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From Joss Whedon, the creative force behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, comes the complete series of the sexy, suspenseful thriller Dollhouse. Dollhouse is an illegal organisation that provides its elite clientelle with "actives"--programmable human beings, who temporarily become anyone or anything--the perfect burglar, lover, spy or assassin. Eliza Dushku stars as the lovely but lethal "active" Echo--who is charged with unlocking the deadly secret that will ultimately determine the fate of mankind.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I'll admit it - the first episodes of Dollhouse didn't have me convinced. Disappointment that the collaboration of Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku (surprisingly unconvincing and rather dull) I wasn't quite sure I wanted to continue to watch.
But then came the episode "Man on the street" and I glimpsed what Dollhouse could really be. I got hooked. The rest of season 1 is an entertaining ride carried on an interesting concept with so many loveable characters that you're not sure who is your favorite.
Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) and Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) are two of Whedon's best ever crafted characters. Brink's journey through the show is as endearing as it is heartbreaking and Adelle is a fascinating woman through and through who steals the show no matter what scene she is in or how small the part is.
Mr. Dominic, Boyd, Dr. Saunders, Viktor, Sierra... other highly interesting and somewhat under-used characters that should have been given more room to play (why were the credits soley dedicated to Dushku? We understand that she is the star without it being shoved down our throats at each turn).
Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Pennikett) is an interesting character and his journey too is one that fascinates as it goes along although Paul takes some getting used to. Sadly his interest in Echo (Duskhu's character ) is unconvincing and the story never gets a push because the chemistry between them is flat as cardboard.
It is the final three episodes that gives Dollhouse that edge you've been waiting for. "Briar Rose", "Omega" and "Epitath one" (Yay Zac Ward) are all sheer brilliance and it leaves you craving for more. (Big shout out for Alan Tudyk's fantastic acting during the first two of these)
Season 2 moves along at a more rapid pace and the show has really grown stronger as a whole. It will have you hooked taking you from an "interesting concept" phase, to "fascinating thrilling to watch" and all the way to "deeply unsettling" as the world of the Dollhouse technology and its possibilities really start to become clear.
Somehow Dushku and Pennikett found some kind of spark because the Echo/Paul connection seems more believable (if still somewhat overrated).
Everybody shines in this season Dushku is brilliant(even pulling of some cheesy stinker lines with gusto) and Enver Gjokaj there isn't enough good things to say about. He is one of the best thing this show had going for it.
All in all Dollhouse is more than it's first few episodes (they really aren't that bad, they're just not all they could be) and sticking with it will leave you burning with a fervor for more. It is one of the most interesting concepts I have ever seen presented and one that feeds discussion in the plenty, (and has one truly bizarre but very enjoyable ending).
(Ps. The show has an amazing soundtrack. "Remains" by Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon is magic)
But then came the episode "Man on the street" and I glimpsed what Dollhouse could really be. I got hooked. The rest of season 1 is an entertaining ride carried on an interesting concept with so many loveable characters that you're not sure who is your favorite.
Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) and Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) are two of Whedon's best ever crafted characters. Brink's journey through the show is as endearing as it is heartbreaking and Adelle is a fascinating woman through and through who steals the show no matter what scene she is in or how small the part is.
Mr. Dominic, Boyd, Dr. Saunders, Viktor, Sierra... other highly interesting and somewhat under-used characters that should have been given more room to play (why were the credits soley dedicated to Dushku? We understand that she is the star without it being shoved down our throats at each turn).
Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Pennikett) is an interesting character and his journey too is one that fascinates as it goes along although Paul takes some getting used to. Sadly his interest in Echo (Duskhu's character ) is unconvincing and the story never gets a push because the chemistry between them is flat as cardboard.
It is the final three episodes that gives Dollhouse that edge you've been waiting for. "Briar Rose", "Omega" and "Epitath one" (Yay Zac Ward) are all sheer brilliance and it leaves you craving for more. (Big shout out for Alan Tudyk's fantastic acting during the first two of these)
Season 2 moves along at a more rapid pace and the show has really grown stronger as a whole. It will have you hooked taking you from an "interesting concept" phase, to "fascinating thrilling to watch" and all the way to "deeply unsettling" as the world of the Dollhouse technology and its possibilities really start to become clear.
Somehow Dushku and Pennikett found some kind of spark because the Echo/Paul connection seems more believable (if still somewhat overrated).
Everybody shines in this season Dushku is brilliant(even pulling of some cheesy stinker lines with gusto) and Enver Gjokaj there isn't enough good things to say about. He is one of the best thing this show had going for it.
All in all Dollhouse is more than it's first few episodes (they really aren't that bad, they're just not all they could be) and sticking with it will leave you burning with a fervor for more. It is one of the most interesting concepts I have ever seen presented and one that feeds discussion in the plenty, (and has one truly bizarre but very enjoyable ending).
