Stars Spill on Dollhouse's Star-Crossed Relationships

Fri, Apr 17, 2009 by DRUSILLA MOORHOUSE

We have so much Dollhouse scoop we don't know what to do with ourselves, but let's start with love (or the believable simulation of the same), because we chatted up the cast at the 25th Annual aley Television Festival, and they shared a lot of great exclusive scoop about who's connecting with whom.

Want to know which relationship is about to get "interesting," which couple is "doomed" and which favorite pairing is going offline for the remainder of season one? Read on...

Echo & Everyone: Eliza Dushku tell us, "It is revealed in ep 11 why Caroline is the focus of so much attention. Questions are answered in a freaky delicious way."

Sierra and Victor: There's little hope for further romantic progress between Sierra and Victor (Enver Gjokaj), at least during the remainder of this season. Says Dichen Lachman, "Sadly, I think that's been put to bed for a little while. But it's so beautiful and innocent, and it has a lot of potential." Yeah it does!

Sierra and Topher: Topher (Fran Kranz) hires Sierra to be his Doll friend in the next episode Dichen tells us, "Topher's a really sweet guy, but he's a lonely man. I think deep down he just wants a friend. He does ask Boyd (Harry Lennix) for a Doll. Boyd says, 'Sierra hasn't been active for a while, why don't you use her?' Things do occur - nothing sexual or sinister or inappropriate, but he does build a certain type of person. Being a computer geek, and liking computer games and football... I think you see the character being built about those specifications; very clean and friendly."

Topher and Dr. Saunders: According to Fran Kranz (love him), it's not just you if you think you see somthing happening between him and Dr. Claire Saunders (Amy Acker). We actually asked about his feelings for fellow lab rat Ivy (Liza Lapria), and he turned his answer into a statement about Dr. S! According to Fran, "Ivy and Topher are buddies. I think one other question is Dr. Saunders and Topher. I wouldn't count on anything romantic coming near Topher for a long time, but there's an interesting relationship with Dr. Saunders." Interesting relationship, huh> Hmmmm....

Mellie & Paul: The wonderful Miracle Laurie says of November's imprint's feelings for Tahmoh Penikett@s Paul, "Poor things, they're totally doomed. It's really sad. Mellie believes she loves Paul, that's what she's been imprinted to do - to be with him no matter what." True, it's completely fake, but in the meantime, quite a hot pairing don't you think?

Now, do you still want more Dollhouse? Yes, of course you do. So check back in the near future for our exclusive Q&A with Joss Whedon adn then next Friday for our extensive and exlusive chats with Enver Gjokaj and Fran Kranz!

I asked Joss Whedon himself if he had even started thinking about a story arc for Season 2, if the show gets picked up. "Yeah, I have thought about it," said Whedon. "I don't have an absolute total arc, but there's a bunch of stuff that we're already chomping at the bit to get to. We fell like this story is just too rich and we've barely scratched the surface. I tell you though, for the nex four episodes we scratch it really, really hard. It's gonna bleed."

After the press rounds, we headed downstairs to join up with the auditorium filled with Dollhouse fans as they were finishing watching the Whedon "handpicked for the crowd" episode, "Needs." During the Q&A session, Whedon himself described the final three remaining episodes as "fierce." "They're ridiculous," he added. "We're going out with a bang." Now certainly the fate of Dollhouse is still up in the air, but Whedon, albeit hopeful and full of good cheer, still recognized that they couldn't hold anything back in Season 1 since it might be the only chance they get. They couldn't risk saving things for future seasons and they had to fire all the torpedoes.

Whedon, able to look back now on the whole production of Season 1, claimed that it was "a normally difficult birthing process that I was abnormally whiny about." But he did want to give credit to all the actors since, as he said "we didn;t shoot a single episode in the order in which they aired." That meant that all the actors had to change their characters according to what the would have known or been through for that episode. Whedon also addressed what he referred to as the "floating episode," or the 13th episode. He made an extra episode for FOX studios for international and DVD sales, which require a hard 13. He chose to make it a "weird post-apolcolyptic horror episode with a whole new cast and peppered with scenes of these peoople [the original cast]," Whedon was asked if he ever just thought about including the unaired pilot as number 13, and he responded with "not only would it not make sense, but we cannibalized it for parts. Bits of it appear in each episode." Whedon did then go on to say that the first scene from the unaired pilot, in which Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) does a Dollhouse "sales pitch" to potential clients, was actually repurposed to episode 13.

Dushku herself beamed over Whedon claiming that he's been the only one in the biz that's been able to see another side to her - with most everyone else seeiner her "in leather pants and a push up bra, kicking ass." She ingratiated herself to him for giving her more dramatic work to do, and seeing her as someone that could don a sundress, or play a blind cultist.

Many people have called Dollhouse the "non-Whedon" Whedon show. He responded with "my goal in life is for there not to be the term "a typical Joss Whedon show." "That's not to say that I don't do the same thing over and over," Whedon added with a laugh. He then launched into a mock voice of him pitching a show to a network - "She's a young woman of extraordinary power!" and then the network - "That sounds great Joss. We love it!"