Dollhouse

By wiesengrund The parallels of Chaucer's tale with the two story lines (and the larger issues of the Dollhouse itself) are rich. Some of this is made explicit in the discussions between Echo/Kiki and the professor. He pulls quotes from Alisoun where she argues that, via sexual dominance, she has the power. All of this takes on a richer meaning and ironic tone as the professor uses it to seduce a student, who’s really an active (lacking conscious control) he’s hired to play out his fantasy. The two story lines also deal explicitly, though very briefly, with the topic of identity (another key concern of the series). After the paralytic drug start to wear off, one of the women Terry has enslaved tells another, “We have names; remember that. We’re human, not his to...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund We're going to run all the episodes," Fox scheduling chief Preston Beckman said. "We're not saying we're happy with those numbers, or accept them, but we don't have to overreact. During [November] sweeps we might have to jack up the numbers a little [with other programming], but we plan on completing the order for this show." As for ordering additional episodes, or a third season, Fox says they will make that decision after the current run. The news represents a relief to "Dollhouse" fans that the current season won't be cut short, yet also suggests a full-season order is unlikely. Waiting until all 13 episodes have aired before making a decision generally means allowing production on the show to shut down for the season.   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund It's not as though "Dollhouse" is perfect; the show's plausibility problems still crop up from time to time. I wonder why former Actives such as November (Miracle Laurie) are allowed to know that they were Actives, and why Dr. Saunders/Whiskey is allowed to know she is an Active who has been imprinted as a doctor (yet as Whiskey, Amy Acker is so great I can understand the desire to give her scenes in which she rages about what's been done to her). Es folgt ein Interview mit Jed Whedon, das klar in nicht-Spoiler- und Spoiler-Part strukturiert und sehr lesenswert ist, plus die Episoden-Beschreibungen von allen Folgen bis rauf zu 2x08 "A Love Supreme". Ich kann nur sagen: Was für eine Staffel.   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Whedon: Now, having said the above, let me be clear that Dollhouse was never meant to be about trafficking. It was meant to be about power, desire, identity, and sexuality. I knew from the start that prostitution was part of the package, but that is something I was interested in exploring in a removed, fantastical setting. I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with people paying for sex IN THEORY. And what I was interested in was the desires people would have if they could create a true sexual narrative for themselves, to give the act context. It wasn’t until later in the process that I woke up in the middle of the night and thought “this is trafficking”. My response to that was to try and show both sides – the reality of trafficking and the fantasy of...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Seit jeher Joss-fans (siehe Buffy 7x06 "Him"), redet hier Kelley Deal über ihr schlechtes Gewissen bezüglich Dollhouse: TNG: I know that you are a Joss Whedon fan, now that Dollhouse has finished its season…. TNG: You can apologize right now, with the Dollhouse season over… TNG: I was lukewarm on the first few episodes, but it got epic. I think it was FOX’s fault that the first ones kind of failed. I think it’s a great show though. TNG: Having already guest-starred on Buffy, would you consider being on Dollhouse KD: Oh yeah. But I’m sure Joss is mad at me. He’s not going to want me on Dollhouse now. TNG: I think he’d be lucky to have you guys, I mean you are the fucking Breeders.   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Sie redet über "The Plan", Caprica und auch Dollhouse: JE: My impression — and this really is just my impression — was that the show got closer and closer to Joss’s original vision for the show. As the show progressed, Joss was able to get deeper into the mythology and meaning of the show, which was all the stuff that fascinated me so much. I love the show and loved working there. CU: Will you be writing more episodes of Dollhouse next season or taking a more active producing role on the show? CU: What do you think the reduced budget will do to the show next season? Will it have an impact of the kids of stories that can be told?   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund A source at the network confirms the one-week delay and explains that the push is meant to accommodate the already-tight "Dollhouse" shooting schedule. "Dollhouse" is going back into production in two weeks and FOX intends to air new episodes over consecutive weeks in the fall (as much as possible), so the new premiere date gives Joss Whedon and company a little additional breathing room. And in response to a frequently heard question, our FOX source says that as of now, FOX still hasn't licensed the unaired "Dollhouse" bonus episode "Epitaph One" (made for 20th Century Fox TV, but not for the network) and, thus, has no plans for the episode to air in primetime. Link Leider noch immer keine Aussichten auf "Epitaph One" @Fox. Aber mal sehen.   