Eliza Dushku has become Catwoman.

The star of “Dollhouse” and “Tru Calling,” and of course “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Dushku provided the voice of Selina Kyle/Catwoman for “Batman: Year One,” the next entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated original movies. A few short months later, Dushku was quick to accept a return to the role as the title character of the DC Showcase animated short Catwoman.

We interviewed Dushku in 2009 when she was voicing the main character in the video game Wet. Following her initial recording session, Dushku was happy to download some of her thoughts regarding a number of subjects related to Catwoman, the Batman legacy, felines, bad girls and comic books. And here’s what she had to say …

QUESTION: You seemed to easily groove into this character. Where did you go to discover who Selina Kyle is?

ELIZA DUSHKU: I found the attitude for this character deep down in the Eliza Dushku archive of bad girls (she laughs). They’re in there somehow, somewhere for some reason, and I tap into them when I need them. They’re characters with an edge. I grew up with three older brothers in Boston, and my mother was a single mom. So I spent my early years running the streets with the boys. After I fell into the film and television business, I went back to public school in Boston, and kids didn’t think it was that cool. So I had to kind of fight for my street cred. I adopted this really sort-of-hard exterior, and got in a couple fights. So by the time I graduated high school and came out to make Buffy The Vampire Slayer, it was really art imitating life. I was fighting for my life.

QUESTION: Does being part of the Batman mythology have any special significance to you?

ED: It’s incredible being part of the Batman legacy. It’s iconic. It’s Batman. I grew up with brothers and we would play Batman and Robin. Well, I would always try to get in and play, but usually they would let me join the game as some character or another, and they would immediately kill me off (laughs). So, I used to watch from afar. So now look brothers – I get to be a part of this and you don’t. (laughs hard)

QUESTION: Do you have a pet cat? How do you feel about cats?

ED: I had hobo cats growing up. We had cats that would climb up on the roof of the house. We would get them off the roof, then two nights later they would be meowing on the top of the roof again. They have little attitudes, too. I ended up with dogs, mainly, but if a cat could act like a dog and could play like a dog and can play rough, then those cats got along with me. I just don’t want house cats or Siamese cats – they’re a little too snooty for me.

QUESTION: Did you enjoy attempting to bring a comic book to animated life?

ED: I love that in the DC Comics world, the stakes are high from the get-go. A week ago, I was watching The Dark Knight. I love what they did, but it’s different from what we did for Batman: Year One and Catwoman. When you’re recreating comics, there’s different intonations and character strengths that come out. That’s what I was focused on bringing forth. It’s a little exaggerated, a little nuanced, a little more dramatic. But it’s also full of layers and seething with this very cool energy.

QUESTION: Do you enjoy voice acting?

ED: I’ve had a great time doing voiceovers. It started with videogames – the first was a Buffy The Vampire Slayer videogame – and really I did it because I thought it would be cool to have my nephews be able to play me on their videogames. They won’t talk to me right now – they’re at that stage of being a teenager – so I thought maybe we could have a connection through the videogames. I did a videogame called Wet last year that was a lot of fun. Then I have some friends over at Family Guy. And then, more and more, I’ve been sort of reaching out and peeking around to see what things are available to build my voiceover resume. It’s fun for me, and completely different from what we do in live action. Voice acting is really invigorating. It still feels like you have to bring the same amount of character and energy into the room. And then to watch it morph into the animated version is really kind of magnificent.

QUESTION: Was there anything you wanted to personally add to the character that made the experience of voicing Catwoman that much more fun?

ED: Well, I wanted to purr, and they let me purr – so that was really like getting a bit of extra credit. I wanted to get in there and really emphasize her relationship with her cats, as I think it’s very feral and very significant. And everyone was really cool about letting me play around with my ferocity.

QUESTION: What is it you enjoy most about working in this genre?

ED: I love my fanboys. Without my fanboys, so many of the projects that I’ve done wouldn’t have had the extraordinary life that they’ve enjoyed. The fanboys have been there with enthusiasm and the support, and their loyalty and their love has made this so rewarding and exciting. It makes me just want to give them more, more, more, more.

QUESTION: The Whedonverse has provided many actors for the first 16 DC Universe Animated Original Movies. What do you think makes Joss Whedon’s casts fit so nicely in the DC Universe?

ED: Joss is such a die-hard comic book fan himself that there’s a natural connection. And when you play in his worlds – worlds that are fantasy-related with all this metaphorical, deep magic going on, it sort of preps you to think the unthinkable and go places with your character that most projects don’t give you the opportunity to do.

QUESTION: Your parents are educators. Did comic books fit into place as literature in your house?

