Hello, Hello!

Jamie here - hey everyone! Welcome to our inaugural post!

So you may be asking yourself - what the heck is this blog going to be about? Well, a mix of things: Ralph and I'll hopefully find all sortsa random fun stuff to bring up - random online things to do, fun things to read, random looks back at awesome little cult hit TV shows - that sort of thing - but it's also a homepage of sorts for HippoSquid Productions, our small business (which is a fancy way of saying "two college kids, an image editor, and a pair of CafePress stores"). Our business (as well as what little ad revenue we can gain from this blog) will go towards our living expenses and student debts - you know, food, rent, gas, textbooks and tuition, that kinda thing.

Wasting no time at all on both major focuses of this blog, I'll use this post not just to introduce us, but also to make a couple of minor store announcements, and also give a "brief" (by which I mean "ridiculously long" - oh, look, that has its own tag!) review and overview of a surprising little cerebral cult hit TV series that astounded everyone paying attention this year by getting renewed... by what used to be a cult-series-killer network.

First, the announcements: 1.) you can follow the mascot for our NinjaSquid store, Squid Boy the Ninja Squid, on Twitter. 2.) though we're not yet up and running with either store, we hope to be soon; most likely NinjaSquid will recieve the first products for sale, with stuff for men and women alike.

And now, the overview and review.

Most people who knew anything about Buffy and Angel creator Joss Whedon's history with Fox were, suffice it to say, a little surprised that he'd agreed to work with them again back in 2007. Making it the most baffling was his previous venture with them: the quirky, character-driven 2002 Space Western series Firefly, which practically defines the phrase "Screwed by the Network" - first, with its original two-hour pilot being replaced by a rushed hourlong episode at the last minute, then by being stuck in a Friday Night Death Slot, then having its episodes aired way out of order and, to add insult to injury, frequently preempted for sports coverage and pretty much having zero promotion after the pilot episode aired. On top of which, it's so different from regular Fox fare - with an easygoing pace, and a compellingly bizarre mashup of genres, concepts and influences (civil war references with the fun sidebar of the losing side actually being not in favor of slavery; the dialogue largely being deliberately off-kilter Southern US dialects being mixed with smatterings of mangled Chinese in a 26th century that sees a smooshing together of Eastern and Western cultures; futuristic oiran-like "Companions"; etc). For obvious reasons and despite eventual critical acclaim and winning an Emmy (for special effects), it ended up being very low-rated; it was canceled mid-season and despite 14 episodes being produced, only 11 ever aired on Fox in the US. The show then went on to see a surprising resurgence on DVD which actually led to it gaining a feature film theatrical sequel (named Serenity) and several comic book miniseries from Dark Horse (...and a jillian spinoff products; figures, art prints, copies of props, even a Serenity roleplaying game and a Firefly musical score songbook). None of this changed the fact that the show died a quick and painful death on Fox... the same network that Whedon would go on to work with again, on yet another science fiction series - this time starring Buffy's Eliza Dushku - that he said would be called Dollhouse.

Weirdly enough, Whedon actually seemed cautiously enthusiastic about this pairing, despite having previously, publicly (and rather understandably) been bitter over Firefly's handling; he noted firmly that the people responsible for the way Firefly was treated were actually no longer working there, that he had a stellar cast, and that the network actually genuinely seemed - dare we say it? - supportive, nay, thrilled. They even skipped right past the usual "10 million for a pilot and then we'll see if we still want it for $2-3million an ep" pattern, and, based on his 7-episode pitch, simply told him to start building the set and working on the episodes, for an order that started out as a miniscule 7 and then, upon seeing the improvements in later episodes, expanding this order to 13. The series was, unfortunately, later moved to a Friday night slot, and its early episodes? Well...

The first thing you need to know about Dollhouse is that "appearances can be deceiving". I mean this both in terms of it being one of the show's most obvious themes, and in terms of the show itself.

The concept of the show is that a secret organization known only as "the Dollhouse" takes on a number of young, attractive "volunteers" (heavily suggested in trailers and later in episodes themselves as, well... not being particularly voluntary in any real sense of the word). These "volunteers" are contracted for what we're told is a period of five years, during which the Dollhouse temporarily mind-wipes them into a innocent, childlike state. While in this blank, "tabula rasa" state, the "Actives" (nicknamed "dolls" and individually codenamed using the NATO Phonetic Alphabet) live in what basically amounts to the world's most gorgeous, perfect spa, complete with endless free massages, a pool, great meals, free healthcare, great security, painting and bonsai whittling classes, etc. But of course, they're mind-wiped for a reason: this is merely the state they're in while between "engagements", during which they are programmed with readymade personas for use by the Dollhouse or its ludicrously wealthy clients in search of perfection and (ostensibly) flawless confidentiality. Some of these personas and engagements are fairly benign - some of these include a midwife, a child therapist, a bodyguard and a kidnapping negotiator -and as the series' original teaser text states, are used for "the occasional good deed".

