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Dollhouse 1.01
The main trouble with this show is that it takes place in The Real World.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer supposedly took place in The Real World, but very rarely. I mean, that series started by telling you it was not Real, but rather a spoof of both horror movies and highschool. I still think it had the best pre-credit bit for a pilot ever. And then there was this girl with superpowers, and vampires. And while the vampires and superpowers were already there because of the movie, that was actually a great way to start the series, rather than trying to convince us first that Buffy was a Real Girl. What happened in that show was that we slowly realized despite the show not occurring in the Real World, these were Real People.
Sunnydale was never meant to be a Real Town, and the stupidest parts of the show were when there were explanations for how Sunnydale fit in the real world, or how Sunnydale might be Real (i.e., why wasn't everyone aware that there were vampires, or that their town was on a Hellmouth). Or anything to do with the Initiative, as if national government had any place in that show whatsoever (whereas municipal government--i.e. the Mayor--made perfect sense).
Firefly, of course, was even more simply Unreal, and by its very premise had license to pick and choose Real World elements and weave it into a new world fantasy.
Dollhouse has a premise that suggests unreality, mindwipes, memory adjustment, yada yada, but it's definitely supposed to be the Real World. Now, you say, Torchwood has mindwipes yada yada, and it's not as fantastic as say, BtVS, but it works. Let me clarify by saying TW does not work for me at almost anything; I don't like the show very much. But in this respect--and I think the respect I'm talking about might be genre?--TW does fine. It does not bring Real Government into it. The government on TW is fake government; it's a fantasy government constructed by both TW and DW, and we barely ever see it (if at all. In DW we see the PM, that's it. In TW I don't think we even see that, we just see UNIT which is apparently a branch of the government [wait, is TW a branch of the government?], but anyway it's not government either). And hostage situations, child abuse, and Secret Agents on TW all have aliens. So it's all unreal, and makes it's own kind of sense. TW isn't the best example; I've had some trouble with the ideas of just how real and unreal they're meant to be, but it was the first example that came to mind. Besides, despite it's screwy logic and very wrong unadmitted date rape sequences, it does a lot better at what I'm talking about than Dollhouse has so far.
I felt like Dollhouse had these real elements it was trying to bring in. Businessmen (real businessmen, not the fake businessmen who make no sense, like David Nabbit on Angel), and kidnappings, and Helo in what appears to be some government agency or something--is he meant to be police/FBI/CIA/Secret Service/whatever (am a little confused)? Not to mention slave trade and child abuse. But then you've got this sci fi premise--which is okay to have in the real world! It is okay to have a Real World show with sci/fi fantasy elements going on, like those ones about prescient crime-solvers who see crimes happen or whatever, all those shows that aren't very good anyway.
But the thing is--it's Joss. I never went to Whedon for anything this real, and I'm not sure I trust him to pull it off, and I'm not sure I want him to, or anyway that I want to watch it. It's not that Buffy didn't have real, as I said. It was so real, it did talk about things like child abuse, and it talked about grief, and apathy, and sexuality both healthy and unhealthy, it talked about family both ugly and beautiful, it talked about all those real things. But it never expected me to take the actual premise and put it in a world that couldn't hold it.
I still don't know whether the world Whedon has created can hold his Dollhouse, but something didn't feel right, felt off to me. I have more to say about the show in general, but I think I will wait until the next ep to pass more judgment.
All that said, *chin in hands*, what did you think?
no subject
I love sci fi. I'm interested in why you could watch SW and not Firefly; that's different!
I should also have said that I didn't like the shows I'd seen with sci fi premises in the real world, like when I mentioned prescient crime fighters, not that they weren't any good. I get excited about shows like that and then am disappointed, because a lot of them de-emphasize the sci fi, and emphasize the crime. This frustrates me because the crime element is commercially successful, so that's why I feel like they're doing it, but the crime element doesn't interest me at all. But that's me, not the quality of the show. Unless the show is selling out to get more viewers, but I really don't know what the shows do, and I've probably liked shows that were sell outs ;o)
Anyway, what I mean to say is, I don't think enjoying certain shows makes people plebs or unwashed masses or anything like that. I like some shitty books and McDonald's. Doesn't mean my judgment is flawed or that I have no taste. So, I wasn't trying to say that about what anyone else likes.
no subject
About sci fi and me - see, I have this theory. I think Star Wars is an exception for me because I was exposed to it at such an early age, when I hadn't yet formed any general genre impressions, or maybe I just love it because of Yoda, and lightsabers, and the ewoks that speak Tagalog (Philippines represent!). The theory also explains my interminable fondness for a great number of vintage robot animes. <_< (I love Robotech! And Voltes V! And... pretty much every other robot cartoon I saw as a child, rly. XD) It does not really explain why I loved Voyager, though, or why I can still read Star Wars novels when I can't read any other sci fi stuff.
I don't know what it is about sci fi shows, I just can't seem to latch on to them and I don't know why. It's a bit frustrating, because I've been recced so many books and shows that sound great, but when I try to read or watch... nothing happens for me. It makes me sad! :(
Do you count something like Eureka as sci fi, though? I liked that! And I guess Heroes is sci fi in its own way. Maybe it's just space shows I have a hard time loving. <_<