I tried unsuccessfully to get into the Dollhouse panel at Comic Con on Saturday- unfortunately the Sarah Connor Chronicles panel finished only about half an hour before it and that was not long enough for me to get in line and get in to see the panel for the new Joss Whedon series coming to FOX in January, 2009.

I do have a compendium of coverage from all over the web to share along with some photos from the panel and the FOX and EW parties held in San Diego last week along with Youtube clips from the panel and some interviews.

I welcome your thoughts and feelings about the panel if you went- I am getting excited about the series especially with Joss Whedon announcing they are shooting a new first episode for the series to really flesh out the back story so the ongoing plot line will make sense to viewers. The series has been picked up for 9 episodes- if it can do well in the mid-winter season it should be back next fall. With the poor showing Fringe had at Comic Con , Dollhouse and the built in Whedon fan base should be looking pretty good to Fox.

Eliza Dushku at the EW SciFi Channel Party

Comic-Con: As Joss Whedon looks on, stars remarkably at ease with each other during ‘Dollhouse’ panel

What with reconceiving and reshooting the show’s pilot, Joss Whedon didn’t have much to present to the Dollhouse panel observers at Comic-Con on Saturday, other than an extended trailer for the Fox show (which debuts in January). But one thing about the new sci-fi/action show was certainly made clear: Man, do its stars have chemistry!

Dollhouse, about a shady cabal that strips its employees or “actives” of their personalities and imprints them with new ones (for a fee, obvs) to do whatever their clients want, stars Eliza Dushku (pictured) as Echo and Battlestar Galactica’s Tahmoh Penikett as an FBI agent who’s been looking into the illicit organization. Dushku and Penikett sat alongside Whedon for the entire Q&A session, looking very much like the will-they-or-won’t-they pair their characters will play on the series.

After Penikett explained to one questioner that there would be no shooting conflict between Battlestar and Dollhouse because he’d been written out of the Sci-Fi Channel series, Dushku interjected, “Thank you, Battlestar Galactica! You are a strapping and extraordinary man.” And that left Whedon to joke sheepishly, “I’ll just be here,” as Dushku scooted her chair closer to Penikett. The duo seemed fully at ease with each other, whispering and joking throughout the session. At one point, Whedon half-heartedly lamented his third-wheel status, joking, “This is like bringing your banjo onstage after the Stones play.”

The love wasn’t just between the costars, however, with Whedon declaring himself in a full-on bromance with Penikett, and Dushku announcing her eternal affection for the man who’s guided her through three series (Buffy, Angel, and Dollhouse). “Joss makes me feel smart and sexy. He just fits — like a career brassiere.” READ MORE HERE on EW

Joss Whedon at the EW SciFi Party

Comic-Con ‘08: Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse Panel

Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku (Tru Calling, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica) attended the Dollhouse panel and they went straight to audience questions after the very cool preview of the show.

Joss was asked if there was anyone outside the Whedon-verse cadre of actors that he might be interested in bringing into his shows. Joss pointed to Tahmoh quickly! He touched on the fact he’s got a bro-mance with him and wanted him on the show.

He was also asked if it was a pessimistic attitude for different folks already starting websites to save the show, considering his past experience with the Fox Network. He appreciates the enthusiasm behind the ideas, and he feels the wariness is much deserved.

Whedon pointed out that this will not be a simple role for Eliza as she’ll have to tackle a range of roles she’ll experience in the show and warned us there will be a lot of pain with Echo. (Echo is Eliza’s character’s name.)

READ THE REST at SCREENRANT

Dollhouse Cast Promo Photo

Dollhouse Reshoot Explained

Joss Whedon, creator and executive producer of the upcoming midseason Fox series Dollhouse, told SCI FI Wire that he will shoot a new first episode of the show in part because of Fox’s reaction to the show’s pilot.

“It definitely has to do with the network and what I presented to them,” Whedon admitted in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. “It was one of those situations where we were all very enthusiastic about the world we were building, but they loved the pilot when they read it, and then they saw it and they said, ‘OK, this feels a little different than we thought it was going to.’ I began to suspect that they wanted something from the first episode that that episode didn’t have. They [were] sort of wishy-washy about it, and I don’t say this against them, because what they were trying to do was not rock my boat. So I was like, ‘I think I can give them exactly what they want. It will make the show better, because everything I do in this episode will only have more resonance.’”

Dollhouse revolves around a secret organization that uses programmed humans called “Actives” or “Dolls” to fulfill the requests of their clients. When their missions are complete, the Actives have their memories erased and take on new identities for the next client–that is, until one named Echo (Eliza Dushku) starts to retain her memories. READ MORE on SCIFI Wire