Dollhouse season 2 wallpapers for your desktop - Dollhouse

The do look lovely. I also like the new icons.

Are the red dress and the car wallpapers new promo images? I don't think I've seen them before.

Considering Joss ran Buffy for seven years with a constant "Guns are bad" message he (or someone at Fox) seems to be making up for that with these Dollhouse pics. Every one of them has Eliza holding a gun, and half of them have her with a gun in each hand!

Guns can be cool, and they can be a vital part of a movie or TV show, but are they really central to Dollhouse?
Are people who might see these and tune in expecting non stop shootouts going to be disappointed?

zz9 | September 12, 09:22 CET

Yeah, what's up with all the gun tote-age?

robfearon | September 12, 09:40 CET

nice wallpapers, but wheres the love for 1920x1200 people?

lanceuppercut | September 12, 09:53 CET

I thought the correct expression was "She was all tote-y"?

And Lance, you think you have problems? What about us two-monitor people? 2048X768.

[ edited by zz9 on 2009-09-12 09:53 ]

zz9 | September 12, 09:55 CET

Awesome, I've been using a stretched out version of the pods+name image for a couple months now. Need something new.

sumogrip | September 12, 10:03 CET

I believe in this context the term is "totealicious" ;). Still like the first one in the dollhouse with the badassery (from before) and the Matrix one is growing on me though unless people get that it's (apparently) a thematic homage I could see that one especially being misleading.

Considering Joss ran Buffy for seven years with a constant "Guns are bad" message he (or someone at Fox) seems to be making up for that with these Dollhouse pics.

He then ran 'Firefly' (though sadly not for 7 years) with a "guns are tools" message. Said before, I think the prohibition against guns in Buffy was at least partly because guns were always the elephant in the corner of the Buffyverse - obviously any vampire could kill her at any time just by using a gun, if you have too many of them floating about the show then sooner or later that's going to occur to the viewers.

That said, the image in the car looks like the gun and hand were photoshopped in so it could be that it's more a promo department choice.

(if anything i'd say that statistically the photos are overwhelmingly pro boots and I for one applaud Joss/whomever's clear bias in that direction ;)

[ edited by Saje on 2009-09-12 11:11 ]

Saje | September 12, 11:11 CET

Surely, these pics are more of the "guns are sexy and hot" variety. Or the "chicks who tote guns and can kill you are sexy and hot" variety. That is the point of Dollhouse, right? Not very much "cool" about those pics. And hey, where's the one of her straddling the Harley in the black leather thong and the stilettos?

BreathesStory | September 12, 11:48 CET

I seem to remember Mal packing a gun in the Firefly promo images. Is it a FOX thing?

gossi | September 12, 11:51 CET

Loved all of them, but couldn't decide which one to have as my wallpaper, so I might have to alernate between all of them every two days or something.

Gota luv that Buffy | September 12, 12:06 CET

Someone might want to tell our friends at Fox that they messed up Clare Saunders' character description.

Simon | September 12, 12:22 CET

Guns are sexy, I see it now.

Liam Mars | September 12, 12:38 CET

Well that would be a new twist, if Saunders ended up being Victor (oh, silly fox website.)

Nice wallpapers, but right now I'm too attached to having the tardis on my desktop.

nna_funk | September 12, 13:00 CET

The first one still makes me want to caption:
"I swear by this pretty pastel mural I will end you."
"Every girl's dream, huh?"
"No, actually, I'm not sure I belong here."
Enjoying the juxtaposition between the pretty, conventional, toy dollhouse imagery and the action hero in black. It's on-theme--trying to simplify a complex human being into a pretty, two-dimensional fantasy; complex human being not much liking the idea. And it's fun: Badass Barbie's busting out of this Dream House.

It manages to imply a bit of Echo’s arc--she’s been confined to a setting that limits her simple, stereotypical roles, she has rebelled against the limits set on her, and she has put together a role in opposition to the attempt to dominate her. That’s a lot to accomplish with just a single static image.

Edited after Saje said something smart.

[ edited by Pointy on 2009-09-12 23:46 ]

Pointy | September 12, 13:39 CET

They do look nice, but I wish Fox would stop focusing solely on Eliza. Dollhouse is an ensemble show. At least the other actors were used for the icons.

Michael | September 12, 13:43 CET

As Inara once said, small concealable firearms go on the far left of the place-setting.

