Dollhouse (TV series): Difference between revisions

Dollhouse
Dollhouse intertitle
Genre	Science fiction Thriller[1] Drama
Created by	Joss Whedon
Starring	Eliza Dushku Harry Lennix Fran Kranz Tahmoh Penikett Enver Gjokaj Dichen Lachman Olivia Williams
Theme music composer	Jonatha Brooke Eric Bazilian
Opening theme	"What You Don't Know" by Jonatha Brooke
Country of origin	United States
Original language	Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{langx|en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead.
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	17 plus pilot[2] (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Joss Whedon David Solomon Tim Minear
Producers	Eliza Dushku Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters
Production location	Los Angeles
Running time	47-50 mins (Season 1) 42 mins (Season 2) exc. advertisements
Original release
Network	Fox
Release	February 13, 2009 (2009-02-13) – present

Dollhouse is an American science fiction television series created by writer-director Joss Whedon under Mutant Enemy Productions. The show premiered on February 13, 2009 on the Fox network. First season episodes of Dollhouse are about six minutes longer than standard one-hour dramas on Fox television, as the show aired with half as many commercial advertising slots that season during a network experiment to limit viewers who tune out of their programming during long commercial breaks. The experiment has been discontinued and Dollhouse will air in a regularly scheduled hour-long format during its second season.

The first season finale, "Omega," aired on May 8, 2009, with the series being renewed for a second season on May 15. The second season will consist of 13 episodes and premiered on September 25, 2009.^[3] A thirteenth episode from the first season, "Epitaph One," was not aired for different contractual reasons, but was released on DVD after a premiere at the 2009 Comic-Con in San Diego. However, it was aired in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2009 and in Australia it aired on September 1, 2009 as part of the series' regular run. The Region 1 DVD was released on July 28, 2009,^[4] and the Region 2 DVD was released on September 7, 2009.^[5]

The story follows Echo, a "doll" or "Active" for the Dollhouse, an organisation which hires out reprogrammable human beings to wealthy clients who use them for a range of purposes, such as romantic encounters and high-risk illegal activities. Echo, like her fellow dolls Victor and Sierra, exists in a child-like blank state, until the programmer uploads her with the skills and memories to make her a whole other human being. Actives such as Echo are ostensibly volunteers who surrender their bodies to the organisation for five years in exchange for a vast amount of money and a solution to any other extenuating circumstances in their lives. Echo, however, is unique in remembering small amounts even after personality "wipes", and gradually develops an increasingly cognizant self-awareness and personality. This emerging personality is even distinct in some ways from that of her original identity, college graduate Caroline Farrell. This concept allows the series to examine concepts of identity and personhood.

As Echo continues to evolve, and learn to work beyond the limits of her current personality imprint or default programming, she runs the risk of going to "the Attic", a place for broken dolls. She is an object of fascination for the escaped doll Alpha (a genius and serial killer who sees Echo as a potential mate) and FBI Agent Paul Ballard, whose obsession with the urban legend that is the Dollhouse costs him his career, before he comes to work for the organisation as Echo's bodyguard or "handler". Ballard sees the Dollhouse's activities as immoral and illegal, but becomes increasingly complicit in the business which he equates with murder and sex traffic. Within the house, opinions are divided; director Adelle DeWitt sees her role as honourable, programmer Topher Brink's view is entirely scientific and amoral, and handler-turned-head of security Boyd Langton, like Ballard, is more concerned with the ethical and theological implications of the Dollhouse's technology.

The series stars Eliza Dushku, who worked with Whedon on the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain are the showrunners, while Tim Minear and Steven DeKnight serve as consulting producers.^[6][7] In addition to Joss Whedon, the writing staff includes Tim Minear, Jed Whedon (Joss's brother), Maurissa Tancharoen, Andrew Chambliss, Tracy Bellomo, Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain.^[8] Whedon will direct a number of his own episodes, as he has done in past shows. Tim Minear and Buffy producer David Solomon are also set to direct.^[9] A viral marketing campaign promoting Dollhouse was started on May 26, 2008.^[10]

