Dollhouse (threads merged)

[mpal2]

Was it Fox who messed with Firefly, or was that some other network?

It was Fox. They only aired 11 of the 14 episodes scheduled and then canceled it.

[Amy L]

And showed the episodes out of order.

And gave him TWO days to write the script of a "new pilot" instead of showing the 10mil original one... which they did eventually air...last.

[Wicked]

Dr Fred.lol

I loved Angel but I never watched Buffy.

I missed last weeks episode (boy am I going to love digital when I am forced to watch it screw up every 5 minutes) due to technical problems . Is it online?

[Matryeshka]

hulu, my friend. Hulu.

www.hulu.com/dollhouse

And if you're really lucky, Alec Baldwin and Eliza Dushku will pop out after you watch it and slurp out your brain!

[Wicked]

hulu, my friend. Hulu.

www.hulu.com/dollhouse

And if you're really lucky, Alec Baldwin and Eliza Dushku will pop out after you watch it and slurp out your brain!

o... k.lol Thanks for the link

[genevieve]

The show is getting better. I've accepted that the sexual/danger stuff isn't going away, but the story is getting more intriguing. Plis, I really love Sierra and am glad she's becoming more of a part of the show.

What I really want to know is where they get the clothes for DeWitt (the Lilah Morgan character). Her shirt for this week's ep was awesome

[emason]

The show is getting better.

Do you really think so? I thought the last episode was the weakest one aired so far; for me it came across as a bunch of muddled nonsense. (However, I will keep watching.)

[tarotx]

I went to bump this thread on Saturday but I couldn't find it. I must be going blind!

I thought this episode was stronger then last episode. Perhaps The Target was strongest so far. This week sometimes the metaphor was over handed but for the most point Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain did a good job.

I loved the two Taffy's. It was interesting because these two women have had their life wiped and were imprinted with the same life. I think that was cool and scary at the same time. These people are real Dolls in the since that they are really left up to the person playing with them for most of the living they do. They are everyone and no one at the same time. It reminded me that young women and children are often stolen or lied a promise of a better life just to be forced to be slaves of different varieties and/or to be victim to the sick dreams of who has control of what happens to them. Dollhouse is definitely a show about human trafficked.

[Satellitegirl]

I'm trying to figure out which Fox exec hates Whedon. They always try to screw with his shows or cancel them.

agreed.

[genevieve]

Agreed that The Target was the best one so far, but I still thought this week's show was pretty good. And I thought the not-completely-prostitue-like 'hire' premise was plausible. They did a good job of explaining why someone might use this service - they want something done that requires expertise and can have confidentiality, to the point that even DeWitt doesn't know what is going to happen. Perfect for a crime, because afterwards the experience is erased.

Of course, it is still stretching the boundaries of believability, but it stays just inside. And it's not like Joss Whedon has ever gone in for realism

My biggest gripe with the pisode was that EVERYONE, including the supposed art expert, was pawing all over all the statues and other artworks. Those parthenon friezes survive for centuries, only to be completely degraded by a slew of greasy fingerprints

[tarotx]

Well Dollhouse is on tonight. I thought I would find this thread and bump it up as a reminder. I've already seen tonight's episode "True Believer" and it's good. It's really good in my opinion but I love the writer Tim Minear.

Here are two links to episodes that will have the one tonight sometime after the show airs tonight.

http://www.hulu.com/dollhouse

http://www.fox.com/fod/play.php?sh=dollhouse

Man reaction! Hee :O)

[PeterG]

Tonight is episode six, which (along with episode seven) is supposed to be the episode(s) where "Dollhouse" hits it's stride and makes us glad we've stuck with the show (if any of us ever felt like letting go...)

Some info that I have found online:

Very basic plot outline from epguides.com:

Echo tries to help a client heal the ache of a lost love as a TV reporter prepares an expose on the Dollhouse.

A little bit of a better plot outline from tvguide.com:

Spoiler

Echo is turned into a model wife for an Internet mogul (Patton Oswalt); the identity of Sierra's attacker is learned; Mellie's life is endangered; Ballard comes face-to-face with Echo.

Miscellaneous quotes from an article at TWoP (Television Without Pity)...

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com...etter-epis.php

Spoiler

I've seen the two new episodes that the network sent out and they do seem to be a vast improvement... though I still feel like I'm not 100 percent in love with this show -- yet.


...the (episode) tonight gave me the most hope for the future. Maybe it was because it mostly focused on Ballard, giving his presence on this show some importance and better integration with the main storylines, instead of him seeming like some tacked-on little B-plot. Or maybe it was because Tahmoh Penikett was shirtless. A lot. Seriously. Almost the whole episode.




