Product Details

• Actors: Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz, Tahmoh Penikett, Enver Gjokaj
• Directors: Allan Kroeker, David Solomon, David Straiton, Dwight H. Little, Elodie Keene
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: July 28, 2009
• Run Time: 694 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0024FAR6G
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,842 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Television > TV Series By Letter > D > Dollhouse

• For more information about "Dollhouse: Season One [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

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Stills from Dollhouse: Season One (Click for larger image)

Product Description

From Joss Whedon comes a new groundbreaking show starring Eliza Dushku as Echo, an operative in an underground organization that provides hired personas for various missions.

Disc 1: 230 Minutes

• Forced Trailers: Wolverine, Joss Whedon Properties Trailer, I Love You Beth Cooper, Nobel Son, Wrong Turn 3, The Keeper
• Ghost
• Episode Commentary with Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku
• The Target
• Stage Fright
• Gray Hour
• True Believer

Disc 2: 230 Minutes

• Man on the Street
• Episode Commentary by Joss Whedon
• Echoes
• Needs
• A Spy in the House
• Haunted

Disc 3: 229 Minutes

• Briar Rose
• Omega
• Epitaph One
• Episode Commentary by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen
• Original Unaired Pilot - "Echo"
• Commentary w/ Cast & Crew
• Deleted Scenes
• Making Dollhouse
• Coming Back Home
• Finding Echo
• Designing the Perfect Dollhouse
• A Private Engagement

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most inventive, challenging shows on television, May 8, 2009

By	Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Warning! Spoilers!

Over the past fifteen years, no one has made more interesting television than Joss Whedon. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER helped revolutionize television, not only making the empowered female hero a staple of television, but popularizing the long story arc and introducing the concept of the body count. ANGEL did little innovation in its own right, but still managed to roll out several seasons of excellent and consistently fascinating television. And FIREFLY not only brought new ground by blending the Western and Sci-fi, but brought a grittiness to the genre that later BATTLESTAR GALACTICA took to new heights. DOLLHOUSE, however, is both a far more challenging and adventurous series than any of these. Is it as consistently successful as these? Absolutely not. Does it represent Joss Whedon's best work? Here the answer gets dicey. Speaking strictly on the basis of what has been shown so far the answer would be "No," but a more honest and accurate answer would be, "Potentially."

It is no secrete that DOLLHOUSE is considered a long shot to be renewed. The fault largely has to be laid at the feet of the executives of FOX. This show, unlike virtually every other show that FOX has ever done, is cutting edge and adventurous, taking risks unlike anything else you'll find on commercial TV. Had the show been placed on any night of the week other than Friday it unquestionably would have attracted a healthy viewership. After all, there is no question that a large number of people are actually watching it. Between live viewers on the "death night" of Friday, the large number of people who DVR the show, the huge number of people who download it via Torrents, and those who buy it on iTunes or Amazon's Unbox, a whole lot of people watch this show. But FOX shoved the show into the least promising time slot of the entire week, Friday nights. And what was the result? What anyone would imagine it would be: no one watched it live. DVR? Yes. Download? Yes. But live? No. The problem with Friday nights is that everyone in the 18-49 age group that advertisers desire is that they are all out doing stuff. The shows that have good ratings that night, like GHOST WHISPERER, attracts primarily viewers over the age of 49. FOX is responsible for the low ratings of DOLLHOUSE by not putting it on a better night. But despite that it has a show that plenty of people are watching, only not live.

DOLLHOUSE is built around an extremely difficult concept: people voluntarily (though not uncoerced) agreeing to become more or less indentured servants (which also involves nothing short of prostitution). Imprinted with the personalities who anyone needed for their jobs, the "Actives" who populate the Dollhouse can undertake virtually any job imaginable, for a fee. The first several episodes were somewhat slow and dragged a bit, a series of standalone episodes strongly encouraged by FOX. But once the show moved away from the "assignment of the week" it became the most bracing and exciting hour on television. The second half of the season featured one absolutely breathtaking episode after another, culminating in the final two, where the mysterious "Alpha" finally put in an appearance (played by the wonderful Alan Tudyk) makes his appearance. The show featured one startling twist and shock after another, some that could be anticipated (like many, I had guessed something crucial about Amy Acker's character)) and others that could not. It became a show that was the least predictable on TV.

The question now is whether FOX will allow us to find out what happens next. Due to their terrible decision to put the show on Friday nights the ratings bombed (the original plan was to put the show on Mondays just before 24), which is unfortunately still the only came in town for the networks and advertisers, despite the otherwise large number of people who watch the series. I do have one hope for the continuance of DOLLHOUSE as we know it. Kevin Reilly, the head of FOX since the summer of 2007, has not been out-of-control in canceling shows. Unlike the FOX of the past, the Kevin Reilly FOX has been far more sober in canceling shows (though he has inexplicably renewed what is arguably the most hated show on TV, `TIL DEATH, which has the lowest viewer rating of any active show on TV). While head of NBC, Reilly made a habit of renewing critically acclaimed but low-rated series, like 30 ROCK, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, and THE OFFICE. Two of those three later became hits. My hope with DOLLHOUSE is that Reilly will remember that great shows have a potential of growing an audience, if you put them on the right night.