Dollhouse, which is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Whedon's Mutant Enemy Productions^[11][12] and Dushku's Boston Diva Productions, was granted an initial thirteen-episode production commitment by Fox, with a reported license fee in the range of $1.5 to 2 million per episode.^[13][14] Fox decided to forgo the usual practice of ordering a pilot episode of the series, opting to instead put funds towards the construction of the elaborate set and cultural context of the television series. The set was described as a "life-size Dollhouse".^[15] On July 22, 2008, Joss Whedon announced that the first episode shot, "Echo", would be pushed to be the second, while a new episode would become first, saying that this "idea to do a new first episode wasn’t the network's. It was mine."^[16] Despite several reshoots, "Echo" was later pulled from the run entirely^[17]; the staff of the show has since noted, during a panel on the series at the Paley Festival, a television festival held at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, that portions of the episode were used in other subsequent episodes throughout the series' first season.^[18]

Dollhouse, as well as J. J. Abrams' Fringe, has during its first season aired with half the commercials and promo spots of most current network dramas, adding about 6 minutes to the shows' run times, as part of a new Fox initiative called "Remote-Free TV".^[19] Fox charged a premium price for this advertising space, but did not completely recoup the money that they were spending.^[20] Fox later cancelled Remote-Free TV.^[21]

In July 2008 Whedon announced he was planning to shoot a separate webisode for every Dollhouse episode produced.^[22] The webisodes have not materialized for the first season, however.

On February 10, 2009, Dushku told reporters in a conference call that Whedon has a 5-year plan for the show, and has decided how his characters will evolve through that point.^[23]

Anya Colloff and Amy McIntyre Britt, who previously worked with Joss Whedon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Serenity, are the show's casting directors.^[24]

On March 26, 2008, it was officially announced that Tahmoh Penikett, Dichen Lachman, Fran Kranz, and Enver Gjokaj had been cast in four principal roles for the show.^[25][26] On April 3, 2008, it was announced that Olivia Williams would be playing the role of Adelle DeWitt.^[27] Two weeks later, it was announced that Harry J. Lennix had also joined the cast.^[28] On the same day, Joss Whedon announced on whedonesque.com that Miracle Laurie and Amy Acker were to complete the cast.^[29]

Brennan Elliott and Michael Muhney auditioned for the part of Paul Ballard but lost out to Penikett. Ian Anthony Dale and Paul Campbell auditioned for Victor, but Gjokaj got the part.^[30]

On April 9, 2009, actress Felicia Day posted on Twitter that she had received word the 13th episode of the first season of Dollhouse, in which she guest-stars, would not air. Whedon rebutted speculation that Fox was set to cancel the show however, and producer Tim Minear explained that the "missing" 13th episode (which is titled "Epitaph One") would be on the DVD release of the season. The reason Minear gave for that episode being dropped from the broadcast run was that the Fox network was counting the original first episode ("Echo"), which went unaired, as part of the original 13-episode order; in contrast, the Fox production company was required by contract to have a minimum of 13 completed episodes for international and DVD releases.^[31] According to both Minear and Whedon, the producers felt that the original first episode, having been subsequently scrapped entirely and had its footage reused for other episodes throughout the season, should not be counted as a completed episode as part of their own 13-episode orders for international and DVD distribution but rather as a DVD extra, and thus Whedon produced a new 13th episode on a lower budget to fulfill the contractual requirements for the international broadcasts. The episode was screened at Comic-Con on July 24, 2009.^[32] "Epitaph One" had its world premiere in Singapore on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, through Season Pass, an on-demand service offered by SingTel mio TV^[33]. The first general broadcast was in Sweden on Channel TV400, Sunday July 26, 2009.^[34] In the United Kingdom the episode aired on the UK Sci Fi Channel on August 11, 2009,^[35] and in Australia it aired on September 1, 2009.

Despite low ratings in its first season, Dollhouse was renewed for a second season^[36] of thirteen episodes.^[3] Among other factors, fan response to the show was seen as a reason for the renewal; Fox's president of entertainment stated that "if we'd canceled Joss' show I'd probably have 110 million e-mails this morning from the fans."^[36] As part of the deal, there was a cut in the show's budget,^[37] though Whedon has stated that this will not affect the second season.^[38] The series will continue in its 9–10 pm Friday timeslot, with the season premiere on September 25, 2009.^[39] Season 2 of Dollhouse began filming on July 22, 2009^[40], so Fox pushed back Dollhouse's return to the 25th to afford Whedon & Co. sufficient time to produce enough hours to kick off the season with at least three or four consecutive episodes.^[41]

Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (creators of Reaper) joined the writing staff for season 2 as replacements for former showrunners Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (who left Dollhouse to join the writing staff of Lie to Me).^[42]

Miracle Laurie announced that she will be returning in the second season.^[43] Alexis Denisof will be joining the cast as Senator Daniel Perrin,^[44] and Summer Glau was originally scheduled to appear in at least two episodes as Bennett, a character who is working inside a Dollhouse, but it has been announced that she will stay on Dollhouse as a recurring character for longer than her original two episode order.^[45] Michael Hogan and Jamie Bamber will both have roles as guest stars^[46].

