Sci-Fi News and Reviews

"Dollhouse"

It's finally out there! The much anticipated first clip for "Dollhouse" is available for viewing.

"Dollhouse" is the latest effort from phenom Joss Whedon and stars Eliza Dushku (formerly "Faith" on "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" and "Tru" on "Tru Calling"). The series sports an intriguing plot, centering around Dushku as young woman named "Echo". In a nutshell, "Echo" is a member of a program that wipes the memories of the subject clean, then implants new memories into the person. The person (or "doll", as they are called in the show) performs some assignment, then returns to the "Dollhouse" to have their memories wiped once again. The story follows "Echo", who starts to remember things about herself.

However, even as excited as I am to have a new Whedon show next month, the trailer left me with mixed feelings. Have you check it out yet? Here is a link to the video (I borrowed the link from Michael Ausiello's EW column - hope he doesn't mind!):

Other reviewers have stated that the trailer seemed 'stilted'. I can see that. I also see that Joss is trying to play up the fact that "Echo", after a mind wipe, is essentially in a child-like, innocent state. That might be good, but it could also be very boring if we get long stretches of 'innocent' dialogue within the "Dollhouse".

The one thing that did strike me strange about the trailer was the disposition of the two guys in charge. One would have thought that the guy in the suit ("Boyd Langdon", played by Harry Lennix) would have been the cold business man, and the younger technician ("Topher Brink", played by Fran Kranz) would have been the one with the compassion for the "dolls". Instead, these roles were reversed. It's not necessarily bad, but it was not what I was expecting"

<Screen Rant has a review of the first episode posted. They have some very valid concerns posted, running the gambit from "Why did Joss work with FOX again?" to "Friday night is a very bad timeslot". These are all legit concerns.

I think there is more than enough potential in any Joss Whedon work to watch the first full season of the show. At the very least, watch the second episode (which was originally going to be the series premiere). If it sucks after that episode, we'll be talking about it here.

"Dollhouse" premieres on February 13th (Friday the 13th!) on FOX.

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Posted by Fred on December 23, 2008 12:48 PM
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