Epitaph One--What did you think? by Dewrastler

DOLLHOUSE

Epitaph One--What did you think?

POSTED BY: DEWRASTLER
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 19:34
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VIEWED: 7334
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 1:03 PM

So I just bought season 1 of Dollhouse and the first thing I did was watch Epitaph One, the unaired 13th episode. Simple put, it blew me away. Quite easily one of the better episodes of TV I've seen. It really showed the potential of what this show could do. It pressed the moral issues of what the Dollhouse tech would bring up in the world and showed new sides of characters that I never really expected.

I would have to say my one complaint is if this episode represents the general idea of where Joss wants Dollhouse to go, then he just his hand to us. So is he going to follow this route, or will it be something new.

Also, it was just plain shiny to see "season 1" on the packaging. I was damn pleased when Dollhouse was renewed.

________________________________
People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 1:12 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Haven't seen it; don't know if I will. The show is "okay-ish", but I don't think I'm willing to dish out $$$$ just for that one episode. There's not much in the rest of the season that I really feel the need to re-watch.

Now, if Fox wants to show Epitaph One, that would be fine, but I don't know if they're planning on doing that.

Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

If it wasn't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college...

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:13 PM

TUJIAOZUO

My favorite episode of Dollhouse, hands down. I saw it at Comic-Con with a packed Hall H of other Whedonites and it was great.

Regardless of my obvious Whedon-Love, I have not been able to get into Dollhouse for various reasons. And though all of my friends have dropped it and walked away, this episode really pushed me towards giving Season 2 a chance (it was that and the possibility of Summer showing up at one point). Fox isn't putting as much pressure on Joss & Co as it had in S1, so I'm hoping for something to finally get me hooked.

Quote:
I would have to say my one complaint is if this episode represents the general idea of where Joss wants Dollhouse to go, then he just his hand to us. So is he going to follow this route, or will it be something new.

Joss said at the panel that this is the Dollhouse future, however, the downloads we saw might not be the complete truth because they are just that. Even though it's the future, he hasn't necessarily locked himself into a corner.

It should be also mentioned that Felicia Day and the others in the future will be in the first ep of S2, and it's been reported that Jamie Bamber (BSG) will be as well.

Your Indian Pirate Lord,
Ash

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:20 PM

DEWRASTLER

Ok, I just finished the original, unaired pilot. I have to say, it was pretty good. It had so much more going on for it than the aired pilot and the four episodes that followed(these first 5 episodes were easily the weakest).

It had some great moments between Topher and Boyd as well as between Topher and Dr. Saunders. Also, I felt Dewitt was better characterized here than all of season 1. This episode really fleshed out the characters better and quicker. Not sure why it was dropped. Maybe they didn't want to get into the mythos too quickly, so they went with the episodic 5 episodes that they aired.

These two episodes alone give me great hope for season 2. If you know someone who hasn't given it a chance, show them these. They're pretty good.

________________________________
People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 4:08 PM

DEWRASTLER

Quote:
Originally posted by TuJiaoZuo:
Quote:
I would have to say my one complaint is if this episode represents the general idea of where Joss wants Dollhouse to go, then he just his hand to us. So is he going to follow this route, or will it be something new.

Joss said at the panel that this is the Dollhouse future, however, the downloads we saw might not be the complete truth because they are just that. Even though it's the future, he hasn't necessarily locked himself into a corner.

It should be also mentioned that Felicia Day and the others in the future will be in the first ep of S2, and it's been reported that Jamie Bamber (BSG) will be as well.

Your Indian Pirate Lord,
Ash

It's good to hear Felicia Day will be back. Zack Ward, too. I loved him in Titus.

And don't get me wrong. I do like the new ideas of using the Dollhouse tech. I think it's good that they are getting into more world wide expenses and impacts of this technology. I guess I'm just a little disappointed that it was released in this unaired episode. I guess I shouldn't complain, cause if the show didn't get picked up then this would have been an answer to some questions I had.

________________________________
People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do

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Saturday, August 8, 2009 8:20 PM

RAHLMACLAREN

"Damn yokels, can't even tell a transport ship ain't got no guns on it." - Jayne Cobb

Quote:
It's good to hear Felicia Day will be back. Zack Ward, too. I loved him in Titus.

Dude, I own all the Titus DVDs. I almost yelled at my monitor when I realized... "It's Dave"!

Kwicko, I HIGHLY recommend watching Epitaph One. Although, I don't know how you would watch it with out the DVD. Is it rentable anywhere?

You know how Joss sometimes makes a season finalie that goes to a big place you weren't expecting? This is one of them.

My brain is still in the process of trying to put stuff into words. I don't know which is scarier, the Terminator 'verse or that alt(?)future DH one.

You know how people were afraid to answer the phone after watching "The Ring"? I think I'm gonna go into that phase for a little while.

--------------------------------------------------
Find here the Serenity you seek. -Tara Maclay

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Sunday, August 9, 2009 3:52 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by RahlMaclaren:
Is it rentable anywhere?

Netflix has it.

David

'Begone, sugar-free candy antichrist!' - Nathan Rabin.

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

"Don't worry. Captain Hammer will save us." - Penny.

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009 1:01 PM

WAKEUPSOON

Quote:
Originally posted by RahlMaclaren:
You know how Joss sometimes makes a season finalie that goes to a big place you weren't expecting? This is one of them.

My brain is still in the process of trying to put stuff into words. I don't know which is scarier, the Terminator 'verse or that alt(?)future DH one.

You know how people were afraid to answer the phone after watching "The Ring"? I think I'm gonna go into that phase for a little while.

I could not agree more. Wow .. just wow. I finished watching it literally 3 seconds ago, as it was aired on British TV (The Sci Fi Channel to be precise) tonight. Although I'm several hours behind other UK viewers .. I Sky +'d it (our version of Tivo) and just watched it now. On my own. Practically in the dark. At midnight. I'm actually terrified.

