Mal sehen, ob ich daraus ne Serie mache:

I'm working on 'Buffy: Deep Space Nine'. It will be dark and badly received.

Joss Whedon über die Arbeiten an der fünften Angel-Staffel. (Entertainment Weekly: Angel TV Preview, #727-728, Sep 12. 2003)

Bei dollverse:



(Original)

Fox, so macht man das. Nicht mit kryptischem Scheiß.

Nach dollhousetvforum.com, Dollverse und Dollhouse Forums startet Watching Dollhouse nun auch ein Forum. Let's hope for some Synergieeffekte und lebhaftes Treiben.

Auf scifi.com:

People will compare this show to loads of other things ...

Whedon: People would come to me with "It's just like ... It's just like ... It's just like ..." I always feel a little guilty, if you have enough of those, I feel that's what makes it original. Eternal Sunshine is one of those things we all went, "Oh yeah, of course." Eternal Sunshine. Never Let Me Go, that novel. Actually, it was Tahmoh who pointed that out to me. Tahmoh Penikett, when I first got on the phone with him, he said, "Have you read this book ...?" And I went, "Oh my God, I have." And, yes, I think I'm stealing from it.

You're going to get a lot of Eternal Sunshine comparisons ...

Whedon: Eternal Sunshine, it's that same sort of idea of "What about our relationships is real, and what is just what we're projecting?" And that's really ... this whole [thing] revolves around the idea of what we expect from each other, what we believe about ourselves, and how all of that can be torn apart, and how you can build, from scratch, your own identity. So it's very dark and very morally gray.

Believe it or not, aber "Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind" ist mir tatsächlich bisher noch gar nicht eingefallen. Aber es stimmt ja sowas von. Eine andere Sache, die dort erwähnt wird, ist etwas spoilery:

SPOILER (mark it to read it)

Who is Amy Acker going to play?

Whedon: Amy plays Dr. Claire Saunders. She works in the Dollhouse and she's a very moral force. She's very, very, very broken. She's scarred, literally scarred. Something happened at the Dollhouse a while back, and she was scarred. She just sort of lives there, and her whole mission in life is to take care of them. Topher, the programmer, who is going to be cute and funny and sexy, he programs them, and he has a very amoral kind of point of view, and she is sort of his counterpoint.

Neu-Info: Saunders ist verletzt wegen "something [that] happened at the Dollhouse a while back". Anybody thinking Alpha?

SPOILER ENDE (stop ... marking)

Sehr schön finde ich auch die Frage der Darkness:

Eliza was pretty dark on Buffy and Angel, and here ...

Whedon: She's a complete innocent as Echo, but what's interesting to me is, as she begins to build a character as Echo, one of the things that Echo is going to have to learn how to do is [be] evil. Part of becoming human is layering on something that is bad. So, that to me ... somebody described it as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and I thought, "Yeah, that's her, too."

Von wegen, Echo ist Eva. Echo ist die Schlange!

Dollhouse @ de.wikipedia.org.

(Direktlink)

Dabei ist wichtig, das der Kontext folgender ist:

Dollhouse hasn’t even begun airing and, despite the fact that FOX have made a thirteen episode commitment to the series, just about every bit of press relating to the show is talking about the fact that fans (of a show that hasn’t aired yet?) are campaigning to save it. I fail to see — which probably makes this all my own fault — how Dollhouse will manage to reach a larger audience when all the noise being made about it revolves around its imminent demise.

Am I saying that people with faith (sorry) in this series shouldn’t get behind it? Hell no! But I do believe that there’s a real danger that this sort of campaign could become the harbinger of doom, a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. The people behind these Save Dollhouse campaigns need to tread very carefully and choose their battles (and wording) with caution. Don’t think for a minute that I don’t admire their passion either! I’m just concerned that they may be doing more harm than good.

