Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #222 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-09-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 666 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It’s fair to suggest that there are television series that have sprung out of the blocks with more confidence and momentum than Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. The latest show from the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly centres on Eliza Dushku as Echo, a woman who has different personalities transplanted into her depending on the mission she’s been hired for. It’s a tremendous premise, and one laced with just the kind of threads that Whedon has shown real skill at exploiting. But the first half of the season is a muddle. It takes some time for the show to settle down and find its feet, and the first couple of episodes in particular are more disappointing than anything else.

But then Dollhouse suddenly finds its feet. And while it doesn’t iron out all of the creases, once the show slips into gear, it finally begins to realise some of the immense potential here. What’s interesting too is that this first season DVD set includes the terrific missing episode that was never broadcast when the show debuted in the US.

A second season of Dollhouse is incoming, and given how soundly all concerned recover their footing with season one, that’s something to genuinely look forward to. This maiden season? It has its problems, but when it finally hits top gear, it rewards both your financial and time investment. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly creator Joss Whedon crafts this science-fiction-themed television series concerning a highly-illegal, underground organization known as the Dollhouse that caters to the wealthy, powerful, and connected by leasing out 'Actives', people whose personalities have been wiped clean so they can serve whatever purpose the client demands. Echo (Eliza Dushku) is an 'Active'. She doesn't just perform the role that she has been hired to play, but actually becomes it since she knows no other life than the one she is living in the moment. Actives can become whatever the client wants or needs - a lover, a best friend, a corporate negotiator, or even an assassin. Echo and fellow Actives such as Sierra (Dichen Lachman) receive their assignments from Adelle Dewitt (Olivia Williams), one of the leaders of the Dollhouse. Upon completion of her mission, Echo always returns to the Dollhouse to have her thoughts, feelings, experiences, and knowledge erased by genius programmer Topher Brink (Fran Krantz) while her handler Boyd Langton (Hary Lennix) supervises the process. But the powers that be have caught wind of the Dollhouse, and with every tip he receives from Russian informant Lubov (Enver Gjokaj) FBI Agent Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) moves one step closer to the truth. But now, as Echo stops forgetting and her memories gradually begin to return, she becomes determined to solve the mystery of her secret-shrouded past. Features the complete first series of the show.

Customer Reviews

A flawed diamond
Ok, so the series starts off with Joss Whedon, celebrated writer-director-composer, except no-one wants to work with him, then he has a hit web show, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and he catches the attention of the dark and shadowy Fox Corporation. Fox wipe Joss's brain to make him forget that he worked for them before when they became mortal enemies.

So now Fox can make Joss do whatever they want, everyday they activate Joss and set him to work making a television series for them called Dollhouse. Everything works out fine for them. The show is flashy, cool, sexy, confusing, humourless, disconnected and unengaging. Without the real Joss to complain Fox don't even have to spend much cash on it. But can the technology Fox has used really remove all of a person's memories, their sense of self, their soul?

As he works from episode to episode it becomes apparent that Joss starts to remember who he is, but knowing he shouldn't draw attention to this fact he keeps it to himself and works slowly to improve Dollhouse from within. From episode 6 `Man on the Street' flashes of brilliance begin to save the show, culminating in the superb episode 9 `A Spy in the House of Love', by now Dollhouse has become gripping, funny, dark and touching with an intelligent and complex storyline that has people thinking. Joss is even able to help other people taken over by Fox and makes Eliza Dushku realise that she is an actress.

By the end of the series we have been taken to a place we little imagined in the beginning. I won't give any spoilers but Dollhouse does end with Joss improbably winning renewal for a second series, this time will he be out to revenge himself on the people who did this to him and turn out a flawless piece of work from the start?

AMAZING!!
Ok, so the first five episodes are rather slow, but that is not down to Joss Whedon (creator), its down to the fact the network (FOX) kept sticking there noses in and changing the scripts so the first 5 episodes could be "stand alone" and act as five pilot episodes so people could tune in and understand the show. Episode Six is really when the show hits its stride and the episodes following on get even better (Episode 8 is by far the best episode) all leading up to the finale which was a great ending to the season.

Please DO NOT just watch the first 5 episodes and stop watching, i PROMISE it gets better by episode 6. And by the looks of things this show is going to rock in its 2nd season :D

You can really tell Joss is spending time on this show, there isn't alot of TV series out there were it gets better every episode. Most of the time they start off good and begin to go down hill.

Having seen the 1st nine Episodes - It just keeps getting better!!!
This show is a bit of a departure from Whedon's normal writing style. Witty banter is seldom seen here. Instead what we have is a crazy concept for a show, essentially due to the fact that the main character has no character . . .. yet.

The show is about a girl who has been plucked from her normal life by a corporation and had her persoanlity wiped. She can then be hired by people for a great deal of money to perform almost any function they wish such as girlfriend, FBI agent, scientist etc. The employees of the corporation merely implant a new personality into her now blank slate of a brain. She then returns to the dollhouse to be brain wiped again at the end of the assignment. Weird huh?!

The show seems to take on a "character of the week" format for Elisa Dushku, but with a thread running through the whole series of "Can you ever truly wipe a human being's personality?", "Is she retaining some sense of self?". This is without a doubt the more interesting underpinning of the show. Joss seems to sneak in a hint about the answers to these questions with each new episode.

There are a great deal of other aspects to the show, but I think I've covered the most important one.

There are a couple of negatives though. The main one is that the first few episodes are a bit of a "lets see how many sexy costumes we can put on Elisa and let her pose around in them?", kinda deal. I don't mind them dressing her up to look hot but it can get a little soft porny occasionally which cheapens the show. Then there is, as previously mentioned, the lack of humour in the first half of the first season. It does start to creep in eventually but this show can take itself a little too seriously at times and I think that slick banter is what Joss does best - and I love him for it.

Is it as good as firefly and Buffy? No, not yet; but with some better peripheral characters (like xander, spike, river etc from his other shows)which are sorely lacking here this show could be great.