My Name Is Line, And I’m a Whedon-holic

Yes I freely admit it, I am completely addicted to the genius that is Joss Whedon. How can you be addicted to a person, I hear you ask. Well it’s much like stalking I suppose, although with less sinister intent, basically I hunt the web, the shops and the telly for him, well his master pieces (except Firefly and Serenity, I’m really sorry but I can live very comfortably without them).

I suppose it all started when our DVD lady(more on her in a later post, I promise) happened to have Dollhouse all boxed up and nice when she came over last week. Now for those who don’t know, Dollhouse is the newest project from Mr. Whedon, season 1 was, after much back and forth and unnecessary delay, broadcast on FOX this spring. I remember when it was announced back in 2008, I watched the trailer, loved it and started looking forward to it’s January start, then Feb start, then… well… only 12 episodes were made in the end, but it’s been given a 2nd season so we won’t harp on about that.

Dollhouse stars  Buffy’s Eliza Dushku as Echo, an active with the Dollhouse. Actives or dolls are basically blank canvases which then get imprinted with a new personality, memories etc. basically they become a new person except on the outside. These actives are then sent out to clients who have requested them, it can be everything from needing an expert to negotiate with kidnappers to a date with the perfect woman/man, any kind of fantasy scenario is possible if you have enough money. It’s kind of like Fantasy Island, but way creepier and better. In true Whedon fashion the cast contains another old friend, namely Amy Acker as Dr. Clare Saunders/Omega, and for people who watched Serenity there is also Alan Tudyk playing active gone bad, Alpha.  There is also Olivia Williams, last seen as Jane Austen in Miss Austen Regrets, who plays the head of operations, Adelle DeWitt, and our hero, Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Paul Ballard an FBI agent investigating the mythical Dollhouse.

My two favorite episodes are, 5. True Believer where Echo is made blind and sent to infiltrate a sect, and 10. Haunted where is is imprinted with the memories of a dead woman, who only really wanted to come back to see how her family would take her death, but then ends up investigating her own murder. The last episode was a little weak though, but I can forgive that now that I have a new season to look forward to.

The next stop on the Whedon bus takes us to Dark Horse and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8. No you haven’t missed the announcement of a new TV show season, BTVS season 8 is in the form of graphic novels. I already bought Volume 1. The Long Way Home (which is issue 1-5) and Volume 2. No Future For You (which is issue 5-10) last year (think maybe for my birthday), but I was missing Volume 3. Wolves at The Gate and Volume 4. Time Of Your Life and there was no where in Abu Dhabi to buy them, still isn’t. I know I could have ordered off amazon or something, but I hate paying more than I should. Then a couple of weeks back we spent the weekend in Dubai and found Graphic Novel Heaven, also know as Book World by Kinokuniya at Dubai Mall. Unfortunately they only had Vol. 4, which of course I bought, but that’s now sitting on my bookshelf taunting me because I refuse to read them out of order. Volume 5. Predators and Prey isn’t out until September, otherwise I could order them both together then, but I don’t want to wait that long. I guess my next plan is to call Book World and see if they have it back in stock or if they could order it for me, my birthday is in a month and it would be a great bday pressie for myself. But what will I do while I wait??

Well it seems Dark Horse might have answered that question for me as well., or rather MySpace Dark Horse has. On their MySpace page Dark Horse is publishing comics issues with 4 new stories in each issue. Currently we’re on Issue 23, which includes a background story for Penny, our tragic heroine from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along blog. In a previous issue, Issue 12, there is also more to be had of Captain Hammer, the worlds worst hero. But my main happy comes from the announcement that Issue 24, out July 1st, will feature a Buffy story. Yes I know I’m a geek, I’m sad, la-di-fucking-da, I don’t care. There might be more goodies there, but I haven’t had time to browse yet, it’s definitely added to my to-do list. Right I have a lot more to say on the issue of my Whedon-holism, but I think this is a good place to call it a day. Please keep your eyes out for Whedon-holic part 2.