Anticipating DOLLHOUSE

the unaired pilot felt really rushed in comparison to the the official one. the victor reveal, for instance

the show didn't really pick up until Epitaph One in my memory... also damn, this thread started four years ago

was not surprised to see the cut opening for the avengers on the other thread - 'so there was a disaster, you want me to explain it to you' - you would think whedon would be wincing now every time he feels like using it.

firefly has a pretty crappy first five minutes too. and the movie is worse! i mean, you can see what he was going for, but i have seen people who haven't watched the show first try and watch that and just go 'fuck this' around the second 'this isn't the narrative we're doing yet' reveal. before you even get to the main cast.

epitaph is a pretty bravura leap in a lot of ways but seems somewhat irrelevant to the 'moral' 'issue' the show addresses itself to somehow

can't decide if the show is really smart or really dumb, like when dominic tells dewitt "you're a piece of work" is that a cliché chosen because it marvellously encapsulates one line of what the show is about or is it a cliché chosen because the writers couldn't think of much better

actually i think he works the post-dated-open-which-prompts-a-narrative-retrogression well, it's just not so great to lean on it. maybe it has something to do with the mode of characterization or dramatization he works, i dunno.

i haven't been able to return to this yet despite having 0 problem at all rewatching the same tv shows over and over. it was such a disappointment that i've been afraid of really confirming it.

can't decide if the show is really smart or really dumb

I really enjoyed this show while it was on, but I still can't decide whether it was any good or not.

also in dramatic fallbacks there was a point in the last episode where i found myself going 'unsentimental surprise death definitely happens in the next minute'

this show is good and also not-good

the second season (from like episode five anyway) is way more compelling in terms of week by week drama (i.e. i spent most of today watching it) (go funemployment) but kind of less fun to think about

also while the last few episodes' train-of-revelations stuff was pretty fun it made absolutely no fucking sense, i don't think it's possible to assemble any coherent set of motives for boyd at all, the chronology of what happens before the epitaph episodes is v weird, i don't know how much this is just an artifact of jury-rigging though, apparently it was meant to be five series (!)

"it was meant to be five series/seasons" makes perfect sense, every show gets at least five seasons, might as well make your plot last that long

they didn't always succeed at consistently writing good plots and arcs throughout the two seasons, but I definitely believe they had more than enough interesting ideas to go on for five seasons

frankly thought Dollhouse was one of the best tv shows I've ever seen, within the top 20 maybe. perhaps due to the strong female lead characters, not enough of that in film/TV. great character development.

all in all though i'd say my opinion is mostly formed on the basis of the show's interestingness (i balk at the word "originality" however). that and i thought Alpha was hot. not enough of that either (not really a fan of the common lead-man archetype).

shame the show was cancelled before it had a chance to flesh out.

if it took two seasons and didn't "flesh out" maybe that's a problem, yeh?

name 5 sci-fi shows since 2009 that are even remotely close to Dollhouse in entertainment value or quality. Doctor Who is about the only one I can think of and anyway Doctor Who is good but not great.

also keep in mind that when i say "one of the best tv shows i've seen" that i have a somewhat low opinion of most television shows, and i have a preference for sci-fi over regurgitated drama/law/police/doctor/everyday-lives-of-20-something's/family-dramedy type shows.

Battlestar Galactica was a great show. bordering on excellent.

Dollhouse is two notches down from BSG and a tiny smidgen of a notch up from Doctor Who.

Firefly is somewhere between Dollhouse and BSG.

etc.

terra nova, cut short in its prime. and poor V. that show where people lost their memories? that show where people were in some town with science or something? oh right and that show with some island that people were on and then they left and had to go back. those were all p. good.

and flash gordon.

i'll give you Lost, but that's about it.

Terra Nova was dumb. V was alright but not that good.

by "lost their memories" do you mean FlashForward? If so, yeah, it was decent.