(Ps. The show has an amazing soundtrack. "Remains" by Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon is magic)
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Dollhouse is a near-future SF tv series, featuring Eliza Dushku as Echo, a woman working for the secretive "Dollhouse" who has voluntarily had her personality wiped in order to be imprinted with any mind and skills a client requires. While initially very episodic, a longer plotline slowly emerges as the more disturbing aspects of this technology and the Dollhouse emerges.
This series comes from the mind of Joss Whedon, responsible for Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. Like Firefly, Dollhouse was cancelled ignominiously in its second season, so be warned that you will not get the full story Whedon planned to write. Whedon has a real genius for producing brilliant genre TV that delights fans but doesn't make it as a mainstream show, and the tension between his desire to tell a big story, while not alienating casual viewers, shows in the early episodes, which see Echo sent off on unrelated assignments.
Echo's assignments range from the obvious seductions to less obvious tasks such as bodyguard and safe-cracker. As time goes on, we see her blank state slowly becoming not so blank. An outside element is provided by FBI agent Ballard, who is investigating the Dollhouse, and becomes obsessed with locating Echo and finding why she would enter the Dollhouse.
One of the strange aspects of watching Dollhouse is that each week Eliza Dushku is required to be a different person. While Dushku is a Whedon favourite, having played Faith in Buffy, and she certainly acts her heart out at times, there's always the sneaking suspicion that she's not quite as good as she needs to be. For example, Dichen Lachman as Sierra is probably a better actress, and her storyline with Victor is in some ways more interesting.
Once the first season gets into its stride it deals with rogue agent Alpha, whose eventual return causes chaos, and the ongoing investigation of Ballard. Slowly building along with this are the big questions of what the corporation behind the Dollhouse really want, what could be done with this technology, and how the apparently-wiped minds slowly find a personality. Season two attempts to kick into high gear, and throws some more radical changes into the mix, including glimpses of the eventual result of the Dollhouse technology, but ultimately couldn't avoid cancellation.
Dollhouse has some excellent secondary characters, and tries to create an ensemble despite Dushku being very much the face of the show. Characters such as Topher, DeWitt, Langton, and Dr Saunders are brilliantly drawn, and the dialogue sparkles. As ever with a Whedon product, the characters draw you in and make you wish you could watch them again and again.
Ultimately Dollhouse is a brave but failed attempt to create something a little different, and provoke some real thought, in a genre that sometime gets too bland. It's well worth watching, but doesn't give the full story its vision deserved.
This series comes from the mind of Joss Whedon, responsible for Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. Like Firefly, Dollhouse was cancelled ignominiously in its second season, so be warned that you will not get the full story Whedon planned to write. Whedon has a real genius for producing brilliant genre TV that delights fans but doesn't make it as a mainstream show, and the tension between his desire to tell a big story, while not alienating casual viewers, shows in the early episodes, which see Echo sent off on unrelated assignments.
Echo's assignments range from the obvious seductions to less obvious tasks such as bodyguard and safe-cracker. As time goes on, we see her blank state slowly becoming not so blank. An outside element is provided by FBI agent Ballard, who is investigating the Dollhouse, and becomes obsessed with locating Echo and finding why she would enter the Dollhouse.
One of the strange aspects of watching Dollhouse is that each week Eliza Dushku is required to be a different person. While Dushku is a Whedon favourite, having played Faith in Buffy, and she certainly acts her heart out at times, there's always the sneaking suspicion that she's not quite as good as she needs to be. For example, Dichen Lachman as Sierra is probably a better actress, and her storyline with Victor is in some ways more interesting.
Once the first season gets into its stride it deals with rogue agent Alpha, whose eventual return causes chaos, and the ongoing investigation of Ballard. Slowly building along with this are the big questions of what the corporation behind the Dollhouse really want, what could be done with this technology, and how the apparently-wiped minds slowly find a personality. Season two attempts to kick into high gear, and throws some more radical changes into the mix, including glimpses of the eventual result of the Dollhouse technology, but ultimately couldn't avoid cancellation.
Dollhouse has some excellent secondary characters, and tries to create an ensemble despite Dushku being very much the face of the show. Characters such as Topher, DeWitt, Langton, and Dr Saunders are brilliantly drawn, and the dialogue sparkles. As ever with a Whedon product, the characters draw you in and make you wish you could watch them again and again.
Ultimately Dollhouse is a brave but failed attempt to create something a little different, and provoke some real thought, in a genre that sometime gets too bland. It's well worth watching, but doesn't give the full story its vision deserved.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I remember seeing one early episode of Dollhouse series 1 on TV and not being that impressed. To me it seemed to be very similar to a favourite of mine, Alias: a female star who is not what she appears to be, working for a mysterious organisation, with a grizzled black partner, a guy on the outside who loves her and a crazy science guy who is the comic relief. So why did I buy this? I spend several hours a day commuting and catch up on TV series on a portable DVD player; I was running out of things to watch and this was bargain priced.
