Rossum Corporation launched a web site in apparent reaction to Senator Perrin’s Senate investigation of both the corporation, and the allegations of a Dollhouse (or Dollhouses). According to Whedonesque, when the Rossum contact number is called, and a message left, you will receive a message imploring you to “ditch the tech”.

The wicked smart poster (Dev – name, not function) then went back to the web, and searched the phrase…and found this truly eerie site. If you open up the link at the bottom, there’s a few little posters to paste around town, and possibly highly confuse folks

Finally, commenter Arison noticed a link leading to a site called Wipe the Future. This site seems to have to most activity, since it said only “Soon” this morning when Arison saw it, and it says “ROSSUM KNOWS THAT YOU KNOW.” now.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Topher, than are dreamt of in your Dollhouse.

There’s always something that brings me back to a series; usually for a smarty-pants  character (Dean Winchester of Supernatural, Rodney McKay of Stargate Atlantis) or for someone who surprises me by surviving despite the odds (the crew of Serenity, Sydney Bristow and Will “One in ten, you little …!” Pippin from Alias). But almost any screenwriter can do this. All my old standbys have failed me – Judd Apatow seems determined to sink to the lowest common denominator, JJ Abrams is getting a little strange, the list goes on and on.
But Joss is a different creature. Oh sure, he’s got his standby’s of kick-butt girls, hapless ‘quirky’ guys, watchers (both with a capital W and without), we know his familiar tunes well. But when he wants to hook you, you feel it catch, and the bottom drops out of your stomach. He draws his plotline in the sand, there’s a moment of clarity and stillness, and then the whole world is irrevocably changed. And he’ll do it three or four times a season. You know the moment when he just accesses something primal and universal in you…
…Buffy walks in and sees her mother on the couch, just lying there…Mal rips off the lid of the shipping container, sees River, and says “huh.”…Horror dawns on Lorne as he listens to Fred sing “you are my sunshine”…
In Dollhouse, it’s an answering machine clicking on and a crisp voice saying, “There are three flowers in a vase.”
It’s the casual and fluid flick of Alpha’s wrist in the most shocking and unexpected bit of violence that I have ever encountered.
So, there are a lot of things I like and dislike about Dollhouse, but there are a couple of things that I LOVE. I love the unexpected talent – Enver channeling Reed was as brilliant as it was surprising…update, his channeling of Topher was even better!- and the sheer diversity of the cast. I fell a little in love with Miracle Laurie the minute they focused on her exquisite and expressive eyes. I love that the sociopath isn’t even the worst bad guy, and that he has a drawer of inappropriate starches. I love that I’m not the only person that finds lentils completely incomprehensible.
Most of all I love Joss’ work. He has not wandered so far that I can’t follow. He writes characters that are full of Grace and fallibility, and the most enticing and occasionally brilliant dialogue. Even when I fundamentally disagree with Joss, I want to hear what he has to say. I’m sorry that it took six episodes of Dollhouse before he was able to speak, but then his world bloomed into technicolor with the words, “The third flower is green.”
So yes, I came to the party for Joss, and stayed for good TV. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Update – I almost forgot!  You can watch Dollhouse for free on Hulu…please do!  Or catch it live on Fox on Fridays 9/8 central, or Fox on Demand.

Here’s Ausiello

And then Kristen

The lovely Maureen Ryan – “A Good Day For Unconventional Television: Dollhouse Renewed“

End of Show

And finally, the Live Feed

Oh, just for an extra shot of Whedony goodness, Castle got renewed as well.

In other crashing news (from yesterday): fans followed Miracle Laurie’s suggestion to call Fox Broadcasting and encourage them to renew Dollhouse.  How do we know? They crashed Fox’s phone system.  Here’s the original tweet. Here’s the story on Whedonesque.  Here’s the fallout.  Hat tip: theonetrueb!x

Dollhouse Promo

I really appreciate their candidness, and could agree, or at least understand, most of the opinions stated in the article.  Right about now, though, I am praying that Janna doesn’t work for Fox.

This show is very difficult.  Joss has always tackled some pretty dense and touchy theological and philosophical issues, but with Dollhouse he gets to explore some particularly juicy ones: emancipation, logical consequences, personal identity, societal identity, social responsibility, money outstripping justice, science outstripping morality, rape (?), the amount that someone is willing to subsume him/herself to save another, slavery/indentured servitude, bachelor cooking, etc.  As you can see, some of this stuff is pretty morally questionable, and some of it is downright reprehensible, but please remember that this was intended. Its a pretty extreme metaphor, but its a metaphor none the less.

***I am seriously trying to give my opinion on character development for the most part, so there shouldn’t be any spoilers, but just in case there are, I am putting them below the break.  Oh! And they’re NOT for the finale, because I haven’t seen it.***

Echo/Caroline (Dushku) really did phone in some of those early episodes – or, to be fair, it could have been the direction – and I nearly left the series.  Then I remember how BAD the first season of Buffy (full disclosure – I watched it on DVD) was, and I just settled for doing my homework during the episodes. I forgive her, though, as episode 6 (and beyond) were truly worth waiting for.

Some of  the other main actors were just riding on their looks as well – Sierra (Lachman) is particularly binary (1 = squint on, 0 = squint off) until she smiles, and shows off that wicked sense of humor. Look for that around the fifth episode.  Paul Ballard (Penikett) just bullys his way through all the scenery until he gets what he thinks he wants, then he just looks shocked. I started feeling sorry for him at some point; he’s so pitifully used, for a being with a soul.

Meanwhile, the background characters were beginning to glow….

Miracle Laurie

Like Mellie (Laurie) – have you ever seen such a luminous smile in your life? That actress is truly aptly named Miracle, and has gone a LONG way to selling me on this series. I really appreciate the fact that she is not a “stick with boobs” as I heard somebody call other actresses when discussing her (I wish that I could remember who said that!!).Trust me, this actress oversells her longing looks a bit, but she has the potential to hone her craft into something remarkable.

Like Laurence Dominic (Diamond) and Topher Brink (Kranz) – could you be any smarmier, and still walk in sunlight? Seriously! I’ve never seen such blatant narcissists since…well, since Dr. Horrible, Angel, Firefly, BtVS…I’m sensing a trend here, Joss.  Just who are you writing?  And how does Dominic – who’s not even a big bad – manage to be so evil still?

Like Victor (Gjokaj) – I really thought you were boring, as you either gave this goofy made mob idiot face, or this flat aspect that made you look like you’d gotten caught in the headlights. When did you become the hidden talent of the show? You’re playing with accents, and you sell yourself physically to the myriad of roles that you’ve played.  Bravo, sir.

There are those that I just love; like Boyd Langton (Lennix), who looks like he would be the family friend that you call uncle, Dr. Saunders (Aker – once again sporting a lab coat, which made me a little misty eyed), trying so hard to disappear in the Dollhouse, and Ivy (Lapira), hanging around in the hopes that Topher will throw her some scraps.  Then there are those that I hate, like Adelle DeWitt (Williams), who’s a spoiled, self-righteous, hypocritical, and ruthless woman.  And yet, she’s played with this unexpected and subtle sorrow and desperation, sort of softly and never for very long.

Finally, there’s Alpha. I was not spoiled, and I won’t spoil anyone else.  I will say that I was taken by surprise so much that I didn’t know whether to throw up or burst into tears.  The casual and abrupt violence of your grand entrance literally brought me out of my seat…

…and made me fall in love with Joss all over again…

Miracle Laurie may be my new hero