ALL SCI-FI Forum Index ALL SCI-FI
The place to “find your people”.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Dollhouse (2009)

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> Sci-Fi on Television from 2001 to 2010
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3400
Location: New York

PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 12:50 pm    Post subject: Dollhouse (2009) Reply with quote



"Dollhouse" was a FOX TV network sf series created by Joss Whedon that ran from February 13, 2009 to November 11, 2009 for 27 episodes.

Premise } The shadowy Rossam Corporation uses mine-wiped human beings they designate as "Actives'' aka "Dolls" in order to satisfy high paying clients who use the actives for their own engagements which can range from romantic to high-risk criminal ventures.

The Actives are placed into a high-tech chair where they are imprinted with brand new memories, specialized skills and personalities required for their engagements for the clients.

The Actives true memories and personalities were willingly surrendered by them and stored on hard drives by Rossam.

The Actives were individuals who were in desperate trouble in their former lives who were helped by the corporation financially or in other ways solving the severe problems these people faced.

In return for Rossam's aid these people have signed a five-year contract that allows Rossam to utilize their minds and bodies for anyone willing to pay the high fee involved.

After serving an engagement the Actives undergo another mind~wipe erasing the persona & skills they were required for the engagement.

The Actives then return to the dollhouse they live in with innocent child-like personalities until they are required for their next engagement.

Numerous such dollhouses exist all around the world.

However, one of the females code named "Echo" is suddenly beginning to recall memories of her previous existence despite the routine purging mind-wipes she receives after the end of every engagement she has been in.

Echo's true personality is beginning to emerge and she realizes the horror of what Rossam is doing to her as well as the other Actives.

She is also discovering that not all her fellow Actives are there willingly and that Rossam has nefarious plans far beyond just being for hire by wealthy clients who want the Actives for their own purposes.

This was a fascinating show with elements of sf, espionage, criminal activity. It also delved into why individuals are who they are and just how much can they be altered and still function?

Like so many terrific sf TV shows it was sadly cancelled all too soon.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17016
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has 28 trivia items for this series. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
________________________________

~ Joss Whedon had a five year plan for the series and had already worked out how the characters would evolve over time but the show only ran for two seasons. With this in mind, you can see how the plots of season 2 could have been spaced out to four seasons.

Note from me: Jeez, another Josh Whedon project all planned out . . . and then cut short.

~ Eliza Dushku and Joss Whedon came up with the premise of the show while having lunch and talking about her career options.

Note from me: I used to have lunches and dinners with a group of creative buddies, and we'd spin ideas to each other for movies and shows. I've got a bunch of those wonderfull occasions on tape, recorded in stereo on this gizmo, which I call my Time Saving Device!


___________________


~ DOLLHOUSE was part of a FOX campaign called "Remote-Free-TV", which also included fellow-FOX-show FRINGE. Both shows were expected to have dramatically reduced commercial breaks and therefore more actual screen time.

Note from me: I don't understand how that would work. The only way to reduce the number of commercial break and increase the screen time is to . . . sell less commercial time! The network was willing to do that? Shocked

~ As of 2009, this is the lowest rated television drama to get a renewal from a major American television network for a new season in the last 20 years.

Note from me: If it had been anybody but Josh Whedon, I'd suspect the show just sucked. But Pow said, "Like so many terrific sf TV shows it was sadly cancelled all too soon." Sad

~ Joss Whedon's fourth collaboration with Summer Glau.

Note from me: Gee, what has Summer been doing lately? I haven't seen her in a while. Sad

~ Summer Glau joined the series as Bennett Halverson after the cancellation of her television series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles".

Note from me: Miss Glau was terrific in that series! Very Happy






~ Dr. Bennet (Summer Glau) makes several mentions of studying the Amygdala. In Firefly Summer Glau played River Tam, whose Amygdala was stripped, causing her to lose any self control and go insane.

Note from me: Hey, this might explain why my ex-wife . . . well, never mind. Confused

~ The show was originally more focused on the sexual aspect of the characters, but Fox was worried that the Dollhouse theme and their clients would resemble prostitution, so they pushed Joss Whedon to make it more a thriller.

Note from me: Well, I'm pretty sure that sex is . . . well, thrilling. Rolling Eyes

~ In Season 1 Episode 10, "Haunted", the horse trainer wears an outfit that clearly resembles that of Malcolm Reynolds from "Firefly". Both this show and that were created by Joss Whedon.

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Jul 01, 2020 9:20 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3400
Location: New York

PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And I can't help wondering, Bud, if Joss Whedon found inspiration for Dollhouse from Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's Joe 90 puppet television show from forty-one years earlier?

Thought the same thing in regards to whether the creators of The Pretender were influenced by Joe 90.

I don't mean that I have a problem at all with the later TV shows drawing from Joe 90.

All three series are different enough from one another so as to make 'em all entertaining within their own unique qualities and interior logic.

The late great Bruce Geller who created Mission: Impossible and Mannix, considered a TV series about a man who assumes the identities of other people.

Through the use of plastic surgery, hypnotherapy, and computer training, this man takes on the persona of another individual. He would master, manipulate, and control this new identity and was totally secure while doing so.

