What's it about?

The logline don't lie: "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."

What's it like?

Dollhouse is like The Bourne Identity meets Stepford Wives meets boarding school meets Los Angeles neo-noir meets the Whedonverse. In short, it's rad, man.

*****

Is Echo just a new name for Faith?

That's a negatory. Echo has a genius for contemplation and self-awareness that Faith couldn't begin to approach. Echo also has about 48 different faces to show the world, which gives her a good head start on Faith, who seemed to vary primarily between rage and desolation. In the first episode, we are shown that Echo is essentially like the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz—"If I only had a brain..."—but she's otherwise fully equipped with a soul, a rockin' bod, and a good, fearless heart.

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Amy Acker Joins Dollhouse Cast

Joss Whedon blogs that he's finalized the cast for Dollhouse. Amy Acker (pictured on left) and Miracle Laurie (on right) have joined the ensemble.

Hi campers. We're having the read-through of the script today. Why would I be nervous? YOU'RE nervous! Anyhoo, I just couldn't resist letting you know that the recurring roles have actually been cast for some time now. I'm shocked that any part of our casting process hasn't been leaked somehow. And though I'm a fan of secrets, I'll give you the last two pieces of this particular puzzle:

November (who will be recurring but does not appear in the pilot) will be played by the luminous Miracle Laurie.

Dr. Claire Saunders will be played by... yet another name I'm gonna have trouble remembering how to spell... Amy Acker.

All in all, pound for pound, soup to nuts, man vs beast, it's a pretty amazing ensemble. I'm not sure how I landed this troupe, but rest assured I'm gonna write bestest good word for talkacting to them yes! They're in good hands.

Onward... to adventure! -j.

Amy Acker is a fan favorite and Miracle Laurie is a relative unknown. It's an interesting cast: we'll see how well they work together.

Posted on April 17, 2008
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Whedon's Dollhouse Gets New Dolls

Joss Whedon's upcoming show Dollhouse just got some new castmembers, in addition to star Eliza Dushku. Battlestar Galactica co-star Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Helo, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj have all signed on for the show.

"Dollhouse" revolves around a group of young men and women who are imprinted with different personalities for different assignments. They have no memories of their previous lives, until Echo (Dushku) begins to try to find out who she was. Penikett will play Paul Smith, an FBI field agent obsessed with the urban myth of Dollhouse and a twisted romantic foil for Echo.

Kranz will play Topher Brink, a twentysomething genius programr responsible for imprinting the dolls. Lachman will play Sierra, a doll like Echo and her friend, who has every personality in the world but her own. Gjokaj will play Victor, also a doll and a friend of Echo's, who is childlike when he's inactive, and everything from Errol Flynn to young DeNiro when he's active.

The show was greenlit for seven episodes before the writers' strike and we're really looking forward to seeing it. It's produced by Fox, though. You know what they did to Firefly. Enough said.

Posted on March 26, 2008
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