Joss Whedon's Dollhouse Script Review

Joss Whedon calls me up and says: "Dono I need you to take a look at my script. We've started production, and I just don't feel comfortable doing this without your blessing", I say, "For you Joss...I'll consider it"

I'll allow my good friend Wikipedia to catch everyone up on what DOLLHOUSE is:

Dollhouse is an hour-long American drama series created by Joss Whedon which went into production in April 2008.[1][2] The series stars Eliza Dushku, who previously worked together with Whedon on the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

In Dollhouse, Dushku plays a young woman named Echo, a member of a group of people known as "Actives" or "Dolls" who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They're then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. In between tasks, they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic dormitory/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse". The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.[10][2]

From here-on-in there will be some spoilers. Look away....if you dare.

First off, yes, I am a BUFFY and ANGEL fan. Season five of Angel is probably one of my favorite season of anything to ever grace the small-screen. However, that doesn't make me a devoted Whedon follower-- like some people. I do not automatically love everything Whedon, just because his name is on it. When I first heard about Dollhouse I was interested, but still "on the fence" of whether I'd actually tune in. A big part of not being excited for this series is finding out that Eliza Dushku is starring--Bleh.

Of all the characters in the Buffyverse Faith is probably my least favorite. Yes, she had some really cool moments in Buffy and Angel, but that doesn't mean I have to like her. I still have the sneaking suspicion that Whedon couldn't get money to do a Faith spin-off, and that this is his way of doing it anyways...

Going into the script I had read a very brief premise, but other than that I was looking at it with fresh eyes. My first impression was that Dollhouse is written for Eliza Dushku. Her voice is pretty much ingrained in the main character Echo through and through. This could be a problem. I could handle her as a supporting character, but as the lead-- I don't know.

Dollhouse starts off with Dushka written as we all remember her: the tough talking, sexy tomboy, with oh so much attitude. The scene cuts and for the first time we experience Echo's persona shift. Whedon is like: "here's Faith", but then in the next scene he's all like: "just jokes she's someone new ". The persona shift actually works to make her not Faith, and the more times her persona is changed the more the comparison to Faith faded in my mind. Echo is not wholly indifferent to Faith, but she is unique-enough to get me interested in the series leaving the fond (and not so fond) memories of Faith in the Buffverse out of it.

Without ruining too much, I'll talk briefly about one of the key scenes in the pilot. Echo has been given the persona of a girl who is searching for her missing sister. She's found by FBI agent Paul Ballard who is on a personal mission to find the Dollhouse, and expose all it's torrid secrets. Paul knows that some thing's up with Echo since he has her missing person profile with him. HE puts the pressure on Echo to reveal her true identity. Now you'd expect that she'd be baffled at the very request since she's only been imprinted with the memories of woman who's lost her sister,

but Echo shows that she hasn't been programmed to find a lost sister at all-- in fact she has been programmed to take Paul out--assassin style. A persona inside a persona. Oh the possibilities are endless.

One of the really interesting aspects of Echo/any of the dolls is that when they have their persona changed, they still maintain certain aspects of their own personalities. They are who they are no matter what has been programmed into their heads. So, even though, Echo is having her memory erased and new ones implanted, you still watch her character develop. Each time she is reprogrammed it's not a matter of figuring out who Echo is all over again, but rather figuring out who she's been programmed to be, the implication of her programing, and how it all fits together in the grand scheme of the Dollhouse. I was engaged throughout the script, and I am now official excited to see this series.

Like Buffy and Angel, Dollhouse is all about reversing expectation. With the Buffyverse you always have to be asking "what is it?", followed by "what is it really?". With Dollhouse you have to be asking "who are you?" followed by "who are you really?" Near the end of the pilot script, after several reveals, I was very much on my toes yelling "fuck you, you're not really you, you're a doll!" Of course, this is the reaction any writer wants to inspire from their audience...even if at this point the audience is just me sitting in front of a computer monitor reading a script acting like a maniac. Well done Whedon...well done.

There is so much potential for this show. I think it is different enough from Buffy to attract a new audience, but it has a similar enough taste that will keep the rabid Buffy fans from going hungry. Dollhouse is going to be a super-sexy series that's going to get a lot of people tuning in.

I'll call Joss back and tell him that he's "got my blessing, and that production can continue". Graciously Joss cries: "Oh thank God, I couldn't sleep, or eat...I...I've just been a mess. I don't know what I'd do without you Dono. Thank you so much "
-- Joss Whedon--what a drunk.