Dollhouse - Original Pilot Script

[fembuck]

OMG!  The script for the unaired pilot was so much better than the aired one.  I mean, yes the second half of the aired pilot was pretty good, but all of the unaired one was good.  There was Joss speak, and more of an exploration of how the Dollhouse works, we got hints into the characters backgrounds, the Activies interacted with each other, there was some philosphizing and tons more Adelle and Claire. 

*hates FOX so much*  Why do they always gotta go and eff up Joss's pilots?!?!?!  Ugh.

Anyway ... 

Comments

[hypno-ninja.livejournal.com]

I disagree. The script itself is awesome, and wouldn't undoubtedly made a better episode than the pilot they aired, but it would've made a worse pilot. It's got too much of the meat of the story coming at the audience when they've just been introduced too the characters. If this had been aired, no one would've cared that they were 'grouping' or that at the end of the episode Echo says 'Caroline', because most people aren't invested in the characters yet. All of this stuff is great stuff for later episodes, but putting it into the pilot probably would've guaranteed that the show died.

Also, the comparison that was made with Firefly is bullshit. Firefly was screwed over by A LOT more than just the fact that it's pilot didn't get aired first. It could've survived that if it had gotten the proper advertisement, or stayed on a single night, or not been preempted for anything and everything.

[fembuck.livejournal.com]

It's got too much of the meat of the story coming at the audience when they've just been introduced too the characters.

Actually, all of that stuff made me MORE interested in the show, didn't kill my interest in it. Questions were posed, but other than the "Caroline" thing, none of those questions were answered in the unaired pilot (and the Caroline thing was revealed in the first 5 seconds of the aired pilot), just left hanging to grab your attention.

I liked the teases about the imprinting, and the name dropping of Alpha, and the bits about the pro-bono work, and the seeing the Dolls interact with each other. I thought it planted some tantilizing hints that could then be developed throughout the season.

Also, the unaired pilot felt like a Mutant Enemy show. The characters had .. well, character. In the aired pilot everyone came off really flat to me, though that did get better in the second half of the episode.

The only thing I liked better about the aired pilot was that Paul's investigation wasn't so far advanced. I think it's better to see him going through the beginning stages of the season, then having him meet a Doll and have everything about the Dollhouse confirmed for him in the pilot.

Also, the comparison that was made with Firefly is bullshit. Firefly was screwed over by A LOT more than just the fact that it's pilot didn't get aired first.

This is true, but airing the episodes out of order certainly didn't help. The original Firefly pilot did a much better job setting up the characters and introducing the world that they occupied than The Train Job did. Personally, I liked The Train Job. It was certainly a better pilot than the Dollhouse one.

FOX did a whole lot of other things to screw Firefly over of course, but the pilot being re-shot, the episodes airing out of order, and the Friday night time-slot can't help but remind me of the Firefly situation.

They're not being quite as bad with Dollhouse, but they're certainly not doing anything to really help Dollhouse out here. They're meddling didn't help before, so maybe they should have tried to just let Joss tell the story in the order (and way) he wanted to. I certainly doubt it would've hurt the ratings.