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Gestern hätte ja eigentlich "Epitaph One"-Tag sein sollen. Schließlich wurde foxstore.com unter dem Ansturm an Dollhouse-Fans (wie zu erwarten war) lahmgelegt, weil der pre-order für die limitierte Comic Con-Variante der DVD/Blu-Ray abgehalten wurde. Kunden wurde bei Bestellung ein Sneak Peek auf "Epitaph One" versprochen. So what do Comic-Con attendees -- or DVD buyers -- have to look forward to? Well, "Epitaph One" did what the best episodes of "Dollhouse" do: It made me think, it had some great performances and it contained some "holy [expletive]" moments. To say more would invite a kneecapping from Fox, so I'll keep my yap shut when it comes to the "OMG" moments of "Epitaph One."   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Well, I can tell you that Joss is funny and brilliant all at the same time. He was always playful between takes. I can also tell you that in the scene where Eliza rescues me from the kidnappers, we’re not really in a broken down house in the desert, we’re on a sound stage that they built to look like the inside of a house. And I never spent more than about 20 seconds inside that refrigerator, most of the time I was in video village watching Joss direct the crew or chit chatting with Eliza. Definitely! Joking around with Joss. One time, I was clapping my hands together and pointing with a sour look on my face. Joss asked what I was doing and I explained that I was pretending to be the Cymbal Monkey from the Simpsons Movie, the part where the Monkey is clapping his...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Nachdem gerade die ersten Promo-Kopien herumfliegen, tauchen auch die ersten Rezensionen auf. Keine Angst, 20th Century Fox hat die vierte Disc nicht mit ausgeschickt, damit "Epitaph One" nicht leaken kann. Was heißt: Keine Spoiler in den Reviews, aber eben auch keine Besprechung von "Echo" und den vielen Extras der vierten Disc. Dafür gibt es nun aber Erwähnungen der Kommentare zu "Ghost" und "Man on the Street", und die klingen ja super: “Man on the Street” was the first episode to tackle these questions head on. Interstitial clips of a news feature on the “urban legend” of the Dollhouse tell us what the public thinks of the idea, and we see a schlubby Internet mogul (played beautifully by Patton Oswalt) with a very good reason to hire an...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund On July 22, Dushku returns to the set of “Dollhouse” to begin shooting the second season of the Fox drama. Dushku is delighted the show, from executive producer Joss Whedon, was renewed. She was returning from a trip to Uganda when she got the word. “Dollhouse” struggled in its Friday night time slot but did well in DVR and online viewing. “It’s alive because of the fans and because people found the show. This show is back because it’s a new era. It’s not just a Nielsen world any more. We really feel like the show was starting to find itself. If we hadn’t gone back, it would have been such a mean little tease. We found our rhythm, and we know what worked, we know what didn’t work and now we get to really get dirty.”   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund SyFy hat bei Fox21, dem Indie-Arm von 20th Century Fox Television, einen Reboot des Alien Nation-Franchises ('88 Kinofilm, '89-'90 TV-Serie, '94-'97 fünf TV-Movies) geordert, und Tim Minear wird es machen: The new "Alien Nation" would include a mythology that evolves over time and will also touch on some of the issues of the day, such as the immigrant experience and how society integrates an incoming culture. By the time the show begins, some time in the 2020s, the alien population has multiplied from a few thousand to 3.5 million. And much of the "newcomers" live their own segregated existence, in what Minear compares to the North African ghettos in France. Link   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund But the biggest challenge of the role wasn't trying to master a different accent, but trying to portray someone who is a blank slate most of the time. There was some concern about whether Dollhouse, whose first season has finished airing in the US, would get a second season. This prompted an overwhelming show of support from fans who crashed the Fox network's phone lines with calls begging for the show be saved. To everyone's surprise, it was. Along with the rest of the cast, Lachman was overwhelmed by the support for Dollhouse. “It was amazing!'' she says. ”I was so grateful to everyone who tweeted with Fox and called them. It was remarkable and just really proved that the fans of Joss don't just like his shows, they love them.''   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund The noise you're about to hear is the sound of the Whedonverse exploding. Joss confirms to me exclusively that, well, he's one step ahead of you. "If anybody thinks [bringing Summer onto Dollhouse] hasn't occurred to me already then they have not met me," he says. "I mentioned it to her before [SCC] was canceled. I was like, 'You know, we should get you in the 'house.' But first we have to come up with something that works." And casting her as a doll would not work, insists Whedon. "Summer would be perfect to play an active, but she's done that [type of role] a lot," he says. "I'd rather see her play someone who talks too much. The most fun I have is when I get somebody who's good and comfortable at doing something, and then I make them do something else. Summer s...