Is Dollhouse any good?

POSTED BY: FreeBaGeL
UPDATED: Saturday, August 22, 2009 05:54
VIEWED: 11324
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FREEBAGEL

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 5:05 PM

So, here I am, like the rest of you a huge Firefly fan still wishing to this day that we could get the show back on the air.

That said, like many Firefly fans, I was excited to hear that Joss was working on a new show. I watched the first couple episodes of Dollhouse and didn't really get into it. What's the verdict on Dollhouse from my fellow browncoats? Are Firefly fans pretty pleased with what it's become? Disappointed? Is it any good?

Also, I read on here that there is some unaired 13th episode out there. It looks like it got renewed for season 2, so why is one of the episodes unaired? I thought that was usually something that you found with canceled shows.

DEWRASTLER

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 5:34 PM

Lot's of questions, I'll try my best to answer them.

First, IMHO Dollhouse is good. Not great, but it has potential (Epitaph One is a good demonstration of this, it's the unaired episode). The first 5 episodes were made to be stand alone episodes in order to ease the audience into the mythos of the show. They are by far the weakest part of the season. Around episode 6, "Man on the Street", it's starts to get much better and pretty much carries that through to the end of the season. It was a decent pilot season for a show and I have high hopes for season two. Simply put, I recommend it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I remember it. The 13th episode, Epitaph One, is a product of the original pilot being scrapped and it's plot points being spread out throughout the season. FOX Broadcasting only ordered 13 episodes, which it counts as the unaired pilot and episodes 1-12. Fox Studios, on the other hand, funded 13 complete episodes. So they made Epitaph One for Fox Studios and Fox Broadcasting had the option of buying it, but passed. It is probably one of the best episodes of the show so far, in my opinion, and it is a great view into where the show will go in season 2.

Hope that helps.

________________________________
People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do

DAVESHAYNE

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 7:18 PM

Flashes of brilliance - particularly toward the end - with promise of greatness that hasn't quite manifested itself. Countered with the squicky premise that makes it hard to sympathize with the characters either because they are involved in pimping the dolls or because they are the dolls and have their personalities wiped after every episode. A good supporting cast helps to buoy Eliza through the tough assignment of trying to play more than the one character she plays reasonably well. If Joss can get FOX to accept the existential aspects of the show that they rather balked at in the first season this could get very good.

David

'Begone, sugar-free candy antichrist!' - Nathan Rabin.

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

"Don't worry. Captain Hammer will save us." - Penny.

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

ZEEK

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by daveshayne:
Flashes of brilliance - particularly toward the end - with promise of greatness that hasn't quite manifested itself.

That's a good summary right there I think. There are like 3 good episodes out of 12 IMO. That's not much to go on.

It still has potential to be great but it hasn't reached its potential yet.

Do I recommend it? No. In fact I tell people I've introduced to Firefly that it's not worth it. So, my honest opinion is that there are better shows to watch or ways to spend your time.

ECGORDON

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:26 PM

I got Disc Four from Netflix today, so after I watch "Echo," the original unaired pilot, and "Epitaph One," also unaired but ordered by the studio to fill out the dvd set and foreign market syndication, I might have a different response to this question.

Based on the twelve episodes that did air, I'd have to agree that it had (and has) potential, but the execution was weak, but a lot of that can be attributed to network interference. I'll definitely be watching Season Two, but I'd hesitate to recommend it to everyone now.

It's no Firefly, and not even Buffy or Angel yet.

KWICKO

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:47 PM

Quote:

Flashes of brilliance - particularly toward the end - with promise of greatness that hasn't quite manifested itself.

That's the best summation I could ever hope for.

Put it this way: I love Joss's work. I love his cameo in Veronica Mars as the jerky rental-car manager. I love his directing on a couple of The Office episodes. I'm geeky over Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenity... I've even sat through Alien Resurrection.

That said, I wasn't going to shed a tear if Dollhouse wasn't renewed. In fact, I almost expected it to be cancelled. The first half of the season just wasn't doing ANYTHING for me. It wasn't pushing any of my geekiness buttons. It was, in fact, a bit annoying.

The second half of the season, things started to turn around. THIS was more like the show I'd been hoping for - and yet, it still wasn't, quite. I ended up intrigued, and I'll watch Season Two, of course, because I'm a geek for all things Jossy (did I mention that yet? I did? Well, I'll keep reminding you in case you forget). But it's not my favorite show, by any means. I don't know if I'll buy it on DVD, but I'm leaning towards NOT doing so.

So, Is it good? Well... it's good-ISH.

If it helps, I think it will get much better. 'Cause if it doesn't, it'll be gone.

Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

If it wasn't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college...

ECGORDON

Thursday, July 30, 2009 1:25 AM

I thought "Echo" was a better introduction to the series as Joss intended it to be, certainly better than "Ghost," but I can also see why the network didn't agree.

Select to view spoiler:

Adelle DeWitt was ruthlessly unsympathetic, Topher was arrogantly uncaring about the active's welfare, and they imprinted Echo to assassinate Paul Ballard. Of course, the mole inside altered that imprint so that she shot him but not fatally, but still the intention from those in charge was for her to kill him.

Not surprising at all that FOX did not want that one to be the first episode. A few scenes were used, either as is or re-shot/edited, for other episodes.

ECGORDON

Thursday, July 30, 2009 12:01 PM

I've decided that the major problem with Dollhouse is Topher. Granted the actor is now 26, but the character acted more like a teenager, or at most a stoned college kid. All he seemed interested in was the tech and what he could do with it, making him even more culpable than DeWitt, who seemed to genuinely care for the actives.

And even at 24-25 (the age Kranz would have been during the majority of filming Season One), that is entirely too young for a covert organization like this to have trusted, no matter how smart he is. Plus, even though he was intended as the majority of the comic relief, he was nowhere as good as Xander or Wash at that part of the job.

DEWRASTLER

Thursday, July 30, 2009 12:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I've decided that the major problem with Dollhouse is Topher. Granted the actor is now 26, but the character acted more like a teenager, or at most a stoned college kid. All he seemed interested in was the tech and what he could do with it, making him even more culpable than DeWitt, who seemed to genuinely care for the actives.

Think about how someone like Topher's life would have played out, and the way he acts makes sense. He's so smart, he probably skipped many grades in school. Graduated college at 18 and then went on to get his masters and phD. He never had a childhood, so he never actually grew up. And because he lived in this very controlled life of schooling, he never truly got a real sense of morals. His life was purely intellectual, so now he just buries himself in his work and hides behind jokes, because he doesn't know how to relate to people.

He's also great in Epitaph One. I'm not going to spoil anything but let's just say the consequences of his actions finally hits him.

________________________________
People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do

KWICKO

Thursday, July 30, 2009 1:40 PM

Quote:
Plus, even though he was intended as the majority of the comic relief, he was nowhere as good as Xander or Wash at that part of the job.

And there's the rub. Topher's being used as a basic plug-in character - "insert geeky funny guy HERE" - as are too many other characters, which starts to give the show a bit of a "formulaic" feel. And even if it's a Whedon formula, it's still a formula.

Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

If it wasn't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college...

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