November Back for Season 2?

Just caught this on Miracle Laurie's Twitter. And in case you were wondering, Laurie plays Mellie/November/Madeline on Dollhouse, which just got renewed for a second season! Huzzah! Though the finale ended with November being discharged, allowed to live her life again, from the looks of things, Laurie isn't done with Dollhouse just yet.



Am I reading into things? Maaaaybe. But maybe not! See full post

PaleyFest '09 Dollhouse Event!

Went to the Paley Fest Dollhouse event last night & had a great time! Joss introduced the episode "Needs" then brought out Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain, Eliza Dushku, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman & Miracle Laurie for the panel.

Before getting into a recap, just wanted to say that Dollhouse is really a show that lends itself to multiple viewings. Pretty much every episode I've seen two or three times now, and each time I notice something new, something deeper. I love this show.

The clip chosen especially for this audience was from the dollhouse episode of Twilight Zone featuring Robert Duvall. Very appropriate choice.

Highlights/video from the panel after the jump!

Joss discusses the infamous 13th episode

- Joss calls the 13th episode the "strangest, most awesome thing [Fox] has ever had"

- Episode 12 is also fantastic, as it's written by Tim Minear and how does Joss describe Minear? "That boy's not well"

- Joss: Dollhouse had "an abnormally difficult birthing process that I was abnormally whiny about"

- They have not shot a single episode in their airing order

- Eliza says she "has multiple personalities" in real life, that everyone in her family has ADHD and embraces it, so something like Dollhouse was perfect for her

- Eliza's favorite roles on Dollhouse so far have been the tomboy from episode 2 and Esther, the blind woman

- In the next episode, Eliza plays a 50 year old dead woman

- The original first scene of Dollhouse, Adele pitching to a client, is now in episode 13

- Fran said Tahmoh saw the reshoot of the pilot as a "second chance" to do even better. Fran agrees, saying he saw it as "more an opportunity than anything else."

- Joss: "My dream in life is there will never be a term 'typical Joss Whedon show'"

- Elizabeth & Sarah on Joss: "[We're] not worried about how he's portraying women."

- A reference was made to a "penis puppet" that no one in the audience understood. Things got awkward.

- Joss finds the lack of Dollhouse's perameters to be limiting - more difficult to figure out how to write a different kind of story every week (caper, thriller, romantic comedy, etc)

- Joss on the big reveals we've witnessed so far, "Dude. Just wait."

- Miracle on what she told her friends when Mellie was introduced, "I promise I end up cooler than that"


- Mellie's reveal that she is November is one of Eliza's favorites

- Dichen has a scar on her leg from shooting the last episode that aired

- Sidenote: Loved hearing Dichen's badass accent

- Dichen loved playing the dorky fan from episode three the most. She and Joss agreed it's cause that character is the most like her, haha

- Someone asked Eliza if Echo choosing to be implanted in this past week's episode was a pivitol moment. She responded "Yes. It is."

- "The [sleeping] pods are WAY comfy" - Miracle

- Sidenote: Miracle is incredibly charming. Fran is incredibly awkward. But super adorable.

- Fran on Topher, "His genius is so great, he doesn't connect to anyone...he has no life...he's a kid playing with his toys...an obnoxious, cocky kid."

- Only person he has some sort of obedient relationship with is Adele

- The audition for Topher was the "Bison scene" with Boyd, a scene which we've apparently scene that was originally much longer

- Joss originally conceived of Adele as a "Dragonlady" and never thought Olivia would agree to play the part. But she as an actress "is so sympathetic, it "rejiggered [his] concept of who Adele was"

- For every actor on stage, when they left the room, the producers KNEW they were perfect for their roles

- Joss changed his mind and decided that yes, there should be more going on with the Dollhouse other than just private engagements

- Fran didn't know "Mike" was the military code for "M". Teehee.

- Code names ARE reused. Sierra is the 2nd Sierra. Joss hasn't thought about the fact that there are probably more than 26 dolls in the house right now...

