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Created Sep 04, 2011 10:21AM PST • Edited Sep 04, 2011 10:21AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   Dollhouse is a look at the not too distant future where regular escorts are really no longer enough for the discerning customer. Rather than picking from a row of women to get someone close to what you think the perfect woman is, you actually get to create your perfect woman.

   The Dollhouse collects people like, well, dolls and mixes and matches their personalities to create exactly what the customer is looking for. They take beautiful people who have “willingly” signed over their lives for the span of a few years, remove their own personalities, memories, flaws, etc and store them to return after their contract is up. During those few years, the blank person (or “doll”) is imprinted with personalities, memories, strengths, etc. Not too far from how Neo was able to learn kung fu in The Matrix.

   Eliza Dushku plays Echo. Echo is one of the dolls in the LA Dollhouse and she is the best of them. Echo, however, starts to have glitches. She starts remembering pieces of prior imprints as well as her own original self. Come to find out, that same thing has happened before with a Doll named Alpha. Alpha was able to remember all his imprints and he went nuts and killed a lot of people before escaping the Dollhouse.

   Tahmoh Penikett plays FBI Agent Paul Ballard. Ballard is a man who wants nothing more than to prove the Dollhouse is real. He identifies Echo as an active Doll and becomes obsessed with finding her.

   Through the 2 seasons of Dollhouse we see not only a great overall storyline leading to the “imprinting” technology used on the Dolls to be stolen by the government for warfare, but we also see some great immediate ideas play out. For example, Echo is imprinted with memories and personalities to make her the perfect hostage negotiator to find someone’s little girl. Unfortunately, one of the people who donated those memories was one time assaulted by one of the guys she is now trying to negotiate with. Great ideas that require some actual thinking and philosophical consideration. Yes, these Dolls can be – for lack of a better word – whores. They can also become the best hostage negotiator that science can buy. Plus, all of the Dolls are willing participants. Some have been pushed there and don’t have much choice other than to become Dolls, but it is still a choice.

   As with all Joss Whedon creations, the characters are all really unique and make this series shine. Worth the time, but you’ll want to start at the beginning and work your way through.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   I’m just a huge fan of all the actors in this series. They all create great characters, especially Fran Kranz’s Topher and Amy Acker’s Dr. Saunders. Very human, easy to relate to, and watchable. Eliza Dushku, of course, leads the way and amply places herself into the roles of several different characters. None are too far a cry from another, but that helps relate everything together. She throws herself into this role more than I have seen her do anywhere else. Put that on top of the fact that she is smokin hot and you really can’t lose.

   I am also obligated to add (as per one of my friends), that Tahmoh Penikett is also smokin hot and “should have spent more time in the series with his shirt off.”

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Very beautifully shot. Each episode feels full and developed, much as Firefly was this feels like a believeable universe. The science does not exist, but you don’t really question it while watching.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.2

    Very sexy and at times violent (as sexy and violent as broadcast TV can get), the series is at times as much about the physical as it is about the cerebral.

17. Sex Titillating 2.5

18. Violence Fierce 2.5

19. Rudeness Polite 1.5

21. Reality

    Fantasy 5.0

    The science is completely fake, but the way it is dealt with is real and keeps the series grounded through everything. It is a bit hard to wrap your head around the fact that something as big as the global Dollhouse ring is secret, but with all the government and private party money that supports them, I guess that’s not too hard to believe.

22. Circumstantial Fantasy 5.0

23. Biological Fantasy 5.0

24. Physical Fantasy 5.0