New Joss Whedon show announced: Dollhouse (1 Viewer)

[Will_B]

I watched it live, but I've got to let Fox know how much I enjoyed it, so I'm gonna buy it from Amazon as soon as it is made available Saturday.

 

[Greg.K]

You know, I originally had the neighbor girl pegged as a sleeper active. But then they sent the disgraced handler to kill her, I totally bought that she was just gonna get offed until she was activated.

Well played, Mr. Whedon, well played.

Oh, and echo's hidden message - another great moment.

 

[Greg.K]

You know, I originally had the neighbor girl pegged as a sleeper active. But then they sent the disgraced handler to kill her, I totally bought that she was just gonna get offed until she was activated.

Well played, Mr. Whedon, well played.

...and echo's hidden message - another great moment. This show is really starting to hit its stride now.

Oh, and how come there's no "bouncytherat.com" registered yet?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Hot damn, now we're talkin'!

That was one fine hour of television that in the blink of an eye turned everything around for me.

The Patton Oswald storyline would have been almost sweet if he didn't also take sexual advantage of Echo.

One thing, though, I assume from what he said that after his wife was killed he had her mind uploaded into the Dollhouse? In order for Echo to be her she would have to have been imprinted with his wife, right, since no personality in the Dollhouse is artificial and trying to replicate his wife from scratch would be pointless.

More importantly in this episode something that had previously been foggy for me was brought into stark focus...I don't like the Dollhouse, I want to see it brought down and I want Ballard to be the one to do it! Love that dude.

Startling revelation about the cute neighbor, I never even considered that she was one of them so it was quite the shock when she was activated to kill that asshole.

I finally pegged why i'm so bothered by Echo's delivery of the line "Did I fall asleep?", she says it with such a blank and innocent intonation, one that is shared by all the Actives. They trust these shady, and IMO evil, individuals who have wiped their minds, taken away their personalities and memories of a life and loved one's and it truly disgusts me. They're like children who are being led into the car of a predator with the promise of candy.

I want to weep for Sierra, she was violated in the worst way that a woman can be violated but that little shit Topher simply hit the "erase" button and now she has no memory of it, does that mean it didn't happen? To the Dollhouse it does and that's why I hate them so.

This might be the first time i've ever watched a show where I wasn't on the side of the show's titular group but rather on the side of the lone FBI agent trying to destroy it. It's akin to watching The A Team and rooting for the government to find Hannibal and bust them.

Strange position to be in as a viewer and I like it.

Whoa, so much happened in that hour, I must see it again.

 

[Spero D]

Finally. A decent episode. I liked the street interviews, even though they were a bit cheesy. However why does the FBI not believe the FBI guy (can't remember the characters name) that there is no Dollhouse but the general public have heard about it? The only sticking point for me.

Other than that its a good start. Lets hope the other eps are of this quality.

 

[Josh Dial]

I'm not personally a massive of Whedon like most are (I thought Firefly was rather pedestrian for the most part), but the fight scenes in this episode (which was quite good as a whole) were easily some of the best I've seen since Highlander. Great camera work, cool moves, et cetera.

 

[Jeffery_H]

I second that in regard to the quality of show. The first few I was more than a little skeptical on. Personally, I am not a big Whedon fan but did enjoy Buffy seasons 1-5 (not the others). This show started rough but I think now it shows promise and hope it keeps the quality writing up to par and not go down the TSCC or Heroes path.

 

[mattCR]

 

[Derek_J]

The FBI and the general public apparently believe that the Dollhouse is just an urban legend. But that begs the question, how do these rich people find the Dollhouse, or even know there is something to be looking for?

Re: Cute neighbor chick - She offed the disgraced handler? I thought she just knocked him out, the implication being he was hauled off to jail, out of British ladies hair, and no need for anyone to be killed... err. "Sent to the attic?"

 

[Citizen87645]

She stomped on his neck when his head was propped up on the coffee table. That's a permanent "knock out."

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I thought it was obvious she killed him, it looked like she broke his neck on the edge of the coffee table.

Anyone have any thoughts on my question about Patton Oswald's wife?

EDIT: You beat me to the punch, Cameron.

 

[KeithAP]

Early on I thought the show had promise. However, things seemed to be going flat and I was a bit concerned. I wanted something to happen; just a sign that the show could become great.

Just watched "Man on the Street" and I must say, I think I got my sign. That was a great episode. Hopefully more to come.