Bruce worked with writer Steve Kandel on this concept.

Steve wrote the premise as a man who so deeply immerses himself into the soul and mind of another that the impostor could become trapped in the mind of the person he was imitating.

Interestingly enough, the idea so frightened Bruce according to Kandel that Geller dropped the entire project. Kandel felt that Bruce's intense & horrified reaction to what Steve wrote struck at deep underlying anxieties Bruce had.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3400
Location: New York

PostPosted: Wed Feb 16, 2022 6:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From Wikipedia:

20th Century Fox chose to forego the usual practice of ordering a pilot episode for Dollhouse and commissioned 13 episodes right away.

They opted to put the funds into the construction of the elaborate set for the Dollhouse.

Sidebar: And a beautifully done set it was. I recall TV Guide doing a pictorial feature on the impressive set at the time.

Screen Rant: Eliza Dushku (Echo) fractured her arm during the shooting of the series finale. She continued filming while hiding her injured arm under her wardrobe.

"The Target" episode saw Echo being hunted down in a remote area by an outdoorsman in a similar theme to The Most Dangerous Game.

Filming the episode proved treacherous as the area was full of rattlesnakes, massive beehives, extreme temperatures, and a very bumpy road the cast & crew had to take in order to get to the location.

After the first episode, the FOX network was deeply displeased with the results. They felt that it gave away the show's long game plan. FOX's TV schedule was dominated by procedural types of shows and had counted on Dollhouse following that same formula.

The vast majority of "Dolls" were not going out on exciting spy missions. They were rented out as witless slaves to wealthy & powerful individuals.

Joss Whedon was using that to explicitly comment on real world gender politics.

FOX was deeply troubled with this prospect and wanted Dollhouse to be a more fun, adventure series.

They wished the show to avoid tackling thorny societal issues that would make the audience uncomfortable.

Sidebar: FOX's negative reaction to Dollhouse addressing intense hot topic issues has echoed with TV networks since the dawn of the industry. And it continues today.

Networks traditionally want shows with all likable characters, cliche challenges, easily solved problems, and happy endings. Don't make the viewers uncomfortable or have to think too much. Keep 'em fat and happy.

Early television did produce some marvelous anthology series that did take on hard topics of the day. They were powerful, grim, and took viewers out of their comfort zone.

Rod Serling was one of the superb writers who scripted for these TV anthology shows.

However, bit-by-bit he saw that networks wanted to produce only shows that entertained and left the audience satisfied. No more searing difficult heartfelt stories. Just detectives solving murders, or cowboys shooting the outlaws.

Rod created his classic Twilight Zone series as a response when networks would no longer focus upon the complex issues of the day. Anthology shows were dying out.

On his Twilight Zone, Serling knew that he could still write about matters of gravitas that concerned him and others. By disguising it with fantasy & science fiction stories he was able to get it past the narrow minded networks. After all, who takes episodes that delve into fantasy or science fiction seriously? The important thing was not to reflect the real world with these controversial issues but place them within a make-believe universe.

The Outer Limits and Star Trek also adhered to this philosophy of creating shows where the stories had depth and substance that the writers were not allowed to do on regular TV shows.

I don't think such shows are as rejected in 2022 with all the cable outlets and the march of time. However, I'm sure there are still with us network executives who would prefer style over substance. All sizzle and no steak.

The fight continues.

Screen Rant: Over the years, Joss Whedon cultivated a reputation as a dedicated feminist with his first TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Some felt that his later TV shows Angel & Firefly did not exactly advance the feminist ideals like Buffy did. Neither did they regress those ideals either.

There was something off about Dollhouse. The show leaned into the disturbing reality of having women who were programmed to be exploited by nefarious patriarchal forces far too enthusiastically. It came perilously close to embracing things it was meant to condemn.

Sidebar: I wonder, given the spate of negative allegations against Whedon nowadays that are now being revealed, if there was a subconscious context to all this on his part that perhaps even he wasn't fully aware of?

The cancellation of Dollhouse would mark Whedon's end of doing TV any longer.

He had relatively smooth sailing during his Buffy run. Later on, the WB would cancel his Buffy spin-off series Angel in spite of it being at the height of its ratings and creative vitality.

FOX would completely botch their handling of his Firefly science fiction show.

FOX never believed in Dollhouse from the start. The network constantly meddled in the creative process and relegated the show to the Friday night death slot.

Therefore, Whedon was shocked when FOX renewing the low rated Dollhouse for a second season. Reports were that FOX had learned their lesson with their cancellation of Firefly when they received outraged fan backlash for their decision. They did not want to repeat that, and they gave Dollhouse a second season order to avoid the enmity of viewers.

Sidebar: I thought Dollhouse was an intriguing TV series that started out as being one thing and then morphed into something different for its second season. It's a shame that it was never given the chance to develop and take us on a new journey. Few TV shows ever truly grow. They find a formula that works for them and stick to it for dear life and ratings.

Their story rarely evolves, and seldom do the characters.The audience is fed the same old fare each and every week.

Dollhouse appeared to eschew that tired routine and attempted to embark onto something fresh and original.

Networks fear that kind of programming.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> Sci-Fi on Television from 2001 to 2010 All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group