Dollhouse ReWatch: "Epitaph One" (1.13)

[VisionGirl]

In the year 2019, the technology of the Dollhouse has been turned into a global weapon by the Rossum Corporation, mind-wiping people wholesale through any form of telecommunication, including radio. A group of freedom-fighters known as the Actuals breaks in to the abandoned ghost of the Los Angeles Dollhouse, where they find a haunted Active, Whiskey, willing to help them find Caroline, who will lead them to "Safe Haven" "“ if they can stop the murderer within their midst from taking them out, one by one...

Source

I'm watching the commentary so I'll be back with more info!

---------- Post added at 11:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:44 PM ----------

The episode was not aired in the USA due to different contractual obligations with the Fox Network (the television broadcaster) and 20th Century Fox Television (the production company). 20th Century Fox needed thirteen episodes for the first season's DVD release and to sell to foreign markets, and having paid for but then scrapped the unaired original pilot episode, Fox only contracted the subsequent twelve episodes, but not the thirteenth. While Fox did renew the show for a second season, they never broadcast "Epitaph One." Due to Fox's decision not to air "Epitaph One," 20th Century Fox opted to promote the episode as a special incentive to buy the DVD and Blu-Ray set releases of the Dollhouse's first season, in which the episode, and the original unaired pilot, are both included. In the United Kingdom the episode aired on the UK Sci Fi Channel on August 11, 2009....

Joss Whedon screened the episode during the Dollhouse panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International and said the show would continue to feature scenes set in the future, that several of the characters introduced in this episode (including Felicia Day's character) would appear in episodes of the second season, and that the second season would follow the general continuity laid out in the episode, while reminding the audience that the episode is based on memories that may or may not be accurate....

One of the biggest challenges with writing the episode was the slang, which they felt needed to sound like it could genuinely exist in ten years' time. This was fun for [Jed] Whedon and [Maurissa] Tancharoen to write, and they enjoyed finding the balance between interesting words which would also be understandable to the viewer; for example, in the future of 2019, the word "bars" itself has come to mean "signal"....

Joss Whedon has said that "Epitaph One" was filmed and produced on a significantly smaller budget than was used to produce the previous episodes. Feeling that the episode still turned out creatively strong, he screened the episode to executives at Fox after the first season was completed as proof positive he could create the show without spending a lot of money. This, coupled with the show's strong performance numbers on DVR and the Internet and the hope that the show could sell well on DVD with the inclusion of this episode, prompted the network to renew Dollhouse for a second season in the fall....

Due to budget concerns, a real "pop" song could not be used in the ending montage of the episode but writers [Jed] Whedon and [Maurissa] Tancharoen thought it would be necessary. To accommodate this, Tancharoen wrote and performed a song titled "Remains," which can be heard in the background during the episode's final scenes....

In April 2010, ["Epitaph One"] was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitaph_One

---------- Post added at 11:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 PM ----------

My impressions:
-This episode is so brilliant and amazing, but the first time I saw it I was like "What the hell?!". Because we are really thrown into this future apocalyptic world, and it of course makes more sense after having watched season 2 and "Epitaph Two".
-I love Felicia Day in here! I love that she's "everygirl" and has feelings, but out of neccessity is a bad-ass. "It's my face; get out of it!". "We all like the sound of our own voices. That's why we're here: to keep our own voices".
-Topher and Dominic: "So do you order my fridge or do I talk to someone higher up?"
-By this point I love Dominic. I really despised him at the beginning, but in understanding what he was doing all along, I really like his "layers".
-Boyd and Saunders, awww! I know this scene was written to be ambigious, but it was so tender.
-Devious little girl, I really hate her!
-Topher gone crazy. 🙁 Such an incredibly heartbreaking scene, but so sweet to see Adelle taking care of him. His guilt made him crazy.
-"Promise me you won't answer the phone!" I have that as a ringtone on my phone: http://twitter.com/theonetruebix/status/83668163782381568
-At the very end, where were they climbing up to?

---------- Post added at 11:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 PM ----------

If you haven't seen the video for "Remains", here it is:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNtORr6RsJ4"]Remains - Official Music Video (Dollhouse) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Valjavertjinn]

I freaking love this episode! I thought that Whisky was wonderfully eerie, living alone in the Dollhouse. And I totally ship Boyd/Saunders.
Yeah, Felicia is awesome here! She's such a flexible actress - she can play tough characters, sweet characters, nerds, and everyone in between!

 

[VisionGirl]

Jed & Maurissa say in the commentary that the network said that they could not say "prostitution" in Dollhouse. Since this episode was not intended to air on network tv, they were able to have Zone making references to hookers & a "brothel".

 

[Washburne]

I should probably say this straight away so it's over with. I'm so crushing over Felicia Day. That doesn't mean I think she's the best acor, singer or what ever but I sure am biased. So hopefully I won't say much more about her this time.

The future look bright...

I hate my memory. This, the first, memory is from the unaired pilot or something right?

I love seeing flashbacks. We get to know even more.

They get imprints from scans made by Rossum. Quite impressive scans then. It also show that the scans/imprints are done without people knowing that they're used. Makes sense of course but morally not so much.

Got to love all the Topher quotes in that scene.

