Wednesday 9 March 2011

TV/DVD: JOSS WHEDON'S DOLLHOUSE SEASON ONE

Yes, it's been out for ages but I've only just bought it. Yes, me, a big fan of Joss Whedon, just bought it and just finished watching it.

Look, when it first aired in this country on Sci-Fi, I watched a few episodes but it just didn't grab me. Didn't help that the Sci-Fi Channel doesn't have subtitles and I couldn't have the tv on too loud so I ended up missing bits of dialogue which didn't help. Finally, a couple of weeks ago I thought what the hell and ordered it.

And it was good and as soon as I'd finished watching the last episode I ordered the last season, that being season 2 because, like the much better Firefly which only lasted one season, it got cancelled. Now when I say that Firefly is much better than Dollhouse, that's like saying Hamlet is much better than Macbeth but that doesn't mean Macbeth isn't a superb play.

While Firefly hit the ground running, it took Dollhouse a few episodes to get into its stride. That was then it stopped being Eliza Dushku's new identity of the week and became more involved with the Dollhouse itself. It's a typical Whedon production: sharp snappy dialogue, lots of surprises, strong characters and a great ensemble cast operating around a strong lead.

The DVD is a good package with a lot of making of extras. The big feature, however, is the original pilot which is very different from the screened first episode. It contains a lot of new scenes but also scenes which were shown but often in different episodes so as to hold back on the payoff of plot twists. It's really worth a watch to see how the show was reshaped after input by Fox executives.

Expect a post on Season 2 in a few weeks time.

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