Dollhouse - Episode 1x01: Ghost

[Tyler Austin "tiewashere"]

The only thing I was confused on, mostly, was the boxing scene.

And what exactly were the ratings?

[BuffyFanOne]

i dont remember the exact nuber but i think it was about 4.7 with a 2 share.
it beat terminator by more than a million. at least it will show fox that it is capable of attracting it's own viewers.

[wenxina]

Didn't catch either T:SCC or Dollhouse last night because of social obligations (prospective grad student party that the grad students throw every year), but I checked online this morning, and both eps were up. I was very happy about that.
The pilot ep was good, but for me, that's only because the premise is intriguing. The plot wasn't highly original, and there is a distinct lack of play on language that Joss' other shows are known for (even Firefly had bastardized Chinese). This isn't bad, and it could be intentional to distance the show from previous creations.

The mindwiping and muscle memory bits interested me the most, on a pseudo-scientific level. However, I will admit that the show wasn't quite what I was expecting, and dare I say it, hoping for. I was expecting a more subdued pilot, given the early premise... kinda really wanna see the original pilot now. Instead, the more high-octane pilot just doesn't lend the show any unique features.
All that said, it was still good. Dushku seemed to revert to Faith-mode at times, especially in her first scene, and I'm not sure if I'm convinced that she has the acting chops to carry the whole show through. There were very optimistic moments, so I'm hopeful.

The set design kinda bugs me. it's been pointed out before that it looks very much like the LA branch of Wolfram and Hart, and I have to agree. It's been stated many times now that it's supposed to be a futuristic dollhouse, but I'm not really seeing the dollhouse-ness. Instead, all I see is an Oriental-esque (the staff were wearing Mandarin collars, for crying out loud) zen spa, which yeah... is relaxing, but doesn't push the envelope enough for me, in terms of what a futuristic dollhouse can entail. The sleeping chambers are my favorite part, because of the womblike imagery it evokes, where all these mindwiped innocent "children" go to bed. Also, there's that whole sleeping in an alien pod thing.

All said and done, my Fridays are definitely set for a while to come. Despite the shortcomings (to me at least), it's made me want to learn more about this new creation of Joss'. Oh, and if it wasn't evident at any point in this post, I've actually kept myself virtually spoiler-free until I watched the pilot.

[Wiccan_Slayerette]

Since a few people were asking about the number of viewers the premier had, I looked it up. According to Wiki, "Ghost" had 4.715 million viewers, which isn't to bad.

Apparently Friday's episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles only got 3.71 million views. Though it's premier has 18.3 million.

TV.com has "Ghost" at an average rating of 7.7, with 1,016 votes so far.

According to MSN, the Dollhouse premier "delivering FOX’s highest rated Friday series premiere in over four years." and "DOLLHOUSE was the highest rated Friday FOX entertainment telecast of the broadcast season among Adults 18-49."

Doesn't look like TSCC did very well as all.

Handy Link:
tvbythenumbers.com/2009/02/14/friday-ratings-how-did-dollhouse-and-terminator/12837#comments

[Mathieu]

The episode was ok in my opinion, entertaining enough. But I'm not a huge fan of those Alias shows with a new different plot every episode. That's why I had a hard time enjoying the first season of Angel. I am not a fan of standalones with new characters showing up with tons of problems and next thing you know they move on to another completely different plot. It feels like Dollhouse is going to be like this a lot.

[Wyndam]

Everyone, you can get all the information on the ratings of the premiere in this THREAD, just an FYI. I don't see a need to discuss the ratings in two different threads. Probably best just to talk about actual content in these threads.

[henzINNIT]

For the longest time I found the episode all zzzzz The plot was solid and the concept is still great. I think there's a bit too much "cool" and not enough humour. It doesn't need to have jokes, but it all felt too serious for my liking, especially compared to the other Joss shows, and that sucked the life out of it. None of the characters really struck me either, all too grey area atm. I did like the minder guy though. It definately picked up toward the end and I'll be downloading next week for sure.
On a related note, if anyone is in need of d/l links I could probably provide them most weeks (not sure how safe it'd be for me to post them here though)

[AndrewCrossett]

Feb 14, 2009 10:58:06 GMT -5 Whedon Fan said:

In all honesty it was not Joss' best.

