Dollhouse Season 1 Blu-ray
Volunteers have their minds wiped and imprinted with personalities so they can be anything the Dollhouse wants them to be for each engagement, only the dolls are waking up.
Film making 20/25
Cinematography 20/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 18/25
Total 78/100
I just received Dollhouse on Blu-ray and will add to the regular DVD review that I previously published with a couple of paragraphs on Blu-ray video and audio quality, bonus features and anything new to the Blu-ray edition.
Dollhouse is a new series with an intriguing twist to the science fiction genre, Dolls or Actives have their minds wiped and can be imprinted with any personality for a paid customers use. Think prostitutes with entire mind, body and soul at the whims of the clients who pay top dollar for their engagements.
Dolls volunteer but not much choice when they pick people about to go to prison or worse for a five year contract to be Dolls or Actives as their handlers like to refer to them. Once wiped of any memory and personality they are simple dolls empty of all personality and free choice, ready for their next assignment or engagement.
Each assignment varies with the client; prostitution, just a friendly dinner date or a night out on the town comes to mind but then you get the other side. Trained assassin or even veteran soldier for hire is also a possibility as the mind programming includes muscle memory to have fully trained and ready for anything Dolls.
Dollhouse follows one main Doll named Echo, played by Eliza Dushku, who starts to remember things from one engagement to another and even parts of her own past. This is not supposed to be possible as their full personalities are stored on disks and their minds are supposed to be wiped clean between jobs.
Echo starts to exhibit odd behavior but this has also happened before to an extreme with a previous Doll named Alpha who had 48 personalities and skills implanted at the same time due to an accident. Alpha ends up attacking the Dollhouse near the end of the season and escaping with Echo only to have her escape him and return to the Dollhouse.
Another major recurring theme of the season is FBI Agent Paul Ballard, played by Tahmoh Penikett, who gets suspended because of his involvement in trying to uncover the Dollhouse. Most agents think the Dollhouse does not exist but Paul Ballard is set on finding out what happens inside the secret facility and uncovers more than he ever thought possible.
Each episode has its major theme of keeping things under wraps in the Dollhouse and conducting business as usual but two major themes of the FBI agent and Alpha keep repeating throughout season 1. This means a bit too much of episode to episode watching is required so this is one show that you do need to watch them all to figure out what some of the major events throughout the season are.
Dollhouse is written and produced by Joss Whedon of Firefly fame and really has a great story and theme that is entertaining and appealing. The show is based on lots of high tech science fiction but almost all of the set and events are normal everyday things that could be in any major city or its environs.
Other than mind wiping and implanting the memories and skills of different people the show is all about the characters and their interaction. Some of the more thrilling action scenes include things like Echo fending off a thrill seeker who hires her as a target for a personal hunt.
Her body guard/handler helps get her out but not without a little help from her own prowess, instincts and natural skills that keep slipping through her mind wipes. The season ends with more new questions than answers to previous questions that kept coming up throughout the first season.
I really enjoy watching Dollhouse but would be a little disappointed if I had to watch it week by week, I just can’t take having to wait a week to see what’s going to happen next. The show has enough action that it does not get dull, plenty of twists and secrecy that creates a perfect blend for a sci-fi drama.
Time for some new stuff with the Blu-ray release, the Blu-ray edition contains an unaired thirteenth episode called Epitaph One that is fantastic. Epitaph One is not the usual series ending, it’s a TV shows ending finale and seems to have been filmed in case the show did not move on to a new season.
In the show they portray what could happen if the entire Dollhouse project went horribly wrong and the technology of imprinting dolls starting doing the same thing worldwide through technology. The additional episode is handled as both a flashback at what did happen and a look into the future where a few episode extras along with a few choice regulars find out what humanities future may become.
Epitaph One is an Armageddon of mankind’s future brought on by the technology of the Dollhouse so it brings a definite timeframe to the show that is a wall the writers are possibly working against in future shows. It will be interesting to see how they play this final season 1 episode into the second season or if they just call it an aside and move on without regards to the one episode.
The Blu-ray edition also contains plenty of other bonus content including audio commentary, a making of feature, deleted scenes and a few others. The audio commentary is alright but nothing to go through more than once while the making of feature is a great look behind the scenes with everything you could want in this sort of extra.
The documentary is the great Joss Whedon style of on scene extras, cast interviews and plenty more for a great look at everything not in front of the camera you don’t get to see. The four other features, A Private Engagement, Coming Home, Finding Echo and Designing the Perfect Dollhouse are alright but the two middle ones seem to be just a tribute to Joss Whedon. The other two are a look at what the technology of Dollhouse in real life could be for our society by quick interviews with the cast and a look at the actual Dollhouse design on set.
The Blu-ray edition has some great audio and video with both being about equal in quality and not the best I have seen on Blu-ray. The video is great but not reaching that amazing rating as there are problems at times that make the show a bit odd at times.
Most of the time you have great video, good colors (especially the Dollhouse scenes with its deep and rich wood tones) and flesh tones look really good. There are times where video gets a bit soft in close up shots like some faces when the camera pulls into a face shot or just things they are highlighting.
While this is not annoying at all it is noticeable when you view some scenes and it appears to be some sort of noise filter during the process because it does not happen all the time. Audio is also quite good but not fantastic with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 for the audio type with only a few problems here and there in conversation.
At times the center speaker dialogue can be a bit flat but this does not happen all the time and is noticeable but it took a few episodes to realize what was happening. Once I heard and picked out the slightly flat spots it was noticeable throughout the thirteen episodes but this was the only problem I found in audio.
The Blu-ray edition of Dollhouse Season 1 is a great addition to any Joss Whedon or science fiction fan and adds a great drama to this type of television series. Dollhouse season 1 is well worth the purchase in Blu-ray for the great high definition and additional great bonus content.