Buffy mastermind returns with new TV series

Joss Whedon, creator of sci-fi fan favourites Buffy and Firefly, is to return to television with a new series. Dollhouse, a Fox series starring Eliza Dushku (who played Faith in Buffy), follows a group of mind-wiped individuals kept in a child-like state until they are programmed to carry specific assignments. After each …

[neilrieck]

Fox won't leave it alone

Fox executives wouldn't stop messing around with Firefly. What makes anyone think they will keep their hands off this program?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not so fast!

"Buffy" mastermind?

Firefly > Buffy

That is all.

[Philip Marshall]

Please, no!

FFS, Josh, please don't make anymore kiddy cult dramas.

Why don't you make other types of drama, you are pigeonholed by Buffy, but you need to break free and show your skills.

[James Cleveland]

Oooh :D

Hopefully it will be quirky with underlying nerdy intrigue as with his other things.

Browncoats!

[Mike]

@Not so fast!

What kind of drugs were you smoking to say that firefly was even close to Buffy?

Buffy was funny, had good characters and interesting plots. It is a highly addictive classic.

Firefly was a show where a bunch of overplayed stereotypical characters traveled around the universe, landing on planets that always looked like the old west. Seriously, every where they went, and it always looked like a So-Cal set. "Don't pan over too far to the left, they're filming a porno."

[Jon Teda]

again derivative of japanese anime

Now he is being influenced from only five year old japanese anime - as opposed to 10 year old anime. Look at Gunslinger Girl for some insight.

[Bernard Langham]

again derivative of japanese anime

Yep, I noticed that too. It's pretty much a straight lift. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunslinger_Girl

Buffy, by contrast, was loosely inspired by Eko Eko Azarak (Wizard of Darkness/Misa the Dark Angel) rather than being a complete rip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eko_Eko_Azarak

Running out of ideas much, Josh?

[ben edwards]

Creative?

OK, Buffy was mildly entertaining. But then we had Angel, and followed up by Serenity, and probably other things I'm too scared to look into.

What is this hardon Whedon has for broken feminine figures trying to be stoic male-figures, while also trying to be girly "I'm just a girl" crap?

No more! Seriously!

[Anonymous Coward]

Shades of Joe 90?

Apart from the mindwipe at the end?

But as the writers strike has just started, this too may end up in development hell.

[Enno]

Joe 90 anyone?

So Josh is re-making Joe 90... Ooooh, original. Mind you I read elsewhere that he claims it was all Eliza's idea and she mesmerized him over lunch one day... easy to imagine with that lass!

[Anonymous Coward]

Joe 90

I hope the acting will be less wooden this time.

[bigfoot780]

FOX

Hey I like 24, firefly etc but FOX real does like dumbed down stuff. Shame that Wheadon has had to revert to it. I thought firefly was brilliant a bit more than Buffy ever was.

[Alan Gregson]

Haitian

Are the go to use The Haitian to do the mind wipes?

btw Buffy was far, far superior to Firefly, but I really did love Firefly and was tres disappointed when it was pulled.

[chris]

Firefly

Mike says "Firefly was a show where a bunch of overplayed stereotypical characters traveled around the universe, landing on planets that always looked like the old west"

Well I liked it. A lot. But then, I like cheese and ham.

Dollhouse sounds okay, but have to agree - WHY FOX?!!!! From someone that worked with vampires, you'd think he'd get the once bitten thing...

[Joerg]

Better Joss Whedon sticks with quality and forgets trash style, or it will get cancelled...

...way before 11 episodes like Firefly did..

The movie Serenity based on Firefly was pretty good, if only the serie had the same quality level then it would still get aired.

If instead Joss Whedon will pursue the awful seasons 6,7 of Buffy and the last couple of Angel seasons.. if the new serie will be anything like that then it will be a failure for sure.

Recreating the same quality of Michael Bay's The Island sci-fi movie in the serie it's not simple to achieve, it all depends on Joss Whedon crew.. if he hires people that really work or just want the money delivering a poor job. That's what is all about.

The concept is great but it needs people that know what they are doing. A bit of Butterfly Effect (the first original one) style in such a serie would help a lot.

[Karl Lattimer]

firefly wasn't just westerns...

