Dollhouse Renewed? Why not Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles?
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0:03 - 0:05I just found out that Dollhouse is being
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0:05 - 0:07renewed by Fox for another season.
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0:07 - 0:09It’s a Joss Whedon TV show so I wanted to
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0:09 - 0:11give it a chance when it first started.
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0:11 - 0:12Dollhouse is a show about a bunch of people
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0:12 - 0:14who get there brains wiped and then new
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0:14 - 0:16personalities and experiences and
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0:16 - 0:18memories get put into their heads and they
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0:18 - 0:21can exist as that person for X amount of time
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0:21 - 0:23and they get hired out by
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0:23 - 0:25clients to perform various tasks.
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0:25 - 0:29Most of the “engagements” are men
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0:29 - 0:30trying to fulfill a fantasy.
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0:30 - 0:32Dollhouse is really a glorified brothel.
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0:32 - 0:34Dollhouse is really misogynistic
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0:34 - 0:36I don’t know what other word to describe it
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0:36 - 0:38as. There is a big issue that hasn't
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0:38 - 0:41really been raised about whether this is rape
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0:41 - 0:43or not. It’s been talked about online a little bit
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0:43 - 0:46but the show hasn’t dealt with this issue at all.
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0:46 - 0:47So they sign these contracts saying
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0:47 - 0:50that they’ll be in Dollhouse for X amount of
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0:50 - 0:51years and their conscious mind
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0:51 - 0:54isn’t around so they can’t consent to every
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0:54 - 0:56single engagement that they go on.
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0:56 - 0:58Now if you can’t consent then
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0:58 - 1:00that would be rape right?
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1:00 - 1:02In Dollhouse we as the viewer are supposed
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1:02 - 1:04to condemn the dollhouse, we’re not
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1:04 - 1:05supposed to like it, we’re supposed to think
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1:05 - 1:07it’s morally and ethically wrong
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1:07 - 1:09to do these things to these people yet we
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1:09 - 1:11identify with all of the characters
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1:11 - 1:12in the dollhouse.
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1:12 - 1:14So Boyd the handler, you think he’s pretty
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1:14 - 1:16cool because he seems to have issues with
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1:16 - 1:17what’s going on, yet
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1:17 - 1:18he still continues to work there.
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1:18 - 1:20The woman who runs the place
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1:20 - 1:23towards the end of the season we start to
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1:23 - 1:25get more of an emotional grasp on her
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1:25 - 1:27and her character becomes a little more
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1:27 - 1:30more entrenched in who she is and not,
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1:30 - 1:33you know, not hating her.
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1:33 - 1:35Tofur the crazy scientist,
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1:35 - 1:37you totally think he’s funny and witty and
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1:37 - 1:39smart and goofy
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1:39 - 1:41you don’t really take him too seriously.
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1:42 - 1:44If we’re not supposed to like dollhouse
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1:44 - 1:45which I think we’re not supposed to
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1:45 - 1:46then why are we sympathetic with all of the
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1:46 - 1:48characters inside of the dollhouse?
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1:48 - 1:50Joss Whedon on Whedonesque.com
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1:50 - 1:52was quoted as saying that part of the pitch
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1:52 - 1:55to renew for a second season was that they
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1:55 - 1:57were going to go in the direction of
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1:57 - 1:58the season finale.
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1:58 - 2:00I think we have enough crazy, serial killing,
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2:00 - 2:03murdering men on television that we don’t
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2:03 - 2:05need to add to the repertoire with Dollhouse.
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2:05 - 2:09The season finale was just blah
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2:09 - 2:11cover my ears
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2:11 - 2:12cover my eyes
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2:12 - 2:15I didn’t want to watch a single other episode
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2:15 - 2:16of Dollhouse after that.
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2:16 - 2:18It was just so grotesquely violent
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2:18 - 2:19it was unnecessary
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2:19 - 2:22it’s this crazy maniacal guy who was
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2:22 - 2:24damaged by the dollhouse
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2:24 - 2:26(which were sympathetic to right?)