Interesting flashbacks. Or well flashforwards. Paul and Echo are up to something while Boyd and Saunders is just aww. Now there's a ship I liked from the start.

"You don't want to end up like November.
Which one?." 🙁

Topher and Adelle. Heartbreaking.

He, it just hit me. Now I don't even think about scars or no scars on Whiskey/Saunders. The first time around was a different story.

"We got Alpha to thank for that." Ok, what did we miss? Or did he do something "good" by accident? This episode don't give answers it make sure you're curious so you'll want to watch more.

The little girl as Caroline. Now maybe I'll be a fan of Caroline. 🙂

Whiskey's waiting. For Boyd?

"I hope we find me alive."

Love the song and the video for Remains.

-"Promise me you won't answer the phone!" I have that as a ringtone on my phone: http://twitter.com/theonetruebix/status/83668163782381568
-At the very end, where were they climbing up to?

I just get an error message on the link. Not your link, but the link in it. The wrong country?

They need to leave the dollhouse to get to Safe heaven and it's kind of difficult to go back the way they came. 😉 Maybe they could have taken the elevators to the garage.

 

[Taake]

Honestly... I don't even know what to say about this episode. It pretty much makes me wish I could call up Joss Whedon and sing "did you ever know that you're my hero..."

I mean, this is where he's at his best, this episode has depth and intricacies and brilliant flashbacks that give just enough and yet plenty of insights to our characters (yay Mr Dominic is back! Happy day for me 🙂 Reed Diamond <3)

I'm only sad to think that they never aired this because to me, this is perfection.

 

[VisionGirl]

They get imprints from scans made by Rossum. Quite impressive scans then. It also show that the scans/imprints are done without people knowing that they're used. Makes sense of course but morally not so much.

I think we got a glimpse of the "process" in Haunted. Adelle made reference to multiple "painful" scans. But yes definitely disturbing that they're doing this without consent, perhaps during "routine" MRI or CT scans? Also it further explains that obtaining a scan/imprint does not mean that the scan-e is wiped.

"You don't want to end up like November.
Which one?." 🙁

Definitely!! :cry4:

I just get an error message on the link. Not your link, but the link in it. The wrong country?

Yes, it doesn't seem to be working anymore. 🙁 If you PM me with your email address I can send it to you in an attachment.

They need to leave the dollhouse to get to Safe heaven and it's kind of difficult to go back the way they came. 😉 Maybe they could have taken the elevators to the garage.

Yes, that makes sense. But they're alreay in above-ground level offices, why are they continuing to go up?

 

[Robb Stark]

I liked this episode. It was a neat insight into the scary potential a technology like the Dollhouse has, and also it was neat taking a concept that at the beginning of the series was "different people in different bodies" and taking it that far. We saw the roots of that in "Haunted", when the concept of life after death was explored. That part was very cool.

I liked the feeling of the viewer just jumping straight into this apocalyptic-like future, and the audience not really being fully aware of what's happened. The flashbacks were great, and provided some really cool insight into how things just spiraled out of control without going into too much detail about it. That whole episode gave me this "fill in the blanks" kind of feeling, and I always like that (when it's done well of course) in T.V. Plus, it was really cool seeing Echo's original personality back, even if it was just for a little while.

It was neat how "Omega" was the season finale wrap-up episode, but "Epitaph One" was a great way to end the season. It was a really interesting episode.

 

[Vamp Jenny]

-Show starts, first thought: Felicia Day!!! 😀
-Second thought: WHAT THE HECK??????
-Mr. Miller(?) is imprinted with one single memory, Adele's. Why did she put her memory in the chair?? Feels like a lot of questions will be asked in this episode...
-I love how Topher, even when he had just gotten in the Dollhouse, was already making fun of Mr. Dominic XD
-I ship Claire/Boyd!
-Whiskey appearing in the dollhouse in 2019: O_O
-Victor being imprinted "for good". Kinda scary when you think about it.. The idea of imprinting an active until they die... They can never go back in their body, but they're not even aware of it...
-Child is a brat, what a surprise. Do children always have to be so stupide/bad in TV shows??
-Topher going crazy 🙁 It was so sad, my eyes were full of tears.
-Caroline's home!
-It's sad, but very generous how Whiskey sacrifies herself to save the others. Yet, why did Amy's character had to die again? First in Angel, then in this... sad 🙁


Watching this episode makes me want to watch Epitaph Two right now, for continuation.

 

[Jules]

To me this episode had a very horror movie type feel to it. The girl getting killed in the shower, Whisky appearing like a ghost and the liitle girl being all scary evil. I like how its gone years in to the future, how the main characters arent really the main focus, they only appear in flashbacks. The fact that Topher and Adelle were shocked that powerful people wanted to use the tech to make them live forver was very niave. They'd been warned enough times.

The flashbacks were really interesting. I went from not really liking Topher and Adelle as moral people to feeling really sorry for them. I wanted to know what happened between Victor and Sierra and Paul and Caroline. I also thought it was very ironic that Alpha was the one that created the tech that protects people.

I cant wait for season 2!

 

[VisionGirl]

I cant wait for season 2!

Joss and the other writers/producers were really smart to do this. Not only do I want to see more of this future apocalyptic world, but it sets up a desire to see how things got to where they are.