Gamertell

Title: Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse: Season One (aka Dollhouse)
Format: DVD (Blu-ray)
Price: $39.99 ($59.99 Blu-ray)
Release Date: July 28, 2009
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Rating: G (PG in Canada)
Pros: The series make for a solid play through, great wide screen presentation. Some good acting, decent action and just a little extra sexy (even if obviously intentional). Two unaired episodes.
Cons: Standard extras are a bit dull. Some might not like the perpetual “did I miss an episode?” feeling.
Overall: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

This is a series that eventually catches you by surprise.

On the surface it appears to be a sexy bit of sci fi meant to give nerds something extra to oogle an hour each week. Then it slowly trickles out enough character development, ethical conundrums, hidden agendas, plots twists and double-to-triple entendres to keep it interesting.

All that and you always feel like you missed an episode or two, too. Of course, that’s part of the point.

It’s Time for Your Treatment

The show’s namesake, the Dollhouse, is a corporation that reprograms people with alternative identities according to high-paying clients’ wishes. While it may sound like an uber-high class brothel, programmed people often have non-sexual assignments, hidden purposes and, of course, nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

When in waiting to take on a new personality, which is conveniently stored on a hard drive, they are referred to as Dolls, living a worry-free, blissful and seemingly ignorant life. After taking on a personality via a high-tech dentist’s chair, they are known as Actives and become that new person. Then they can instantly become a doctor, super spy or even a backup singer. All, of course, with a mission.

Each Doll/Active has a handler who helps to pull them out of dangerous situations and bring them back to the Dollhouse to get a “treatment,” which puts them back into a tranquil, complacent Doll state where they happily shower with nary a notice of nudity (for the viewers, of course), get frequent massages (also for the viewers) and sleep in a pod in the floor.

The Barbie-doll aspect goes a bit beyond the name (Barbie is mentioned only a couple times throughout the season), with the attic being where they store Dolls and each of them going into a closet to dress the part the are playing that day. Of course, these Dolls also take on accents, languages and very often toss around a few kung-fu kicks, depending on who is playing with them.

Not Your Mamma’s Barbie & Ken

Throughout the course of the show, we learn that each of the programmable people is there by his or her own decision, even if a bit coerced. But, their stories are revealed through backflashes and discoveries by a detective put on a seemingly hopeless mission to find the Dollhouse, considered an urban legend. While is fits in perfectly with the show’s theme of lost identities being rediscovered, it is an element that made the show hard to follow as it aired.

But there’s where a DVD release improves the series. Knowing that the series is a certain length puts a frame around what would otherwise seem a jumbled story. Yes, the detective and handler sub plots help create nice time lines but there’s reassurance that, by the end of the season, Joss Whedon will resolve most of the show’s unknowns. After all, he hates to leave fans hanging (in a bad way).

The other great aspect of the disc release is one of the two unaired episodes. The first is the original series pilot, which includes an awkward montage of scenes in future episodes.  Pair that with some of the deleted scenes features and, if it had aired, the series probably would have lost all its fans right away. The second, we find out from other special features on the discs, is the contractual 13th episode that was necessary since Fox claimed the unaired pilot was not counted as an episode in the contract. It’s set in a dystopian future where, of course, Dollhouse tech has gone wrong, and the company’s hidden agendas have resulted in a weird version of civil war.

You Seem Familiar To Me

Performances are, for the most part, rather good, with each of the actors playing Dolls having to take on several personalities each episode. While they all perform well, the highlight is certainly the star (and co-producer) Eliza Dushku as sexy Echo, the Doll around which the series focuses. Aside from the gratuitous skimpy costume in each episode, she’s able to throw down some ninja moves and add a necessary mix of comedy and drama to every episode. I somewhat echoes her role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series (also by Whedon), although she’s not nearly as bitter and gets to play (and show) a lot of parts.

A few familiar Battlestar Galactica faces make appearances, including Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Ballard, who adds a decent dose of drama to the series. Likewise, a wisely cast Harry Lennix as Echo’s handler, Boyd Langton, provides a nearly Shakespearean quality to the show. The show’s other leading lady, Olivia Williams, provides some glamor, although the few times they try to knock down her character’s level of certainty the show seems to necessarily slow down. Also look for Alan Tudyk (Firefly) who brings his brilliant and naturally sarcastic shtick to a few of the later episodes.

As for Featurettes, save a few tidbits (see above), they are primarily lazy behind-the-scene footage and interviews. Even Whedon seems like he wished he could have phoned some of it in. Likewise, the Deleted Scenes were definitely deleted with good reason, since most would have added nothing to the series.

Did I Fall Asleep?

No way. Except maybe during the extras.

The reason to get this set is definitely to watch Dollhouse through as completely as you can with the 13th episode. The original, wisely unaired pilot will be a disappointment and only somewhat interesting to fans and the extra Featurettes will not include much more information than you can find on any fan site.

Watching the episodes in closer together certainly helps to keep elements in context and better conveys Whedon’s vision of morally mixed use of technology. Pair that with good acting, ethically interesting stories and the occasional bits of skin and action and there’s plenty to enjoy.

And, of course, it stars Dushku which is reason enough for many to watch.

Photo Gallery [Gamertell] Site [Dollhouse]

Check out the gallery: Dollhouse Season One DVD screen caps