Joss Whedon. A name that commands the utmost respect in the pantheons of geekdom. Very few individuals in any media have brought us such side-splitting humor mixed with heart-wrenching drama and deep mythological lore. Over several different series with many different characters, Whedon has pushed the boundaries and redefined television several times. The term 'Whedonverse' hasn't been coined for nothing.
In case you can't tell, I'm a big fan.
My first big exposure to Whedon came from a little show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Maybe you've heard of it? In my humble opinion, which is shared by many critics and fans alike, it is a travesty that Buffy didn't get any real recognition from the Emmy Awards over it's seven seasons. A more complex, sharp-witted, funny, dramatic, heart-breaking, action-packed, well-acted and written hour of television you'd be very hard-pressed to find. It's spin off, Angel, also had it's moments.
Then I was introduced by two of my friends (who were fellow members of the University of Waterloo Buffy Watcher's club; yes, I am that much of a geek) to Firefly, Whedon's short lived Western-in-Space experiment. Why that show got cancelled, I'll never know and forever regret. It had the scope of vision that Buffy had, with a band of outlaws traveling in a space-ship in a far and distant future. You wouldn't think that it's Wild-West flavour, villains of both the government and cannibal variety and Mandarin swear words would work well together, but by God they did! And the characters and story lines had just as much humor and depth that Whedon's other projects had shown. But then it was cancelled. Boo! Fortunately, the fans got another taste in the feature-length film Serenity.
But every subject of fan worship is allowed to hit a stumbling block or two. For me, that came about when the show Dollhouse premiered on Fox in February of 2009. I was all excited for Whedon to return to television, and I was looking forward to discovering a new world added to the Whedonverse.
I think I lasted about three or four episodes, then stopped watching. What gives?
It's not that it was a bad show...but it was one that just did not appeal to me. The plot lines were somewhat intriguing, and what I saw hinted at a very rich future ahead that would be carefully laid out as we went along. But it was a no go for me.
Why? Two reasons. The first was that I just could not get behind the premise. The whole idea of taking human beings and stripping away their memories, their personalities...basically what makes them who they are and reprogramming them as someone else time and time again was just so deplorable to me I could not root for the organizations known as 'The Dollhouses'.
The second reason was that I could not get behind and support the shows main character either. That would be Echo, portrayed by Eliza Dushku (who, if you're keeping track, played Faith on Buffy). Echo was one of the 'actives' or 'dolls' who was reprogrammed every episode as a new person and hired out for a variety of missions. And while Dushku handled the acting challenge very nicely, I think there was one thing the creators of the show didn't consider: How in the heck were we supposed to get to know and cheer for a character who was a different character every episode? It just wasn't going to happen, at least not for me.
Apparently I was not the only one who thought so. Due to low ratings Dollhouse was officially cancelled in November of 09, and the final episodes aired this past January. As sad as I am that another Whedon show was cancelled so soon, to me Dollhouse just was not in the same league as Firefly, so it is not a loss I'm going to loose sleep over.
So there you have it folks. The one time Joss Whedon broke my heart. But like I said, we all stumble and fall every once in a while. Even geek icons who have whole universes named after them. So Joss, I forgive you.
Now if you really want to make it up to me, how about giving Spike his own movie?
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