Make no mistake, however: the majority of the Dollhouse's activities - which include spying, theft, and assasination just to name a few - are of questionable morality at best, and the most frequent service is, well, prostitution; fulfilling the various sexual needs and fantasies of the less-than-wholesome multimillionaires and billionaires that make up the largest subset of their paying customers. Naturally, most people think the whole thing is a myth because it sounds "crazy", but one lone FBI agent, Paul Ballard is on the case and determined to take the Dollhouse down. Meanwhile, one of the Actives, Echo, begins to show some signs of burgeoning self-awareness, with flashes of memory from assignments she's supposed to have forgotten, spelling probable trouble for the Dollhouse.

If this all sounds relatively straightforward and like it would describe the show in a complete nutshell... then clearly you aren't used to Joss Whedon's way of writing shows. Although, to be frank, even people used to it will find it just as much to be a surprising (but not necessarily unwelcome) departure from his previous work.

Some people were confused (and some still are) by the show's enormous levels of fan service, and its tendency to make the people who both run and work for the Dollhouse seem oddly sympathetic, despite the increasingly obvious fact that they're little more than pimps and murderers (or accomplices to such) who manipulate, take advantage of, and forcibly, painfully erase people, often ones whose only crime was either getting on the bad side of the Dollhouse, or being in some other nasty circumstance that may not even be their fault to begin with. It would seem at first glance like the show actually wants you to buy into the Dollhouse's own in-world selling points: that the Actives are "happy" or "taken good care of", and that everything's hunky-dory because the "dolls" are so well-programmed that they totally believe whatever their persona (known in the series as an "imprint") is supposed to. They don't just act like they're in love; they are in love. And see, whatever bad or uncomfortable or illegal or immoral things they do, it doesn't matter- because they won't even have to remember it! Yay!

Of course, it's not that simple; in truth, Whedon is trying something very clever and (from the perspective of trying to keep a show on the air) almost dangerously bold and subversive: he is reminding us why a place like the Dollhouse could exist. Why, despite its horrific exploitation of human beings and despite its willingness to engage in terrible acts like murder and (since the Actives could never be legally considered able to "consent", let's face it:) rape, it still is able to get away with... well, murder. And rape. And then some.

And the reason is that the people who on one level or another do or would engage in human trafficking and exploitation such as this? They're people. Some of them are selfish and crooked and awful just as a general rule, yes, but a hell of a lot of them are just self-deluded, capable of "justifying" their actions, saying "they're not real people; they're more like pets" (several characters), or saying "they're better off this way" (Adelle DeWitt, boss of the LA Dollhouse) or "they'll be released some day and be able to put this behind them" or "I can't help them; if I try, they'll just find them again, so it's pointless to even try" (Boyd)... any number of excuses to turn a blind eye or a cold shoulder to the plight of the victims of the entrenched system. And even some of the ones who are jerks in many respects - the character Lawerence Dominic is a very good example of this, as he's a jerk to Echo yet seems to genuinely care about his boss, Adelle - still show some humanity. In short, people? They're complicated, and sometimes they do awful, awful things for all the wrong reasons, while convincing themselves that either it doesn't matter what they do, or that (worse yet) they're really doing something noble. Evil happens not just when good men turn bad or bad men do what they always do; evil also happens "when good men do nothing".

It's admittedly maybe a little hard to grasp this with the early episodes - and if you only ever saw, say, the first episode, "Ghost", it would be easy to dismiss the series as, if nothing else, mediocre in execution at best, and pointless fluff at worst. Yet the further you get into the series the better it gets - precisely because it's at that point that the executive meddling of wanting "the first few eps to be less arc-heavy so that people could get into it more easily", and the point at which Dushku starts to really grow into her role as Echo more naturally and the ensemble cast starts to get more of the screentime it deserves. Episode six, "Man On The Street", is one of the first serious arc episodes of the series and it and the following episodes are where the series suddenly and effectively manages to find its stride and, despite the fitful start of the first five episodes, really take off. It's then that the series starts to genuinely grip the viewer not only with just the touches of the trademark Whedon wit, but also with compelling twists and turns and revelations and character developments that combine to ratchet the plot up at least tenfold. By the time I got through the end of "Omega" (the 12th episode/season finale; the original pilot was scrapped for parts after it failed to really jive well), I was not just addicted, I was in love, and desperate to see the series survive... though its chances seemed bleak because it was hemmoraging viewers at a disturbing rate (having your season finale premiere at 9PM Friday on the same weekend as the Star Trek movie would have been murder even if it hadn't been, though).

