Dollhouse: Season One

Joss Whedon, creator of the fan favorite shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, returned to TV with this high-concept mix of spy show and science fiction adventure. The Dollhouse is (literally) an underground and illegal company that wipes clean its operatives' personalities and imprints them with elaborate identities and accompanying skills. The experiments in brainwashing and social engineering are conducted on model-perfect subjects in zen-like surroundings and then field-tested in action show assignments. Buffy alumnus Eliza Dushku is the company's star, playing everything from sexual fantasies to secret agents for the company's deep-pocket clients. The series began slowly, with Whedon trickling out characters' backstories and hints of conspiracies, but by the end of the 2009 first season, the stories and concepts gelled into provocative science fiction with metaphysical dimensions. The DVD and Blu-ray releases both feature all 12 broadcast episodes, as well as two terrific exclusives: the original, unaired, significantly darker pilot, which plays more like a feature film than a TV episode; and the unaired 13th episode, “Epitaph One,” set in 2019, when the Dollhouse technology has led to the collapse of society. Other extras include audio commentaries, five behind-the-scenes featurettes, and deleted scenes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)