-Keith

 

[Citizen87645]

I think you are right. There would be no point unless she was specifically his deceased wife.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

The question of "how do these rich people know about the Dollhouse" is one of those questions that your not supposed to ask I don't think. It's like in the Hostel films, how do those people know about the auction and since it's on the internet how is it not found out by authorities and stopped?

 

[mattCR]

In regards to the wife..

I think this is something that finally hit me when Echo confronted him in the ally... and she said "But that's not our purpose.." and it dawned on me. With the wife coming home, exactly as she was..

The purpose is immortality. Imagine... you're about to die and you have your entire brain downloaded, and you just "come back" as something else. This is really a guinea pig program, a test run for whether or not you'd commit yourself for immortality. Bodies become throw away sleeves, like "Altered Carbon" where you simply can jump from body to body; and the rich get the best picks.

What about learning to mess with the brains? Composites? Sure, it's neat to solve a problem, but it's a proof-of-concept for changing yourself. You want to come back exactly as you are, all your memories, everything you know.. but more confident, not afraid of heights, whatever. Topher pointed it out a few eps back when someone came back and she had allergies.. "too bad, it was in the mix" But what if you can figure out how to weed those things out? To not just come back, but come back as a better you?

Yeah, this is the kind of fountain of youth that would have numerous people who would spend anything to be in on the guinea pig program if it preserved themselves a shot when it mattered... the wife is the ultimate "Proof of Concept". She comes back exactly as she was, that day. all memories and reactions in place.

I watched it a second time, and I had been kind of suspicious of this kind of idea, but once it was mentioned above it seemed so obvious I was surprised it didn't hit me before.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Gawd I REALLY want the Dollhouse to burn while I warm my hands by the flames.

 

[Nick Martin]

That's probably as close to an American History X 'curbing' as one can get on a television show.

 

[mattCR]

Yep, imagine it.. and think about it for the first five episodes. Why do you think the senator (Ep 5) was willing to protect the Dollhouse? Because he occassionally gets a whore? No. But the idea that he could come back younger with the right political knowledge and instead of being a senator he could be president.. or if he's happy, just run as a senator forever.. a permanent ruling class.

Why hire a a birthing instructor who is a doll? That seemed so stupid.... but if your partly investing in doll technology because you want it for yourself later, why not take advantage, it's just a deposit on your future immortality. After all, the "Mayflower Investment Corp" that they are all paying is just an investment.. the Doll they get as a proof of concept or for their participation is like a dividend.

Why would a super rich person hire a master criminal to get art? Yes, he wants art.. but the mission required taking set personalities and artificially increasing them beyond human standards; Topher talked about imprinting her with higher sensitivities so that she would be abnormally aware, etc.

All of her imprints have been about tweaking the human condition; eliminating existing weaknesses or inserting new traits.. supposedly composites.. and then we see that she is a full imprint of someone who existed.

The real barrier is something the boss brought up; how to make sure the slates are as clean as possible. How do you purge EVERYTHING out of the body that the imprint is going into, so that when the new owner takes control, it's completely their body?

Next weeks preview gave some hints that's what they've been working on.. and how to do it "en masse" to create a nice rack of "sleeves". One moment in the "On the Street" went directly to this with humor; where a guy was saying "you know, what if you could go gay and no one would know"... go a step farther.. what if you, a super rich person, decide you want to download your mind into the body of a super-hot woman/man, to be the opposite side of that equation for a thrill.. just download back at the end of the night.. Topher just puts you on a hard drive and away you go.

Of course, eventually, you'll need more then just a russian human trafficking group (alluded to in Ep1) who can make people dissappear to fill up the racks..

I'm really pumped as to where this is now headed.

 

[Derek_J]

"Immortality" may be part of some of the client's thinking, but having one's memories and personality played back in someone else's body... He/She may act and sound like you, but it's not you.

 

[mattCR]

And thats something the show deals with too, as to whether or not a part of the person carries through regardless of the wipe.

There are really two forms of this kind of science fiction. One, which I would link to writers like Richard K Morgan, who writes of how people are "needle-cast" in the future; the poor basically live one life, a short one, and then have their bodies turned over for use by others.. the really poor, sell their bodies early and go "into storage" so they can come out later or just exist virtually.. and if you're poor but attractive beyond your means, you sell your body for a profit and "trade down"; the uber rich live centuries.. etc.

On the other hand, you have writers like Orson Scott Card, etc. who profess the other viewpoint that each person has a soul of sorts that goes beyond the collection of memories and the mental makeup that could be captured.

I'm not sure which side Dollhouse the show is on; the Dollhouse itself certainly subscribes more to the Morgan theory; that you can just wipe someone clean and install a whole new person like an application.