New Joss Whedon TV Series - Dollhouse

[Geekyfanboy]

This is such shiny news.. Joss Whedon has a new show for.. yep you guessed it... FOX

Here's a snippit from E online:

Whedon's new Fox series, called Dollhouse, stars Miss Eliza Dushku, best known as Faith to you Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans. And this show isn't just a pilot. It's already been given a seven-episode commitment by Fox. Woo!

Here's how Fox describes the series:

    Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.

So, how did Dollhouse come about? When will it start, given the impending strike? And what are the chances a few Buffy alums might make it onto the show? To find out, read on for my exclusive one-on-one Q&As with creator and executive producer Joss Whedon and star and producer Eliza Dushku. (Pinch me.) You honestly won't believe how fast this all happened, or where the idea first began!

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=972f7d73-e0a2-43ea-abad-0abf6afba1f3

Oh, and P.S. to all you fans of writer/producer Tim Minear (Angel, Wonderfalls, Firefly, Drive). He tells us: "Joss has pathetically begged me to be involved. And I hate to see a slightly younger man weep like a girl. So I said, 'm'kay.' I'll be playing with dolls one way or t'other."

[Rico]

WOW!  That sounds fantastic!  Thanks for posting this great news Kenny.

[Geekyfanboy]

Pilot For 'Dollhouse' Exceeds Expectations

by ROBIN BROWNFIELD
Source: E! Online
Apr-17-2008

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The script for the pilot of the highly anticipated Joss Whedon/Eliza Dushku series, "Dollhouse," has landed in the hands of people such as E! Online's Kristen Dos Santos and Televisionary Jace, who both report that the script and potential series exceeds all expectations.

"I am still trying to catch my breath," said Jace in a relatively spoiler-less review of the script. "While I had extremely high expectations for 'Dollhouse' (I always trust in the Joss), I was worried that, after all of the hype and hoopla, it wouldn't quite live up to my preconceived notions about the project. I am happy to say that not only were those expectations matched but they were exceeded."

The pilot episode is called "Echo," which is the name of the show's central character played by Dushku. Echo, according to Fox's official description "is a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women called 'Actives' who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language — even muscle memory — for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments — or of much else.

"The show revolves around Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse."


 According to Jace, among the themes in the show are the development of Identity, self-determination, and free will. It delves into issues of morality and mortality and asks hard questions about the ethical ramifications of science and technology.


Many people wonder if Echo will simply be vampire slayer Faith in a different setting. Word is that Echo will not only not be Faith, but has about 48 different faces to show the world. Whedon has created a challenging character for Dushku. The set-up of the show allows her play a variety of personalities and moods in a single episode. In the pilot episode alone, Echo assumes at least five identities.

Echo, has her mind wiped by a computer genius named Topher after every assignment, so she can't remember anything she's done, who she is, or who she's been. She, unlike the other Actives, is struggling with self-awareness, as she begins remembering things from her previous "engagements" that she shouldn't. There are things that her "captors" don't want her to remember.



As can be expected with a work by Whedon, there is much more to "Dollhouse" than meets the eye. It is populated with morally gray characters "engaged in one of the most sickening and intriguing displays of human trafficking ever devised" according to Jace.

Tahmoh Penikett's FBI agent Paul Ballard, who may serve as a love interest for Echo, is obsessed with opening up the Dollhouse, but he may have more in common with the Dolls than he knows.



Olivia Williams, will play Adelle Dewitt, "a Frigidaire administratrix whose rare brushes with human empathy and compassion are enough to make you suspect she might just be a good guy after all" according to Dos Santos.



 Still yet to be cast, Dr. Claire Saunders, will have visible facial scars from a razor-blade attack in her past.

There's also an unexplained back story (referred to as Alpha) that will likely be revealed over time if Fox doesn't rip our hearts out and cancel the show. Also the power structure within the Dollhouse is a fluctuating, living thing unto itself.

As with Whedon's other series, it's difficult to pigeonhole it into one genre. It's an action-adventure yarn. It's science-fiction. It's a mystery. It's a statement on the human condition. It's likely to be like nothing we've ever seen before.

"Dollhouse" is slated to premiere this fall on Fox.

[Rico]

The more I hear about this show, the more I am liking it.  It does mix in ideas we have seen before.  A pretty strong Matrix element, a bit of "Alias" and several things I have seen in comics.  But I know Joss will put his own spin on it all and make it great!  Can't wait!

[wraith1701]

This is such shiny news.. Joss Whedon has a new show for.. yep you guessed it... FOX

Dun - dun - dunnn!    :unsure

[Geekyfanboy]

Amy Acker Cast In Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse'

By ROBIN BROWNFIELD
Source: Whedonesque
Apr-17-2008

As filming for the first episode of "Dollhouse" gets closer, the news is starting to roll in faster than a rumor on the internet. Amy Acker, best known by fans of "Angel" as Winifred "Fred" Berkle and Illyria, has been cast in the new Joss Whedon series.

The news was posted Thursday morning by series creator Joss Whedon on Whedonesque.

"I just couldn't resist letting you know that the recurring roles have actually been cast for some time now," Whedon said. "I'm shocked that any part of our casting process hasn't been leaked somehow. And though I'm a fan of secrets, I'll give you the last two pieces of this particular puzzle."

Those pieces are that the character of November -- who will recur but will not be in the pilot -- will be played by Miracle Laurie, while Dr. Claire Saunders will be played by Acker.

"All in all, pound for pound, soup to nuts, man vs beast, it's a pretty amazing ensemble," Whedon said. "I'm not sure how I landed this troupe, but rest assured I'm gonna write bestest good word for talkacting to them yes! They're in good hands."