- Fran wants a scene in season two of Topher shopping for groceries and running into Paul Ballard in the frozen foods section

- Enver, who plays Victor, is claustrophobic. Dichen, who thinks he is "adorable", had to save him when the crew didn't realize he was claustrophobic and didn't remove him from a sleeping pod right away

- Joss says being on set is very "lovely & calming", just like we'd suspect

- Joss enjoys working on the "scale TV brings" more so than internet or film

- What the characters do & where the characters go are extremely influenced by the actors

- Joss : A.I. is the "biggest influence on Dollhouse"

- The art corner is Eliza's favorite part of the set

- Someone asked how much we would know about the overarching story by the end of season one, to which Joss replied "35%. There will be many questions left to answer"


See full post

Dollhouse @ Paley Fest Live Tweeting Tonight! [Event]

Just a reminder - tonight I will be attending the Paley Fest's Dollhouse event at the Cinerama Dome and will be live tweeting throughout!

In attendance will be Joss Whedon, Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Director, Elizabeth Craft, Co-Executive Producer/Writer, Sarah Fain, Co-Executive Producer, Eliza Dushku ("Echo"), Fran Kranz ("Topher"), Dichen Lachman ("Sierra") & Miracle Laurie ("Mellie"). Originally Olivia Williams & Tahmoh Penikett were scheduled to attend, but aren't on the site anymore. Hope they show up anyway!

To follow my tweets, just head to twitter.com/loquaciousmuse. Plus, let me know if you have any questions and I will try to ask some during the Q&A portion of the evening. See full post

Last Week on All Things Fangirl

Another short week from us, as I spent the weekend & today in Vegas. While in Vegas, I started reading Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Hooray! Anyway. Here's what had us talking last week.

Random

Support a good cause by going out on a date with Paul Rudd, Jon Hamm or Nathan Fillion!

Lego Rock Band? Started the week off being VERY confused.

Shirt of the Week

What if the Mario Brothers were real? This shirt shows us how disturbing that would really be. I'll take one!

Television

Witness the drama of the Dollhouse Cancellation scare as I experienced it, complete with rant & live updates

In case you missed it, due to American Idol, here's the last 7 minutes of Tuesday's Fringe

A screencap of The Observer from Fringe in the audience of American Idol!

American Idol Pre-Performance Post: I talked about what he Idols should sing this week & who needs to do what to stay in the competition

American Idol Pre-Results Show: Quick thoughts, predictions & prediction round-up

Video

James Marsters aka Spike from Buffy (which, if you are reading this blog, is safe to say you already knew) playing guitar with his son, who just so happens to be his spitting image.

An 18 second clip from Kurokami, the Anime in which EruditeChick provides one of the voices. Clip must be seen to be believed. See full post

Dollhouse Canceled?

I hope this is some sort of misunderstanding, cause I'm PISSED.

Felicia Day posted this on Twitter today

Man, day getting worse and worse. Found out my Dollhouse ep, #13 isn't gonna air. Only on DVD. Such a great part too. Thx Fox. :(

Io9, Crave Online & ThinkHero had run the story by the time I started finding all of this out and I yelled at my computer. I refused to believe it, so asked a source who has been working with Joss on Cabin in the Woods, to get an opinion. Word was Joss called it a week ago. Which makes me feel even more like Fox really did pull the plug. Apparently ep 12 will be the final one aired.

You know, Fox, you are doing yourself no favors. It's just despicable. I mean, I at least thought, based on what Joss has said at various conventions, the network was going to air all the episodes they've shot already. AT LEAST. I've been getting so into this show, more and more with every episode. I've had people tell me they weren't watching because "Why bother? It's a Joss show on Fox, it won't last" and I've said "Pshh, no, they will have faith this time." Because why wouldn't they? Why is it so difficult to just have faith in a show and let it stay on the air?! Other networks have done it! And it's JOSS. COME ON. UGH. Alas. Now we won't get to meet Alpha, we won't get anything resolved, and I'm still yelling at my computer.

Glad I have tickets to the Dollhouse event at the Paley Center. Gonna be a night to remember. I hate you, Fox. We are not friends.

(But also, I'm not believing it til I see a press release.)

Update: Now AV Club is reporting it

Update: Head here to contact people from Fox (Hat Tip: Whedonesque)

Update:
Update: In case you don't scroll down to the comments, we just got a great one from someone who actually knows what's going on!!!!

It IS a misunderstanding, but not in the way that you'd want it to be.