Initial impressions of the first series were much the same as my original thoughts but, hey, it whiled away the journey. It's not that the individual episodes were dull, there is plenty of action and it's well written, but it's hard to engage with a lead character who is a blank slate unless programmed to be someone else. It's only when the mysterious Alpha finally makes an appearance that things really kick off and we realise that not everything is as it seems. Towards the end of the season, the makers were told that the series was going to be canned so, given that Firefly ended with so many questions, they decided to make the 13th episode a summary of where the story arcs were going, told largely through some new characters. I didn't know this in advance and I have to say that 13th episode was one of the most mind-blowing TV events I've experienced. So much so that I watched it again when I got home - the story expands on a massive and unexpected scale.
Now obviously I knew there was a whole second season in the box, but instead of dismay that I now knew the ending, there was excitement that I would find out exactly how this situation had come about. In the second series, the problem with doll character engagement is solved as they begin to evolve new personalites. Our pre-conceptions are toyed with as characters have true identities revealed or die unexpectedly; the pace is relentless as everything is squeezed in rather than dragged out as TV series so often do. Some of the acting is quite poor (stand up Miracle Laurie and Summer Glau) but the general standard is extremely high, for example Enver Gjokaj (Victor) and Olivia Williams (Adele DeWitt). Williams, being English with an English accent in a US series, is typically typecast as a villain but, through an unusually subtle - for a TV series - performance earns our sympathy and respect. Gjokaj has a wide range of emotive acting skills and his imprinting of Topher in "The Left Hand" is hilarious.
I am so glad that I didn't give up on Dollhouse - it has gone from a so-so viewing experience to one of the most memorable in recent years.
Initial impressions of the first series were much the same as my original thoughts but, hey, it whiled away the journey. It's not that the individual episodes were dull, there is plenty of action and it's well written, but it's hard to engage with a lead character who is a blank slate unless programmed to be someone else. It's only when the mysterious Alpha finally makes an appearance that things really kick off and we realise that not everything is as it seems. Towards the end of the season, the makers were told that the series was going to be canned so, given that Firefly ended with so many questions, they decided to make the 13th episode a summary of where the story arcs were going, told largely through some new characters. I didn't know this in advance and I have to say that 13th episode was one of the most mind-blowing TV events I've experienced. So much so that I watched it again when I got home - the story expands on a massive and unexpected scale.
Now obviously I knew there was a whole second season in the box, but instead of dismay that I now knew the ending, there was excitement that I would find out exactly how this situation had come about. In the second series, the problem with doll character engagement is solved as they begin to evolve new personalites. Our pre-conceptions are toyed with as characters have true identities revealed or die unexpectedly; the pace is relentless as everything is squeezed in rather than dragged out as TV series so often do. Some of the acting is quite poor (stand up Miracle Laurie and Summer Glau) but the general standard is extremely high, for example Enver Gjokaj (Victor) and Olivia Williams (Adele DeWitt). Williams, being English with an English accent in a US series, is typically typecast as a villain but, through an unusually subtle - for a TV series - performance earns our sympathy and respect. Gjokaj has a wide range of emotive acting skills and his imprinting of Topher in "The Left Hand" is hilarious.
I am so glad that I didn't give up on Dollhouse - it has gone from a so-so viewing experience to one of the most memorable in recent years.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Series 1 ok. Series 2 - don't bother.
I enjoyed series 1 of Dollhouse. Wasn't blown away, but found it watchable. Series 2 seemed to start out ok, but as it goes on it gets worst and worst. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Monkey Man
A disappointment that leaves a bad taste in the mouth
I had high expectations of Dollhouse and indeed was pleasantly surprised after watching the first couple of episodes. Read more
Published 1 month ago by ash2020
Acting from the lead reinforces the title.
Eliza Dushku does not have a great track record as far as vanity projects go. (Tru Called Off) Perhaps it is because she has two basic facial expressions: (1) a pained look, which... Read more
Published 2 months ago by R. M. CURTIS
Scintillating entertainment
You think this is about dolls ... well it's about programmed people who play the roles of lovers, assassins, escorts and partners. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mike Golding
House full of dolls
a good show from one of the best creators, a shame that fox complicates his life with the time of tv showing.
Published 3 months ago by DARN
One of the Most important shows ever
Dollhouse was cancelled & deserved to go on for a lot longer. The 2 season arc is still very much complete and deserves no less than 5 stars. Read more
Published 4 months ago by O. Lowndes
One of the Most important shows ever
Dollhouse was cancelled & deserved to go on for a lot longer. The 2 season arc is still very much complete and deserves no less than 5 stars. Read more
Published 4 months ago by O. Lowndes
original entertaining enjoyable
Watched this on sky and it is original entertaining enjoyable so decided to buy it because I really have to watch it again.
Published 5 months ago by grace
Why did they cancel it?
Dollhouse is yet another brilliant series from Joss Wheadon which has been cancelled by the Sci-Fy channel well before its time. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Petrina Frost
Stick with it.
Like some other Amazon reviewers, I didn't find the first few episodes of Dollhouse particularly engaging. Read more
Published 6 months ago by daisyrock
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