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2:26 - 2:28doing all these crazy things
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2:28 - 2:29so now he becomes the enemy and the
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2:29 - 2:31dollhouse is kind of in that grey
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2:31 - 2:33middle zone area.
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2:33 - 2:34This news is troubling in that I really
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2:34 - 2:36didn’t want Terminator: the Sarah Connor
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2:36 - 2:37Chronicles to get cancelled.
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2:37 - 2:38I thought it was a really good show.
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2:38 - 2:40I felt like the story line and the characters
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2:40 - 2:41were really complex.
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2:41 - 2:43They made complicated relationships
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2:43 - 2:45between each other and the characters
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2:45 - 2:48evolved in interesting ways that I thought
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2:48 - 2:50could grow over another couple of seasons.
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2:50 - 2:52Also the show is based on the Terminator
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2:52 - 2:53movies which most of us have
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2:53 - 2:55probably seen that are kind of big macho
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2:55 - 2:57fests about you know
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2:57 - 2:59gore and violence and
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2:59 - 3:01blowing things up and robots
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3:01 - 3:04the whole sci fi chase scene
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3:04 - 3:06GRAAA thing
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3:06 - 3:08But Sarah Connor, although it had those
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3:08 - 3:11elements, was actually really smart.
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3:11 - 3:14It fused together the action part of the sci fi
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3:14 - 3:17genre but it also brought in character
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3:17 - 3:19development was really well done.
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3:19 - 3:21The show is also mostly about a woman
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3:21 - 3:24she’s an independent, tough, single mom
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3:24 - 3:26that’s trying to protect her son.
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3:26 - 3:27The other main character on the show
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3:27 - 3:29is a representation of a teenage woman
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3:29 - 3:30who although she’s a robot
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3:30 - 3:33you still see as young female.
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3:33 - 3:35She’s empowered, she’s smart
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3:35 - 3:36she’s strong
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3:36 - 3:38these are all good things to have on
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3:38 - 3:39television I think.
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3:39 - 3:41I think looking really critically at why a show
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3:41 - 3:43like Dollhouse is getting renewed
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3:43 - 3:45and the Sarah Connor Chronicles are not
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3:45 - 3:46The Sarah Connor Chronicles really took its
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3:46 - 3:48time and sometimes it was a little slow
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3:48 - 3:49moving because they really did a lot of
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3:49 - 3:51character development
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3:51 - 3:53and really built up a story line
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3:53 - 3:54so you really became attached to what
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3:54 - 3:56was going on and really invested.
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3:56 - 3:58Where Dollhouse you met a new
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3:58 - 3:59character every week.
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3:59 - 4:01It wasn’t really super complicated you didn’t
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4:01 - 4:03have a lot of character development
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4:03 - 4:05There were a few things here and there
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4:05 - 4:06where the main character Echo
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4:06 - 4:08started to remember her old past
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4:08 - 4:10but even then it wasn’t that interesting
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4:10 - 4:12and it was kind of the same old same old.
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4:13 - 4:14There was a really interesting article
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4:14 - 4:15in the Washington Post that talked
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4:15 - 4:18about how Dollhouse was produced
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4:18 - 4:21by Fox and aired on the Network of Fox
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4:21 - 4:22so they have more invested in that
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4:22 - 4:24financially and can make more profits.
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4:24 - 4:26Where Sarah Connor was produced by
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4:26 - 4:27Warner Brothers aired on Fox
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4:27 - 4:30there’s not as much financial investment.
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4:30 - 4:32I know that Joss Whedon is capable of
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4:32 - 4:35writing really good quality television
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4:35 - 4:37that’s critical and analytical
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4:37 - 4:39and has social commentary while still
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4:39 - 4:41being entertaining and fun.
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4:41 - 4:44So I don’t know why he can’t do that again.
- Title:
- Dollhouse Renewed? Why not Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles?
- Description:
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Fox Networks decided to renew Dollhouse for another 13 episodes but canceled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'm less then thrilled about this decision.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Feminist Frequency
- Duration:
- 04:47