Joss Whedon's Dollhouse

[Atticus Chaos 0]

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/searc...iler_shortfilms

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHRjEO7DIVc

 

Dollhouse, Dushku plays a young woman named Echo, a member of a group of people known as "Actives" or "Dolls" who volunteered for the work in the Dollhouse. They give up five years of their lives, and at the end they receive a large sum of money and no memory of anything they did for the Dollhouse. The Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They're then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. On missions, Actives are monitored internally (and remotely) by Handlers. In between tasks, they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic dormitory/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse". The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware

 

It's Whedon and his first new material for a while so I'll check it out, but it seems like an odd premise and Dushku is better as a supporting character rather than in the lead role (she's not that good an actress).

[Craig Th 0]

It looks JUST like Buffy. Not the plot or anything, just the cinematography.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

It's the lead in for 24. So, you know if it start's dragging down Jack Bauer's ratings, its gone. That was why drive got canned so early.

[dubq 0]

Fuck yeah, can't wait for this! Glad to see Tahmoh Penikett making into the cast as well!

 

(also - good use of Massive Attack in the trailer)

[Youth N Asia 0]

The little clip there doesn't do anything for me. I'll give it a shot though

[milliondollarchamp 0]

After getting a look at that trailer (anyone else see the quick clip of Buffy Vs. Faith) not only has my own personal excitement for the show shot through the roof, I actually think this show could hit. However my excitement is tempered by knowing that Joss + Time + FOX = Canceled TV show.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I dunno about that. The guys doing a lot of the decision-making at Fox now are some of the guys who worked at FX and gave many of those shows a chance to blossom. If this thing is any good and grabs a decent amount of critical acclaim, I expect it'll at least get its initial run and another season on top of that, even if the ratings are so-so.

[Jingus 0]

It's Whedon and his first new material for a while so I'll check it out, but it seems like an odd premise and Dushku is better as a supporting character rather than in the lead role (she's not that good an actress).

Pretty much my exact sentiments. I do think the central concept is kind of interesting, some strong Phillip K. Dick overtones, let's see how it's handled.

 

But... Dushku? Why? She was quite possibly the single weakest recurring cast member on Buffy, all too often just coming off as phony and insincere (the actress, not the character). Plus, can anyone point out anything non-Joss she's ever done which was any good at all? Although, admittedly, you could say the same thing about Gellar.

 

Still, I'm sure as hell gonna watch. It's a new Whedon show, and we haven't had one of those on the air in four years. Maybe even more importantly, one of the main characters is Amy Acker. Numfar, do the dance of joy!

[Ravenbomb 0]

I liked Dushku. I liked her more on Angel than Buffy, but I liked the Faith character in general.

 

 

And Amy Acker = me definately watching.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

It's Whedon and his first new material for a while so I'll check it out, but it seems like an odd premise and Dushku is better as a supporting character rather than in the lead role (she's not that good an actress).

Pretty much my exact sentiments. I do think the central concept is kind of interesting, some strong Phillip K. Dick overtones, let's see how it's handled.

 

But... Dushku? Why? She was quite possibly the single weakest recurring cast member on Buffy, all too often just coming off as phony and insincere (the actress, not the character). Plus, can anyone point out anything non-Joss she's ever done which was any good at all?

 

 

Its a shame Summer Glau was busy because she would have been perfect for this show. Dushku? Whedon has said he wanted to save her from B movie hell, so maybe he just wanted to help her out. Its not so much that she's a bad actress but she just seems miscast.

[Ravenbomb 0]

I dunno, Glau seems to be doing good with her TV acting. It'd be a shame for her to be in a third cancelled show in the span of a year.

[Anakin Flair 0]

I thought Terminator was picked up for another season?

 

[Craig Th 0]

It was.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Even the synopsis of the show sounds like Buffy replace 'Doll' with 'Slayer' and 'Handler' with 'Watcher' and its Buffy.

[dubq 0]

That's a pretty loose comparison.

[Jingus 0]

Yeah, aside from having a young female superhero (which Joss himself admits he can't seem to stay away from), there doesn't seem to be much comparison. Seems closer to something like a cross between Alias and Paycheck, with the Dolls being custom programmed for their missions and then memory-wiped afterwards.

[dubq 0]

I get a bit of a Ghost in the Shell vibe from some of the scenes in the trailer, too.

[Craig Th 0]

http://www.dollverse.com/trailer/

 

It looks A LOT better than the other clip. I know I'll like it, but 10 bucks says American won't.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Ok. I'll expand.

 

Buffy, didn't know why she was chosen and for the most part that was an on going storyline, that eventually led to her accepting the role, although resenting it at times. The 'Doll' has had her memory wiped, so she won't remember or know why she does what she does, I'm betting as time goes on her memories come back and she starts to resent the things she's done and tries to quit/goes emo like Buffy did a few times.