Felicia is right, they're not going to air #13. But guess what -- they never were. Because they only paid for 12 plus pilot (remember, the original scrapped pilot that didn't air?). The studio (NOT THE NETWORK), in what is actually a great business move, ordered an extra episode that they knew from the get-go would never air. Hello getting the DVDs to fly off the shelves.

I have VERY intimate firsthand knowledge of what went down with this show (I was Kevin Reilly's assistant), so I know what I'm talking about.

I'm a huge Whedon fan (I've been to the Once More singalong with Loquacious Muse herself, even), but the network isn't to blame this go-round. Sure, there were some HUGE eff ups with Firefly -- but the people running Fox then are not the same people running it now. So I get it. People are still mad about that. But seriously? NOT the same situation.

And [SPOILER ALERT] we are going to meet Alpha. Episode 11, people.

Update: From Alan Sepinwall, confirming the above comment

Update: Devin Faraci from Chud isn't buying it

Update: Quote from Tim Minear, courtesy of Whedonesque

Okay. So maybe I can help clarify this somewhat. Because we scrapped the original pilot -- and in fact cannibalized some of its parts for other eps -- we really ended up with 12 episodes. But the studio makes DVD and other deals based on the original 13 number. So we created a standalone kind of coda episode. Which is the mythical new episode 13. The network had already paid for 13 episodes, and this included the one they agreed to let us scrap for parts. It does not include the one we made to bring the number back up to 13 for the studio side and its obligations. We always knew it would be for the DVD for sure, but we also think Fox should air it because it’s awesome.

See full post

david's day in brief [Round Up]

observe the twitter mentality (www.twitter.com/poosclouds) already ransacking my motivation to type a series of interconnected sentences. so here is my daily download of sorts, a fond look back at the day that was as filtered through my hairy brain (ew). not all of these thoughts are of the most fan-ish (fanny?) nature, but i was all super jealous for not being at wondercon and want to show the world that i can has my own wondercon... in my MIND. feel free to imagine that noxious end of the show jay leno music playing in the background as you read this.



- is it just me or do the trailers / commercials for "the haunting in connecticut" make you pee just a little bit?

- jimmy fallon premiered and for the most part failed as expected. late night should be a snarky tucking in of sorts, and his jangled nerves and woeful bits (the less said about "lick it for 10," the better) didn't help matters... but it was pleasant enough and he's a reasonably funny fellow... these things take time (the almighty conan's first shows weren't exactly rapturously received) and i'll definitely be tuning in when i can. the roots as house band was a masterstroke but i can't see them staying all that long.

- grizzly bear's third LP "veckatimest" leaked (lead singer ed droste was a sad yet resigned panda over at his twitter ). the leak is a wee bit poopy but the music is obviously majestic. "two weeks," "ready, able", "while you wait for the others," and "foreground" are instantly recognizable barn-burners and the whole thing is gonna sound oodles better on the recordings proper. check it out over at bolachasgratis.baywords.com

- neko case's delovely and haunting LP "middle cyclone" was released today, as was marissa nadler's gorgeous "little hells." buy buy buy!

- i09 has a fascinating little compilation / analysis of early watchmen reactions from two very different communities. some serious food for thought for all fanboys and girls planning on expounding upon the film over the next few days... take a step back and pick your words wisely before diving into that fray - harry knowles has already and inevitably unleashed enough wantonly reckless geek glee for the lot of you. but seriously, i can think of no greater endorsement of a film than an anthony lane pan... sheesh. i'm excited. buy buy buy!

would my beloved cloverfield not have been more frightening if instead of this:



the monster looked like THIS:



- LQ preaches that this week's battlestar was actually pretty good... i sure hope so cause i don't think i'm alone when i say that the past few episodes have been silly-frappy. will watch and report back.

- i like dollhouse! it's like the jimmy fallon of joss whedon shows. is it unfair to think that he wants to hop on the good foot and do the bad thing with eliza dushku? yes. do i think that anyway? super yes. last week's episode was silly town, usa, but i enjoyed the poo out of it. who is alpha??? what is happening??? why is new television airing on a friday night???? so many questions!



