Be Excellent To Each Other

The pilot is on tonight.
Bittorrent is on standby.

Thanks for the heads up, chap!

The whatnow?

New programme by Joss Whedon. He did Buffy, Angel and Firefly/Serenity.

Like Buffy except no vampires, I'm guessing.

In Dollhouse, Eliza Dushku plays a young woman called Echo, a member of a group of people known as "Actives" or "Dolls." The Dolls 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. On missions, Actives are monitored internally (and remotely) by Handlers. 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.

Beyond Dushku's character, the show will also revolve around the people who run the mysterious "Dollhouse" and two other "Dolls", Victor and Sierra, who are friendly with Echo (the names are simply letters in the phonetic alphabet). Although the Actives are ostensibly volunteers, the operation is highly illegal and under constant threat on one end from Paul Ballard, a determined federal agent who has heard a rumor about the Dolls, and an insane rogue Active on the other.

I'm going to really really mock your hat when I see you.

Grim.... - thank you, you're very kind.

*waves fingers at myp*.

Had no idea. Cheers, Grim...!

Hah. Fox Force Five much?

Which hat? I have many.

GO GO PLURALISED THREAT

Also - bit Femme Nikita, innit?

The show, that is, not myp's hats.

He wrote Buffy, btw.

Exciting Tarantino-film-fact: The Deadly Viper Squad in Kill Bill appear to be Fox Force Five.

Also, well, no.

Hope it's good.

Also hope if it is that it's not cancelled in about twelve episodes time. Oh ho!

Don't. It still hurts.

Firefly was shit!

Place your bets now on how long Dollhouse lasts. I'm going for 13 episodes filmed, nine shown.

GTFO.

Seriously, fucking ban the cunt.

You can't go around saying shit like that.

Ban this sick filth by Rapist Whedon.

BBC Announcer Voice: "And now for a Banorama special, 'Kalmar'."

That's all I needed to know.

I was about to say that that mentalist is going to absolute *explode*, isn't she?

Gff, pfffft, *bluster*, gack!

What? OUT! NOW!

The mods have dealt with this appropriately. Kalmar has been erased, and a new personality imprinted onto his personage. Hopefully this one will be less wrong.

Now that's what I voted for!

I've watched the first episode, it was interesting. No laughs, it looks like it's trying to be quite a 'serious' action-thriller.
I get the feeling it's going to be complicated. Helo from BS:G is in it.

The episode was quite good, it entertained but didn't have that "shit this is going to be a classic" feeling that Serenity did. And that crazy woman who wrote about Wheedon being a rapist or whatever is going to do her nut when she sees this (I'll come back to this later).

This, exactly. It's OK, but at the moment it's just Le Femme Nikita (the series) without the interesting characters and with a few nice flourishes.

For 10 minutes I was wondering when it would start. For about 30 minutes I was thinking this a terrible boring misfire. For the final 10 minutes I was thinking it was pretty interesting and exciting.

The last 10 minutes save it. Just. It's hopefully going to get properly going now it's established its scenario. Good performance from Eliza.

It's got thingy from Journeyman in it as well. Which is a series I'd forgotten about until seeing Dollhouse but was really good.

Also I think as a tribute to Gary Numan they should retitle the series 'A Game Called Echo'

Here is the episode, chums - direct download or stream: http://www.fullonrobotchubby.co.uk/random/Dollhouse.avi

A Game Called Echo, Episode 2 review

A little bit more interesting but the script is still pretty awful and the acting very stilted. Eliza Dhusku is still hott.

Thanks Grim... Downloadified.
Shall be watching this tomorrow - but not holding my breath much, given Firefly.

... and Alien 4.

I didn't actually think Alien Resurrection was that bad, compared to Alien³.

It was a great film, up until the 'mummy-cuddles' bit.

Yeah.

That and the Quadrilogy version of 3 is a much-improved film. Fucking executives.

Wait, which is the mummy-cuddles bit? When she jumps into the nest is where my patience wears thin, it's pretty much all mummy-cuddles from that point on.

Yeah, that's what I meant.

Yeah, I saw Alien Resurrection again recently and was surprised how decent the first half of it was.

Helped that it had the mighty Michael Wincott - the gravelly-voiced psychopath's gravelly-voiced psychopath - in it, obviously.

A Game Called Echo Episode 3 - It's still both simultaneously boring and interesting at the same time. Looks like I'm going to continue watching, like an idiots.

I loved it again - exactly the sort of Fox-pleasing episodes he has to do, to keep it on air, epic swathes of toned, glistening ladyflesh throughout and a steady rate of plot development. The viscera hs also been kept in. Good skills.

I think it's great, it's got an interesting feel to it, Lynch-lite or something. The acting isn't bad, it's good to watch. Every review I've seen goes on about how preposterous the plot is, but.. it's scifi, right.

And it's not even that preposterous. If that technology existed, why wouldn't it get used to keep a library of "specialists" on tap like that, morality aside?

Joss can be quite variable. This seems closer to pish like Angel and Alien 4 and less like Serenity and Buffy.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

*shakes head sadly*

Did you do a PhD in wrong, Lave?

Alien 4 I enjoy quite a bit but Angel was terribly after halfway through season 2. Seasons 4 and 6 of Buffy were dreadful too.

The truth about Buffy: It was good until the season long plot arcs came in. Monster of the Week episodes were much better.

See also: X-Files.

Every time I come back to this place, the number of people claiming that Alien 4 wasn't an embarassing pile of shit increases instead of decreasing.

This is a world I want no part of.

Never seen an episode of Buffy but agree 100% on the X-Files.

Angel wasn't meant to be at all like Buffy, though. Buffy was a post modern allegory of growing up, whereas Angel was quite obviously modernist take on film noir.