Joss Whedon's new series begins this Friday: Dollhouse
And now for something a bit lighter....C&Lers know I'm a huge Buffy fan and Joss Whedon's new series finally begins this Friday the 13th on FOX. Ex-Buffy regular Eliza Dushku (Faith) stars and the reviews aren't great so far, but with Whedon's incredible writing skills, you have to let it develop.
Fans of Whedon know that it took a full season before "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" really found its groove. Heck, "Firefly" didn't seem to really jell until its big-screen adaptation, "Serenity." It should come as no surprise that viewers who watch Friday's debut should reserve judgment on "Dollhouse" until after they've seen the second episode.
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The show is essentially an acting showcase for its leading lady, who also happens to be one of the show's producers. Dushku was terrific on both "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," as a tough-as-nails vampire killer, and "Tru Calling," as a tough-as-nails night morgue worker. She hasn't exactly demonstrated Meryl Streep-like acting chops, though. The first two episodes of "Dollhouse," potentially a showcase for her versatility, stray little from the characters she is best known for portraying.
Much like "Buffy" wasn't just about the title character, you can bet that other actors will be the focal point of some of the future episodes, and a bigger story arc seems to be taking shape.
And that's a good thing. Just as a children's dollhouse is pretty boring by itself, the only way we won't get bored playing with this "Dollhouse" is with the addition of new elements and accessories.
If it weren't for Whedon's pedigree, I'm not sure I'd be dying to see a second episode. But for me, the main draw now is not seeing Dushku become a different person every week, but getting to see Joss Whedon become a different writer every week.
Whedon's writing skills have always been what has made his shows very special. Dollhouse might take half a season to round into shape, but I think I can wait.
I prefered the movie version. Donald Southerland played a rather seedy, possibly drunken mentor, and Paul (Pee Wee Herman), a rather nasty, but still strangely funny vampire.
He looked like his mug shot.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
When I heard they were making a series out of it never thought it could work or live up to the movie. Then half way through the first season I was surfing and caught Allison Hanigan as cute nerdy Willow and was hooked from that point on.
I got rid of my cable TV 4 years ago and have not looked back, these shows are pathetic.
Not on tonight, John. Please check the link. Disappointed. Was looking forward to Dollhouse tonight.
I read it, but thought it said tonight on my tivo....
ugh, I HATE Joss Whedon's work.
Unless, of course, it's news about FOX
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/20...
headline:
Fox Newser In Kiddie Porn Bust
Feds: FBI search found vile videos, photos on producer's laptop
WHO?
Aaron Bruns, 29, was apparently nabbed after a Pennsylvania state police investigator conducting "pro-active undercover investigations" on an unnamed peer-to-peer network determined that Bruns's computer contained llicit images.
HAH HAH HAH HAH....I hope to hell he's tied to faloofah boy
But seriously, 6 and 10 year old boys? Sick sick people over there...
Sorry John, it's not on tonight. A post Idol launch would have been nice, but unfortunately Fox is burning off the 13 episode order in the Friday death slot (9pm). This likely means the show turned out a tad smarter than the network who brings you 'Moment Of Truth' would have liked.
Joss Whedon is a genius and I am sure the few episodes that air will be wonderful.
They made a 1950’s style anthology for an actress that only people that were interested in a cult show from years back would know? I don’t know if that is a very clear demographic.
BOYCOTT FOX & FOX ADVERTISERS
I already boycott FOX (don't watch any TV) but since I do I have no idea who advertises there.
... you are cracking me up.
i seriously think you are in love with buffy.
I dug Darla...hehe...
have never been convinced that Whedon is the genius many people think he is. I was really disappointed by Firefly. It was an example of what I consider the worst kind of science fiction, like Lost In Space, where we take every conceivable cliche (cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, etc.) and just add "in space" to it. And the guy that was the leader was such a terrible example of what leadership should be. Either do it my way or I'll throw a hissy fit.
Firefly wasn't science fiction; it was a series about characters that happened to be framed in a science fiction, Western, samurai universe -- just like Buffy wasn't a horror series about vampires.
But, John, it's on Friday night after The Sarah Connor Chronicles. You're getting ahead of yourself.
I really enjoyed Firefly, certainly more than the movie spin-off. I always assumed it was based off the high concept sell pitch that Roddenbery says he used for the original Star Trek. Cowboys In Outer Space... and that is certainly what Firefly is.
But I find that (as with Buffy), he has a decent idea for a series, but all the really great early episodes were written by his "associates." Then it seems he must feel competitive, because he comes back to write some really good episodes.