- killzone 2 is killzone 2. so far there is only one kind of bad dude (he has a red shiny helmet so i know he's not a good dude) and i shoot at him with bullets from 3 or 4 different guns until he stops shooting me back. but the graphics are cray-cray and it's fun enough even if it's a bit drab and the interior environs are a lot more tense to bop around than the outdoor squares. haven't tried the multiplayer yet, but so far much prefer the mechanics of Resistance.

- go to itunes and buy "this lamb sells condos" by final fantasy. every time you don't do this, a kitten gets its wings... and uses those wings to fly into second storey windows and eat sleeping orphan babies. don't let that happen. See full post

Harvard Hearts Joss Whedon [Event]

Gonna be near Cambridge on April 10th? Don't miss out!

Tickets to see Joss Whedon receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism from Harvard University!

The only other recipients of this award so far are Salman Rushdie and evolutionary biologist, Greg Graffin. So, Joss is in good company.

Some more info on the event,

The ceremony will take place on Friday April 10 at 8pm, in The Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. Preceding the presentation of the award, Mr. Whedon will give a short speech about his life and work as a Humanist. The award ceremony will be followed by a Q&A session with Mr. Whedon, as well as a signing opportunity in the church.

Whedon has a devoted following of fans, including the online web community whedonesque.com. In addition to his art, he has also been active in promoting women's rights through his work with Equality Now, an organization that honored him in 2006.

His speech to that group shows his passionate commitment to the positive values of Humanism.

Click here for ten dollar tickets! See full post

Paley TV Festival Announces Lineup - LQ Dies [Geekgasm]

You know when like, you are looking forward to something, and then suddenly it becomes super tangible and you are like OMFG and die a little inside?


Thats what happened today when the Paley Center send me a lil email about their lineup this year. I've always wanted to go and as it happens, I will be in LA for most of the fest this year. So. I'm gonna go.

Here's the sexy line up, listed in the packages they come in:

Package A:
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 4/10 (w/ after party)
90210 4/11
The Big Bang Theory 4/16
The Hills 4/21

Package B:
Dr. Horrible 4/14
Dollhouse 4/15
Battlestar Galactica/Caprica 4/20 (w/ after party)
Fringe 4/23

Package C:
True Blood 4/13
The Mentalist 4/17
Desperate Housewives 4/18
Big Love 4/22
Swingtown 4/24 (w/ after party)

Hmm. Which package would YOU choose? I wonder. Could it be the same one I would pick?

I won't be in LA past April 21st, but still, Package B is my homeboy. BATTLESTAR MAKES ME GIDDY. IT MAKES ME GIDDY. I'd also love to get to True Blood and frankly, 90210, if only because I'm so damn curious about what these people are like in real life. Could they be real? Can they form sentences without a script? Will the Q&A turn into one massive orgy? And obviously, if I were there on the 24th, I'd hit up Swingtown as I effing loved that show.

What do you think about this years line up? Anyone planning on attending? Anyone planning on fighting me to win marriage to Tahmoh? Anyone else not understand why NPH and Ted Danson were in the audience of American Idol last night, but not care, cause that's hilarious? See full post

New York Comic Con Wrap Up - Sunday

The final day of the Con was a great end to a great weekend. I got to see the panels for a show I'm looking forward to and a show I love, plus I got my X Factor #1 signed by Peter David, watched EruditeChick kick some SERIOUS ass in the Marvel Debates, and got interviewed by G4 for Attack of the Show's NYCC coverage & their Watchmen special airing on the 25th. Woot!

I started out the day searching for the elusive Guitar Hero area of the convention. The map in the guide book claimed it was on the upper level next to the stage that featured people with lightsabers prancing around pretending to kill each other (which by the way, I'd do in a heartbeat. I love prancing around pretending to kill people!) but alas, no Guitar Hero was to be found! Disappointing. Hopefully that can be remedied for next year.

Dollhouse


Joss is one of those convention staples who always has a packed panel and who consistently shows everyone a great time. He's a riot & the fans worship him (myself included) so his panels are definitely must see. This one was no exception. Especially because he brought with him the gloriously charming & gorgeous Tahmoh Penikitt. These two are great together and you can tell the working environment on the show must be amazing. They talked a lot about Dollhouse, natch, and showed the first act of the pilot. Sadly, there was no Tahmoh in the first ten minutes but Joss assured us it would be worth the wait cause when we finally meet him, he is shirtless. And. That's the best of all ideas. For a write up of the footage, head on over to Io9 and for some clips from the first act, head to THIS Io9 page. Gotta love Io9.

