Comments on: Season 1 restrospective – your comments please

By: Darwin

Darwin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:37:16 +0000

What I disliked:
The early “monster of the week” style of the show, which from what i gather from the dvd extras was pretty much FOX’s fault (though kudos for them giving the show another season).

What I liked:
The rest of it, yes even Ballard

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:48:38 +0000

I think ya’ll are being a bit harsh on Echo… It was rough getting through the first four episodes, and I do admit that I disliked all the focus put on her, but I think she’s becoming a very interesting character. I can’t wait to see the interaction between her and Ballard.

I looove the whole interaction between Victor and Sierra. I think their relationship is so interesting! Not to mention the whole Topher and Saunders thing. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

By: spacetimeman

spacetimeman — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:08:39 +0000

It definitely got better as the season progressed, but i still like the early episodes a lot. Topher was annoying at first, but became one of my favorite characters and was freakin amazing in E1. Victor and Sierra are my favorite dolls; everything between them was fascinating, and they’re both great in every part they play. The buildup to Alpha and Alan Tudyk’s performance as him were really, really cool to me, i wish he would’ve had ninja swords at some point, but oh well. Just bring him back with some ninja swords in season two please!!!!!!!!!

By: Derek

Derek — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:45:55 +0000

Losing Jane, and Tim (and Amy), are body blows. Keeping the network sweet might force more creative compromises than is good for Joss, and the rest of us. I am still not sure that this show will blossom as the rest have. The show needs a Mal/Jayne/Spike/Anya/Xander or any number of great comedians to keep us glued. Topher and Victor have potential. Alpha is great, but Joss never had problems drawing out wonderful vilains, and casting them right. But there is a moral ambiguity in this show that might not work in the end. Too easily do the good guys compromise away their souls. Too often. There was a great story that explained Angel and co taking over the LA branch of Wolfram and Hart, and was the best contribution Connor made to the series. But too many of the good guys are getting sucked, far too easily, into this zombie playground for the rich and powerful. The final episode shows promise that the show could be rebooted into something very different. If anyone can pull this off, then it’s Joss Whedon. I hope Stephen can fill in for Tim and Jane, to some extent. But the network just might be trying to do to Joss what W&H wanted to do to the vampire with a soul. And I don’t mean hand him the keys to the LA branch of Fox.

By: Centrico

Centrico — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:57:06 +0000

E13 Episode 13…

Wow, what a intense turn of events… It jumps into the future to 2019 and shows a post apocalyptic future after the Tech goes public…

wow

By: Rocky

Rocky — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:52:27 +0000

I gotta agree with all the Victor love. How heart breaking was it when he said “I did something bad” and when Echo asked what, he simply whispered “they won’t tell me”. It is especially sad because we know that Victor in his blank form is drawn to Sierra. I don’t know who that actor is, but I became so fond of him, I actually cried when alpha cut his face up.

As far as alpha, I actually thought that episode was great. I didn’t see it coming. I could just be biased because I’m such a fan of Alan Tudyk. Honestly, I’m still a little butt hurt that Joss killed off Wash in firefly and that was years ago. But I digress.

All in all, I liked the show. It had this whole existential vibe. It makes a person ponder exactly what makes us who we are. I also wrestled with the hypothetical question of whether or not I’d employ a doll if I had the money. How cool would it be to be able to watch zombie movies and go shoe shopping with the same person? Its pathetic, but true.

By: The Groosalugg

The Groosalugg — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:56:38 +0000

What I liked:

Topher. Deliciously arogant, smart & funny. But also a fragile kid.

Fran Kranz, who consistently turned in excellent performances.

Olivia Williams, an absolutely wonderfull actress who will always be miss Cross to me. Like Joss I regularly wonder how they tricked her into this . She also had some of the best lines of the season.

Tamoh, who blew me away with his presence. I’ve never seen BSG and somehow before the show I hated the idea of his character, but he won me over very, very quickly. Not even the creepy direction they’re taking him in can change that.

Alan Tudyk as Alpha. Stellar performance, wonderfull character.

Omega. Handsdown the best episode of the season, despite the ridiculously rushed ending.

The original pilot. Especially the first act. It showed convincingly what the series couldn’t in the rest of the season: why people would use the Dollhouse.

The second half of Ghost. One of the few stories that got to me.

And finally Haunted, a fun one off.

What I didn’t like:

The repetive plots all involving the same malfunction of the Echo doll.

The focus on Echo, one of the least interesting characters in the series.

Epitaph One. I love Felicia and I liked the evil kid plot, but the vision of the future and most of the flashforwards felt terribly bland.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:41:05 +0000

I agree with a lot of the other comments posted, it definitely got a lot lot better as the season progressed, I’m very glad I stuck with it. Only one other comment really – I want to see more Sierra!!! She’s very striking looking and the few times she’s been given some decent material she’s showed she can really act. More please!

By: Carl

Carl — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:17:49 +0000

I thought the whole series was intriguing and exciting, but more importantly, it raised a lot of moral questions in my head that I found difficult to answer.
I found it very interesting to see the similar themes to Buffy and Angel – the question of what is a soul is addressed in every episode – the dolls themselves have given up their bodies voluntarily, but even though the brain is wiped, the soul remains, albeit a splintered version of a soul.
The best episode was the one where the dolls were released to put to bed their own personal deamons to bed – it was very moving and shows off Wheadon’s style in a crisp and polished way.
I think that as this was the first season, it had to have more one-off episodes to introduce us to the quite frankly weird concept of the Dollhouse, but there’s enough evidence in all the episodes that there is a bigger-picture in mind for all the characters.
I’ll be interested to see how the second series develops, seeing as we’ve already had a glimpse at 2019! So I guess that will be Season 10!!!

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:02:46 +0000

I actually have to agree completely with the moments you chose. I can’t even count anymore how many times I watched Haunted – but I only skipped through and watched the Topher/Sierra scenes after the first viewing! And yeah, Epitaph One Topher is so, so sad! I’m also a huge fan of Victor, though. I have to say he’s definitely my favorite doll. I love all the different accents he does. Plus the lost puppy look he perpetually has when he’s just Victor.