News from Comic Con

Comic Con is underway, and the Whedon panel happened yesterday. Lucky Comic Con attendees were treated to season 2 spoilers. Joss is reporting that additional Whedon alumni will be appearing on Season 2. Whedon confirmed appearances by Alexis Denisof (Angel) and Summer Glau (Sarah Connor Chronicles). Reportedly, Amy Acker will appear in at least 3 Season 2 episodes. Reportedly, Felicia Day will also be appearing in Season 2, building on her appearance in Epitaph One.

TV Guide reports: "Whedon kicked off the panel by raving that the staff he assembled for the Fox series' freshman run was "the best" first-season staff he has ever worked with. So expect no major changes there." They also report: "Amid the cheers and woots, Whedon gave the show's fans pause when at one point he teased, "There is one trustworthy person in the Dollhouse — and I'm going to kill them." I'm interested in hearing who others think may be killed off. Whiskey, due to her portrayer joining another show? Victor, due to the fact he now needs either reassignment or plastic surgery?

Comic Con attendees got to see Epitaph One. Although reportedly, this episode has also been "leaked" and can be found on the internet, I'll be waiting until I get my box set next week to watch it. Although Joss originally made this episode in anticipation of series cancellation, he promises Season 2 will "honor what was seen" in Epitaph One. He also said Season 2 will be more political, and will get out into the world more.

Whedon also thanked fans for setting their TIVOs and other recording devices to capture Dollhouse. Evidently, the largest numbers in the ratings came from the "record now to watch later" folks.

Reportedly, the panel was so popular that some rabid fans were left outside, and it was standing room only inside. This echoes Whedon's comment that the fans brought the show back from oblivion. Let's hope Season Two rewards our efforts.

Another Epitaph One Clip

Another Epitaph One clip has been released. This one shows no dolls whatsoever, but rather shows a bunch of armed folks discovering this unknown place 8 stories underground. Watch for yourself.

Whedon Discusses Epitaph One

EW has an exclusive conversation with Joss about Epitaph One. Reportedly, Whedon wrote the episode so that it would be a good series coda, should they be canceled, or a very good lead-in for Season 2. SPOILER ALERT: EW reports that the episode begins with Ballard and Caroline returning to an abandoned Dollhouse in 2019. Whedon tells EW. "Every flashback answers something about where people are heading but brings up a lot more questions about where they end up or how they got there." (Whedon says the season 2 opener he's writing and directing won't pick up right where the May season 1 finale left off, with "We've got to find Alpha!", but a little bit later.)

Whedon also says he understands why Fox decided to hold back the episode. As I've already said, I'm planning on getting the DVD set, and cannot wait to watch both this episode and the unaired original pilot. And I'd rather have the second season than the opportunity to see Epitaph One on Fox. If you haven't yet watched the clip of Wiped Clean, Ghostly Whiskey, do so as soon as you can. It's worth a watch.

Clip From Epitaph 1 Released

A clip from Epitaph One has been released!

Granted, it's only a 30 second clip, but it sure whets my appetite. The clip features the mysterious Whiskey, looking and acting sort of vapid, being surrounded by 4 apparent feds with drawn guns.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Whiskey."

"What is your last name?"

"I don't know."

"Where were you born?"

"I don't know."

"How did you get down here?"

"I've always been here."

Doesn't give us a lot. But I'm sure loving every glimpse of Whiskey that I get, and thinking Amy was MUCH more interesting as an Active than as a doctor.

Watch it for yourself and see what you think.

Season 2: Good News & Bad News

The good news is that Joss Whedon, the man himself, will be writing and directing the season 2 premiere. The bad news is that premiere has been pushed back one week, to September 25. It is still scheduled to air on Friday nights at 9 pm. Curiously enough, Fox has scheduled Glee to run in Dollhouse's original premiere date.

Reportedly, Joss wanted to have 3 or 4 episodes in the can before airing the 1st, and asked Fox to push the season 2 start date back by a week. Reportedly, season 2 will involve Echo trying to discover her "inner Caroline" as well.

The DVD release is still scheduled for July 28. (And I am still hoping to receive the set for my August 1 birthday. I plan a re-watch of the 1st season before the late-September premiere as well.) However, Whedon has also produced a special, limited edition collectors' edition of the season 1 set. It will only be available at Comic-Con, and must be pre-ordered on the Fox website. (link) It includes special packaging, as well as an individually numbered letter from Joss. Only 5000 of each format are being made. If anyone reading this is lucky enough to be attending Comic Con, and/or gets his/her little paws on one of these babies, please tell us about it in the comments section below. I'll have to be satisfied with reports, as I, unfortunately, will not be there. If you know someone who IS going, you may designate that person to pick up your box set for you.