I cannot wait for Season 2!

~WuS
This is not my signature, I have to write this every time I post.
Smile && Nod, it makes it seem like you know what's going on.

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Wednesday, August 12, 2009 3:39 AM

NE0VEN0M

It's a great episode that REALLY messes with your mind. Joss managed to paint a picture of a very gloomy future in just an hour. I really felt something uneasy watching it, which means he's succeeded big time as a story teller.

I know movies or specific episodes that start off by showing the ending scene, then go back to "72 hours ago" or something like that. But it's really neat to see a series show what the far off future holds for the characters.

Now I'm even more excited about the upcoming season, as if all the guest stars weren't enough!

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Wednesday, August 12, 2009 4:29 AM

2BY2GINGERBLUE

I had purchased all of season 1 on itunes. So now I guess after reading this I'm going to have to get the dvd's because I have to know.I'm glad it is worth it.
Thanks

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Saturday, August 15, 2009 10:54 PM

PATCHIST

More Felicia Day! I love her. I hope season 2 gets has a back and forth to the present and the apocalyptic future of Epitaph One. Maybe some parallellisms here and there.

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Monday, August 17, 2009 8:43 PM

ASARIAN

Epitaph One, 'tweren't bad, really. Brilliant, at times, even.

In essence, the entire premiss of the show has always been one of 'too much'. And with that I mean that the technology used is really ELT: Extinction Level Tech. Epitaph One is really the only realistic outcome of the Dollhouse. Remember?

Forget morality, imagine it's true, alright? (...) If that techology exists, it'll be used, it'll be abused, it'll be global. And we will be over.

Yep, the ethicist in "Man On the Street" nailed it: with this technology, the world ends, almost immediately (and not just in 2019). It's just a small step from a 'remote wipe' to Topher's 'The Dollhouse only rings once' trick.

Epitaph One had its flaws; the usual suspects, really: sloppy scripting, bad attention to details; like they hardly recognize the chair and its purpose, yet man-ape-gone-wrong can upload memories and personalities (Caroline) at will without even blinking an eye? Or, when setting a boobytrap, attaching the wire to the granate's pin first, then dragging it to a post (very bad idea, believe me!). Or Topher bs-ing about analog cables. Or coming in with a bag full of harddisks, not knowing which is which, but the first one they pick just happens to be Caroline?

The above despite, Epitaph One had its moments, too. Especially the deepening of our understanding of the relationship between Adelle and Topher, and their interactions, were nothing short of astounding. Adelle's maternal, nurturing way with Topher made her more human than ever before. And for the first time I could really feel, and believe it, that Adelle, her usual rationalizing sales-pitches notwithtanding, truly meant well when she took the job. Or that at least part of her did. Topher bordering on insanity -- or rather, pretty much already having collapsed under the weight of his own consciene -- in those scenes rejoined the human race again, too (as opposed to being just a charicature).

Epitaph One was, all-in-all, a good episode. But "one of the better episodes of TV I've seen," not really. Sorry.

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

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Monday, August 17, 2009 9:03 PM

MANGOLO

Quote:
Originally posted by Dewrastler:
I would have to say my one complaint is if this episode represents the general idea of where Joss wants Dollhouse to go, then he just his hand to us. So is he going to follow this route, or will it be something new.

This is exactly what I thought. He could really take it anywhere after this. It would be actually be a bit of shame to go backwards after Epitaph one.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86085840444

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 4:10 AM

SHINY

Quote:
Originally posted by 2by2gingerblue:
I had purchased all of season 1 on itunes. So now I guess after reading this I'm going to have to get the dvd's because I have to know.I'm glad it is worth it.
Thanks

I'm pretty sure epitaph one is available on iTunes as well

---

I don't need a gorram back-spaceship driver!!!

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:15 AM

RAHLMACLAREN

"Damn yokels, can't even tell a transport ship ain't got no guns on it." - Jayne Cobb

Quote:
Originally posted by asarian:
...they hardly recognize the chair and its purpose, yet man-ape-gone-wrong can upload memories and personalities (Caroline) at will without even blinking an eye?

I think Griff (guy who set up the tripper) said the computer on the chair had a super simple interface (think Win XP for dummies), that explained exactly how it worked.

--------------------------------------------------
Find here the Serenity you seek. -Tara Maclay

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Thursday, September 24, 2009 3:22 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

This should have been the pilot epiode. So much more profound. This is Joss back on form.

Roll on season 2.

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009 7:34 PM

ROCKETJOCK

Finally got disk four from Netflix. Damn well worth the wait. Whew. I feel like I just had a stiff shot of scotch.

Myself, I'm going to think of this story as a possible future of the Dollhouseverse, not necessarily written in stone. Consider, for example, that the title "Epitath One" implies that there might be more than one . . .

Funny thing; watching last week's episode, with Topher accidentally switching Echo and Victor's imprints around, the first thing I said to my wife was,

Select to view spoiler:

"That's scary; what if they could do that without the biometric info? You could turn anyone in the world into a sleeper agent."

My wife said, "Stop thinking like an SF writer, and just enjoy the show."

Looks like I'm a better plotter than I give myself credit for.

Also watched the unaired pilot; interesting that part of it ended up in "Epitath One"; which means that

Select to view spoiler:

DeWitt's interview with the prospective client

is canon, even if much of the rest of the pilot isn't.

And, for the record, I think the unaired pilot would have made a much better introduction to the series than "Ghost" did. Still, I've come to think of those first few low-key relatively simplistic episodes as a coat of primer paint for the much more complex stories and story arcs that followed.

"Great, puberty all over again." -- Caroline

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