My only real problem with Joss' writing is his weird need to kill off interesting characters. I had a creative writing teacher once tell me that killing someone off was the cheapest and most amateur way to create emotion.
~albabe (The Writer/Artist Formally Known As Al Gordon)
http://www.comicon.com/gordon/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gordon
I thought it was SF writer Harlan Ellison -- who wrote one of the best Star Trek episodes ever -- but in disgust called the show cops and robbers (or cowboys) in space.
The pitch line attributed to Roddenberry was 'Wagon Train to the Stars,' evoking the success of another popular series (Wagon Train) and the setting.
If it's still in print, I believe it was White Wolf Publishing that put out Ellison's original screenplay for 'City on the Edge of Forever,' along with some of his commentary.
You're right about his original pitch being "Wagon Train to the Stars," but I'm pretty sure that when he did Cons and such later on in life, that he somewhat revamped his "high Concept" to include the idea of Cowboys in Outer Space. Some biographers claim he borrowed" quite a bit from many unsung creators.
As for Harlan... he really enjoys being a crusty contrary curmudgeon. That screenplay to he Star Trek episode is a great story... but the network said it was just a little too controversial, because, if I remember correctly (it's been a while since I've read it), it had some crew members addicted to certain drugs. It may have also been because Gene was adamant that his vision of the future was a very positive one.
~albabe (The Writer/Artist Formally Known As Al Gordon)
http://www.comicon.com/gordon/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gordon
A fifty three year old fascist, gun packing (canceled weapons permit), Republican, Bush ass kissing, ex-Marine (thirty year after the fact he forgot that he was almost court-martialed for totaling a Jeep), has only two true loves; CSI and his collection of Buffy DVDs with of course his Buffy concordance.
:)
Heck, "Firefly" didn't seem to really jell until its big-screen adaptation, "Serenity."
As the kids say...WTF? "Firefly" was brilliant from episode one. The fact that episode one was not the actual first episode aired was down to Fox, and is one of many reasons I will not bother watching "Dollhouse". Another is that I expect it will be canceled, and the produced episodes will make their way to DVD, at which point I will Netflix it.
Firefly was terrific and Serenity simply built on the success of the writing of the series.
I'm not going to miss a minute of Dollhouse; got the TiVo all fired up. If Fox once again screws Whedon over, I agree we'll have to wait for the DVDs, but I've got my fingers crossed. Reviews I have seen so far report that the program doesn't have the typical Whedon dialog and irony, but I am confident it will surface.
I never could get into Buffy. Personally I think the vampire genre has been way overdone both on the big and little screens. I suppose I'm in the minority there as far as that goes considering the success of the Underworld series and Hollywood's latest neck biter flick, Twilight.
But I really liked the concept of Firefly and the follow up movie, Serenity, is definitely worth watching. Sci-fi and Westerns are usually a bad mix (remember the gun slinging Cylon from the first Battlestar Galactica series?), but Whedon seemed to pull it off. The premise, if you think about it, is really not that unbeleivable. A vast empire where a technological society is more predominate towards its center, where as on its fringes a wilder, more lawless, agrarian culture where technology has less of a hold is more the norm. This setting is not exclusive to the American old West, but also to the Outback of Austrailia or the Gauchos riding the plains of the Pampas in Patagonia.
Capt. Mal Reynolds as the anti-hero, Inara, the companion/courtesan with a heart of gold, River, the troubled teen with a mysterious past, my personal favorite, Jayne Cobb, played by Adam Baldwin, the hired muscle, who you couldn't decide if you could trust or not, and the all the others, made for an excellent cast of charaters.
Hopefully, one of these days, Joss Whedon will come out with another Firefly movie.
to me he was just a dick. He never listened to anyone even when if he did it could have saved them a lot of grief. And all the characters were one dimensional stereotypes, unlike Buffy where people had different layers, could go from good to evil to somewhere in between. And last thing I didn't like were all the inconsistencies in the plot. They can master faster than light space travel but they are still using revolvers for weapons (not even automatic weapons).
... energy weapons were largely the province of the Alliance military and corporations.
And caseless ammo isn't exactly 'low tech,' as you seem to be suggesting. Nonetheless, it's exactly the kind of thing you could expect among the have-nots - a gunsmith could handle projectile weapons, but not high-maintenance energy weapons.
