You can get the book included with pre-orders and early copies of the season 2 DVD. It’s written by Jed and Maurissa, and will rock your tiny but lovable heart.

Join Dollhouse writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen (The Attic, Belonging, Epitaph One, Epitaph Two, Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) in the Exhibit Hall, FOX Booth #4313 – Friday 11am til 12pm.

Additionally, on Saturday between 5-5.45pm at the Dark Horse booth, there’s a signing (ticketed event) with Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon, writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, and actors Zack Ward and Felicia Day.

Special features: Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, “Defining Moments” feaurette, “Looking Back” featurette (with cast) and Audio Commentary on 2 episodes: a “Vows” commentary by Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon, and also a “Belonging” commentary by writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen.

Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is an additional Audio Commentary, on “Getting Closer” by exec producer and episode-writer-director Tim Minear.  Yeah, it’s kinda lame it’s a Blu-Ray only feature if you ask me.  But whatevs.

It’s on Saturday 24th between 5-5.45pm at the Dark Horse booth.  It’s a ticketed event, so I’m not quite sure how that works yet.

And yes, speculate away about the fact it is at the Dark Horse comics stand.

It’s available in October 12 on DVD and Blu-Ray, and includes deleted scenes, commentaries etc.  If you pre-order at San Diego Comic-Con 2010, you get a limited lithograph (similar to last year’s season one set).

Also…  There’s something about it which is a) really freaking cool and b) I can’t tell you yet.  Stay tuned.  A lot of love has gone into this one.

He says “in short, it is hilarious but tragic, an unsettlingly accurate portrait of todays late 20′s” and that he’s very proud of it.

Tickets: 212 246 4422 or visit www.2ST.com
$32.50 – use code SSFF
$20 Youth Advance (age 30 and under)

“I hope we find me alive.”
- Caroline imprint in the unaired episode Epitaph One

“He’s ten times the man you are, and you’re, like, forty guys!”
- Echo in A Love Supreme

“Ballard: [Paul and Mellie kissing] Too much? Too fast?
[Ballard sniffs his armpits]
Paul Ballard: Do I smell that bad?
Mellie: I have a message for you from inside the Dollhouse.
Paul Ballard: That’s not funny.
Mellie: My name is November.”
- Spy In The House of Love

“Whiskey: I know where to find food.
Griff, Zone, Mag: Where?
Zone: If you point at the frickin’ chair, I will end you!
Whiskey: In the kitchen.”
- Unaired episode Epitaph One

“Did I just lose an argument to a doll?”
- Topher in A Spy in the House of Love

[about the Dollhouse] “Uh, it’s pink and it opens up and there’s teeny furniture and you put the boy doll on top of the girl doll and we learn about urges.”
- Joel Mynor in Man On The Street

“Topher: Do you know where you are?
Priya: I’m in hell.
Topher: You’re in Los Angeles. I can understand the mixup.”
- Belonging

“Fox forgot to cancel my show… Very awkward. They looked and said, ‘Oh, this is our bad. We forgot to cancel your show. You’re going to have to make more.’”
- Joss on the renewal

“[on chosing clothes with Echo]

Handler: I won’t even do this for my wife.
Ballard: I was trained at Quantico.”
- Belle Chose

“Echo: You think we’re gods?
Alpha: We’re not just humans anymore. We’re not multiple personalities. We’re many personalities. Uh… one of my personalities happens to be a multiple personality, but that doesn’t make me a multiple personality. I’m looking for a little nuance here.
Echo: We’re not gods.
Alpha: Fine, Übermensch. Nietzsche predicted our rise. Perfected. Objective. Something new.
Echo: Right. New, superior people. With a little German thrown in. What could possibly go wrong?”
- Omega

“[on Ballard stunning Topher]

What the hell was that?! Was that some kind of joy buzzer stun gun? I mean, officially I deplore violence, but that was totally worth the loss of karma points!”
- Stephen Kepler in Briar Rose

“Dominic: It’s easy to be attached to your assigned active. In fact it’s necessary, but don’t think of them as children; think of them as pets.
Dr. Saunders: Is that supposed to be funny?
Dominic: When your child Starts talking for the first time, you feel proud. When your dog does, you freak the hell out. Any Developmental progress an active makes is a threat to the house and a possible first step toward another Alpha.”
-  Needs