ED: My father was actually a fourth grade elementary school teacher, so we had a lot of fun with dad growing up as far as comic books and trading baseball cards. That was actually one of the things that my brothers and my father and I did together – play with action figures and Star Wars and G.I. Joes and Transformers, and trade and read comic books and baseball cards. My dad actually worked at and had a baseball card shop for a while, and he had comics in there. So comic books were definitely a huge part of my childhood.

Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the all-new, PG-13 rated Batman: Year One arrives October 18 from Warner Home Video as a Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD, On Demand and for Download. Batman: Year One is also now available in a special download-for-purchase early window through iTunes, Xbox Live, Zune, VUDU HD Movies and Video Unlimited on the PlayStation Network & Sony Entertainment Network.

Tonight the final episode of Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” will air on Fox, canceled after barely two seasons.

Saw that coming.

“Dollhouse”, produced by Joss Whedon and Boston-born actress Eliza Dushku, premiered in February of last year to mixed reviews. There were the Whedon loyalists who recognized the spark of genius that made projects like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Serenity” brilliant. And there were those who saw it as flat, complicated, and directionless from the beginning.

Then there were the fans who just genuinely enjoyed the concept: Technology that can imprint a human brain with any personality. Our main characters were everything from the perfect date to the perfect assassin, and a few surprises in between.

But as of tonight, all that “Dollhouse” was is coming to an end. Cancelled before its time. But this isn’t the first time this has happened to a Joss Whedon show.

Perhaps Whedon’s most famous cancelled show was 2003′s “Firefly”, a Space Western with an ensemble cast, amazing dialog, and a budget too big for its experimental genre-mixing. It went off the air after only 13 episodes, but the seeds of a cult classic were planted.

Two years after the little-known show was cancelled by Fox, it had a huge fan following and a big damn movie. Serenity, the movie based on “Firefly”, was a hit. It gave fans the satisfaction of seeing their beloved story resolved on the silver screen.

But why was “Firefly” cancelled? If ratings were the problem, the network had only to wait a while. If DVD sales of the TV series and ticket sales for Serenity are any indication, “Firefly” would’ve had ratings of Buffy-like proportions within at least two seasons.

Was the budget too big to maintain? Budgets can always be cut, even with a special-effects heavy show. Perhaps the network was worried that audiences weren’t ready for a genre-bending sci-fi concept no one had ever seen before.

To that I say: Look at the success of Battlestar Galactica.

Even Whedon’s show Angel, a spin-off of his incredibly popular Buffy series, didn’t last as long as its creator intended. Cancelled in the fifth season and forced to wrap things up hastily, Angel was meant for at least another season. Its death wasn’t quite as tragic as “Firefly”, since the series did get a full five seasons. But again, the assumption was made that once Buffy ended, no one would want to watch its spinoff series. The network doubted Joss Whedon’s fans a second time.

And now, with the cancellation of “Dollhouse”, the Fox network is again snubbing the work of a great creator of television and doubting the faith of his fans. But this time, I find it hard to blame them.

“Dollhouse” was not Joss Whedon’s greatest show. I don’t even think it was his second best show. It fell far short of the brilliance of Buffy, as well as the short-but-sweet web series Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It may be that “Dollhouse” was doomed from the beginning. Were it not for loyal Whedonites the world over (and the curious viewers willing to give it a chance), it might not have lasted past the pilot.

But Whedon has had terrible pilots before. Season one of Buffy (which, as I might have said before, was his finest work) was a comedy of low-budget errors. Once it got off the ground, the show was great, but it was only by luck that the network decided to let it live past that first laughable season.

“Dollhouse”, by contrast, was blessed with an enormous budget and all-star crew from the very beginning. The set was beautiful, the actors were beautiful, the writers were legends in the industry… and yet it didn’t have that certain special something that takes a story and makes it great. How could a show starting with all the advantages turn out only mediocre at best, and get cancelled by the second season?

“Dollhouse” wasn’t terrible, it just… wasn’t great. Maybe the problem was that we expected greatness of the next big Joss Whedon show starring a bad-ass female protagonist.

It had its moments. The comic stylings of nerd-genius Topher Brink were always good for a laugh. The acting of Enver Gjokaj and Dichen Lachman as they switched seamlessly between personalities was breathtaking. The “Dollhouse” itself was a gorgeous set. The surprise plot-twists every five episodes or so kept me on my toes. And then there was the raw presence of Eliza Dushku, a woman who can turn heads no matter what she’s doing.