Ich mag es sehr, wenn die Leute anfangen so cool den Begriff "Save Dollhouse" umzudeuten. Weg vom Verhindern einer Absetzung, hin zu Werbung für Zuschauer. Auch wenn das dollhouseforums (von denen die Geschichte auch ausging, glaub ich) auch so formuliert in Antwort auf die Kritiken an der Negativität:

We are NOT a campaign to save Dollhouse, we are just fans who are dedicated to promoting it as much as possible before it airs. Joss Whedon already has a loyal fanbase -- something that new shows with burgeoning creators don't initially have. Why not use it to our advantage and band together?

Schon klar. Aber dann muss deutlicher gemacht werden, was unter "Save Dollhouse" gemeint ist. Der erste Schuss ging etwas daneben.

dollhouseforums schrie zuerst auf:

We have been in contact with FOX about holding special Question & Answer sessions and they have stated that they would LOVE to hold interviews with the fans at Dollhouse Forums. We do not know all of the specific details yet, but YAY!

Right now they have stated, "...we are holding off on most cast interviews until we are back up and running and have several episodes filmed. I am going to put you on the top of our waiting list for cast interviews, and will be happy to facilitate this several months from now… probably towards the end of August."

dollhousetvforum meinte kurz darauf:

We will be holding something similar to that at around that time also.

I received an email by one of the cast saying that they have all been asked to keep quiet for the time being.

Das ganze hat also keine Exklusivitäts-Relevanz, sondern zeigt nur: Fox lässt die Marketing-Phase "Cast-Promo" Ende August starten. Die beiden Foren, von denen es mich immer noch wundert, warum sie nicht mehr zusammenarbeiten (was ich denke ist: "fusionieren"), werden weder irgendwas besonderes, exklusives erhalten, noch werden sie vermutlich sehr hoch in der Warteliste bei Fox stehen. Aber sie sind dabei. Und wir dadurch auch.

Warum da Buffyverse-Menschen herumstehen, ist noch nicht ganz geklärt.

Langsam sollte Fox aber auch aufpassen, dass ihr Umgang mit den vorschnellen Dollhouse-Rettern nicht von "nice, thoughtful und selbst-ironisch" damals zu "bitchy, careless und konfrontantiv", also in noch schlimmere Fan-Verstimmung umschlägt. Das Resultat könnte dann nämlich noch viel eher so lauten:

Please do not incur physical harm to network execs when considering “how far would you go to save a show?” There’s a lot of nice people here.

"Most Fascinating Piece of TV in the History of Radio":



Yeah!

Yup, durt'n. Neben dem Klassiker "Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck." finde ich ja

“[After being asked what he thinks about people saying the 6th season of Buffy got a little too dark]
Um....oops?...oh come on...I thought it was funny!”

auch herrlichst.

Good 'ol Tim:

Writer-producer Tim Minear has inked a new two-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV. Under the seven-figure pact, Minear will work on existing 20th TV series and develop new drama projects for the studio.

Good for him! Also nicht nur Dollhouse, sondern viel viel mehr. Und seven-figure für zwei Jahre? Scheint fast so, als ob das neue Fox nicht nur um Vergebung für die Sünden des Vorgängers bittet, sondern auch selbst jemanden gern aufnimmt, der wohl Platz 1 ihrer internen "The Most Cancelled Guys"-Liste einnimmt.

Edit: Ja, sorry, ist natürlich so nicht richtig, schließlich ist es Fox, das Network, dass seine Shows absetzt, und (20th Century) Fox, die Produktionsfirma, die sie produziert und zahlt, und ihn somit einstellt. Ganz kann man damit die hilarity aber nicht wegrationalisieren.

Dank thebruce beim unfiction-Forum gibt's nun ein frisches Wiki zum Dollhouse-ARG. Wikis zur Serie selbst sind ja noch eher spärlich, Wikia und Wetpaint noch ziemlich leer, sodass Wikipedia bisher noch die kompletteste Quelle darstellt.