The frontier thing in it was a stroke of genius, but it was much more than just frontier style television, a little more than just rawhide with spaceships. The way they portrayed the decay of language and the imbalance of power and technology between the alliance worlds and the non-alliance worlds was something of a political statement I think possibly referring to the dumbing down Fox is well known for.

[Anonymous Coward]

Buffy was successful because

...even despite all the supernatural claptrap, Buffy had an ordinary life that kids (and ex-kids) could relate to. Her life changed suddenly and she had to struggle to be "normal" (as all kids do).

Firefly was set on a spaceship. How do you relate to that?

This series features someone "becoming" human -- sorry, but that's not something the majority are going to relate to (there's a reason that Data in ST:TNG was only ever a side character).

Escapism isn't wanted on TV these days -- people want something closer to home (hence why The (previously nonsexual) Doctor keeps kissing people).

Makes for dull telly in my opinion, but I'm not the masses that consume the opiate ....

(My definition of escapism: switching the telly off if the ads last over 3 minutes.)

[Steven Foster]

Oi

Leave Firefly alone :'(

It was one of my favorite shows ever. This new one sounds interesting, but the fact he's going with Fox again scares me. They just love canning shows, even if they have potential. Nazis.

[kev whelan]

Jo 90

remember Jo 90 !

[Scott Mckenzie]

Buffy..

...had Alyson Hannigan therefore wins hands down.

[HiKi]

Buffy

Anyone who's still a rabid buffy fan after seeing Season 7 is in *serious* denial. The last season of Angel wasn't that great either. But can you *imagine* how awesome seasons 2 and 3 of Firefly would have been? By season 4 it probably would have started going downhill as Joss and the writers finished exploring all the threads they had in mind when the show started. But still, better to have loved and lost, right? Serenity could have been *so* much deeper if they'd been allowed to take 22 hours instead of just 2.

[Michael]

Firefly

I thought firefly was awesome, sad they axed it... sci-fi are showing it agian here in the UK :)

Must be the 3rd tiem I have watched them now and its still good..

I also enjoyed buffy and angel...

not sure if i like the sound of this one.. tho i guess fox will just axe it anyway even if it does turn out to be one of the best things on TV..

ah well

need more firefly...

[Anonymous Coward]

Meh

Buffy = show for teenage boys to fiddle with themselves over, served no other purpose.

Angel = not to sure who it was aimed at as no one watched it.

Firefly = excellent, aimed at people with an IQ over 100 who understood.

Anything with Eliza Dushku is bound to fail, she can't act.

[Daniel]

b5

Babylon 5 > Firefly > Buffy

Yes I know joss had nothing to do with B5 but its too damn good to forget... (well apart from the first season, which was a little wooden).

[Mike Landers]

@Scott

But Firefly had Kaylee.

Firefly was awesome, possibly the best 14 episodes you could ever wish to see. If Whedon manages to hit anywhere near the kind of heights that "Out of Gas" hit, then maybe this new series will be amazing.

Then again, Fox will dump it faster than anything - I'm sure they've got him signed purely to keep him out of the hands of the other networks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Joe 90 and wooden acting

I would like to remind you that Joe 90 was a documentary and as such the real people being watch were bound to be a little hesitant in front of the cameras.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Whedon's rewrite for supernatural triller Goners"

Would that be a film about psychic budgies then?

I'll get my icon.

[Bernard Lyons]

The pitch reminds me of...

All My Sins Remembered (Joe Haldeman, 1977)

I really miss Buffy, AH as least as much as SMG. And AFAIK it was the first US-produced TV to use the word "Bollocks!" correctly in context.

Aeryn and Chiana in Farscape on DVD are the only things keeping me going these days.

[Anonymous Coward]

Babylon 5 > Firefly > Buffy

I used to think that B5 was impeccable. Then I got to watch it all in the space of a month or so, and its flaws became so glaring I wondered how JMS had the nerve to keep it up.

Firefly was superior, but probably only because the next batch of episodes ever got made, so they are self-evidently *perfect*.

[Anonymous Coward]

Alyson Hannigan ????!!!????

Hmmm,

Not sure I would have picked Alyson Hannigan as the one to Drool over when there was Sarah Michell Geller, Charisma Carpenter and Eliza Dushku in it, although Alyson Hannigan wasn't bad!!!!