But none of this was enough to overshadow the fact that “Dollhouse” — much like its lead character — didn’t know its own identity. The show felt hesitant, like its creator knew that one false move could get it cancelled. They wanted so badly to get it right. And they failed to recognize their strengths and run with them.

From the beginning “Dollhouse” was a decent show that failed to grasp its full potential. They had their chance, and now they’re getting cancelled. As this is not Whedon’s first cancellation, the rumor goes that once “Dollhouse” goes off the air, he won’t be doing any more TV shows. Instead, Whedon will be focusing on web-based projects like Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Perhaps the show will redeem itself in the final episode. But it looks like this one’s going out with a whimper, not a bang.

A few interesting shows tonight. FOX has a special cooking show one-hit called “Gordon Ramsay: Cooking Live” at 9 p.m. following part 1 of the finale of “So You Think You Can Dance,” which is at 8.

A&E has a few odd premieres tonight in “Psychic Kids” at 9 p.m. and “Paranormal State” at 10.

NBC set dates for the return of its sitcoms before and after the Winter Olympics. “The Biggest Loser” returns January 5 at 8 p.m. “Chuck” returns January 11 at 8. “Paranthood” at 9 p.m. March 1. “The Marriage Ref” premieres March 14 at 8, and “The Celebrity Apprentice” at 9.

At the same time as the return of “Chuck” to the tube, NBC is launching a social media game around the show called “Mission” Chuck Me Out,” for fans to earn points by tracking mentions of the show on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.

Showtime reported strong numbers for the “Dexter” season four finale on Sunday. The show put together the largest audience in 10 years for the premium channel with 2.57 million total viewers. Showtime’s “Californication” also reported a 71 percent increase in viewership over last season’s finale. The season four finale of that show on Sunday garnered 1.055 million viewers and was the most-viewed episode of “Californication.”

E! reports “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” season four premiere on Sunday brought in more than double the viewers as its season three premiere.

History Channel is putting together an eight-hour miniseries about the storied Kennedy family. “The Kennedys” will debut in 2011 as History’s first scripted show.

One thing you might have missed Friday: “Dollhouse” was on FOX with two new episodes. The network is squeezing it out, to get rid of the canceled show with a cult following. FOX had a 1.5/3 rating on Friday, putting it in fifth place behind shows like “Law and Order” on NBC and “En Nombre Del Amor” on Univision.”

Today was the day of reckoning for several faltering television shows.

“Dollhouse,” “Hank” and “Brothers” all got the proverbial pink slip. “Dollhouse” through no fault of its own was set in no man’s land Friday night and seemed destined for failure from the start of the second season. “Hank” and “Brothers” never got off the ground.

Elsewhere, The CW will things fresh through at least May with new episodes of “One Tree Hill,” “Gossip Girl” and the new “Life UneXpected” all revolving around each others. “One Tree Hill” premieres with back-to-back episodes at 8 p.m. on January 18, followed by the start of “Life UneXpected” at 9 p.m.

The at-times controversial news anchor Lou Dobbs announced live on the air and unexpectedly that he was resigning from CNN immediately. Dobbs was under contract until the end of 2011, but CNN apparently released him. He was by some measure the voice of the right for CNN, though his views on immigration made him a lightning rod at times.

“Firefly” fans know the pain of the FOX red pen. It’s official. “Dollhouse” has been canceled.

The innovative Joss Whedon drama’s second season was a disaster from the start with a Friday night time slot it had to share with “Stargate Universe” and the fans’ social calendars. DVR couldn’t save it, either.

A few weeks ago, FOX announced it would pull “Dollhouse” during the November sweeps period due to low ratings, and yesterday the rest of the ax came down. FOX will air all 13 episodes of the second season starting on December 4, however.

Are you a die-hard Dollhouse fan? What do you think of this? Share your thoughts below.

Premieres of BET’s “Monica: Still Standing” and TLC’s “The Little Couple” can each be seen at 10 tonight.

Beyond that, USA Network is singing the praises of its new series “White Collar,” which debuted Friday night at 10 to the tune of 5.4 million total viewers. It was the best Friday 10 p.m. performance for USA in three years. CBS continues to carry Friday nights among the major networks, however, with new episodes of “Ghost Whisperer,” “Medium” and “Numb3rs.

FOX, with “Dollhouse,” finished fifth on Friday night, behind Univision, ABC, NBC and FOX. Even “The Jay Leno Show” did better than anything on FOX on Friday, which also boasts “Brothers” and “Till Death” in its Friday night lineup.

FOX is at the drawing board, however. The network has approved a new comedy from Seth Gordon and Adam F. Goldberg about a pack of 20-somethings who hack computer systems. That show, however, is still a ways away from even being a pilot.