Ist aber alt, nicht Dollhouse-related und mehr ne Geschichtsstunde.

As you were writing “Toy Story,” did you have any sense that you were involved in launching what would become one of the most lucrative new big-screen genres of all time?
I think the thing that’s important to remember about it is simply that digital animation was starting to happen, but everyone was using it for the same thing, which was, [Whedon affects a shaky hippie voice] “To blow your mind – by putting the camera through a keyhole and into the ass of a fly and through the stars.” Nobody could control themselves.

Und noch was zu "Toy Story":

I think one of the last things that was added – certainly it was after my time, and it’s the thing I most wish I could take credit for – was the crane-worshippers. The little 3-eyed aliens. I think I spent more time explaining that I didn’t come up with that than anything else.

Bisher nie untergekommen ist mir die Info, Whedon hätte einen "Batman Begins"-Pitch gemacht:

Look, I’m going to have trouble watching “Batman Begins” because I pitched a Batman movie to them that I fell so in love with that I couldn’t get it out of my head. And, no matter what, I’m just going to be going, “Oh, that one scene. Oh, I just wish … Oh!” Even if I love every frame, you just don’t get over stuff like that.

I don’t recall ever hearing about you pitching a Batman movie.
It was right when they first starting talking about making another “Batman” movie, and there was no director attached. And I can tell you exactly when I pitched it because – funny little story – my agent said, “You know, I wouldn’t call you. I know you don’t want to do other people’s stuff, but it’s Batman, and I figured I’d mention it. They want to do something.” I’m like, “Well, I guess you’d have to ‘Year-One’ it because, I mean, you can’t go any further in the direction they’ve gone.” He’s like, “Well, y’know, whatever.” I’m like, “Y’know, I’m not going to think about it.” And then I talked to my wife, and she’s like, “Dude.” And she doesn’t even like comic books. She was like, “No. Are you kidding? It’s Batman!”

And, you know, I started to think about it and I did come up with an origin movie and I just got completely overwhelmed by how much I loved the idea. I was just like, “Oh my God! This is really … I’m going in to pitch! What the hell!” And I was clearly not on the same wavelength as the people I was pitching to. I was talking about personal epiphanies and they were talking about an ’05 slot. So the meeting was just kind of a non-starter. I was talking about a smaller film, they were really looking for a big franchise thing. So I got in my car and headed back to the office and I literally said to myself, “How many more times do I need to be told that the machine doesn’t care. The machine is not aware of what is in your heart as a storyteller.” I got back to the office and they cancelled “Firefly.” So I was like, “Oh! So, uh, just once more. OK!” That was not a happy day.

It surely wasn't.

Nice mockumentary, feat. meinen House-Heroes, David Boreanaz und einer sprachlosen Summer Glau:

(Direktlink, via)

Ich merk ja jetzt erst, dass ich auf Fox verlinkt werde. Permanent. Daher auch die vielen Besucher der letzten Zeit.

Drüben bei IGN via dollhousetvforum. Es geht um alles und jeden, basically, aber hier meine (Spoiler-freien) Highlights. (Obwohl der Rest, der dort, als Spoiler markiert ist, auch den Namen nicht wirklich verdient, für die, die die Prämisse und Charakterbeschreibungen kennen.)

Question: Would you say TV is still the kinder medium to writers?

Whedon: Yes it is. It absolutely is. I love movies though, I do. They're part of my DNA.

Sehr schön finde ich die folgende Antwort, wegen Negativität, ne:

Question: Your fans are very protective of you. Some of them heard "midseason" and there was a bit of, "The sky is falling! FOX is going to screw him again!" What do you say to those concerns?

