Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Olivia Williams, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz,
Tahmoh Penikett, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Miracle Laurie | Created by Joss Whedon
UK cert 15 | UK RRP £24.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 666 minutes | Directed by David Solomon & Joss Whedon
You have to feel somewhat sorry for Joss Whedon. With the critical success of his cult shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, there's always an enormous amount of anticipation surrounding any new project that he embarks on. There's been a lot of hype surrounding the sci-fi fantasy Dollhouse, but sadly this first season doesn't quite come up to the standard we've come to expect from Joss.
That's probably got much to do with the rumoured interference from Fox that we've all heard about. One has to wonder, given his history with the network (it axed Angel after the 5th series, and the brilliant Firefly just halfway through the first), why Joss still gets involved with Fox. In the case of Dollhouse, it's probably because he was brought onto the project by producer and star Eliza Dushku, who had a contract to produce a show for the network. We do know that the original pilot was shelved and reshot, and that the network executives did supposedly interfere extinsively with the first few episodes. And it shows. But stick with it, because it does improve as it goes on - especially the final two episodes.
So what's it all about? Dushku plays Caroline - who, we learn in the first episode, has signed a contract to spend the next five years with an underground organisation known as the Dollhouse. Codenamed Echo, she and the other "actives" are blank slates who are sent sent on special missions, programmed with all the memories and abilities they need to complete their tasks - they don't just play a role, they actually become the person that the client needs them to be. On return to headquarters, their memories are wiped; they are mere dolls, to be put away in their boxes until the next time they are needed. There's a subplot involving an FBI agent trying to uncover the Dollhouse, and the plots of several episodes are muddled and confusing. But by the time you get to the final two episodes, you find yourself intrigued and hooked, and looking forward to season two.
As always, Joss has pulled together a fine bunch of actors to give life to his dolls. As well as Dushku in the lead role, there's also Angel's Amy Acker, playing the Dollhouse's resident doctor, Claire Saunders; Olivia Williams is the head of the Dollhouse, Adelle DeWitt; Fran Kranz as Topher Brink, computer wiz (he programmes all the actives) and the comic relief of the show; Harry Lennix as Echoe's "handler", Boyd Langton; and Alan Tudyk, late of Firefly, as the mysterious Alpha. As I said earlier, for fans of Joss (and I consider myself one of them) much of this first season is a disappointment. But stick with it. By the end, you can see where Joss wants to take us, and it looks like the ride is going to be well worth it.
EXTRAS **** There's an exceptional package here to help explain the thinking behind the show, and whet our appetites for the second season. Most outstanding of all are the original, unaired pilot, Echo (and after seeing it, you can understand why it wasn't used), and a special, also unaired, 13th episode, which was shown at the Comic-Con in San Diego this year. As well, three of the episodes have audio commentaries: Ghost, the pilot that was aired, has a commentary with Whedon and Dushku; Man on The Street (Whedon); and Epitaph One, the bonus 13th episode, has a commentary with writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. There's also a bunch of deleted scenes, and five behind-the-scenes featurettes with lots of interviews with Whedon and Dushku about the development and casting of the show, a table read of one of the episodes and a look at the set design.