NBC green-lit two products of its own recently. One, a drama called “Nola Rising” is from Teri Weinberg and writer Diane Ademi-John about a private eye who partners with an ex-con who can allow ghosts to use his body — like in “Ghost” — as the pair solves crimes. The second show is a comedy called “Ordinary People,” which is being hailed as “Mad About You” meets “The Cosby Show.”

“NCIS” and “NCIS Los Angeles” are on CBS tonight, and ABC busts out the big guns with “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” so don’t miss it.

Tonights premieres: “SuperNanny” on ABC at 8 and “White Collar” on USA Network at 10.

We are in the age of the “Gleek,” baby. FOX will release the first 13-episodes of the musical drama “Glee” on DVD by the end of the year, Variety reports. “Glee Season One: Road to Sections,” will be available December 29 with a director’s cut of the pilot and lots of special features.

Sebastian Roche will join FOX’s “Fringe” as a bad guy — a solider from another universe who’s part machine.

Lisa Kudrow will jump into a new project. She’s working with Dan Bucatinsky to develop a comedy for Showtimw based on the memior “Why the Long Face?: The Adventures of a Truly Independent Actor,” by Craig Chester. The show, for now called “Rapture,” chronicles the actor’s upbringing as the gay son of a religious household.

Adult Swim approved a pilot for a live action comedy produced by Conan O’Brien’s company. The show, “Eagleheart,” is about a washed up action star who gets a TV show.

Sarah Shahi will top the pilot for “Facing Kate,” for USA Network. She was previously the female lead on NBC’s “Life,” Cynopsis reports.

Finally, “Dollhouse” is not being included in the November sweeps for FOX due to poor ratings for the now struggling show — the latest Joss Whedon show with a rabid fan base that never seems to watch the damn show when it’s on TV.

Not much at all in terms of premieres today. Just cable stuff, really.

Lifetime has “Sherrie” at 7 p.m. and Rita Rocks at 7:30. Logo has “The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price” at 10 p.m., and BET has “The Mo’Nique” show at 11.

The two-hour season premiere of Ugly Betty will be pushed back a week from October 9 to October 16 on ABC. Then it will settle into every Friday at 9 p.m.

The Versus network opened its fifth season of NHL game coverage with about 830,000 total viewers total watching the Bruins vs. Capitals and Avalanche vs. Sharks. Versus is the only cable channel that airs NHL matches.

The first two-hours of the three-hour/two-week premiere of Stargate Universe did well for itself, drawing 2.35 million total viewers, beating Dollhouse on Fox, though some will argue that these numbers represent live views only and not DVR views. This argument holds that Sci-Fi nerds have nothing better to do on a Friday night than watch Stargate, while Dollhouse’s stalwart fanbase is out clubbing on going on dates.

NBC will cut back its drama “Day One” from 13 episodes to a meager four-part miniseries after budget issues.

Comcast is continually trying to take over the digital world. The company is in talks to buy NBC Universal and it’s also working with Hulu to try and get that company to charge for its online video service.

People weren’t exactly glued to their televisions on Friday, but “Dollhouse” is off to rough start. And that’s an understatement.

FOX’s second episode of the Joss Whedon show finished fourth on Friday night, just above The CW.

The CBS premiere of “Ghost Whisperer” carried the 8 p.m. hour Friday.

But it was the 9 o’clock hour that was really interesting. NBC won the hour with, of all things, “Dateline.” CBS was second for “Medium,” ABC’s “The Forgotten” was third. “Dollhouse came in fourth, raking in just 2.1 million viewers and its lowest ever 0.8 rating for the second new episode of the season. Last week’s premiere drew about 2.75 million viewers.

“Stargate Universe” did premiere Friday night, and we’re sure that hurt “Dollhouse,” but the numbers aren’t out yet form SyFy.

If this keeps up, “Dollhouse” could go the way of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly.”

All is not well in the Dollhouse. That’s bad news for Echo and company, but good news for fans of the Joss Whedon show. The season two premiere aired Friday night on FOX, and some new faces come, along with a whole new set of problems.

Battlestar Galactica alum Jamie Bamber guest-starred as Echo’s husband/the bad guy in the appropriately titled “Vows.”

Whedon fans will also recognize Alexis Denisof (of “Buffy” and “Angel” fame), who appeared as Senator Perrin, a politician intent on bringing down the Rossum Corporation. Denisof is slated to return in later episodes this season, along with Alan Tudyk as the evil genius Alpha. Though Whedon has said he doesn’t want to cast too many actors from his previous projects (Eliza Dushku and Amy Acker make four) he shows no signs of slowing down.