Whedon: Well, you know, I get it. I understand that and I feel bad because I want to be able to explain, without sounding like an apologist, that it doesn't work the way it used to. The winter is prime time for FOX. Firefly came out in the fall, had to fight baseball, and lost. FOX has always been incredibly supportive of [Dollhouse], and they also said, "Well, you haven't finished it. These guys [at Fringe] have finished theirs." And we were gunning for winter. We were like, "We hope we get January, because we want American Idol time, not baseball time." Not to say that they're not supporting Fringe, it's just that either one works for different reasons. I like the idea of making my episodes before they go out – it's how we did Buffy and it worked great for us. But yeah, for some people it has the stink of midseason, when in fact the whole concept of the season is deteriorating. So we're going up with the premiere of 24.

Some nice Tahmoh Penikett-Schmeicheleien (die ich als BSG-Hasser wirklich nur wegen dem erwähnten Buch und der Fillion-Erwähnung am Ende super fand... :) :

Question: I know you're a big Battlestar fan. Was it great for you to get to work with Tahmoh Penikett?

Whedon: I'm gonna go out on a limb here and tell the truth – I've had a man-crush on Tahmoh since the first episode of Battlestar.

Question: From the moment he stayed behind on Caprica?

Whedon: I had a feeling about him. I just had a feeling about him. I know, he gave up his seat to Baltar! Not bright, but cute! But no, he just has a presence. Tim Minear watched the dailies and he said, "I can't believe you found this guy. This guy is so hard to find. A leading man that has a real soulfulness and a real unique quality" and I just felt that from Battlestar, and he brought it completely [to Dollhouse]. When I spoke to him, he was the first person to mention Never Let Me Go, the novel, just from hearing the premise of Dollhouse. The beautiful sadness of that novel so suffuses what we're trying to do, and it was so beautiful when he brought it up that I just knew this guy [was right]. And it follows my rule with Nathan [Fillion]. Hire a Canadian! They're gentlemen and they're very tall.

Dann, a big damn question. Der Langzeitplan:

Question: If you do six years of this show, do you know the end?

Whedon: I don't know the end zone, because you've got to leave that up to the viewers to an extent, but I know the arenas. When I pitched the show, I said, "Here's the pilot, here are the characters, here's episode six and sort of what we do every week and here's the first two years, second two years, third two years." So yes, because the show has to progress. Especially a show like this, where while it's a week to week show – she'll go on a different engagement every week and it'll have a complete story – like Buffy, ultimately what people will become invested in is the arcs of the characters. You cannot just hit reset. Somebody, I forget who and I apologize to them in advance, but somebody said, "Scully was pretty much like a doll that they imprinted and she kept forgetting that there might be monsters." You can't do that. You have to let them grow. So I said, "The first arc is this, the second arc is this, the third is this." There's room for change though, but they know I have a five year plan and that's important.

Cooool! Und zu Abschluss:

Question: So this is a profitable operation?

Whedon: Yes. But where the money is going is something we haven't talked about.

Sie reagiert:

All,

We may have a problem regarding one of the Actives. It appears somebody -- a civilian -- is trying to find them.

My office, 9am. Don't be late.

Gemeint ist vermutlich Sheridan Owen.

The ARG goes on, denn jemand vom unfiction-Forum hat tatsächlich auf ne Email ne Antwort von Sheridan Owen bekommen:

Hi October,

Unfortunately Youtube kept deleting the video I placed online, and won't tell me why.

I will type the letter up or get it scanned and place it online for you to see. She mentions something called The Dollhouse in the letter, which sounds insane, and talks about being out of contact for many years. She's my best friend, she never stays out of contact for more than a few days usually. I think she may be being forced into something.

Best
Sheridan.

SPOILER (mark it to read it)

Ich vermute ja nicht, dass sie gezwungen wurde, sondern freiwillig dorthin verschwand. Kimi könnte Alpha sein. Oder - natürlich - auch Echo. Ein Missing Person-report würde natürlich erklären können, woher Paul das Bildchen hat.

Hier wohnt Paul:

while this photo is taken during the day, it was in fact a night shoot.