The Dollhouse cast consists mainly of Actives (or Dolls) and Dollhouse employees.^[47] The dolls are named after the NATO phonetic alphabet.

• Echo (Eliza Dushku) is an Active and the main character of the series. She is one of the most popular Actives in the Dollhouse, and has shown skills that transcend the limitations of her parameters during the course of her engagements. Prior to having her mind wiped, Echo is a college activist named Caroline Farrell.^E-7 She becomes increasingly self-aware during her blank state, and later even vows to discover and restore her original self.^E-14
• Boyd Langton (Harry J. Lennix) is introduced at the onset of the first season as a former cop and the Dollhouse handler assigned to Echo. Later on in the season, he's promoted as the new head of security.^E-9 He has doubts about the ethics of what the Dollhouse does with the Actives.
• Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) is the scientist who operates Dollhouse's technology and uses it to imprint new personalities on the Actives. Cynical and ego-driven, Topher's knowledge of human behavior allows him to specially craft the various personalities of the Actives for their various missions.
• Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) is an FBI special agent assigned to the Dollhouse case at the onset of the series; most in the Bureau view the case as a joke, but he makes discovering and rescuing Caroline/Echo an obsession. The Dollhouse assigns November to spy on him as girlfriend Mellie. After breaking into the Dollhouse, he works for them under the condition that November is released,^E-12 and later takes the role of Echo's handler.^E-14
• Victor (Enver Gjokaj) is an Active who was originally introduced as Paul Ballard's informant inside the Russian mob, Lubov, before being revealed to be a Doll.^E-3 The character is also regularly hired out on secret romantic engagements by Adelle DeWitt. In his mind-wiped state, Victor is inexplicably attracted to Sierra. His handler is Selena Ramirez.^E-9 He suffers facial cuts similar to Dr. Saunders' after a run-in with Alpha,^E-11 which DeWitt authorises to have removed at great expense.^E-14
• Sierra (Dichen Lachman) is the most recent Active to be added to the Dollhouse at the beginning of the first season. She is instinctively drawn to Echo, but lacks her growing self-awareness. Prior to having her mind wiped, Sierra is a painter named Priya Tsetsang.^E-17E-13 Unlike the other Actives, Sierra is committed to the Dollhouse against her will by a powerful man after refusing his sexual advances.^E-8 During season one, she is raped by her handler in her blank state,^E-6 and despite Brink doing his best to rid her of these memories, subsequent episodes reveal that he is not entirely successful. In "Epitaph One," she begins the idea of tattooing one's real name on their back as a security measure for the possibility of being wiped. In the possible future depicted in the episode, this becomes a standard safety measure all "Actuals" begin to take.
• Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) is the highest ranking official at the Los Angeles Dollhouse. She believes the causes of the Dollhouse are truly benevolent. Although Adelle is the head of her Dollhouse (as the L.A. Dollhouse is just one of more than twenty worldwide)^E-6 she answers to off-screen superiors. She is revealed to be "Miss Lonelyhearts" who has hired out Victor several times.^E-9