Also, UK viewers are going to get a chance to see the still un-aired "epitaph 1" without having to buy the dvd set. Evidentially, the UK viewers are a lot more fanatical than those of us here in the US. Be can thank their enthusiasm for helping to sway TPTB to renew our beloved show. Dollhouse airs on Sci Fi in the UK. (Is it called SyFy in the UK now too?)

Hopefully, Comic Con will bring us even more Dollhouse news to tide us over until September.

EW.com Posts Exclusive Scoop on Season 2

Joss and his team have started writing season 2, according to Entertainment Weekly. Joss reports that season 2 will expand on season one, and that he's "pumped".

Source: http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/06/joss-whedon-buffy-dollhouse-1.html

Exclusive: Joss Whedon on 'Dollhouse' -- 'Back with such a vengeance'

Jun 11, 2009, 09:12 PM | by Mandi Bierly

Joss Whedon is two weeks into breaking stories for Dollhouse's second season, and we're happy to report that he sounds like a happy man even without that season 1 budget. Whedon wrapped his top-secret horror film The Cabin in the Woods on May 29 and hit the Dollhouse writers' room on June 1. "I just wanted to die of tiredness," he tells EW.com exclusively. "About two hours after starting to talk to the writers about story, I was back with such a vengeance, and so energized and so pumped because we really understand the show now. We understand what works, and what didn't work so well or what we weren't so thrilled about. We don't have the onus of trying to be a big hit sitting on our shoulders. We can just be ourselves. And so the stories we're breaking are pure, and exciting, and everybody's on-board in the room, and it's never flowed better."

What does that mean for Season 2? "I'm really proud of the second half of season 1, and we're just expanding on that in a huge way: Finding out the different things that Eliza [Dushku] can be, at the same time as extending our mythology," Whedon says. "Really, just every meeting is like, 'What's the most fun we can have with this actor?' about the whole cast. All I can say -- 'cause I'm gonna be Mr. Un-Spoiler -- is that we're having a crazy amount of fun, and usually, that tends to translate onto the screen."

Speaking slightly spoilery, Whedon tells us that season 2 won't pick up right with "We've got to find Alpha!" but a little bit later. Alan Tudyk has a role on ABC's midseason series V, but Whedon hopes he'll be able to use the character sparingly: "Alpha will always be a part of the equation." Whedon's also hoping to work out a similar loan with the producers of ABC's Happy Town, who nabbed Amy Acker, aka Dr. Saunders/Whiskey. For more insider scoops, keep reading after the jump.

More scoop: Whedon says that Echo's last word in the finale, "Caroline," was the beginning of her season 2 quest. "Echo wants to find not just Caroline, but what's going on behind everything. She doesn't have all of the skills. [Laughs] But she does have this weird super power of becoming a different person all the time, so she might start using that more specifically to find out who Caroline was and what happened to her and why this place exists." So she still has all those past imprints in her? "Well, they're supposed to have wiped them out of there. But we'll see how well that went..."

Other burning questions: Summer Glau hasn't signed on for any episodes of Dollhouse yet. "We're still breaking the episodes," Whedon says, "but we didn't honestly go into the season going, 'Now how can we figure out how to service Summer?' when we already have a huge ensemble. I adore Summer and she's phenomenal, but I have to service the cast I have first. If something comes up that's good enough, my God, I'd hound her. But the rumors of her becoming a big part of the show are greatly exaggerated."

And, sorry, but don't hold your breath that Whedon might become involved in the big-screen Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. "I believe [the producers] did ultimately reach out to my agent after the news broke," Whedon says. "I think that's something better left untouched by me. So, I wish them luck."

Fox Announces Fall Premiere Dates

Today, Fox announced premiere dates for its fall shows. Dollhouse is scheduled to return on Friday, September 18. So we won't have to wait all that long after the DVD release for our second season. (The DVD release is scheduled for the end of July.) However, although Fox is leaving Dollhouse on Friday nights, it appears to have ditched the sci-fi Friday concept. The lead-ins to Dollhouse are a pair of sitcoms, including the very mediocre "til Death." I hope the weak lead-in doesn't kill our beloved show, and that Fox takes into account the DVR numbers.

I, for one, will probably be taping Dollhouse. 9 pm on a Friday night is not exactly prime viewing time for a single gal. And since we managed to save Dollhouse for at least one more season, I will be re-capping episodes here, once season 2 begins. (In fact, I plan to review all the 1st season episodes, as well as the 2 DVD only episodes, as soon as I get my little paws on that box set.) I'm hoping the numbers remain high enough for a 3rd season. After all, I need some new loves now that Lost is reaching its final season.