MissKittysMom | September 12, 13:51 CET

"They do look nice, but I wish Fox would stop focusing solely on Eliza. Dollhouse is an ensemble show. At least the other actors were used for the icons."

Indeed.

Where is my 1680x1050 Miracle Laurie wallpaper :(

m0j0NL | September 12, 13:53 CET

It manages to imply a bit of Echo’s arc ...

Yeah, it works because that picture tells a story, it's a comment on the character and her situation as well as the themes of the show and the badassery and simplistic childishness of the backdrop mesh perfectly because they're so discordant.

Still, the "badass" identity, if you take a step back, is precisely as constructed and simplistic as the fantasy (i.e. it's the idea of a badass - especially a female badass - that we've been fed by our culture, served up for our enjoyment) so it actually works as a comment on itself too (doubt that's intentional but it's an interesting extra layer IMO).

Plus, boots ;).

Saje | September 12, 15:18 CET

Why, yes, indeed, Saje, the badass identity is as constructed and simplistic a fantasy as the Barbie Dream House. It's just one that the Dollhouse doesn't want Echo to assume, at least not if she's going to use it to tear the house down. And it's one chosen for her own purposes, not her keepers'.

Which brings us into a whole new ball of cool stuff, best summed up for me in a line of a song by a band I tried on the recommendation of Das Joss, the Posies: "You draw your choices/From the voices/You despise." People tend to try on roles they've seen others play--in the home, in school, in the movies, on TV, wherever. Even roles played by their enemies.

In "Needs," we saw Echo try to bring down the Dollhouse by force, at gunpoint--basically, imitating her gun-toting captors to overthrow them. Not the best strategy, in the sense that it didn't work (although not the worst--it could have worked if her brain hadn't been rigged to shut her down as soon as she felt closure). Also, not the purest expression of her character--pointing guns at people tends to distress them, and she doesn't like it when people are distressed.

But gun-toting rebel was a role she chose, rather than one chosen for her, so it's more true to her than the ones selected for her engagements.

But it's still an identity that's grabbed off the rack, like the clothes the dolls chose from the various costumes they've accumulated on the job.

This is not to argue that there is no true self, since I think integrity is possible and good. It's just a lot of work. It's not something you start out with. It comes from carefully weighing the conflicting roles you've been asked to play and making choices.

[ edited by Pointy on 2009-09-12 23:38 ]

Pointy | September 12, 15:44 CET

As much as I love Eliza, I would prefer a desktop with the whole cast. So I ain't taking... Though, the gun out of the car with the bright lights is kinda mesmerising... Hmm.

Braeden Fireheart | September 12, 16:28 CET

The red dress one puzzles me. She's sitting on a box in the middle of a busy street holding a gun. That can't end well.

AlanD | September 12, 17:08 CET

Yeah, I really miss the full cast photos.

Numfar PTB | September 12, 17:11 CET

She's sitting on a box in the middle of a busy street holding a gun. That can't end well.

Yep, agreed, that is just a traffic jam waiting to happen. Horns blaring, dinners getting cold, oh the humanity !

Also, not the purest expression of her character--pointing guns at people tends to distress them, and she doesn't like it when people are distressed.

Hmm, Echo doesn't like it but in 'Needs' the imprints struck me as chopped down versions of their "true" selves so more Caroline than Echo in that instance. Guns and the direct approach seem more her style (and as you imply, it worked perfectly well - they escaped. The embedded sleep command wasn't a deficiency of her chosen strategy, it was a hidden variable she couldn't possibly have accounted for).

But yep, I broadly agree that people often "try on" a lot of different selves (particularly as children/adolescents) and gradually keep parts and drop parts until they end up with who they want to be (more or less). Not so sure i'd put as much emphasis on conscious choice as you seem to Pointy but it certainly plays a part (as well as parents, peers, broader culture etc.).

Saje | September 12, 17:20 CET

I'm most excited about the Topher icon.

Taaroko | September 12, 17:20 CET

I've been thinking that feeling distress at other people's pain is an intrinsic, non-imprinted part of Echo, and that would make it an intrinsic, non-imprinted part of Caroline as well. (It's possible to conceive of empathy as a hard-wired survival mechanism, since sensing other people's feelings is helpful in all sorts of ways.) But that has not been explicitly stated in the show. Nor could it be, since it requires answering the question of how much of our personalities come from nature and how much from nurture.

