Joss Whedon, mastermind behind Buffy, Angel, Firefly/Serenity, and Dr. Horrible, has a new series out – Dollhouse. The series premier aired last week. Here’s the promo:
The first episode wasn’t incredible , but it wasn’t bad either. The concept really is interesting and definitely lends itself well to a varied, mysterious, and action-packed season. There were touches of Whedon-esque humour, but nothing compared to his previous series.
The great thing about Whedon is his ability to mix cool story concepts with witty, unique characters, but I wasn’t really pulled in by this first episode. The main character, played by Eliza Dushku (Faith from Buffy), is forced to take on the personalities of others without having one herself. She’s essentially a blank slate, and it’s hard to really feel much for her.
I’m guessing eventually she’ll get away from the Dollhouse (possibly with the skills from her old assignments still intact?) and the writers will start developing her actual personality, or something along those lines, and then it’ll really get good. I just hope it lasts that long and doesn’t go the way of the Firefly.
I’ll keep watching it, mainly because Joss Whedon has never made a television show, movie, webshow, or comic I haven’t enjoyed. And to be fair, I wasn’t that gripped by the first episode of Firefly either, and that stands as one of my favourite series ever.