He is Fran Kranz who played Josh Flug in a very short-lived sitcom last fall, “Welcome to the Captain.”
There’s generally more than one of those, however, and they do get busted again and again; it’s just that for every head you chop off, another two immediately sprout, thus the operation as a whole continues. That’s not the case with a single secret agency type of deal.
Thank you. I saw him in Donnie Darko and Matchstick Men, it seems.
Do we know if this is a single agency? Do we know if it is being propped up by some kind of large government body? It doesn’t seem to me that we do, though there’s probably some kind of connection to a large government organization (which would allow Joss to crib from the script for Telefon). One would think that a wealthy individual pulling $6 million and then $2 million (plus whatever fees he owed the Dollhouse folks) out of his assorted bank accounts would trip a number of Federal alarm bells (don’t forget that’s how the FBI got wind of Spitzer).
Agreed that Heinlein invented it, but not in that story. “Tunnel in the Sky” had a much more elaborate description of just why colonized planets would rely on horses and wagons and such. Other stories of Heinlein’s had similar themes - traders in spaceships dropping off livestock, etc.
Tim Minear, one of the creative forces behind Firefly, is a huge Heinlein fan, and I believe that’s one of the reasons Firefly had such a Heinleinian feel to it, right down to the libertarian ethic and the hot-but-deadly women, who could have come right out of a Heinlein novel.
:smack:
Now you’ve got me trying to place all the characters in “Firefly” in the Heinleinian universe - Mal as Jubal Harshaw? River as Valentine Smith? The black bounty hunter who was hunting River and Simon as Lazarus Long? Fascinating! 
To avoid further hijack, I started a new thread.
OK, can some of you that seemed to actually understand this explain something to me?
We get the geeky guy explaining the glasses and asthma with “you get the whole package.” Yet we also learn that the personalities are to some degree composites.
So, why pick nearsightedness and asthma to include in the “active” you hire out?
I thought it was more an issue that they can’t create super-humans, all pros and no cons. So they can make a master go-between but to ballance the super skills, they have to add some flaws. Eyesight and asthma are not gonna hinder a go-between. I bet they give lisping to a sniper.
Here’s something that’s been bugging me (tho obviously not enough to crank up the DVR!)
At the end, when the execs were discussing the “mission” (wrapping up loose ends), I thought I heard the redheaded guy (from Homicide) say “Our client didn’t die, and we got 8 million dollars.” Which made me think they kept the ransom that they recovered instead of returning it to the client.
Did anyone else catch that? Struck me as quite odd - and pretty certain to piss off a pretty powerful client in a big way.
Wow, a lot of hate. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; in so many ways, the SDMB Cafe Society is all too often little more than a collection of Comic Book Guys bellyaching: “I was on the Internet within moments, registering my complaint throughout the World. Worst. Episode. Ever.”
Elizu Dushku is not a terrible actress. If you think she’s a poor actress, then you shouldn’t be able to tolerate basically any TV. I’m not saying she’s great, but I’ve got to question anyone who thinks she’s awful and purports to watch and enjoy, well, anything at all outside of the highest-caliber theatre. A bunch of you are fans of shows with far more questionable acting. You’re not persuasive.
When Firefly came out, the bellyaching and comments about supposed lack of originality and poor acting were almost identical. Comically so, actually. And yet somehow many, many people came around regardless, and now Firefly is practicality a classic, and widely regarded as some of the best entertainment ever available on TV. Rightly so, in my opinion.
When it came out though, there was little besides “cowboys in space, big deal” and similar comments.
I liked “Dollhouse.” I will tune in next week. Not sure if it’s a great show, yet, but it caught my interest. Joss Whedon’s track record is more than good enough to justify sticking around for at least a few more episodes. The premise isn’t sensational, but then neither was that of Buffy, or Angel, or Firefly. A lot of people dismissed all of those shows when they came out, and jumped on the bandwagon later.
So far, I’m intrigued enough to keep watching.
They did say that, but its not clear what the intended implication of that was. Its possible that they were congradulating themselves for going above the outlines of the assignment and not only recovering the daughter for the client, but the money as well. (Doing so would pretty much ensure that the client kept coming back for your services.) Its also possible that the client just forked over the ransom money to them in a show of gratitude for getting his daughter back. Or they could be total jerks who stiffed the client out of 8 million bucks because they figured they could get away with it. Potentially, this will be addressed in a later episode.
Note that we don’t have any idea of what the deal they’re offering Echo in exchange for her services. It may be a lump sum payment, “fixing” whatever problem she got into before they hired her, or she might get a percentage of the fees they collected from the clients (paid to her only if she’s successful in an assignment). All of this opens up potential storylines, since they can screw around with memories, and she’d have no way of knowing if they were being honest with her or not.
It seems obvious, however, that there’s going to be some intrusion of Echo’s former life in the near future, what with Alpha apparently having killed her parents in his efforts to track her down.
God, yes.
Exactly. Unless an actor is really terrible or really great, what really determines the quality of the show is the writing, and Dushku isn’t really all that terrible or all that great. Joss Wheedon is pretty damn good writer, but he does take awhile to get rolling on any given series.
I was one of those bitching about cowboys in space wrt Firefly, but I haven’t really changed my mind since. I never really liked the series. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good series, just that I didn’t care for all the retro tech in a civilization that had routine space travel.
Me, too. Bevy of hottie sex slaves (in essence) who are potential DiDs in every “mission.” What’s not to like?
Sorry, the premise fucking ROCKS!!! (see above)
Are you inhabiting the same Internet I am? Firefly was beloved before it even aired and gave rise to the meme of “Joss Whedon is My Master Now” done up in the Star Wars font.
http://www.serenitystuff.com/2006/01/08/69/
Nobody is saying Dollhouse is shit. But it’s a clear step down from even the worst moments of Buffy and Angel. Although, for the record, I think Eliza Dushku is a fine actress. And you’re right, saying she’s a crappy actress while raving about some of the jackasses on 24 (which I love) or House (and which I catch occasionally) is pushing it.
not enough stat points to distribute. after they maxed out charisma and intelligence they had to reduce perception and endurance.
The truth is somewhere in between. Here is the (fairly short) SDMB thread for the first episode of Firefly. While not as negative as Knorf remembers, he has a point that there are a few parallels to this thread. Even with a few glowing reviews, it’s definitely not the hugs and rainbows Justin_Bailey (who hadn’t yet registered on the SDMB) thought.
Not really a fair comparison, IMHO. Firefly was pretty much FUBAR’d by Fox from the get-go, while Dollhouse doesn’t seem to have had the same level of screwing. Lets not forget that this was a pilot episode, and pilots are often weak.
It was Knorf’s comparison, not mine.
ETA: Everything I’ve heard seems to suggest that Dollhouse has been FUBAR’d by Fox. Didn’t production shut down for two weeks because of a dispute between Whedon and Fox execs who wanted to tinker with the show?
I gave it ten minutes to stop blowing. It got worse. I’ll finish watching the tape because Buffy fans have drilled into my head to trust Joss, but I’m not expecting much.