- Release Date: July 28, 2009
- Publisher: 20th Century Fox
- Price: $42.49 on Amazon.com (Buy It)
- Rating: Not Rated
- Run Time: 540 minutes
- Special Features: Unaired Pilot, Unaired Episode “Epitaph One,” Commentaries, Deleted Scenes, “Making Dollhouse” Featurette, “Coming Home” Featurette, “Finding Echo” Featurette, “A Private Engagement” Featurette, “Designing the Perfect Dollhouse” Featurette
- Starring: Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz, Tahmoh Penikett, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Olivia Williams
- Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Since Joss Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is my favorite show of all-time and “Angel” and “Firefly” are both probably in my top ten, I was anxiously awaiting his newest show “Dollhouse” before it premiered in February. Unfortunately, the show didn’t really click right away. I thought the first five episodes were about average. I never considered dropping the show but I just wasn’t looking forward to the show each week. That changed after the sixth episode (coincidentally that was also when FOX started letting Whedon do whatever he wanted). Suddenly the mythology started to get intriguing, the characters started to mesh, the weekly stories became more interesting, and I started to look forward to each week’s episode. Due to low ratings (even for a Friday), I doubted that “Dollhouse” would get a second season but FOX was kind enough to give it a second chance. If you are a fan of Whedon’s work or just a sci-fi/action fan in general, you could do much worse than “Dollhouse.” Just keep in mind that the first five episodes aren’t indicative of the rest of the season.
If you weren’t among the puny 4.6 million viewers that turned in each week, “Dollhouse” is a drama about an illegal underground organization (the Dollhouse) that is able to wipe and implant memories into human beings. The Dollhouse employs people that have volunteered to serve for five years in exchange for a handsome reward. These people have their memories wiped completely and backed up on hard drives. While living in the Dollhouse in their inactive state they are called dolls and have no memories about their former lives or the other missions they have been one. Once activated, they can become anything the Dollhouse’s rich clients want (a lover, assassin, safe cracker, or even a human target).
Like Joss Whedon’s other shows, “Dollhouse” has a mix of normal stand-alone episodes along with ones that are heavy in mythology. One of the problems with the first five episodes was that there was little to no development in the show’s mythology. Once Whedon figured out where he wanted the show to go, it started to become much more interesting and addicting.
The other reason the first five episodes didn’t pop was because of the focus on Eliza Dushku’s character Echo. While Dushku is a great actor and the character isn’t that bad either, the show just focused far too much on Echo. The show has an outstanding ensemble cast so it was good when the second half of the season started spending more time developing the other characters. My personal favorite was Fran Kranz as computer geek Topher (basically the Xander of the group) but there really isn’t a weak actor or character in the group.
Also on the list of Dollhouse’s positives, the show is incredibly unique (I can’t even really compare it to any other shows I’ve seen) and it can be quite funny at times (mainly thanks to Kranz’s Topher). Joss Whedon has always done a great job mixing great action, humor, and storytelling so it shouldn’t be too surprising that “Dollhouse” quickly became a wonderful show.
Video and audio quality is obviously very important since this is a Blu-ray. I was disappointed with the only other FOX TV on Blu-ray release I’ve seen (”Burn Notice: Season 2″) so I was relieved with what I saw. The transfers aren’t perfect but they are at least up to the standards of other Blu-ray releases. I wouldn’t say “Dollhouse: Season 1″ is one of the best Blu-rays I’ve seen so far but at least its worth the extra cost to upgrade.
It wouldn’t be a Whedon show release without a boatload of extras. In addition to commentaries, deleted scenes, and several featurettes, “Dollhouse: Season 1″ also has a secret weapon; two unaired episodes. The first was the unaired pilot that FOX canned because they thought viewers wouldn’t “get” it. Most of this episode was chopped up and put into other episodes but there are some new scenes and it is interesting to see Whedon’s initial plan for the show. The other unaired episode is the thirteenth episode (”Epitaph One”) which takes place ten years in the future. I’m not going to spoil anything so I won’t get too in depth into the plot but I will say that it mostly focuses on a group of characters we haven’t seen before. Still, even though it is a little hard to follow it is definitely worth watching and a huge reason to pick up “Dollhouse: Season 1″ on either DVD or Blu-ray.
The other extras are also pretty good. Joss Whedon’s commentaries are always fairly interesting and the ones on this set are no different. The deleted scenes don’t really add much to the story but they are probably worth watching. The featurettes are a little hit or miss. Some are good (”Making the Dollhouse,” “Designing the Perfect Dollhouse”) while the rest are pretty much average. All in all, I doubt anyone can complain about the quantity and quality of extras on this release.
Despite a rocky start, “Dollhouse” is one of the few truly creative and interesting shows still on television. Joss Whedon fans will obviously love it and I think most fans of the science fiction and action genres will like it as well. The Blu-ray is about $12 more than the DVD as of the time this review was posted but I think it is probably worth the extra dollars for the better video quality. Highly recommended.
(this would have been a 4.5 or 5 if the first five episodes were as good as the later ones)