“Tango: I like pancakes.
Victor/Tony: We’re all going to die.”
- Needs

“Ivy: Pizza squares, ice cream bites, beef jerky? Okay, you may be the boy god of all things neuro, and I do worship at the altar of your genius, but I am not getting you all of this stuff.
Topher: Ivy, babe, add juice boxes.
Ivy: You’re privilege abusing.
Topher: Do you want to know how to avoid spandrels when aligning rigid designators?
Ivy: Grape or apple?”
- Gray Hour

“Boyd: One other thing, Miss DeWitt. Are you aware of this ‘Topher’ situation?
DeWitt: Yes. There’s no need to address the issue with him. I allow him one of these “diagnostic” tests every now and again.
Boyd: Well, I guess Topher can make friends…

[as they continue talking in voiceover, we see Sierra bringing a Twinkie with birthday candles to Topher in his office]

DeWitt: Loneliness leads to nothing good, only detachment. And sometimes the people who most need to reach out are the people least capable of it. In any case, it only happens once a year.”
- Haunted

What have I missed?

Second season of a show can be difficult. I think we all saw at times the first season of Dollhouse had issues, so when the show got renewed I had a wee gulp.

Here’s how I think they turned it around.  (I mean, aside from the pesky cancellation, but that pretty much happened as soon as 2×01 aired).

1) Build your protag

In season two, Echo became aware she… existed. This happened, of course, (very) gradually over the first season — she discovered she was Caroline — but it didn’t have an emotional hook to the audience. In short, I didn’t care about Caroline. Caroline was on the crazy end of the animal rights spectrum.

Roll on season two, and Echo realises she is something new. She’s afraid of Caroline, and the idea of being wiped. She learns and believes the environment they are in is – in her new found mind – wrong. She forms a team. She gets them out.

This was one of the biggest issues I think viewers faced with the first season, and it really cut to the core of the premise.  In season two, the writers found a way to step around the premise but bring the audience back in, and that method was Echo.

2) Trust your actors

Just as season two kicked off, I broke a rule I’ve never before (or plan to again) crossed – I asked one of the people on the show for a Sierra centric episode, as I thought Dichen Lachman could more than carry it.  I didn’t need to, as they already had one in the pipeline.  It turned out to be the best episode of the series.

And whoever pitched the Victor/Topher stuff is my writin’ hero.  Ultimately, the cast they had on this show had a great combination of being professional — the kind of people you can work with and respect — and brilliant actors.  I’ve never seen a more talented bunch of people as the cast of this show.  And I watch a lot of shows.

A lot of material got thrown of the cast in the second season, and the cast worked the shit out of it all.

3) Respecting Epitaph One

Epitaph One is the episode that changed everything.  That’s often lame marketing hype, but in this case it’s absolutely true.  Also, hilariously, you saw no marketing hype for this episode because the network chose not to air it.

By moving the series to the future and showing the weight of the technology on the world and the power Rossum wielded, it gave you amazing moments like Topher’s breakdown with Adelle.  It cemented a template for a second season, showing where they could go with the universe – whilst also wrapping up the series had it not been renewed.

Upon renewal, it would have been very easy to attempt to sidestep the episode for ease of writing.  It did create some elements of boxing the story in.  However, they didn’t sidestep it, and that worked wonderfully.  Suddenly, you weren’t just watching a show about girls and boys getting [ab]used – you were watching a growing power struggle which would cost society everything.

4) Hand things to Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen and Andrew Chambliss at every opportunity until they cry

Why?  Well, in season one we had “Spy In The House of Love” and “Epitaph One”.  Some people might think these episodes just happened to shake out well, and the reality is they didn’t just happen to fall like that – those writers are fucking talented.  By giving a high number of episodes to these guys, we ended up with gems like the  heartbreaking Priya backstory in “Belonging”, the conspiracy mind fuck of “The Public Eye”,  the epic scale resolution of “Epitaph Two” and the drug induced nightmare of “The Attic”.  Not that I’ve ever taken drugs, of course.

5) Echo’s found family

Somebody once asked me to describe season one of Dollhouse in a sentence.  I described it as “about people who hate each other because they can’t connect”.  This is quite a twist for a Joss Whedon created show, and I think ultimately it turned some people off.  Joss is very good at connecting people – both people in real life and people to his characters – and in season one character dynamics appeared to be about divides.  It’s extremely difficult to sell divide.

Season two kept these characters, but it built upon their relationships in a way which sucked people in.  When Priya and Tony decided to help Echo later in the series, when Adelle joined them, when Topher was all over taking down Rossum – that’s the moment of connection between the characters, and that’s the moment the audience forms their emotional connection to the show.

By the end of season two, I described the show as “forming identity and family despite society”.

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