 

Buffy was a Vampire Slayer and had superhuman strength and agility. The 'Doll' has muscle memory which will probably result in her have superhuman strength and agility.

 

I think there are alot of elements of Alias in this too, as someone mentioned above. So I can see and call it now that as the series progresses the 'Doll' will eventually turn on the 'Dollhouse' as she finds out they're actually the bad guys after all. The 'Handlers' are just the 'Watchers'.

Ok, so she won't be fighting demons, but they'll probably be a rival 'Dollhouse' house somewhere with their own super agile 'Dolls', which will lead to some OTT Buffy Battles.

 

Hey I could be totally off the mark with this, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a recycled version of the ill fated 'Watchers Chronicles', with left over Buffy ideas thrown into it.

 

I don't think I can understand the automatic Josh Whedon love the internet seems to have. Buffy was good up to season 4/5, Angel was ok, Firefly was 50/50, Serenity was probably the best thing he did. Alien Resurrection SUCKED all those crap ideas and dialog came from Whedon.

[Craig Th 0]

Ohhhh no, are we going to start this again? Ha.

 

He wrote Toy Story as well, with someone else.

 

Angel wasn't all that good until season 2 and then it was awesome the rest of the way. Season 4 was so-so to some because he was doing three shows at once.

 

Buffy stopped being as good when he started doing 3 shows at once.

 

Firefly was always awesome.

[Jingus 0]

Alien Resurrection SUCKED all those crap ideas and dialog came from Whedon.

The dialogue was his, yeah, and it didn't mix well with the Alien series. But the ideas, no.

 

I've read his full original script (I'm a huge mark for the Alien series, and wanted to know what the FUCK went wrong with Resurrection) and believe me, it was quite different from the finished film. The action scenes were much larger and more elaborate, there were main characters which got cut out, and there were entire sequences of the film which were drastically changed for the worst. The biggest example was the ending; Joss did NOT come up with that godawful new alien which put the final nail in the movie's coffin. His version was some kind of critter which kept evolving, like the last boss in a Resident Evil game. The fight didn't end on the ship either, it got down to Earth and kept going. Literally half of the original script didn't make it into the movie.

 

And finally, nothing Joss could've done about the fact that Jean-Pierre Jeunet had inexplicably been chosen to direct it. And I like Jeunet, who does some damn fine work in his homeland like City of Lost Children and Amelie. But he was absolutely the wrong choice for the job here. First of all, he didn't speak English, which easily explains why all the line readings in the movie is so terrible, even the ordinary non-Whedonesque lines are spoken badly. More importantly, Jeunet has a mischevious comic side to his work which badly clashed with the Alien material. While it's certainly possible to have funny scenes in these movies (think Bill Paxton or Yaphet Kotto), the funny stuff needs to be in the small minority while the primary focus of the film is playing it brutally straight and scaring the shit out of the audience. And the guy who made Amelie simply did not have that kind of sadism in him.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Whedon wrote most of the dialogue in speed, as well.

[dubq 0]

He also co-wrote the screenplay for Titan AE, which is a great animated movie.

 

Oh, and I love how people always bring up Alien Resurrection when none of their other anti-Whedon sentiment holds water.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

It's a Joss Whedon TV show and as far as I'm concerned he's 3-3 on creating interesting, involving, funny and intelligent TV shows.

 

That's why I give him "automatic internet love".

 

The man has written/directed/created/produced more hours that entertained me than anyone else I've ever invested the time in.

[Jingus 0]

Oh, and I love how people always bring up Alien Resurrection when none of their other anti-Whedon sentiment holds water.

Well, it is worth bringing up. I love Whedon, Jeunet, the whole cast, and the Alien series, but whoa Jesus did they somehow combine into Shitty Voltron and make one fucking terrible movie. (But I covered why I would only assign Joss a small part of that blame.) Admittedly Whedon does way better on TV than on the big screen; as much as I liked Serenity, I still think it was missing some of the essence which made Firefly so great. Kinda like how now matter how good the better Star Trek movies were, they still never quite recaptured the flavor of the shows which made the fans like them so much.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Hey don't get me wrong, I liked Buffy and some of Angel, Firefly was ok, I even said so earlier - so its not like I automatically piss on the guy, but at times I just think people go mental over anything Joss Whedon does.

 

I'll be watching Dollhouse, to see how it goes, but in my mind I can't shake out that's just some sort of Buffy revamped or devamped maybe. After watching the trailer it does look a little different to how I imagined it, though there's still some Buffy parallels in there.

 

As for mentioning Alien Resurrection, why wouldn't anyone mention why that movie failed? Everyone involved in it, not just Joss Whedon, aligned to make that movie fail. Weaver's over heavy hand in production of the movie, Whedon's style of writing. Shouldn't be anything wrong with pointing out someones bad points, hell it happens to me - 'Great player, but has a weak left foot'.

 

So just to clear things up, I don't hate/dislike/crap on Joss Whedon and ALL his work, just the stuff I didn't think was as good as some people do/turn a blind eye to. Dollhouse could be great, I'll just have to watch it and find out.

