Actually, nice to hear directly from two of the producers how they viewed the process of the first five episodes.

The One True b!X | May 12, 04:36 CET

LOL, and this:

Craft: Well, that’s been all over the message board. Many people complain that “Dollhouse” isn’t …

Fain: “-nesque” enough?

Craft: Yeah, “-nesque.”

The One True b!X | May 12, 04:39 CET

Fain: "Also, the first half of the season was negotiating with the network about what the show was. After those first five episodes is where Joss’ vision got to come through."

Bingo. I think that pretty much verifies what people have been talking about on some other current threads, and on whedonesque in general for so long - FOX getting in the way of Joss' Dollhouse vision until about "Man in the Street."

Seems pretty clear.

QuoterGal | May 12, 05:22 CET

I think I speak for everyone who ever breathed when I say that the DVD extras should include the lost "penis costume" scene. You can, incidentally, see the costume, unexplained and looking like a Bert sock puppet, in the version of the episode that aired..

[ edited by Pointy on 2009-05-12 05:46 ]

Pointy | May 12, 05:41 CET

Okay. I think I'm starting to get it.

The first season of Dollhouse was not actually about Echo or, for that matter, the Dollhouse at all. It was about Ballard (the lone man on the street) and his changing relationship with the Dollhouse itself.

Think about it. His is the only character who has been significantly affected by events over the entire season. Yes, other characters have had occasional glimmers of something simmering under the surface, but in the end the only one who is in a truly different place, has truly changed as a character has been Ballard.

So. Am I totally off the reservation here, or what?

[ edited by brinderwalt on 2009-05-12 06:12 ]

brinderwalt | May 12, 06:05 CET

I think it would be inaccurate to say that the entire first season of Dollhouse wasn't about the Dollhouse, in much the same way that it would be wrong to say that Buffy season six wasn't about Buffy, Giles, Spike, Tara or Xander, because it was all about Willow; not only were there other subplots going on, but many of them had a direct impact on the arc that Willow took in the end. Just like Man on the Street, though, there were episodes in that season in which Willow was definitely the most important figure.

As to change, I feel that the places we've seen November, Claire, Topher, Echo and Adelle get to are places worth exploring, and that they aren't where I, at the least, perceived them to be in the pilot.

Mercenary | May 12, 06:22 CET

Looking back on Dollhouse I feel after Omega, that we are at the place a series could start. We know a little bit about everybody, all the dolls are (hopefully)revealed and we have everybody in house (the family unit that a lot of us crave out of a Joss show). We also have Echo remembering Caroline not just her previous missions but then again we have learned that Echo and all the dolls are their true selves deep down. So these "dolls" are true characters to root for! I so want a second season! I feel like season 1 was just a pilot movie before the real show begins!

beckyboo | May 12, 07:04 CET

I guess I should clarify here.
I'm not saying that Ballard was in any way the most important figure, but that he was the only character who actually completed a character development arc by season's end.


I agree on both points, but I think there is a finer point to be made here. November, Claire, Topher, Echo, Adelle, and Boyd for that matter have moved as characters from their original places, but (to use a physics term) haven't really changed their trajectories yet. The last 10-15 minutes of "Omega" was peppered with indications that many of them are on the cusp of such character development, but there just wasn't enough time to determine if the changes were going to stick. Ballard? There just seems to be absolutely no doubt in my mind that not only has he changed since the beginning, but, more importantly, has already been moving in a different direction as a character for a considerable amount of time.

[ edited by brinderwalt on 2009-05-12 07:28 ]

brinderwalt | May 12, 07:19 CET

Interesting note about Alan/Alpha, where they talk about him getting away at the end of the season. I can just imagine the uproar that would've happened if he hadn't, and if he'd ended up dead.

MattK | May 12, 08:06 CET

Is this the first indication that every season will have a big bad like Alpha?

wiesengrund | May 12, 12:18 CET

Yeah, I think so (though to nitpick it doesn't say that every season will have one). What I found interesting about that comment, though, was they don't actually know . I just assumed that that would be one of the starting points in coming up with a new season (if they are actually do intend to have a Big Bad next season)

Let Down | May 12, 12:23 CET

On a side note, a recent twitter from Eliza: DOLLHOUSE talk's are goin' on~ it'd be an extravaganza bonanza to return 4 rnd 2!

chazman | May 12, 14:09 CET