This announcement comes on the heels of the announcement that Harry Lennix ("The Matrix Reloaded," "The Matrix Revolutions") has been cast as Boyd Langton, the ex-cop who keeps track of Echo (Eliza Dushku) when she's out and about on her missions.

"Dollhouse" revolves around Echo, a young woman who is one of a group of men and women called "Actives" who can be imprinted with personality packages and be whomever paying customers want them to be. Their assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else.

The show revolves around Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse."



Acker, Laurie, and Lennix join a cast that also features Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett ("Battlestar Galactica"), Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman, Enver Gjokaj and Olivia Williams.

[Rico]

Awesome!!

[spidey27]

Reading it off the Whedonesqe.com, it sounds like Amy could just be a re-curring character as opposed to a full time opening credits character. Then again a lot of characters who join Joss shows start out as recurring characters and end up as full time cast members.  :spidey

[Geekyfanboy]

Our first look at the cast of Joss Whedons' new series Dollhouse

[Geekyfanboy]

Preview of Dollhouse.. check it out.. looks goooood  :metallica:

[Rico]

WOW!  OMG - that looks amazing!

[Geekyfanboy]

WOW!  OMG - that looks amazing!

Of course it does  :biggrin .. it's Joss Whedon.. let's just hope it lasts more then a few episodes.

[Rico]

YouTube pulled it already.  Try here....

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1556691805

[Geekyfanboy]

Whedon Unveils Dollhouse Origins

Joss Whedon, creator of the upcoming Fox SF series Dollhouse, told SCI FI Wire that he came up with the show's concept during a lunch meeting with star Eliza Dushku, a longtime friend and colleague, who played Faith in Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

"It came from my conversation with Eliza about her, about her life, her career, about what everybody wanted from her, what they wanted her to become and what she was trying to become," Whedon said in an interview last week during Fox's upfront presentation to advertisers in New York. "That's really what the show is about. It's about plumbing the depths of our identity."

Dollhouse stars Dushku as Echo, a member of an underground, illegal group of people who've had their personalities wiped clean, enabling them to be imprinted with any number of new personalities to carry out missions at the behest of their handlers. The people, called "Actives," live in a spa-like facility called the Dollhouse, and everything seems to be going according to plan until Echo begins to experience self-awareness and feels compelled to uncover the truth about her identity.

"It's sort of taking the role of a Frankenstein monster and saying, 'Who am I? Who created me? Why am I like this? What's good about me? What's bad about me? What's eternal about me? And what's just evanescent?'" Whedon said. "And everyone in the show is dealing with that same issue, but for a different reason. That, to me, is the heart of the thing: 'Well, who are we?'"

Fox has picked up Dollhouse for seven episodes. On a weekly basis, Whedon said, viewers will see Dushku as different characters. Echo will have a new engagement every week and, as a result, a new purpose and a new personality each week, too.

"The exciting thing--and part of the other reason I created the show--is that Eliza is very versatile, and this will be a chance for her to play 100 different people," Whedon said. "They'll all be her--she's not going to wear old-person makeup or anything like that--but they'll all be from very different social strata, with very different agendas and very different motivations and very different things. Every week [Echo] will have an agenda that's evil or decent or sexual or romantic or altruistic. It can be anything."

The show's other characters include Adelle (Olivia Williams), a Dollhouse leader; Boyd (Harry Lennix), Echo's handler; Topher (Fran Kranz), the morally ambivalent programmer who wipes the Actives' memories; Dr. Claire Saunders (Amy Acker, late of Whedon's Angel), a doctor who feels protective of the Actives; Paul Smith (Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett), an FBI agent inching closer to the Dollhouse; and Sierra (Aztec Rex's Dichen Lachman) and Victor (Enver Gjokaj), Echo's fellow Actives.

"There will be a flow-through of the show as well, about [Echo] and the characters surrounding her and how the Dollhouse works, how it doesn't work, and her burgeoning self-awareness," Whedon said. "Between these engagements, she's this complete innocent and starts to go, 'Hey, here I am in the Garden of Eden. What's this apple, and what do I do with it?'" Dollhouse will premiere in early 2009. --Ian Spelling

[Geekyfanboy]

Do fans know Fox.. or do fans know Fox...

Whedon Fans Gearing Up "Save Campaign"
Posted by Sam on Thursday, 29 May 2008

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2008/05/29/whedon-fans-gearing-up-save-campaign/

According to Wired.com, Joss Whedon fans are already beginning a big campaign to save the popular writer/director/producer's next SF project titled "Dollhouse," before it has even hit the air.

There doing this, not because they think Whedon has a stinker on his hands, but because they all know which network the television series will be premiering on — FOX!

The last time Whedon dealt with Fox was with his uber-popular, but very short-lived phenomenon called "Firefly." Fox literally trashed the show, running episodes out of sequence, changing airdates without notice and axed it after a handful of episodes. The show has gone on to be one of the most popular DVD sellers in the entertainment industry's history and led to a big screen feature film titled "Serenity," not from 20th Century Fox, but its competitor, Universal Pictures.

Die-hard Whedonites want to make sure Fox doesn't try that same kind of tactic with his newest project, "Dollhouse, a sci-fi drama about a group of high-tech killer assassins.

Taking the lead in this campaign is the newly developed community website DollhouseForums.com. Those involved in the blossoming organization are asking Whedon fans everywhere across the country to begin developing a strategy to find ways to contact local Fox affiliates, advertisers and other movers and shakers about "Dollhouse." Some of organizer suggestions have been to set up viewing parties, watch the trailers online, buy Dollhouse-endorsed merchandise and to create more Dollhouse-fan sites.

Others are convinced that this could be much ado about nothing, noticing a change at Fox over the last season with the renewal of such shows as "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and also believe Fox now realizes the mistake they made with dumping "Firefly." These fans have a wait-and-see attitude about "Dollhouse."