7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.7 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.6 |
The Dollhouse is a very secret, and very illegal, place where wishes come true.
Starring: Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Tahmoh Penikett, Enver Gjokaj, Olivia WilliamsSci-Fi | 100% |
Mystery | 45% |
Thriller | 26% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
For all his ideas, witty characters and snarky dialogue, writer-director-creator-producer and humble fanboy-deity Joss Whedon can't seem to catch a break. Despite its emergence as a cult phenomenon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer failed to expand its fanbase beyond a faithful five-million, fizzling out in its seventh-season prime after series star Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to hang up her stakes. (Official Season 8 motion comic notwithstanding.) Firefly was mishandled and mistreated by Fox from day one, canceled long before it could find an audience and prove how wonderfully constructed and well-written it actually was. Angel was yanked off the air without warning when it was still going strong; a victim of the WB Network's tussle with competitor UPN. Whedon, in turn, glumly compared the sudden death of his third series to a "healthy guy falling dead from a heart attack." Then there's Serenity, a taut, sharp-shooting feature film continuation of Firefly that, impressive home video sales aside, has yet to convince Universal to greenlight a sequel. Sadly, the time has come to officially add Dollhouse to the list. After being granted an unexpected, albeit all-too-temporary second-season reprieve, Whedon was left with little choice but to cram six years of ideas into the few episodes he had left. So here lies Dollhouse: struck down ahead of its time, the victim of network mismanagement, dwindling Friday night viewers, creative constraints and a tragically hurried endgame.
Warning: first season spoilers lie ahead...
Season Two may not be as consistent as Season One, but Fox's 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation is. Besting both its DVD counterpart and its first-season Blu-ray release, Dollhouse's second (and presumably final) foray into high definition is a strong one. While noise reduction is still apparent throughout (Williams seems to take the brunt of it), it isn't quite as prevalent or distracting; while detail is still a slave to Whedon's ever-evolving aesthetics, fine textures are more acutely resolved, definition is a bit crisper and cleaner, and delineation is a touch more satisfying; and edge enhancement, though still present to some degree, isn't nearly as intrusive as before. Whedon's bountiful palette is awash with rich, savory shades as well. Primaries are gutsy and visually arresting, skintones are fairly lifelike, black levels are nice and deep, and contrast is spot on. Even the series' futurescape is teeming with color, forgoing a wintry post-apocalyptic mood in favor of a more summery disposition. On the technical front, Fox's encode is just as impressive. Artifacting, aliasing, banding and the like are kept to an absolute minimum, and crush is only a factor insofar as the series' at-times shadow-strewn photography is concerned. All in all, Dollhouse looks much better than it plays and should satiate any lingering appetite fans have for the show.
While Fox's video transfer represents a step forward, its Season Two DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track represents a small but annoying step back. As was the case with Season One's lossless mix, dialogue is as uneven as the episodes. The series offers crystal clear voices one minute, muddled mumbles the next, and hollow chirps and tinny declarations soon thereafter. It isn't a debilitating issue -- at least not one that sweeps lines away by the dozens -- but it is a notable disappointment, especially considering how conversation-driven Dollhouse can be. Worse, the rear speakers aren't particularly active or enveloping this time around, erupting with convincing directional effects at times, but growing strangely quiet the moment Echo's lowers her fists and Paul lowers his gun. Ambience is largely stagey and indistinct, acoustics range from decent to non-existent, and the majority of the soundfield is relegated to the front channels. Thankfully, commanding LFE output lends power and heft to an otherwise two-dimensional experience, granting action scenes welcome punch and other intense sequences a sense of sonic weight. Not that all is lost elsewhere. Dialogue is still serviceable, Whedon's original sound design is polished, the nuances of Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen's music translates beautifully, dynamics are bold, and pans are smooth. It isn't all for naught; just underwhelming on the whole.
Like its predecessor, Season Two serves up a short but sweet supplemental package fans will enjoy. Still, three audio commentaries, two all-too-short featurettes and a handful of deleted scenes just doesn't cut it nowadays. It would have been nice to hear from Whedon on more episodes and see the entire "Looking Back" conversation he and his cast shared over dinner. Ah well. At least all of the content is presented in high definition.
Another one bites the dust, and not in a particularly graceful fashion. Dollhouse's second season gets off to a rickety eight-episode start, and only pulls it together in the last five-ep stretch as Whedon condenses six years of material into four hours. It's worth watching... so long as you have the patience and devotion to reach his endgame. Fox's 3-disc Blu-ray release isn't a surefire stunner either. While its video presentation warrants praise, its DTS-HD Master Audio track comes up short in key fundamentals and its supplemental package, though well worth digging through, is light on content for a 13-episode television season. Ultimately, it's almost as bittersweet as Dollhouse's demise.
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Selfless
2015
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1951
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1971
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