Additionally, if I really wanted to shaft a homesteader, I'd make a show of giving them seed and supplies, and arm them with weapons that probably won't do shit against a serious predator (or the Reavers). Pat 'em on the back, send 'em off, and presto - a shipload less of welfare cases and lower class slime.
For me the critical thing about a science fiction or fantasy story is that the author creates a believable alternative reality, a future, a world where vampires and demons exist, ... Buffy definitely did that for me but never felt it from Firefly.
jell because it was shown out of order and started during the playoffs. Whedon plans his stories over a huge arc of time, so you need some patience to allow the story to develop.
Heck, Buffy is how I found C&L, because I was an Angel fan first. The last season of that show was one for the record books in my opinion.
made for under 40 Mil....Maybe he should have gotten hired to do some of those horrible Star Wars movies...
I stopped watching Angel a couple times because it didn't seem to work for me, especially the season where Darla got pregnant and then had the most anoying adolescent boy in a TV series since Wesly Crusher. But the last season with them joining the evil law firm was by far the best. Does anyone know why it was cancelled? Did Whedon just want to end on a great final episode or was it cancelled.
The story was over. However, they handled the end extremely well. I couldn't believe it when Wes died and Lorne shot Lindsey. My mind was boggled.
From X-men writing of Kitty Pride came Buffy, so it didn't surprise me to see Whedon has written for X-Men at Marvel. I'm so far putting off his Whedonverse Buffy, Spike, and Angel comics until I catch up with all the Buffy/Angel TV shows, but the comic book slayer in a jetsons age, Fray, was entertaining.
FYI:
Certainly no offense meant here, but Joss is a Libertarian. I was a little surprised by this. His work seems to be very Progressive and as a matter of fact I thought Firefly was pretty analogous to the whole last 8 years.
I tried to chat him up a few times in social situations about Politics, but he was pretty evasive.
~albabe (The Writer/Artist Formally Known As Al Gordon)
http://www.comicon.com/gordon/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gordon
And, the 1st season of Buffy wasn't even close to the best season - it got better as it went along. Hopefully, "Dollhouse" will also be given the same consideration.
I didn't care for the hackneyed plot devices or the stereotypes in his pseudo science fiction work. I have been reading that stuff since I was a kid and I figure the only reason he got away with stealing so much stuff is because it had been stolen so many times before.
Now he has done a show about trafficking women, it would appear. Swell.
Best of luck to the series, but Friday is often where shows go to die. I'm planning to check out the series, and hope it's good and gets a fair shake.
SUCKER
plain and true
...and what's your point?
To everyone who commented on Friday slots, I agree on the slot being the death of the show. But why are they taking a relatively successful show like Sarah Connor Chronicles and teaming it up with Dollhouse in the line up? Is it because Fox execs don't know what they are doing? Oh thats right, I answered my question.
As for Fiefly, if you don't like it, you don't get it, IMO. It is an allegory to post Civil War life in the U.S. for the confederates. And yes the show has a decidedly Libertarian bend that Grover Norquist would love. To quote Malcolm Reynolds "that's what government is for, to get in a man's way" Or something like that.
"It should come as no surprise that viewers who watch Friday's debut should reserve judgment on "Dollhouse" until after they've seen the second episode."
...nowadays what with short attention spans and corporate shirts demanding immediate stellar returns on any product it's amazing that any show can survive to gain it's legs and a following.
people used to allow for a show to take at least half a season to gel...now? one or two episodes then the axeman looms.
more good shows have been lost due to this silly impatience.
at any rate, i'll watch dollhouse as joss' stuff is campy and fun, but surely not on cable. i won't patronize fox in any form, i'll find it on "the tubes".
If enough people have this attitude, it will surely be canceled. I'm a Whedon fanatic and I hope this doesn't happen.
Buffy, not so much.
I hope Dollhouse is good. With BSG going off the air in 5 more episodes, and Stargate ending, Friday night will have nothing.
There's a good interview with Josh Whedon in Rolling Stone this week.
There are no good shows on Fox. As soon as they discover they have a good show (one that presumes the audience is capable of independent thought) they yank it quicker than a burning marshmallow from the campfire. If the show is any good, count on it being canceled - just as it gets interesting.
Have you seen Fringe? It's superb.
Don't expect to see that show on next fall's schedule. Fox has canceled so many excellent shows, that I don't wish to be drawn into another one that will abruptly get pulled in favor of some new reality series or a collection of fart jokes.
I didn't watch Firefly in its original run. For whatever reason, FOX's promos didn't sell the show to me - the commercial gave me the impression of a bunch of angst-ridden 20-somethings in a junkheap ship. Add to that FOX burying the show and running episodes out of order, ask not for whom the bell tolls, and all that.
