even if we weren't supposed to know, save those perplexing moments for the second or third episode! Don't frustrate the audience so early. Give us revelation, not headaches.

The first-aired episode of Firefly was much better (I thought the unaired Firefly pilot was amazing). The first episode of "Angel" worked because we were already familiar with the character and the world. The pilot for "Buffy" was also so-so, which is why I'll give "Dollhouse" another shot.

The script was lacking much of Whedon's normally cute, winky dialogue, and that worked to its credit. Apparently this changes in the next episode, though, so expect lines like, "Echo's been wiped. We have maximum wipage."

All pilots should be two hours, not one. The whole hostage-negotiation thing really made it feel like filler, with exposition tacked onto the beginning to make it feel like a "pilot". I'm not convinced Dushku has the chops (didn't buy her second character), though I find her very likable as a presence -- more likable than Sarah Michelle Gellar, who I thought was BTVS's weakest link.
 

todd s

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I mentioned this earlier. I think the dead couple were friends with Eliza's character in college or hs. He was the one making the tape of her that was playing. The murderer I believe is "Alpha". Who is probably the first of the wiped agents who must have went rogue. He is the one supplying info to the FBI agent.
 

Steve Y

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Hm, I suppose that makes sense. But the whole "Alpha-source to the agent" subplot seemed a little underwritten... as did the whole idea that there were rogue agents at all! (Male ones at that!) I *thought* I was paying attention! I really enjoyed the FBI agent sections of the show - maybe more than the Dollhouse sections. Part of the fun is seeing Tahmoh Penikett (from BSG) doing something else. Joss Whedon is a huge fan of BSG, so it makes sense.
 

todd s

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Steve, If I remember correctly. Their were agents shown. And I believe 1 or 2 of them were male.
 

Henry Gale

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I'm always, impressed, intimidated by and worried about those of you who actually follow the plot.



Can I see the short skirt scene again?
 

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