Those Creepy Dollhouse Ads

I'm a big fan of director Joss Wheden, but his work always seems to get screwed up at some point along the way. For instance, Firefly had the potential to be one of the best sci-fi series ever made, but then FOX messed with its schedule and canceled it. In the end, we got Serenity out of it, which is one of my favorite movies, but it's a crime that the show never really got a chance. On the other hand, with no network to blow it, I also really enjoyed Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog--until it jumped the shark in the third installment.

Thus I've been looking forward to Whedon's new series Dollhouse, which premiers this Friday on FOX, but I can't help but have a bad feeling that they are gonna screw this up too (why, oh why would he go back to FOX?!). Still, the premise sounds fascinating: It's about a company that reprograms its employees to do whatever jobs its clients wish--raising all sorts of interesting questions about human nature, free will and determinism, good and evil, etc.

But those ads! For the last couple weeks I keep running across these creepy advertisements (e.g. on Technorati) with the lead actress naked and surrounded by photographs or mirrors or whatever. I get that they are trying to highlight the way she is being exploited by the Dollhouse--thus, the images I've seen are not really sexual--but yuk! I hope this isn't the tone they are going to set in the show as a whole, or I may not be watching it long. Has any one else seen these?

Film Tidbits

The long anticipated (ahem) first part of Joss Whedon’s new project Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (a short film starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion) is available for free online viewing (HT Jeffrey Overstreet). The second and final parts will be released on the 17th and 19th, but will only be free through the 20th. Unfortunately, the website got too much traffic and crashed. It should be back in a few hours, but you can also buy the episode for $1.99 on iTunes, if you can’t bear to wait. [UPDATE: The site is back up and running, though impatience got the best of me and I had already coughed up the 2 bucks; it's delightfully wacky, just as you might suspect from the trailer!] In the mean time, here’s the Teaser:




Carmen Andres has a good review of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, discussing the film's spiritual themes.

In anticipation of The Dark Knight, due out this Friday, the first six minutes of the film have been posted as a trailer. Amazing, but be warned that it is quite violent: [Apparently the trailer wasn't authorized after all (it was on the Batman Begins Blu-Ray disk), so it has been removed.]

Finally, on a lighter note, I’ve never been a fan of “reality TV” and this video perfectly illustrates why (HT Think Christian):



Who needs love and friendship if you might win a pile of money?

River Tam and Shepherd Book Discuss the Bible on Firefly

Yesterday’s post reminded me of a great scene from the short-lived but brilliant show, Firefly. Leave it to an atheist like Joss Whedon to explain my faith better than I can… what’s up with that?



"You don't fix the Bible... it fixes you."