Four good reasons to watch BTVS!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Firefly had the best eye candy

Jewel Staite nuff said

[Nicholas Chapel]

@Meh

>Anything with Eliza Dushku is bound to fail, she can't act.

God, isn't that the truth. Anyone remember 'Tru Calling'? *shudder*

[Anonymous Coward]

Alyson Hannigan and Jewel Staite

Gotta say, Alyson Hannigan definitely beat Karizzma Carpenter and Sarah-Michelle "Ross" Geller.

Funny thing is, she could have probably got away with playing Kaylee. Similarities between the way Willow and Kaylee were played.

Does the above make me some sort of "Girls in Joss Whedon shows" fanboy?

Thought so - I'll get my coat.

[Alan Gregson]

drool list

Could I just add another two to the drool list

Iyari Limon (Kennedy) who was a bit of extra eye candy in BTVS season 7

Morena Baccarin (Inara) one of the most stunning women I have ever seen

[Anonymous Coward]

Firefly & Stargate

Jewel Staite is one definite reason to watch Firefly, and Stargate Atlantis for that matter.

But if it were a choice between Stargate SG-1 and Firefly, I'd have to say bye bye to Malcolm's boat, except SG-1 went downhill after Richard Dean Anderson left - he better be back for the two upcoming movies.

[Dylan Baxter]

That does it.

I've lost the will to live...

[Timothy Slade]

came in here to post a comment

but a bit scared by the level of knowledge about this stuff.

anyway, other prior art alongside the mangas/animes mentioned: william gibsons character Molly, the razor girl from the neuromancer trilogy.

p.s. first post since the icons, so want to take this opportunity to say that I hate them.

[Brian]

Not to be a spoilsport

But who's actually going to write the script, with the WGA on strike?

So I don't see any reason why FOX would keep it longer than the 7 episodes that seem to be scripted (more or less).

[Brian]

Firefly>SG-1>Rest of FOX Programming...ever

Obviously, I am a fan of the Firefly series. Could never get into the whole Buffy thing, tho the movie was actually quite funny.

Personally, I cant stand yet another goddam halfass adolescent-minded soap-opera-meets-highschool romance-meets-superficial mythology-meets-psuedoscience show. Unfortunately, that seems to be FOX and others' bread and butter as of the last couple years. By and large it appeals to the mouthbreather crowd, but it is a large part of the reason my TV stays off. Firefly was actually intellectually stimulating...small wonder why FOX would have nothing to do with it.

As to those who berate the show sets and camera shots, the full scale ship was built whole and was what the onboard shots were filmed on...the camera shots are as they would appear on the actual ship if it had existed with the tight confines and odd angularity of the internal spaces...no cutaway rooms...no extra sound stages...no CGI from here to hell and gone...the ship was actually a ship

Fox from the beginning short-shrifted Wheadon financially...and he still managed to do more than the other slicker productions. The storylines he developed actually had a depth to them that is found wanting with just about every show on the air these days. There weren't happy resolutions...the best that generally happened was a break-even scenario...even then the endings

werent predictable. Was nice to find something entertaining that doesn't also insult a persons intelligence. On and gone in 11 episodes (plus 3 that didn't air)...

All this from a person who thinks that the "Sci-Fi" genre is waaaaaay too much "Fi" and not nearly enough "Sci". And I am not a Sci-Fi nut. Ah, well....

BTW "Out of Gas" was one of the best storylines ever written in any genre. To those who wonder how a person could connect their reality to characters on a show set on a spaceship would do well to see that episode.

Ah... thank you my good man...mine is the Browncoat

[Paul Charters]

Shame about Dushku

It's a shame that Whedon is pushing for Eliza Dushku. As pretty as she is she just isn't interesting on screen. The reason she was loved in Buffy was because she was the hot uninhibited fantasy brunette to Buffy's inhibited always-crying blonde.

Her voice is dull and dismal and always sounds like it's an effort for her to be bothered to talk.

Firefly was an excellent, fun, well-thought out show. Buffy was good until the last episode, Angel was finally getting somewhere when it fell apart...

Poor Whedon appears to be hitching himself up with the past rather than finding new talent and pushing towards the future, which is something he originally quite good at.