Along with the new faces, we were introduced to some new storylines. And speaking of faces, Victor’s seems to be healing just find after his run-in with a scalpel last season.

Which brings us to another interesting set of scars: Doctor Saunders opens this season by wrestling with the fact that she’s a broken Doll. As she so eloquently put it, “My whole existence was constructed by a sociopath in a sweater vest. What do you suppose I should do?” The good doctor is taking out her identity crisis frustration on Topher, who has taken a turn for the serious and repentant. And did I fall sleep, or did Boyd just ask Saunders out?

Instead of their vicious game of cat and also cat, DeWitt and Ballard have reluctantly decided to join forces. In the premiere, Ballard engages Echo to help him fight crime. But in the process, he proves himself to be far more capable than Echo’s current handler. By the end of the episode, Ballard is being “sworn in” as Echo’s new handler. This new development should lead to an even juicier rivalry between Boyd (Echo’s father figure) and Ballard (her secret admirer).

When the show first aired, many viewers were saying, “I get it. She’s a different person every episode. But where is it going?” Now we know. In the final scene, Echo confides that she understands her situation. She knows she has been many people, “but none of them is me.” She’s remembering, she’s learning, she’s evolving. Echo’s increased self-awareness, even in her Doll state, has opened up the second season for serious conflict inside the Dollhouse.

Catch Dollhouse Fridays at 9 p.m. on FOX.

Another big weekend of television-watching is coming up.

Tonight CBS premieres “Ghost Whisperer” at 8, “Medium” at 9 and “Numb3rs” at 10. “Smallville” starts its new season at 8 p.m. on The CW.

FOX has the series premiere of “Brothers” at 8 p.m. and the much-anticipated season 2 premiere of Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” at 9.

“Law and order” is still around, with another season starting up at 8 p.m. tonight on NBC.

On Saturday, NBC premiere’s “Saturday Night Live” at 11:30, and CBS has “48 Hours Mystery” at 10 p.m.

And then it really gets out of hand on Sunday, with premieres including:

• ABC: “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” at 7p.m., “Desperate Housewives” at 9, and “Brothers & Sisters at 10.”
• CBS: “60 Minutes” at 7, “The Amazing Race” at 8 and “Cold Case” at 10.
• FOX: “The Simpsons” at 8, “The Cleveland Show at 8:30, “Family Guy” at 9 and “American Dad” at 9:30.
• Showtime: “Dexter” at 9 and “Californication” at 10.

SAN DIEGO — You all should know by now, we at Blast are huge fan of “Buffy” and “Dollhouse” mastermind Joss Whedon’s work. Be it by spiting the writer’s strike with “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog” or constantly giving us reasons to ogle Eliza Dushku and Nathan Fillion, Whedon is someone you should be aware of if you are not. Don’t believe me? Check out his marketing campaign for his new horror film, “The Cabin in the Woods”:

Not since HBO’s first “True Blood” campaign has a poster not only made you laugh but made you want to know just what the hell the campaign is representing. Whedon is master of cult hits, and “The Cabin in the Woods” looks to be the next one in a very long list. If anything, those posters will make you laugh.

I’m not a fan of “Dollhouse.” I couldn’t get into it. Maybe I was distracted. Maybe my queue was just full between “Burn Notice”, the garbage that SyFy is putting out, “Mythbusters” and staying loyal to Dr. House. But I’m not a “Dollhouse” fan. I’m not really a Joss Whedon fan. I did like “Firefly,” though, but like many I didn’t discover it until recently on DVD. My only conflict of interest here is that I met and interviewed Eliza Dushku, and it made me wish I was a 6’7″ basketball star like Rick Fox.

That said, I can’t imagine why anyone is surprised, shocked even, that Fox renewed “Dollhouse” for a second season. I can’t imagine a television show that’s been more hyped and amped and discussed than Whedon’s current sexy, action-packed, psychological drama.

We even came up with a list of nine reasons why a second season was a good thing. As if we had to make the argument! I’ll give you one reason:

It’s the guy!

Every time Blast so much as mentions Joss Whedon in an article, it gets linked to on forums, big hits on Google News, tons of comments and loads of traffic. People flock to anything we print about the man who brought the world “Buffy” and perhaps the most successful spinoff ever that doesn’t involve a black family, “Angel.”

And I say “flock” quite literally. It’s like the swallows coming back every year. Fans wait with baited breath to see what Joss is gonna do next.

How is this guy continuously getting shot down?

“Firefly” I can see. Network television can’t sustain pure science fiction, though at least Fox keeps trying. But “Dollhouse?”

