Early morning Dollhouse reactions...

[telaryn]

I loved it. Concept, characters, execution...it drew me in from the first scene, and I was sorry when it was over. I thought Eliza did great moving from character to character - the blankness of Echo is startling and quite deliciously creepy.

And I never once saw Faith. Your mileage may vary, but Faith Lehane is a character I've studied more than any other in any fandom I've ever been connected to. Her gestures, her speech patterns - her physical expressions - I saw none of it last night. Oh sure she got close in the opening sequence, but nothing Eliza did ever tipped me over into "that's Faith" territory. Not once.

I thought the opening sequence was a perfect way to connect to the character. It gave a grounding to the whole situation as she moves from persona to persona. I also like that Ballard (okay, Tamoh looked a whole lot scrawnier in that fight fantasy than I would have assumed he was from watching BSG) is apparently looking for proto-Echo. I don't think that was originally the plan?

The slavery angle didn't bother me at all. Yes proto-Echo clearly felt like her only choice was to sign her life away, but it's for a set period of time, and from what deWitt said, she's going to be free and "happy" at the end of that service. One presumes her original personality is restored at that time - the Doll personas are compiled from real people, so it's an easy leap to assume that they can store the original personalities as well.

Do I think this whole setup will get perverted and end really, really badly? I've watched every show Joss Whedon has ever produced...the answer to that is clearly "duh!"

I can't wait. That's what makes the kind of drama that I will come back for. Draw me in, make me care, and then mess with my expectations. Turn my worldview upside down before I even realize you're doing it.

Finally, I also love that this is a very different tone to Joss' previous shows. With Angel and Buffy you always had to have that "people are just really good at not seeing what's right in front of them" angle. No matter how much either show connected with real life and real human emotions, you could never escape the fact that they were metaphors.

Firefly was more subtle (and I think time has proven better crafted), but it was set in space. Alternate worlds, impossible situations. Good drama - damn good drama - but not our lives or our worlds except on the broad "human condition" level.

Dollhouse comes across as something I could see happening right here and now. There's a deeper subtlety to it than I think Joss has really ever shown before in any of his concepts, and I'm excited to see if he can sustain that and where he's planning on taking it.

Which apparently *glances at flist* puts me entirely out of step with 100% of the reactions I've read so far. I think that's a first.

I think I need a Dollhouse/Echo icon, because after last night's BSG, I am no longer excited by my Starbuck/Athena icon.

Comments

[oakparkgirl.livejournal.com]

Uh oh, I guess we need to catch up on BSG, we are 2 episodes behind.

I've seen some twitters about DollHouse, no idea what it is. Worth watching?

[telaryn.livejournal.com]

Re: BSG, I've just been getting increasingly frustrated. At a point where they should be wrapping things up, or at least taking the series down to a close, things are getting more and more fragmented. There may be some deep metaphor to that, but since the "Final Five" are clearly the producer's favorites the whole thing is revolving around a concept I think is lame and characters I no longer care about.

Plus there were reveals last night pushing me even closer to the belief that they're just making it up as they go along at this point.

Dollhouse is the new Joss Whedon show that premiered last night on Fox. Concept is that the technology exists to wipe people's personalities completely and imprint them with any personality you want. Sort of like the movie "Strange Days" taken to the next logical step. An organization exists that promises people the exact personality they want or need. For a price, natch.

*I* think it's worth watching. It's subtle, very different from anything I've seen Joss do before, and has a lot of potential to be seriously creepy.

Based on the reactions I'm seeing in the aftermath this morning, I appear to be in a definite minority. I'm also a huge Eliza Dushku fan, which - disclaimer - could be clouding my response.

It's definitely what most people are going to assume who don't agree with my liking of the series.

[oakparkgirl.livejournal.com]

Well, I am not tainted by what those actors did in the past, I think one of the characters is from Buffy right? I never got into that show.

Sounds cool, might have to watch!

[ebonypsyche.livejournal.com]

I agree! I love Eliza (a geek after my own heart) and Faith (to an extent of which I'm sure is unhealthy) but I didn't see Faith aside from the opening sequence.

That being said, it hasn't sold me yet. I saw moments where I was expecting Joss to push and he didn't. Now I give a little leeway with this episode because off the drama with Fox so it still evened out to *SQUEE*

[folkchick3.livejournal.com]

I am sorry I did not get to see it - I know Eliza Dushku is beyond brilliant, and it goes without saying that Whedon is a genius. I will have to watch it next week!

PS
remember that Buffy ep where Faith and Buffy switched bodies? Eliza was so amazing in that - they both were; mannerisms, speech, everything.

Okay, yeah, Im a total Joss Whedon geek. ;-)

[bluestocking7.livejournal.com]

You can watch it on hulu right now if you want.:-)

[bluestocking7.livejournal.com]

I agree with you completely. Now I don't have to write a review. :-)

[ivyfree.livejournal.com]

It's the pilot- although I understand it's the second pilot- and I understand there were lots of issues with Fox so I'm hoping for the best. Plus, I missed the first half-hour and woke up when Echo showed up to "negotiate" with the kidnapers. But nobody who looks like Eliza Dushku, no matter what job she's in, is going to dress in a suit with her hair in a knot and wearing eyeglasses. It was such a stereotypical look. I'm not sure if this was something Joss missed, or if there was a point I missed. Experience suggests the latter. There are professional looks that don't make you look like a five year old playing dressups.

[geekgumbo.livejournal.com]

I just saw it on Hulu. I was not intrested in this idea at first, but this episode has sold me. It seems a lot darker than his other work in concept- his other works became dark, no argument, but this one starts dark. Not in Whedon's wheelhouse- no Whedonspeak, no youthful charachters, and altho we do get a waifish powerful woman as lead (Plus Amy Acker offering to give her a massage. I'll be in my bunk.) it dosen't play like any of his past works. I think that's a good thing tho. He's set up a series that is perfect for Fox- primary storyline O the week disconnected and energetic, and the slow burn storyline for the Deep Geek fans. And second pilot? This is just some stupid joke with Fox and Joss, isn't it?
(PS- Joss to Jane Espenson to Gilmore Girls, teh TV show that is the epicenter of Sci-fi.)

[blackasphodel.livejournal.com]

Bleh, missed it. totally forgot.

But what I really wonder is, why is Joss Whedon doing another Fox show when they dumped Firefly :(