I also disagree with the comment that Firefly isn't SF - it is. It's speculative fiction about the human condition in a future setting, where the Earth-that-was is only described as 'used up,' and shady corporate and government interests run the show. It's certainly as valid as the dystopian settings of the best cyberpunk novels.
Sure, there are spaceships and whiz-bang technology, but the protagonists and the plots turn off of human foibles. There are nuances and depth to the characters, such as when we learn why Zoe and Mal always cut their apples instead of biting into them.
Yes, it's SF. And it's surprisingly good SF. Though I will admit some of the fans are a little much - I caught a fan film 'Done The Impossible,' at a convention and it devolved into a self-congratulatory ego fest.
What Whedon did was create a new form of Sci-Fi. They guy is a fucking genius in my opinion.
... for those readers who keep bitching about how much C&L talks about Bill-O or ArmaGlennon, here ya go.
But it seems even when it's NOT Bill-O or the Beck Bomb, there'll still be people whining about why-are-we-wasting-our-time-with-THIS.
Answer: it's John's blog.
As loyal sci-fi fans and we loved Whedon's firefly
We just hope that Fox gives it a chance, and rectifies what they did to Firefly...
TV Network Executives are like Republicans...they always dictate, never provide...
We don't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children - Native American proverb
If being cold means there's no such thing as global warming, does being full mean there's no such thing as world hunger?
was a good series, and the movie was done extremely well. I'd love to purchase it on DVD, but can't bring myself to spending the money they want for it. So, I'll do like all the other people do and go to OVGuide and watch for free!
Hulu has it for free too. And 13 episodes of the first season.
is a free moviesite search engine, that lists all the most popular including Hulu, and lists them by popularity. It is a great site for finding even hard to find movies.
The previews I saw for Dollhouse didn't do much for me. I may check it out though. Now Firefly is another story. Great series and they really should bring it back!
I like Whedon's stuff but isn't this just "My secret identity" with boobs? Seems like a rehash of a show that's already been canned. But I guess it's up to the 'fans' to decide.
With Buffy and Angel, I became a real fan. Looking forward to this new series. Eliza was always fun to watch, although a little too constant with her toughness in her character. Seemed a little fake at times. Nevertheless, I always loved how his characters developed into real people. They were weird people, but real, nonetheless! LOL
I'm not sure why people keep saying Joss Whedon is a libertarian. Everything I've seen about his politics has shown he's a liberal, or at least that he supports democrats. Here's a list of his recent campaign donations.. all democrats.
http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_d...
He also attended an Obama fundraiser
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/09/obamas...
Not to mention, in 2004 Joss and other Buffy, Angel and Firefly cast and crew members held a fundraiser for Kerry.
http://prolific.org/2004/10/23/joss-whedon-an...
Maybe I'm missing something, but I've never seen anything indicating that Joss is a libertarian.
I'll watch it. I wasn't a big fan of "Buffy" but I thought "Firefly" was brilliant and if that show had been given a chance, it would have been one of the all time greats. Like the premise of "Dollhouse" so I'll give it a shot - I hope the network does the same.
Heck, "Firefly" didn't seem to really jell until its big-screen adaptation, "Serenity."
I wouldn't trust any writer who has *that* opinion. The movie was not nearly as good as the better, later episodes of the series (too dark and it skipped over too much from where the episodes ended to where the film began).
I'll watch Dollhouse but I've got reservations about the treatment of women on the show, and of course, about FOX and their tendency to murder creative programming in its infancy. Unless it's 24 and the right wing blowhards can masturbate to it (actually by that rubric, Dollhouse should be fine).
DRST
Supernatural, Supernatural, Supernatural. 'nuff said.
However, Joss Whedon's best series was Angel. It was more adult, the theme music was 100% better and the characters were more well rounded. Besides that, what's Buffy done since? Zip. However, look what Angel's done. Bones. So, when you mention Whedon, remember Angel is the VERY BEST of any of his series or movies. And this isn't in my humble opinion.
First of all... There is a difference between the actors and the writer/director/producers. How do the actors' careers have anything to do with the career and works of Joss Whedon??? Your premise is ridiculous. BTW, Sarah Michelle Geller has gone on to make several movies since Buffy. Not that this makes a difference.
Also, maybe you should look up the definition of "opinion" That IS your opinion, it's not fact. Sorry to be mean about it, but your whole post was incredibly ignorant.
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