That's probably because it wasn't entirely Joss'.

There was a great deal of Suit Interference here.

[wenxina]

What you do in your private space cannot be governed, but posted illegal links here will have to be removed. Sorry guy.
Generous... but even Robin Hood was kinda gray.

[Nicholas]

So I thought that it was pretty cool. It wasnt mind-blowing, explosively amazing but then again neither was the first episode of Buffy and Angel. So, because of me trusting Joss's creativity, I will stick with it and hopefully fall in love with it.

I think that the concept is really cool and that the fact that each time these people are able to get mind wiped and have new personalities installed but apparently we learn that these are mixed personalities and memories from different people? If they dont remember their own actual life up until Dollhouse, then what memories are they given in order to calm them while inside?

The character of Echo was set up perfectly, being able to start off looking druggy Faith-esque and turning into what she is now. So, i'm guessing she had some run-ins with the law so Dollhouse gave her an option of going to them for 5 years? Did I catch that right? And I'm pretty sure I understood the one part correctly: when Echo collapses at the dock and has the asthma attack, it was because she was remembering what she saw with the other woman, correct? I forsee her finally regaining everything and then suddenly going up against Dollhouse, idk. Just a theory.

I didnt understand the boxing guys thing within it all..was he just some cop that was trying to prove Dollhouse's existance? And what was with Amy Acker's character and the guy that does the mindwipes? I was confused on the whole her having a bruise on her eye...IDK.

Overall, this show has a lot of promise and it was a great opening episode.

[henzINNIT]

I'm not sure the "dolls" have much at all in a way of a personallity within the dollhouse. They're blank like a simple child lol.

Feb 14, 2009 17:38:32 GMT -5 wenxina said:

What you do in your private space cannot be governed, but posted illegal links here will have to be removed. Sorry guy.
Generous... but even Robin Hood was kinda gray.

Understood.

Of course I cannot condone such behavior myself anyway, but I may be able to help if someone needs it... Maybe, if they're desperate for the latest episode at some point.... the person could possibly contact me quietly via pm or something and I will send you a link if you need it... or something like that...


;D

[iamthewalrus]

as the show progresses i'm certain we'll see more of the actives personalitys

Echo even remembered something she wasn't supposed to already

[wenxina]

I think one of the show's basic premises is that Echo (even the name foreshadows the plot) actually remembers bits and pieces. The other actives are not supposed to be as self-aware. An interview with the actress that plays Sierra confirms that Sierra at least, is not as self-aware as Echo.

[BuffyFanOne]

Nichiolas, I took it that Echo was given the choice of the standard penalty for whatever she did or a 5 year 'sentence' within dollhouse...presumably a shorter term than the conventional law would have inforced.

[patxshand]

Posted my review of the first episode: buffyversecomics.blogspot.com/2009/02/dollhouse-1x01-ghost.html

[hitnrun017]

Sweet review Pat! I agree with mostly everything you said, except the guest stars. Most of them were pretty cringe-worthy I thought.

[patxshand]

Really? Even the father and daughter? I thought they were awesome.

[Wyndam]

Feb 14, 2009 23:40:07 GMT -5 patxshand said:

Really? Even the father and daughter? I thought they were awesome.

I agree. I thought the daughter was a great little actress, and I enjoyed the exchanges between the dad and Echo.

[hitnrun017]

Yeah, the father and daughter were both great, but the kidnapper on the phone and the police dude talking to Paul... blegh.

[BuffyFanOne]

I thought that the father was fantastic.
In fact, he was so good that I thought for sure they were setting him up to be a main character. I assumed he was not jsut a minor characor becuse he was such a good actor.
Not bad on the eyes either