Though the series is far from conventional, it's increasingly compelling and to boot, has a subtle, deliciously creepy vibe throughout: leaving aside the general, slightly offputting "uncanny valley girl" feel of the Actives in their blank slate states, there are also simple, eerie touches hiding in plain sight underneath all that glamour of set and costume all throughout the series. Such as the scripts programmed into the Actives, including their usual response to waking up from an always-painful-looking mindwipe... calmly, perplexedly asking "Did I fall asleep?" And the usual response from the ever-so-creepy neuro-imprinter guy, Topher Brink? "...for a little while." That's right: despite their minds being painfully yanked out of them and their identity erased while they're held captive and used and abused as needed, they not only don't remember a thing, they think they just fell asleep in a chair while receiving a "treatment". And the Dollhouse, naturally, allows them to think this.

If that's not wonderfully creepy, evocative nightmare fuel to beat the pants off even the creepiest clown or best slash-and-hack monster, I don't know what is. And trust me: that's only one of several unsettling programs embedded in the Actives. The series really begs the question: how do you know you know anything, including who you are? Or even, for that matter, who all the people you know are? Beautiful, and complex, and unsettling and provocative and smartly subversive and, believe it or not, still has time for some witty one-liners every so often? With countless twists and turns some of which are surprisingly unpredictable? Oh hell yes. More, please! Too bad it didn't stand a chance... or so everyone thought.

Surprisingly - Fox renewed it. Against all odds - against horrible numbers and niche appeal and (thanks to the early episodes) mixed critical reception - they renewed it. Word on the street has it in equal measures that it could be due to the execs actually genuinely liking the show and recognizing the sharp improvements of the latter part of the season; the fact that Whedon's shows actually tend to build word of mouth and do better in their second seasons; due to obsessive and effective fan campaigning (one of the show's actresses tweeted a number for fans to call in to support the show's renewal; the voicemail filled up and effectively borderline crashed within 3 hours, even though it was in the middle of the night in the US); due to lowered expectations of ratings across the board and for Fridays in particular; and (most intriguingly and perhaps compellingly) an example of "corporate synergy".

That latter one (the one that, despite my romantic streak of fannish pride, I can't help but find the most plausible) basically says that even a niche series - and Whedon's series are almost always "niche", especially at first - can turn a profit for the company in the long run, in terms of worldwide syndication, DVD sales, and other tertiary profits (which Whedon's series tend to spawn like crazy, it's worth noting). The official line is that "DVD preorders, good time-shift [DVR-recording-adjusted] numbers, and streaming numbers" combined to help save the show. In truth, I suspect it's all of the above; and the fact that Whedon has a proven record of being both willing and able to work on a smaller budget - Dollhouse is already Fox's most per-episode inexpensive scripted drama, at a stated $1.5 million per episode, yet its budget is being cut even further for the fall season - probably helped tip the scales. It's worth noting that the "streaming numbers" refer to Hulu.com; an official, ad-supported streaming service which the major studios have a serious stake in, apparently and especially including News Corp, aka 2oth/21st Century Fox and Fox Network's parent company. Saying that the Nielsen's estimates for live viewing numbers don't matter as much as the DVD sales or the streaming numbers not only means that more people will order or preorder their favorite series on DVD, it makes Hulu look like an important player in the field and watching videos on Hulu look like a way to help preserve the future of "bubble" (at-risk-of-cancellation) shows, which itself could drive further traffic and viewings to Hulu.

Whatever the reason though, this is a surprisingly good series for those who like darkly complex drama... and a very good time to check out Dollhouse: the series' second season premieres in the fall at 9PM on Fridays, starting September 18, and the first season is already set to street in DVD boxset form this month (the 28th, if you're wondering; and yes, as I write this, the cheaper preorder price is still available, so you can get it for $32 instead of $50 - and, it's worth noting, with free shipping if you're willing to be patient), thus allowing viewers plenty of time to catch up before the new season. Just the time to jump in, now that the series has gotten so intriguing (believe me, there's a lot I'm leaving out that is even better if you're surprised!).

Well that's it for today; sorry for talking your ear (er, typing your eyes...?) off, but I thought it might be better to provide a lot of content than to provide useless content, and honestly, when it comes to audiences for shows like this? The more the merrier. ;) Hope you got something out of it and feel free to comment!


NEXT TIME
On The HippoSquid Blog:

Over the course of the weekend or so I'll also try to give a review of the other cult series I had bated breath for this year: NBC's stellar, lightearted-yet-compelling spy series, Chuck. (Which also got renewed, yay! I'm two-for-two!) Don't worry, that one will (probably) be a lot shorter than this one!

PLUS I'm hoping we'll get at least one if not two designs for NinjaSquid done this week... cross your fingers!


See You Next Time, Space Cowboy...