[starvenger 0]

As for mentioning Alien Resurrection, why wouldn't anyone mention why that movie failed? Everyone involved in it, not just Joss Whedon, aligned to make that movie fail. Weaver's over heavy hand in production of the movie, Whedon's style of writing. Shouldn't be anything wrong with pointing out someones bad points, hell it happens to me - 'Great player, but has a weak left foot'.

I think you could probably call that a New York Knicks/Mets combo. The pieces are there but the chemistry is totally lacking.

 

Aside:

Not really a Whedon fan (His Astonishing X-Men run being pretty good), so someone has to explain to me the knee-jerk "it's Whedon, I must watch it" reactions. I like Elmore Leonard's crime fiction works, but it doesn't mean I must read all of his books (like his Westerns) or watch all movies/shows based on his works, so what drives you to watch anything Whedon?

 

He also co-wrote the screenplay for Titan AE, which is a great animated movie.

I suppose this is a knock on Whedon (as well as Ben Edlund), but I didn't really care for Titan AE's story. Animation was great though.

[dubq 0]

Not really a Whedon fan (His Astonishing X-Men run being pretty good), so someone has to explain to me the knee-jerk "it's Whedon, I must watch it" reactions. I like Elmore Leonard's crime fiction works, but it doesn't mean I must read all of his books (like his Westerns) or watch all movies/shows based on his works, so what drives you to watch anything Whedon?

 

For me, I've enjoyed everything that he's put out there - comics, tv shows, movies - so why wouldn't I want to see something new of his? Why wouldn't I give it a chance? To me that's what a fan is. They have specific things they enjoy and follow - whether that's a genre, an actor, a writer, etc. it doesn't really matter.

 

I love Vincent Price. I don't care what he's in, I must see it and I usually end up owning it.

I love George Romero movies. Zombie movies. Horror movies. Any movie by Romero - even if it's horrible, I still want to see it and give it a chance.

Same goes for Whedon. I've had good experiences with nearly all of his work (I say nearly because I haven't experienced all of it) so I see no reason not to want to see (and hope to enjoy) Dollhouse.

[starvenger 0]

Hmm, yes, well, I suppose that was obvious, meaning my question wasn't the right one to ask.

 

Let's try this: What is it about a Whedon fan that would make them want to watch a show such as Dollhouse, yet make ready to launch a preemptive Roswell-like campaign because they're convinced that it will ultimately fail? That seems rather defeatist and perhaps a bit... obsessive?

 

Or what is it about his stuff that would make you want to watch a former Buffy/Firefly et al actor simply because they were on one of his shows? I guess I'd find it hard to believe that all the actors on the shows are incredibly good ones. Probably what stands out to me is people who watch Bones because David Boreanaz was Angel - I suppose the show has it's following but compared to other procedurals it doesn't really stand out.

 

Maybe it's me though - since having the kid I pretty much cut down my "required watching" to (at most) one show a day and even then I don't necessarily watch because the little one demands a lot of time (go figure). So maybe my view of what I MUST follow (in terms of things from one TV/Movies/Entertainment creator) has been skewed by real life?

[Jingus 0]

Alright, I'll handle this one.

 

Let's try this: What is it about a Whedon fan that would make them want to watch a show such as Dollhouse,

Because Whedon's created three television shows, and all three ruled hard.

 

yet make ready to launch a preemptive Roswell-like campaign because they're convinced that it will ultimately fail? That seems rather defeatist and perhaps a bit... obsessive?

Because two of those three television shows were cancelled prematurely. Angel really needed at least one more season, and Firefly was interfered with so badly that it was the equivalent of getting yanked into an alley, gang-raped, castrated, then left to bleed to death in the gutter. And despite Joss's protests that it will be a whole different deal this time, he's once again going back to Fox, the network which did the aforementioned cornholing.

 

Or what is it about his stuff that would make you want to watch a former Buffy/Firefly et al actor simply because they were on one of his shows? I guess I'd find it hard to believe that all the actors on the shows are incredibly good ones. Probably what stands out to me is people who watch Bones because David Boreanaz was Angel - I suppose the show has it's following but compared to other procedurals it doesn't really stand out.

That's a two-parter. First of all, why watch them in anything else? Pure obsession. Like someone who's a huge fan of The Shield wanting to see everything else Michael Chiklis has ever done, despite the fact that he hasn't done much else worth watching.

 

But the more complex part: Whedon is kinda like Paul Heyman in that he can take a mediocre performer and somehow stick them in an absolutely perfect role which plays to their strengths and avoids their weaknesses. I've never seen a single movie Sarah Michelle Gellar which I thought was any good, but she's wonderful on Buffy. Same thing with most of the cast members, Whedon's show is almost always where they've done all their best work. There are exceptions, Seth Green comes to mind, but few of the main cast members have ever done much else worth watching.