One of the comments that stuck out from my Dushku interview was when she told me that “Dollhouse” was the most DVR’d television show of the fall season. Combining that with people who actually watched the show live, I would offer that “Dollhouse” was perhaps one of the top three most-watched television shows last season.

Yet it’s astounding and breaking news that there will be a season two? I think not.

But here we are again. Fox has slashed the show’s budget. Season two is going to be grittier (read: cheaply done) and darker (read: fewer expensive special effects and sets). Crew is getting shuffled around. Whedon is bringing in “his alumns” like Alexis Denisof, which reminds me of Kevin Smith getting his friends to be in every movie he makes.

Are we to believe that Fox somehow has failed to make a fat enough profit off of this show? Are we to sit here, critics and fans alike, and buy it that, with all the hype, fan sites, forums, promo spots, convention panels and fucking TiVos out there, that the sales team at one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world couldn’t turn a decent profit?

YES! That’s exactly what we have to believe, because otherwise Fox would be pouring resources back into the show to squeeze more milk from the cow.

Someone needs to get fired over this, but it’s not Joss Whedon.

Warning: This article includes spoilers for the thirteenth “Dollhouse” episode “Epitaph One” as well as mild spoilers for the television series “Battlestar Galactica” and Joss Whedon’s other shows: “Angel,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Firefly” and movie “Serenity.”

SAN DIEGO — “Epitaph One,” the unaired thirteenth episode of “Dollhouse” was screened today at San Diego Comic-Con International to thousands of fans and Joss Whedon devotees.

Without giving away too much (spoiler-heavy recap at the bottom), the episode depicts a group of previously unknown characters (one played by “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” star Felicia Day) who are traveling underground and through walls and generally in dark dirty places. Finally, they stumble upon a familiar location — the abandoned Dollhouse.

This is not where the season finale left off. “Epitaph One” is a leap into the future; in effect, the “Dollhouse” version of a certain moment in the “Battlestar Galactica” third season finale (and hopefully those of you reading this did not just get spoiled).

Throughout the episode, the characters that the first 12 episodes spent its time developing were absent save for flashbacks that began to fill in the blanks of the mysterious events both during the time between the season finale and “Epitaph One” as well as such moments as chief-personality-designer-guy Topher’s first arrival to the Dollhouse.

Presumably the next season will start where the season finale left off, though. Joss Whedon indicated that there will be flash-forwards a la “Lost” and that Felicia Day as well as some of the other new faces will be returning for at least the season premiere.

As Blast reported earlier, Joss Whedon did make some casting announcements during the “Dollhouse” panel. Not only will Whedon alum Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndham Price in “Buffy” and “Angel”) be around for at least a few episodes, but they are also working diligently to get fellow familiar face, Summer Glau (“Firefly,” “Serenity,” “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) on board. Whedon didn’t say whether or not Glau would have a guest spot or a regular role.

This casting news, the new faces in “Epitaph One,” the reduced budget, the new Director of Photography (also announced at Comic-Con), as well as the huge plot developments all mean that “Dollhouse” will depart from the slick, highly-produced feel of the first 12 episodes, a change that Whedon discussed. The show was promised to become more gritty in order to fit with the post-apocalyptic flashbacks as well as the descent to that post-apocalyptic world.

And speaking of the dismal future portrayed in “Epitaph One,” here’s a quick list of what the heck is going on in “Epitaph One.” The intention was for a full recap but the scale of the changes and the ridiculous amount of game-changing materiel contained in that 45-50 minutes is just insane. Oh, right, Joss Whedon. Ought to have known.