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Freitag, der 13.? Jawoll. Fox ordnet alles um und lässt Terminator und Dollhouse am Freitag ins Rennen. Freitag. 1)Fox is happy with how well "Fringe" has been doing and doesn't want to push its luck with a second sci-fi show in a plum timeslot adjacent to a hit like "24" or "Idol," particularly when the show has a concept that's much less straightforward than the one on "Fringe." 3)They do believe in the show, but also think it needs a more hard-core sci-fi show like "Sarah Connor" as a lead-in. And they also recognize that both shows are going to have niche audiences at best and are therefore placing them on a night where the bar for success is much lower.   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund This past summer we also became obsessed with Whedon’s hilarious online musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, in which Neil Patrick “Doogie” Harris plays a novice supervillain desperately trying to get accepted into the Evil League of Evil. (Download it from iTunes for five bucks right now!) And now, now, we are peeing ourselves waiting for Joss’s new TV show, Dollhouse, starring second-string Vampire Slayer Faith—oops, Eliza Dushku—as a human “doll” whose memory can be wiped clean and then imprinted with a new persona to be hired out for different sinister missions. It sounds really weird, which is exactly the direction Whedon says he’s going in. Will it be better than Buffy? Fuck no. But what is? The Wire and The Sopranos are the only...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Matt Roush: I don't even know how to respond to this sort of twisted fan logic, that fans are upset because fans are concerned that fans are already giving up on a show that is still months away from premiering. I think fans should relax. It is almost always a mistake to judge a show by its early buzz, and Dollhouse suffers for having been in the pipeline a long while and having undergone a fair amount of widely reported retooling. There's reason to be skeptical (given the history with Firefly) that Fox may not live up to its end of the bargain, but look how supportive the network has been to Fringe so far, a show that has been exhibiting its growing pains on air, which is possibly even more perilous than what Dollhouse is currently experiencing. In a re...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Question: I have a bad feeling about Dollhouse with all the changes that Joss Whedon is having to make. Actually, I had a foreboding right from the beginning. There's no question Whedon is a genius. There are episodes of Buffy that no one else could have conceived, or even conceived anything remotely like them. There will certainly never be another science-fiction series like, or maybe as good as, Firefly. On the other hand, Whedon is not a very smart genius. Read the transcript of almost any interview or listen to his commentary on any DVD episode and several things become clear. One is that he's his own greatest fan. Another is that he has no respect for what he considers the "average" viewer. His attitude is that if you don't get it, he doesn't want y...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund Welcome (back) to the Dollhouse. A New Pilot? A New Hope? A Prequel? A Nyquil? What's the skinny on DOLLHOUSE and why doesn't this link to anything? Joss: Yes, Ruhthie, I did. And it was grand, simply grand. Joss: Wow. Good panic. Joss: Often several. Joss: Available exclusively on iTunes! Oh. About Dollhouse? Only that it’s going to be a funhouse ride of excitement, fear, existential angst and co-ed showers. That I love it. Love the writers, love the cast, and already blissfully live in the strange, compelling world of the removable self. Hmm. When I pitched it to Eliza, she said “My God, it’s my life!” But after that sentence, I think maybe it’s mine. Joss: Yes, Ruhthie. Yes I will. Ich liebe Joss!   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund And naturally, in a story with three characters, two male and one female, there is a love triangle at work, and as is often the case, the woman in that story becomes more of a prop at play in the interaction between the two men. The real relationship struggle, the real competition is between Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer. The reason Penny has lasting appeal to Captain Hammer is because it’s one more front on which he can assert his superiority over Dr. Horrible - while the scene where Captain Hammer assures Dr. Horrible that he will be having sex with Dr. Horrible’s crush was admittedly hilarious, due mainly to Nathan Fillion’s delivery, it depended entirely upon playing out their battle with one another using a woman’s body as a way of scoring po...   [read the full post]

By wiesengrund We already know that Joss Whedon will have some sort of Dollhouse panel on Saturday at this year’s Comic-Con (and I might have the scheduled time for that a little later on). I can now report that Joss will also have something on Friday, a combined presentation about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Alon...