• Whiskey (Amy Acker) is originally introduced to the series as the Actives' general physician Dr. Claire Saunders. It is revealed in the season one finale that she is in fact an Active. Formerly the Dollhouse's most popular Doll, she is attacked by Alpha with a pair of scissors, causing extensive facial scars. Shortly afterward, Alpha kills the actual Dr. Saunders, and Whiskey is imprinted with his personality and skill-set to serve as his replacement. Saunders has trouble adjusting to the realisation that she is merely Topher's creation, and objects to being wiped or restored as that would be tantamount to dying. She takes leave of the Dollhouse for some time to find herself.^E-14 The role of Claire Saunders was originally conceived for a woman in her 40s or 50s, but Whedon had worked with Acker on Angel and decided the actress would be the best for the part. Whedon adapted the character for her, despite initial reservations about casting too many Buffy and Angel alumni.^[48]
• Alpha (Alan Tudyk)^E-11, born Carl William Craft, is a rogue Active who escapes the Dollhouse. Prior to the events of the series, an accident causes a "composite event" in which 48 personalities are simultaneously imprinted in Alpha, along with all the associated memories and skill sets. In his escape, he kills several Dolls and Dollhouse staff members (including Echo's previous handler) but allows Echo to live. After his escape from the Dollhouse, Alpha begins to send anonymous packages to Paul Ballard; hinting at the existence of the Dollhouse and Echo's former identity. Alpha reveals himself after posing as the architect behind the construction of the Los Angeles Dollhouse facility, Stephen Kepler, whom Ballard has tracked down. He leads Ballard into the Dollhouse, takes control of the security and automated systems, and leaves with Echo.^E-11 Though Echo escapes him, he remains at large.^E-12
• November (Miracle Laurie) is originally introduced to the series as Mellie, Paul Ballard's neighbor, romantic interest, and confidante but is in fact a "sleeper" Active.^E-6 Adelle can switch November to a combat-ready personality using verbal codes.^E-6 In "Omega," November's original persona and memories are restored and she is released from her contract early with full payment at Ballard's request in exchange for his joining the Dollhouse's staff; she returns to her life as Madeline Costley,^E-12 in which she has a deceased daughter named Katie.^E-8
• Ivy (Liza Lapira) is Topher's assistant. While highly skilled and seeing herself as Topher's apprentice, Topher treats her more as a gofer; assigning her menial tasks such as fetching him snacks.
• Graham Tanaka (Mark Sheppard) is an FBI agent highly critical of Ballard's assignment of the Dollhouse, believing it to be nothing more than an urban legend.
• Loomis (Aisha Hinds) is an FBI analyst and Ballard's ally within the Bureau while he's suspended.
• Daniel Perrin (Alexis Denisof), introduced during season two, is a United States Senator who is determined to learn about the inner workings of the Rossum Corporation.

• Laurence Dominic (Reed Diamond),^[17] head of security at the Dollhouse during most of the first season, takes his job very seriously but views the Dolls as more like pets than humans. He attempts to kill Echo, and also suggests she be retired as an Active, and put into "the Attic".^E-5 Later, while under the influence of a drug, he attempts to apologize to Echo for his actions.^E-7 Dominic is revealed to be an NSA agent who is monitoring but not exposing the Dollhouse for unknown purposes. Upon discovery, DeWitt has Topher extract his persona from his body and then sends him to the Attic.^E-9
• Joe Hearn (Kevin Kilner) is Sierra's handler in the first six episodes, and is also the handler of the previous Sierra. Joe Hearn is introduced as a less dedicated counterpart to Boyd Langton,^E-3 and strongly dislikes Echo for her individualism and worries about her influence on Sierra. DeWitt eventually learns that Hearn has raped Sierra in her blank state a number of times, and has him killed by activating November's combat-ready personality while he's on assignment to assassinate "Mellie."^E-6
• Dr. Nolan Kinnard (Vincent Ventresca) is a wealthy psychiatrist, Rossum Corp VIP, and art collector. He meets Sierra when she was aspiring artist Priya Tsetsang. As a means of high-profile courtship he buys one of her paintings and invites her to a party where it was exhibited. She spurns his advances, and in retaliation he drugs her with psychoactive medications to mimic the symptoms of schizophrenia, then turns her over to the Dollhouse. ^E-17. When the Dollhouse temporarily restores her original personality, she confronts Kinnard and he gloats that he can have her any time he wants.^E-8. He eventually demands that Sierra be sent to him permanently, a demand that Rossum forces DeWitt to obey. A remorseful Topher imprints Sierra with her original personality, and during her confrontation with Kinnard he produces a knife, leading to her stabbing him. Topher and Boyd dispose of the body.^E-17.