• The Dollhouse is some kind of bunker for Adelle DeWitt, Topher Brink, and several of the actives we’ve seen who are now apparently restored to their original selves
• The Dollhouse tech has gone wild; everyone gets themselves imprinted or their selves imprinted into new bodies; this is alluded to when the head of the Dollhouse organization uses Victor’s body to tell Adelle about the new direction (and ten other bodies simultaneously to inform the other Dollhouses)
• “Actuals” are people who refuse to be imprinted and remain their former selves; they tattoo themselves with their names so as to always know their true identities.
• The scope of Echo’s ability to retain imprints and her self-awareness is revealed when she is given a non-English speaking Russian girl personality and then speaks to her handler-apparent Paul Ballard in both Russian and English. She lets him know her headaches are “getting worse,” indicating a possible side effect either to repeated imprints or to cramming so many personalities into one brain.
• Topher is broken. Needing some kind of medication (edit: Haloperidol, an antipsychotic), he is wracked with guilt for being the one to conceptualize remote imprinting and revolutionizing the formerly slow process. Childlike, he responds only to Adelle and spends his time in one of the sleeping pods used by the Actives.
• Adelle herself finally reveals some moral gumption. She vehemently opposes the new direction for the Dollhouse and appears as the leader of the Dollhouse safe house; she says that there is nothing she won’t do to protect the “souls” of the Actives who have signed away their bodies.
• Echo and Paul Ballard return to the Dollhouse and Echo leaves a copy of herself on a hard drive should something happen to her.
• Whiskey (aka Dr. Claire Saunders) stays behind when the Dollhouse and Adelle’s “Actuals” are imprinted; later, she is seen as a bizarre, ethereal kind of guardian/guide to Felicia Day and company when they break in to the abandoned “spa.” No longer scarred (and Victor isn’t either — he will be healed rather quickly, according to Joss), she is a blank Doll. When Echo-in-child’s-body (more on that in a minute) sees her, she asks, “Did I do my best?” in heartbreaking delivery. Echo responds, “Better.”
• The Actuals who discover the empty Dollhouse have with them a man and his daughter, the man seems out of it and they decide to imprint him with the memories left in the console of the imprinting-chair to figure out what happened. This is the source of the flashbacks.
• Meanwhile, one of the other Actuals takes the little girl to the bathroom and discovers the communal shower which is still hooked up to hot water. Deciding to take her first shower in a year, she sends the girl on her way and his viciously attacked, apparently by Whiskey who appears with blood on her hands saying “I found your friend” once the body is discovered by the remaining Actuals.
• Later, another of the Actuals is killed — this time when the little girl appears with a gun in the imprinting room, shoots the actual and frames her “father” who is still out of it in the chair.
• The deception is discovered by the second-to-last last remaining Actual and the little girl reveals herself as an imprint stuck in “this little bitch” (referring to the prepubescent body) and calls the Actuals “bigots” for their actions.
• With the help of Whiskey, they retrieve Echo’s hidden hard disk and imprint the little girl body with her stored personality. The three of them leave the Dollhouse once others start to discover it and make their way up the elevator shaft to the remnants of Adelle’s office; on the wall they see a 9/11-like memorial collage of pictures of people who have been lost. Among the photographs are Sierra, Victor, and Echo herself — little-girl-Echo takes her own photo and says, “I hope we find me alive.”
• They look out the shattered window and see a twisted, destroyed LA. Echo quotes what the de-Attic-ified Dominic said in a flashback about letting kids playing with matches and seeing the house burn down.

Remember how it was called “game-changing?” Now you see why.

You can see “Epitaph One” for yourself when “Dollhouse” season one hits the shelves on July 28.

Blast has felt since the beginning that the premise of Dollhouse seems limitless. The potential for a huge amount of different tacks and different angles for the conspiracy story, the detective story, the survivor story, the escape story makes “Dollhouse” wrought with possibility. Yet “Epitaph One” somehow managed to shatter even these lofty expectations.

Take our advice — prepare to have your mind blown when “Dollhouse” returns this fall.

SAN DIEGO — Before the screening of the fabled lost episode of Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse,” “Epitaph One,” the man behind the hit show took a few minutes to talk to the media about the upcoming (and unexpected) season two.

“Epitaph One” has long been rumored to be a game-changing episode for the series, a rumor that was proved true both when the episode screened and when Whedon was asked if the episode could be considered a “second pilot” for the series.

“I wouldn’t call it a second pilot but it is definitely a different vision and it will contain a lot of things about the characters and who they are and where they’re heading that people might not have seen or expected,” Whedon said.

There are a lot of developments expected more specifically for the character of Echo, portrayed by Eliza Dushku. When asked if it was somehow the case that the other dolls and the other characters in the show were somehow “projecting” onto Echo, Joss replied, “Yes, you’re very right to say that they’re projecting on her. A lot of her life, not just because she’s a doll, but also just in general, has to do with the fact that people become obsessive about her. But we are going to learn and starting in this season that they’re not wrong, that there is something truly special about her and that she is going to be a major in factor in what happens to Dollhouse over the next few years.”

Tahmoh Penikett’s Paul Ballard, an FBI agent who was focused on finding the Dollhouse and eventually did, (In fact, at the end of the first season he appeared to be joining the Dollhouse in some capacity) is another character facing some changes for the new season.

“We had always intended for Paul to find the Dollhouse and for his interaction to change because we didn’t want him to be like the reporter in ‘The Hulk,’ showing up too late every episode,” Whedon said of the Ballard character. “And now they’ve been working on him from the outside with November and his alliance with Echo is going to be really tested, because he’s going to be in there with her partially to protect her but also to find out what’s really going on. You know you can gaze into the abyss or you can actually live in it, it’s going to affect you. so we are going to see that while (Echo) is starting to grow, we’re going to see that everybody else really starting to come apart a little bit.”