While the footage didn't blow me away, I can see the potential in the show and will absolutely be watching every episode. I mean, it's Joss. And Tahmoh. I'm watching. I worry about how invested I will be in Echo, since she basically will have zero character development, but hopefully I'll be so invested in Tahmoh's character, Paul, that it won't matter. I definitely got the impression from Joss & Tahmoh that the series gets MUCH better as it goes on and we are encouraged to stick with it and trust them.

Here are some more highlights from the panel:


-In regards to Buffy Season 8, Angel will be making an appearance "as soon Georges figures out how to draw him..." cause there's "so much forehead!"
-Joss' advice to aspiring filmmakers (which is also Seth Green's advice) is "If you have something to make, make it."
-Joss would love to tackle a "frilly costume drama" in Elizabethan times, mostly because of the dresses the ladies would be wearing
-In response to Nathan Fillion teasing the fans about making another Firefly movie, Joss proclaimed "Nathan's a cock."
-Joss would love to see "What's up with Dr. Horrible". Sequel?!?! Please!!!
-Apparently Eliza has a beautiful voice that we'll get to hear some of in Dollhouse's 3rd episode
-No Dollhouse comics in the works, but Joss is looking into a supplementary web series

Whedon talks about Sondheim and directing a broadway show while I close up on Tahmoh cause he's gorgeous. What?

Fringe



First - it should be noted that between the Dollhouse & Fringe panels, while I was backstage gawking at Tahmoh and weirding out Joshua Jackson who thought I was gawking at him, I missed a video IGN made exclusive for Comic Con that is a live action parody combination of Portal & The Office. HOW DID I MISS THIS?! Hopefully they will post it online soon so we can talk about how brilliant it is together. Cause how could that not be brilliant?

But on to the main event - Fringe! Did anyone see last night's episode? Cause HOLY CRAP. I like where you're going & what you're doing, Fringe. That lightboard thing was genius. But here are some highlights from the panel, which by the way was oddly hilarious. The cast clearly gets along supremely & loves working on the show. And John Noble may in
fact be nuts in real life. Not that I'm complaining.

-Lance Reddick is an Ultimate Spiderman fan
-Josh Jackson & executive producer Jeff Pinkner are both huge Calvin & Hobbes fans, which they didn't discover until right then. Lots of Calvin & Hobbes echos appear in Fringe.
-Josh Jackson keeps a flow chart in his trailer to keep track of all the mythology. Can I get a copy of that?
-Apparently the flashing icons that appear before each commercial break are part of a code that diligent fans should be able to crack. They provide clues to the overall mythology of the show.
-Each episode has a clue hidden somewhere about the focus of the next episode. I already knew about these, but it was cool to hear it confirmed.
-Yes, the Observer is in every episode (knew that), sometimes more than once (didn't know that)
-We will be meeting William Bell (and may have already) sometime this season!
-A kid in the audience asked Anna Torv for help for a class project and she obliged. He claimed if they both wore these aluminum hats, he would be able to read her mind (see above) and joked afterwards that now he knows her phone number.

Anna Torv after helping a student with a class project

That's it for the panels! But not the end of the day. One of the highlights of the entire convention was watching EruditeChick KILL at the Marvel Debates at the Ultimate Alliance 2 booth. Some of the questions debated were "Who would make a better Nick Fury - The Hoff or Sam Jackson?" and "Should captured villains be forced to work for the government as superheroes?" The poor kid she was debating didn't know what hit him. I missed out on filming most of the debate (though it should appear on the Ultimate Alliance website soon), I did catch EruditeChick winning the big award. This video doesn't feature any of the lady's vast X-Men knowledge, but her answers, soon to be posted online, feature plenty :)

And that's pretty much it! Somewhere in there, I got interviewed by Blair Butler about the con & Watchmen, so snippets of me being awkward should appear on Attack of the Show sometime this week or at the very least, on the 25th.

Hope you enjoyed the coverage!

See full post