Stargate Universe had some potential too.

guilty/cheesy pleasure: Primeval. Total cheese, for sure, but I like it.

V was terrible, I wanted to love it so much. At least Laura Vandervoort was pretty.

Five sci-fi shows in the last four years? Hell, tell me five shows total that have begun within that time period that are great.

which time period?

the thing with Laura Vandervoort is, yes, she's very pretty and comes off as very sweet, but i'm constantly worried she's going to collapse, vomit, or disintegrate into nothingness on screen. girl's either got a serious illness, harsh anorexia, or a bad drug habit (or all three).

the idea of watching five sf tv shows over a four year period is somewhat dispiriting

i've been watching this on netflix, just started season 2.

it's just the right balance of ridiculous and intriguing. there are a number of good sci-fi-ish concepts going on that keep me watching. though, ultimately, it's been making me want to watch BSG all over again.

it also makes me really want to visit LA again and stay for longer than a few days.

Terra Nova could've been really good if they eliminated all the stupid family-friendly disney crap from it and focused on time travel/psychotic elements/man-vs-man-vs nature. maybe some aliens.
Confession: i watched all of Terra Nova o_O i blame winter.

the other thing that works for Dollhouse is the vaguely Twin Peaks-like music that comes on in certain 'mysterious'/emotional scenes. i suspect that was on purpose.

I'm watching BSG all over again and frankly I can't get through Season 5, it's so fukkin cheerless.

Wasn't Terra Nova based on the premise that earth was not so great so they were colonizing the past? The new season of Fringe is kind of like that (MINOR SPOILERS) in that this last season is all about fighting off these asshole future people who decided to colonize 2012.

wow i totally forgot that there were five whole seasons of BSG. i mean, i watched them all, but, that's a lot...

yeah Terra Nova was all about colonization but with ~respect~ to the environment
that was the main plot point issue, that the defectors were helping industrialists from the future come back in time to exploit the oil and gas reserves! as far as i remember it anyway.

the other plot points were oooh dinosaurs! and i wuv you nuclear-family values

i have some issues around sexist tenants in Dollhouse but because this show's premise is so ridic in the first place and because it's so network-tv, my energy around articulating these issues is kind of low

I thought oil was made of dinosaurs, come on, industrialists

tenets? I just did a triple-take at "sexist tenants" though, thought we were talking about a certain onion web series :D

i always write tenants for tenets. brain issues.

I can't even read, I came away with 'sexy tenant' WHAT

if i were a 22nd-century fictional industrialist, i would a) extract all the resources (ALL of them) from ancient earth, and b) capture some dinosaurs and bring them back to the future to star in a highly successful reality tv show called Dinosaur House

Sexy DOLLHOUSE tenants:

http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Galleries/Shows/A_F/Di_Dp/Dollhouse/season2/dollhouse87.jpg

that's waht i meant

can I get an amen

woops I mean yes it's terrible

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3648/3419215280_39bc3818c1.jpg

Sierra's in Last Resort. I love her

olivia williams ftw

Is she? I have been on the fence about watching that because I love Andre Braugher but the concept seemed ludicrous.

I know that seems a really hypocritical thing to write on the Dollhouse thread. xp

Olivia Williams' clothes in that show always fascinated me

xpost - it is completely ridiculous but thoroughly enjoyable

haha yeah i mean communal showers lollll warped tv version of garden of eden right
meanwhile there's something mega violent in this idyllic common area in like every episode
one of the reasons i like this show though is because of all the major holes, like that's just part of the show/joke anyway

xp
olivia williams is the best

I loved her whole wardrobe on this show, too.

olivia williams' characters' clothes are awesome
and her hair and makeup
like i think i subconsciously flattened out my hair like hers today
xp

those crazy high-waisted skirts and amazing silk blouses

she was fascinating

omg i pulled out a high-waisted skirt to wear to a dinner party earlier this week! i am so easily hypnotized!

what other oliva accoutrements haven't you told us about, rrobyn lol :D