The Return of the Great Whedon

[eumelia]

#1 Yay! Joss is returning to Television and away from comics, because alas, he writes comics a whole lot worse than he writes tv. He writes tv like the demi-god he is *swoons into fangrrl apoplexy*.

#2 Yay! Eliza Dushku will be starring in this new tv show. She is awesome, she is in fact made of awesome and she will be our new heroine.

That being said... I'm not keen on the description of the show, the name of the show which reminded me of this and the name of Eliza's character Echo - which rang the Greek Tragedy Bell in my head, about the mythic Echo.

FOX network's description of the show found at E! Online is thus:

Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.

Um, yeah.
This does not sound like what my icon is saying.
So with all the above in mind, is this show going to be kickass, or is my Joss Love going to be seeping out of me slowly if there isn't going to be a redeeming thing in this show.

I hate to be a party pooper, but when a place is described as a Dollhouse, with a character named Echo in which she gains self-awareness... the woman is described as nothing but an object for someone else's desires and these missions... are they secret agents, al a modern day Mata Hari's or are they Whore for Hire.
*sigh* conflicting feelings regarding Joss and this description, and often even if the description is an exaggeration... it isn't too far from the truth.

Anywho, other places to read about this new show: TVweek and TVguide and Feminist SF, where you can find the Frank Miller Test which should tell us if this show is what I hope it isn't. It's still Joss and I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

ETA: An article in Hebrew Welcome to the Dollhouse - ברוכים הבאים לבית הבובות.

In addition, the genocide in Darfur must be stopped.

וכמו כן, צריך לעצור את רצח העם בדרפור.

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

... okay, that sounds awful. Exactly the sort of thing Fox would pick up though.

Plus it's on Fox. It'll be cancelled after 4 episodes anyway.

Actually

[assafr.livejournal.com]

they already ordered 7 episodes.

Something's wrong with the links

[assafr.livejournal.com]

and the second line of the last paragraph for example.

Re: Something's wrong with the links

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Fixed!

[avgboojie.livejournal.com]

I dunno, to me it sounds wonderful. A wonderful story that can make for a wonderful story arc, wonderful episodes, wonderful character development, wonderful everything.
As usual, the question is will it be actually DONE wonderfully. One can't really know that in advance.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Since it's Joss there will most likely be an ironic and kick-ass juxtaposition with all that I mentioned, which as I said will be giving the benefit of the doubt.

Joss is Whedon after all :)

[avgboojie.livejournal.com]

We also must always remember that it's not the writer alone who makes a show. Remember Babylon 5? Straczynsky knew damn well what he was doing. It didn't help him much when the studios fed him all that crap which has turned the 5th season of b5+crusade into, well, what it was. <sigh>
Let's hope Whedon has more leverage on the studios, or at least manages to slink his way better in the crossfire of corporate studio demands AND good art.

Beyond all that, I think the premise is a good one, and don't really understand why there seems to be such a negative reaction.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

If Whedon manages the same kid of thing like he had in the WB (where he practically had free reign with the writing staff and production) then it'll probably (or hopefully) work out for the best.

That's the thing, the premise looks pretty so-so to me.
As you said if it will be done well and all that, then it could redeem Whedon in television (since despite the critical and fannish acclaim of Firefly, we know it didn't do well).

[aesiron.livejournal.com]

Do you not like his run on Astonishing X-Men or Runaways? I've not read the latter but have loved the former.

The show sounds interesting to me, though the "every person's fantasy" selling point does give me a little pause.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I've read a few issues of his runs on both and thought he did X-Men not too badly, but his run on Runaways was not up to Brian K. Vaughn's par.

Also, not liking Buffy Season 8, perhaps my expectations were set too high, but it just wasn't as good. The Buffy comics were never really well done, IMO.

[aesiron.livejournal.com]

Huh. I completely forgot about the eighth season of Buffy and read one of the issues only a couple days ago so I guess I'm unimpressed as well.

[stateofwonder.livejournal.com]

It sounds more like Ibsen's A Doll's House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Doll's_House) to me. Presumably the show is about Echo's eventual realization that her current situation is bullshit, fighting back against being a 'fantasy fulfiller' (aka a person who has been forced into prostitution) and reclaiming her identity. Sounds pretty damn feminist to me -- if Whedon takes it in that direction, anyway!

[stateofwonder.livejournal.com]

That said, it does sound like a kind of cheesy show, not something I would usually watch. Don't let me down, Joss...

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Me hopes so too!

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Oh, no doubt it's about that... but it looks like that path is going to be lined with sexual exploitation... which I'm not keen on seeing, since it has been done so often already, you know?

[stateofwonder.livejournal.com]

Ah, very true! Yeah, with that kind of storyline, it's pretty inevitable. Bleehhh.

from shira- the new show

[(Anonymous)]

I hesitated too, but it's Joss and I think the time off from tv has probably done him good. Suddenly shows like his darker seasons are all that's running on tv currently- back then they were avoided. Give the guy credit to take what sounds silly (I mean- btvs did have a silly name that became incredibly empowered- if I wasn't afraid of the backlash I'd not even hesitate to call any future child of mine Buffy). If he can be as creative as always- it'll be great. Maybe not amazing or well liked...but great or at least special.
And come on- we all know Eliza can carry a show- and hopefully someday win an Emmy (wishful thinking). That presence, that beauty, that ability to convey so many layers of emotion. I'll watch anything with her. I watched Tru Calling because of her- and it wasn't that great (not to mention a bunch of other movies she did- and I hate the horror genre)