20th Century Fox | 2009 | 694 mins | Not rated
As the creator of popular television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, Joss Whedon has built a rather rabid fan base. Despite his devoted following, some would argue his work hasn’t gotten its proper due. Though Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran on the WB and UPN for seven seasons, the series only reached between four and six million viewers per week and was largely ignored by Emmy voters. The Buffy spin-off Angel lasted five seasons but its demise was a shock, leading Whedon to compare the series’ cancellation to a “healthy guy falling dead from a heart attack.” Whedon’s 2002 Fox series, Firefly, never really got a chance to get off the ground and was cancelled after just fourteen episodes.
So it was with some surprise and a lot of excitement that Whedon fans waited to see what he had up his sleeve when it was announced he had a new show coming to Fox. That series turned out to be Dollhouse and like Whedon’s previous projects the series was far from a runaway hit; averaging 4.6 million viewers and finishing the year ranked #132 in the Nielsen ratings. Though the series has been renewed for a second season, it remains to be seen whether Dollhouse can gain enough of an audience to become a genuine hit and play out the five year plan Whedon reportedly has mapped out for the characters.
FBI agent Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) is hunting for the Dollhouse, a supposed human trafficking operation that most of his colleagues believe is an urban legend. However, Ballard believes there might be something to it, based on a missing person’s case for a woman named Caroline (Eliza Dushku). Unbeknownst to him, Caroline has become a clean slate, devoid of any thoughts, memories or personal emotions. Referred to as Echo, she has accepted a job as a doll–a living, breathing entity that can be imprinted with any number of new personas her superiors require. She is part of a larger group of people known as “Actives,” employed by the Dollhouse, a secret organization that provides numerous services to the world’s most powerful and wealthiest people. Over the course of Season One’s thirteen episodes, she’s transformed into several men’s true loves, a hostage negotiator, a visually impaired cult member, an internal investigator, a backup singer, a wealthy woman and more. While on assignment, Echo is always monitored by her handler, a former a former police officer named Boyd Langton (Harry Lennix) and the technician responsible for designing the Actives’ various personalities, Topher Brink (Fran Kranz).
The first four episodes are a bit dull compared to the remainder of the season. The “Echo case of the week” format started to wear a little thin. However, starting with the fifth episode “True Believer,” Whedon wisely began to shift some of the focus to the Paul Ballard character, which gives the series a much wider scope and provides some interesting and memorable twists and turns. While it seemed to take Whedon a few episodes to find the direction of the series, he has assembled a talented cast that makes Dollhouse worth watching. Further, with his this series he has brought up some interesting questions about morality, as he regularly seems to do. While the first season of Dollhouse got off to a rocky start, the strong ending leaves me hoping for a strong second season.
The film is framed at 1.78:1 and presented in 1080p with the AVC codec. The transfer features solid and inky black levels and fine shadow detail. Cinematography can be stylized, depending on the episode, changing color rendition and contrast; overall those areas show good depth and range. Fine object detail in fabrics and skin textures can be variable–some shots can appear a bit too smooth (usually close-ups of the female actors) and scenes in higher contrast environments reveal some edge haloing. While this isn’t reference quality, Fox has done a solid job.
Primary surround activity in the DTS-HD Master Audio track is in support of the show’s score. To a lesser extent, there are directional and ambient effects for the various action sequences and visual effects Generally, it seemed like the score was mixed in too heavily, making it a little distracting during dialogue exchanges, though the directional and ambient effects seem appropriately balanced. LFE appears for the occasional explosion but is activated mostly by the score and proves to be both deep and clean. Dialogue is consistently clear and intelligible.
The 3-disc Blu-ray edition of Dollhouse: Season One features the same supplemental package as its standard DVD counterpart, but presents all of the video content in high definition.
• Audio Commentaries: Each disc has a full-length audio commentary, but two of the three tracks are tough to find (you have to click on their corresponding episodes before the appropriate option appears). “Ghost” offers the most intriguing track — one that features Joss Whedon and series star Eliza Dushku. Not only did Whedon and Dushku record their chat early in the morning, they tend to joke and giggle their way through the episode, focusing on their friendship more than the series or its production.
Writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen do a better job discussing “Man on the Street” and “Epitaph One.” They narrate the on-screen events and inject random anecdotes on occasion.
Making Dollhouse (HD, 21 minutes): With a rapidfire collection of interview segments and fly-on-the-wall production footage, it covers the development of the project, the poor timing of the Writer’s Strike (and its affect on the show), casting, debates between the creators and the studio, and the creation of a second pilot Whedon admits to culling Battlestar Galactica’s ranks to score Tahmoh Penikett, discusses the series terminology and storyline, explains the reasons he chose each actor, describes the manner in which his original vision evolved as the studio continually pushed him to “make it bigger,” and talks about the cast’s anxiety during the pilot issues.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 30 minutes): A collection of deletions and extensions trimmed from both pilots, key episodes, and the finale.
• A Private Engagement (HD, 6 minutes): This one asks, “what if the technology of Dollhouse actually existed?” Various members of the cast and crew offer answers, revealing whether they would take advantage of the tech, agree to be dolls, or consider using such a service.
• Coming Home (HD, 7 minutes): This secondary featurette gives the cast and crew an opportunity to reveal their unabashed love of all things Whedon.
• Finding Echo (HD, 5 minutes): More compliments are paid, this time between Whedon and Dushku, as the series creator and star fawn over each other’s talents.
• Designing the Perfect Dollhouse (HD, 6 minutes): Whedon gives a tour of the Dollhouse, discusses its design, etc.
• Original Unaired Pilot (HD): While elements of Whedon’s first pilot are impressive, the official pilot is more intense and, ultimately, better.
• Unaired Bonus Episode (HD): “Epitaph One” is a fantastic addition to this release and the series. Be sure to check it out.
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