Complete season	Release dates
	Region 1 (United States/Canada)	Region 2 (United Kingdom)	Region 4 (Australia)
1st	July 28, 2009[49]	September 7, 2009[50]	TBA
2nd	TBA	TBA	TBA

The Dollhouse DVD sold over 62,000 copies in the first week, and made over 1 million dollars.^[51]

On Feb. 9, 2009, Fox launched Dollplay, a participation drama centered around Dollhouse. It involved using interactive webisodes and a user forum to drive a viral marketing campaign. The campaign asked users on the Fox Dollhouse website to "Save Hazel!" Hazel was a character trapped inside the Dollhouse in real-time. The campaign was called "Dollplay" according to the official Fox press release and was created by the company P "a radical production outfit from Sweden".^[52] Five videos released in a four-hour span showed Hazel entering a room, turning on the light, and messing with a computer. That's when the room locked her in and started to move. She approached the camera and yelled for help just as the transmission cut off.^[53]

On Feb. 12, 2009, Fox opened the website up to further exploration, and interaction with the main character was now possible via Webcam. It is not yet clear how the character in the viral marketing campaign related to the TV show Dollhouse, but both dealt with science fiction and mind control.^[54]

On Feb. 28, 2009, the Dollplay alternate-reality game ended with players saving the fictional Hazel. After Hazel was saved, she told people that there are "Dollhouses" all over the world that imprint them and change them; these include schools, parents, religion and government. She essentially tells people to think for themselves and then leaves the container she is trapped in and the game ends.^[55]

The songs played in the promotions are "Massive Dose" by Sonic Librarian, a cover of "Cobrastyle" performed by Robyn, and "Boys Wanna Be Her" by Peaches.^[56]

The Dollhouse theme song is "What You Don't Know", performed by Jonatha Brooke. It was written by Brooke and Eric Bazilian.^[57] As of May 5, 2009, the song has been available for purchase on iTunes. However, it is a different mix of the version that was used in the Dollhouse music video that was a limited-time promotional iTunes download.

The show's music score is composed by Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen.

The premiere episode of Dollhouse helped Fox double its audience levels among women versus Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and helped the network finish in second place among adults 18–34 and in first place across the key male demographic for the night.^[58]

Dollhouse premiered on 'Sci Fi' in the United Kingdom in May 2009. Just over 260,000 viewers tuned in to watch it premiere.

Dollhouse premiered on 'Fox 8' in Australia in June 2009. It premiered with just over 120,000 viewers.^{[citation needed]}

Season	Episodes	Timeslot	Season premiere	Season finale	TV season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	12	Friday 9:00 p.m.	February 13, 2009	May 8, 2009	2009	#132	4.6[59]
2	13	Friday 9:00 p.m.	September 25, 2009	January 2010	2009 - 2010	N/A	N/A

Season one of Dollhouse has had mixed reviews, with metacritic.com giving it a rating of 57 out of a possible 100.^[60] Ellen Gray of Philadelphia Daily News is one of those who gave a positive review, remarking that "Dollhouse is less about the ninja kicks and witty banter than it is about instant transformations, and about making the audience care about a character who's likely to behave differently every time we see her. That Dushku mostly pulls this off is a happy surprise, as is Dollhouse, which has survived Firefly-like trials of its own to get this far."^[61] Salon.com reviewer Heather Havrilesky was also positive, commenting that the show's combination of mystery, sly dialogue, and steady flow of action results in a "provocative, bubbly new drama that looks as promising as anything to hit the small screen over the course of the past year."^[62]

Alternately, Tom Shales of the Washington Post admitted the premise was intriguing, but described the series as a "pretentious and risible jumble" and that Echo did not "inspire much concern or interest in the audience." He commented that the actors seemed to struggle due to the decor being so "outlandish," stating that it "simply isn't worth the trouble."^[63] Brian Lowry of Variety also wrote "Dushku's grasp of this vague, personality-changing character is a bit of a muddle. What's left, then, is a series with a hollow center that doesn't initially make you care about its mentally malleable protagonist."^[64] Robert Bianco of USA Today had a more nonchalant view of the series, describing Dollhouse as not boring or ordinary, and that the end result is a show "that Joss Whedon's most devoted fans will debate and embrace, and a mass audience just won't get."^[65]

Many critics felt that the series' first season improved as it progressed. IGN reviewer Eric Goldman believes that show became much stronger and more compelling with the episodes "Needs" and "A Spy in the House of Love". He opines of the later episodes that, "As a whole this show is definitely working better as we get away from Echo's missions of the week, and from focusing so much on just Echo and letting there be more of a true ensemble feel, with the time split amongst the Dolls."^[66] Sarah Hughes of The Independent was unimpressed with the first five episodes but also found that the later episodes became "as involving and addictive as Whedon's best work".^[67] Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune liked Dollhouse's "unsettling" tone and found the show to be "unexpectedly moving and complex" during the second half of the first season. She called the second season renewal "a good day for unconventional television".^[68]

• Official website
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