Tonight's episode is cleverly peppered with man-on-the-street interviews about the urban legend of the Dollhouse, which I also thought was a smart move as it made a lot of sense to me that Ballard wasn't the only person in the world who had heard about these programmable people. Also, it really gave a sense of the scope of the Dollhouse universe -- much more so than we've gotten to see before, with just a few actives and Topher manipulating their minds.


The second episode...(which airs on April 3)...with the main focus being on the security of the actives, and what indeed would happen to them if they got loose and why some of these actives agreed to volunteer in the first place. Better than all of the the job-of-the-week episodes we've been getting...I still really, really want to smack Topher sometimes. Is that wrong?


Me: NO.

[Garden Kitty]

I definitely enjoyed tonight's episode more. It focused a bit more on the "big picture" and not just the weekly adventure.

[emason]

I definitely enjoyed tonight's episode more. It focused a bit more on the "big picture" and not just the weekly adventure.

Agreed; I think this was the best episode so far.

[mpal2]

I had pretty much figured out the neighbor, but they made me doubt myself for a second.

[genevieve]

Wheeeeeeee, I KNEW Melly was a Doll from the first time I saw her - her lovelorn neighbor act was just too over the top. Great way to introduce it though - and I'm glad they didn't kill her off. And Echo's encounter with Paul was awesome too. Joss Whedon definitely knows how to film thrilling fight scenes. My only question is whether Paul gets it enough to see that he can't talk to Melly (er...or talk in his apartment to anyone) about Dollhouse. I do hope that the rapport he established with the woman at the FBI means she'll continue to help him beyond this ep.

Love that we now have a true Big Bad - one that's larger than this operation and could sustain a series (FOX willing) beyond a season or two.

[Amy L]

Topher once said that the dolls used to have a basic combat mode in case of emergency, but it was taken out after Alpha. Adele triggered Mellie with a phrase to get her to start fighting. Do you think that's part of the Mellie "active" or that she's an older doll from the around the same time as Alpha?

I was going back and forth between Mellie being a doll. It made sense that there was more of a way of keeping an eye on Ballard other than activating Victor's Lubov persona, but then again, I could imagine the scenario of Ballard rushing to try to save Mellie but her already being long dead before he got to her (it happened on Angel!) Speaking of Angel, the corporation higher ups are sounding very Senior Partners. Poor Ballard is going to be in for a world of hurt.

And yeah, the show is totally starting to get really interesting! It's probably doomed, but even if FOX kills it soon, the last episodes should be out on DVD eventually...

[rfisher]

I really liked the greyness they brought out with the man-on-the-street interviews. Human trafficking vs some potentially positive aspects of the service. I thought the episode was very good. The only thing I hate about stage fights is nobody ever bleeds. You don't hit people in the face without blood, except TV and movies.

[Garden Kitty]

According to an article in TV Guide on likely renewals for next week, Dollhouse has dismal ratings, but they also say that Whedon's fans tend to be very loyal so there might be more dvd/merchandising opportunities that could help keep the show on the air despite the ratings.

[PeterG]

I keep having this thought about Alpha (and who will play him). You know how Brian Austin Greene has surprised everyone with his role on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"? I keep thinking we're going to see Alpha at the very end of some episode...played by a very beefed up, more mature Nicholas Brendon (Xander on Buffy). Nicholas showed he was more than Xander on Kitchen Confidential (a Fox sitcom co-starring Alias' Bradley Cooper). This is my casting suggestion to Mr. Whedon.

Wheeeeeeee, I KNEW Melly was a Doll from the first time I saw her - her lovelorn neighbor act was just too over the top.

During last night's episode, I was thinking, "Melly can't be a Doll, but I bet she is a plant of the Dollhouse organiztion". I agree that Melly is too over the top to be just Melly.

But was it Laurence Dominic (played by Reed Diamon) who said to Adelle DeWitt (the head of [this] Dollhouse) something about how Paul Ballard is talking about all the details of Dollhouse to "the nearest civilian" (Melly)? Then later, Adelle phones Ballard's home, triggering Melly into her Doll-ness. So Laurence is out of the loop about Melly being a Doll? We have not seen Melly at the Dollhouse's location, so is she a Doll from one of the other Dollhouses around the world?

Plus I'm wondering about Ballard being surrounded by Dolls...three, now. Does he know yet that Dolls are people with personalities put onto them? He must seeing Echo with two different personalites. So shouldn't he be suspecting everyone around him? He's FBI, right, so he could have access to everyone's background?

Agreed; I think this was the best episode so far.

I liked how last night's episode moved the series forward, but my favourite episode so far is the second one, "The Target". Two or three storylines happening at the same time, each one interesting. This episode was so well done, it was better than many movies out there.

According to an article in TV Guide on likely renewals for next week, Dollhouse has dismal ratings...