DOLLHOUSE is one of many shows of recent years that focuses extensively or even primarily on the question of what makes a person. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, for instance, dealt at length about who could be said to be a person. In the first three seasons of that show Sharon Agathon (who was, interestingly, involved with Karl Agathon, who was played by Tahmoh Penikett, who plays FBI agent Paul Ballard on DOLLHOUSE) is at the center of whether or not she is a person, despite being a cybernetic machine. Living in a world where our self-identities are often the construct of the things that we identify with and purchase, products of the consumer society in which we live. Questions of authenticity are at the heart of our society. If you know many of the thinkers and writers with whom Joss Whedon is familiar there is no question that he is familiar with these kinds of issues. Many are not comfortable with this. Whedon made his mark as one of the great feminists on television (and interestingly DOLLHOUSE stars Eliza Dushku, whose mother, like Whedon's, is a well known feminist). He has taken a lot of flak for the prostitution that the "Dolls" on the show engage in. The women are very much victims and there are few images of empowered women, completely unlike BUFFY with Buffy and Willow, ANGEL with Fred and Cordelia, and FIREFLY with River and Zoe. But the world is messy and complex and heavily nuanced. This show interacts and dialogues with that complexity. We are having a crisis of identity. We allow too many influences in society dictate who we are. How can we be authentic human beings when we do not have control over our own personhood? These questions transcend issues of feminism and penetrate to the question of what it means to be a person.

Although there may not be a Season Two of DOLLHOUSE, Joss Whedon has produced a wonderfully self-contained series even if it doesn't continue. Unliked the vast majority of TV creators and writers, Whedon has always felt that each season of a series should end in a way so that if it is the last episode, fans aren't left unnecessarily suffering. The final episode of ever season of every show he has done has not ended on a cliffhanger unless the show had already been renewed before production on the finale had begun. Seasons One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven of BUFFY as well as Seasons One, Two, Four, and Five of ANGEL could all serve as series ends. They already knew that ANGEL had been renewed when the finale of Season Three was filming. FIREFLY was cancelled right in the middle of filming, so it never had the opportunity of any kind of ending.

The DVDs will feature an episode that FOX currently has no plan on broadcasting. It guest stars Felicia Day (one of the Potentials from Season Seven of BUFFY and the love female lead in DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG) and purportedly does some exceptionally over-the-top things. Kristin of Eonline has reported that if FOX does not renew DOLLHOUSE, Joss Whedon is interested in developing a new show out of that final though unbroadcast episode of DOLLHOUSE. Hopefully, this time he will try to do something on one of the cable networks. Instead of FOX, I would like to see him on the Sci Fi channel (or as it is soon to be known, SyFy) or HBO or Showtime or even AMC. Because we haven't seen this episode yet, we have no idea what direction a new Joss Whedon series based on this would look like. But if it is even a fraction as interesting as DOLLHOUSE, I am game. The truth is, this show should never have been on FOX to begin with. That it did was a result of Eliza Dushku having a contract with FOX to develop a new show. She immediately asked Joss Whedon to create that show. I think she has done a great job as Echo in the series, but I hope that we'll continue to see her either on FOX in this show or on a cable channel in the same role on a new show.

Will this be the end of DOLLHOUSE? I hope not. I had grown to have almost no interest in FOX and hadn't been watching any FOX shows in several seasons, but first with TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES and then with DOLLHOUSE and FRINGE, I thought it was finally becoming a network that was interested in exciting and complex programming. And maybe it will be. Time will tell. But here is what confuses me. There is no shortage of great series on TV. But so many of those shows are lightly watched. Some are on cable and as a result are sheltered by lowered expectations. MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, and TRUE BLOOD are all interesting or even great shows that get very few viewers, far less than even failing shows on CBS or NBC or ABC. Then there are more heavily watched shows like PUSHING DAISIES, ELI STONE, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, CHUCK, and DOLLHOUSE that either get cancelled or are in danger of cancellation because they are on one of the broadcast networks. There is no question that the television industry is broken. Viewership is in decline for all the networks for all evenings. There is little to indicate that this is going to reverse. But the networks have not managed to come up with any kind of functional model to... Read more ›

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars mostly good, May 19, 2009

By	James Morris - See all my reviews

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I am a huge fan of Dollhouse, very glad it's getting renewed, and will be buying this Blu-ray set as soon as it's available.

This show is great because it's not like every other show. Most shows on these days are either a hospital show, a crime scene investigation show, a "reality show", or a family based sitcom.

The first few episodes can be a bit painful, but the show really picks up by the end of the season. The reason is partly because Fox requested the first few episodes be standalone, for the sake of new viewers. Surprise, Fox's call was dead wrong there, and caused many people to lose interest in the show. The last few episodes are great, and season two will be more like these.

Can't wait to see how season two plays out. :D

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slow start... but a great show!, July 27, 2009

By	Jay W. Abbit - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Joss Whedon does it again with another great show. If you're familiar with 'Buffy, the Vampire Slayer', 'Angel', or 'Firefly', this is a definite must for you. While not nearly as fun as Whedon's previous franchises, 'Dollhouse' is still a great show, and easily better than 98% of the shows currently on the air. The show has many twists and turns, and is quite filled with mystery and intrigue as we slowly find out/are given hints regarding why each 'doll' is in the 'dollhouse' and what type of life they had previously. Most of the acting is great, the dialogue is Whedon great, and overall cinematography is more film oriented and involved than your usual 'talking head' tv show. Now, for the cons: some of the cast/characters don't click with each other, most notably the characters of Boyd and Victor, two very prominent characters. Also, we're given many hints as to future storylines, but this first season was mostly stand alone episodes and wasn't quite as epic or mythological based as it should of been.

Overall: Still one of the best shows currently in production!