But Caroline does have all her cultural imprinting, and her culture tells her some times you have to use a gun to force people to do things against their will, especially if you're up against people who use guns to force you to do things against your will.

I think it will be neat to see how Echo, if she retains her ability to access the skills and personalities of past imprints, struggles with the choice of which role to let herself play--when to go ninja assassin on someone's ass, and when to go . . . guidance counselor. That would be an awesome metaphor for how non-sci fi people choose among the various roles open to us to play.

*rubs hands together with viewerly anticipation*

[ edited by Pointy on 2009-09-12 23:36 ]

Pointy | September 12, 18:12 CET

Ooh. These are kinda nice, but something is off. I don't know what. XD And yeah, the whole gun thing is a bit weird.

But my screen is like 1280x800, so I just grabbed the 1280x960. A lil big, but that's better than too small. XD

druzilla | September 12, 18:19 CET

Wow, these are a great advertising tool! For Alias.

RaisedByMongrels | September 12, 20:42 CET

I think the prohibition against guns in Buffy was at least partly because guns were always the elephant in the corner of the Buffyverse - obviously any vampire could kill her at any time just by using a gun

I always thought they could have addressed that easily by just saying that Buffy can dodge bullets. After all, she's a superhero. It's totally plausible that she could avoid getting shot just like Spiderman does-- by just being too fast, sensing when someone's about to pull a trigger, etc.

Then again, she did get shot in season 6, so I guess that goes out the window. In my head though, I always imagined her as being able to dodge bullets if the situation ever arose. It seems within her range of abilities.

dispatch | September 12, 22:34 CET

Would someone be willing to show me how to download those icons in Windows Vista? I'm new to it, maybe provide a link, email etc. Thank you.

WheelsOfJoy | September 12, 23:34 CET

Wonderful. I love these and love the guns. Dollhouse isn't Buffy, people. I thought most would have noticed that by now. I was trying to get the fabulous black and white promo poster to work as a wallpaper last week. Guess I should have had a little patience. So happy.

IrrationaliTV | September 13, 00:02 CET

That last one, the black & white with the scattered letters, packs a real Swingin' 60's / 007 / Avengers punch. I lurves it. And I love that the Fox promotional machine is finally rousing from its slumber.

We are so close, guys. So close.

Tin Ear Tom | September 13, 00:50 CET

I always thought they could have addressed that easily by just saying that Buffy can dodge bullets ...

Then again, she did get shot in season 6, so I guess that goes out the window.

Yeah they could have addressed it but also yeah, she gets shot. I used to play the Marvel Superheroes RPG and in that there were quite well defined levels of "superhero-dom". Spider-man for instance had "Amazing" agility (he is, after all, "the Amazing Spider-man" ;) which lets him dodge arrows but NOT bullets (that would take, IIRC, "Unearthly" agility). I always kind of saw Buffy at about the same level - she was a super-hero but a super-hero with limits, "Amazing" but not "Unearthly", she could dodge arrows and deflect thrown knives (in montage ;) but not dodge bullets. Buffy was "just" a person++, not something so far beyond us that she was unfathomable.

(It's possible to conceive of empathy as a hard-wired survival mechanism, since sensing other people's feelings is helpful in all sorts of ways.)

In the real world, I think empathy is as close to an intrinsic foundation for morality as we have, it's a part of all of us because, as you say Pointy, knowing (or at least trying to predict) how other people think and feel is just about as useful as can be for a thinking social animal. It evolved, in other words - it makes sense for it to exist in the world because without it, where would we be ? Believing (rightly or wrongly) that other people think as we do and wanting to not be hurt (or killed) is pretty much all there is to morality IMO.

And yep, to watch Echo do consciously what we all do "naturally" as we grow up would/will (I have faith ;) be a beautiful thing. To choose to self-actualise may be more believable in fiction but it's still a wonder (watching Dexter Morgan do it over the last 3 years has - so far - been a very cool experience).

Saje | September 13, 01:14 CET

WheelsOfJoy, I don't use Vista, but you should be able to download them just like any other picture by right-clicking and selecting "save picture as..." or something similar. If you do that on the linked page the icon will be a .jpg. If you first click on the icon you get to another page where you can download the icon as an animated .gif.

Michael | September 13, 12:42 CET

I'm holding out for the Victor/Sierra wallpaper.

jcs | September 13, 17:12 CET

September 12 2009