“Dollhouse” is certainly a kind of abyss — without a doubt, it is the only show on television to so brazenly portray such ethically questionable and morally deep actions and situations. This is not lost on Whedon.

“I think with this show, I want to say to the people who have, you know, felt a connection with me, that maybe you want to back away and avoid eye contact,” he said. “That maybe there’s something horribly wrong with me, and this is my very poetical way of expressing that. I think of it as a work that actually frightens me at times in a way that my shows seldom got to. At the same time I have that sort of jolly love of everything that’s going on and have to be reminded that what I’m doing is reprehensible. So it’s a mature work in the sense that I grew up and went insane.”

On a more serious note, the ethical dilemmas and the role of human nature embedded in the premise of “Dollhouse” are what interest Whedon and are what he will elaborate on more in the upcoming season.

“Well I think ultimately the thing that fascinates me is morality and personal politics; the politics of the personal, of the person in the moment as opposed to the statement,” Whedon said. “Yet I would say in terms of the second season, the abuse of power and the different kinds of forms it can take is going to become broader and more, in fact, political, and we’re going to see the Dollhouse in the world a bit more.”

Perhaps it is that same uncomfortable material that the show deals with that is partly to blame for why “Dollhouse” had a hard time getting renewed.

“I’d say it came extraordinarily close to being canceled,” Joss said. “I’d say it was probably pronounced on the table and we went, “Nooo!” (feigns CPR) and the camera pulled back and it went (gasps) and the music came up and we all cried,” Whedon dramatized. “It came down to some very simple numbers that people worked in a very complicated fashion to fudge laughs and ultimately the fact that my shows have never gone that big, you know they’re marathon runners, they’re not sprinters. This is the studio where I did those shows, even when they weren’t on that network. And they know that, so they fought hard to make it as easy for the network as possible. So it was really the hardcore fan base, the people who are here, to tip the scale. And that scale was tippy.”

Certainly Whedon is no stranger to one of his shows getting axed. The cancellation of “Firefly” infuriates embittered fans (and Whedon, himself) more than half a decade later. With “Dollhouse” so close to the brink, almost from day one, people did wonder if Whedon treated the new show differently than he did “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “Firefly.”

“I have been hurt before, it’s true. So I made the decision early on just to phone it in. I really feel that that’s better for me,” he joked. “No, you know what — I’m a little bit wiser and a little bit more removed in terms of how I deal emotionally with the whole business of it, but when I get into the story that’s the only world I live in. And I love the characters and I love the cast so much, so that when I get into the writer’s room, and we’re talking about them, that’s our life. And in the same way that’s our only life and all we do is get excited and come up with things that we’re a little embarrassed we thought of.”

Whedon on a “Dollhouse” comic book: “I don’t see it happening. I don’t care how good an artist is, they’re not gonna make an Eliza. Ultimately you know she doesn’t fly, she doesn’t shoot firebolts, except in that one episode — it’s gonna be awesome. So I think this belongs exactly where it is: on television… and in fanfic.”

SAN DIEGO — Blast learned that Alexis Denisof will be in a couple episodes of Dollhouse Season 2.

The 43-year-old Angel and Buffy star will “cross blades” with Echo, Eliza Dushku.

Producers are also working on Summer Glau and want her really badly to be on the show.

This is breaking news. Stick with Blast for more on this story as it develops!

SAN DIEGO — The reboot of the 1984 miniseries “V” saw its pilot episode screened at Comic-Con International Wednesday evening to a crowd of several thousand attendees eager for the always anticipated Preview Night. Screened alongside the pilot for freshman series “Human Target” and “Vampire Diaries,” “V” was a standout thanks to its particularly solid cast.

Starring Elizabeth Mitchell (familiar as Juliet from “LOST” — and BLAST will be doing its best to get that question answered, by the way), Alan Tudyk (“Firefly,” “Dollhouse”), Morena Baccarin (“Firefly”) Morris Chestnut (“Boyz N the Hood”), and Scott Wolf (“Party of Five”).

Beware of Spoilers Beyond This Point

The pilot opens with sprawling overhead shots of cities with the provocative tag-lines: “Where were you when JFK was shot?” “Where were you on 9/11?” Then it finishes with “Where were you today?”

Shortly after, the sudden arrival of hovering alien motherships over Earth’s major cities triggers panic until the beautiful, otherworldly, and human-looking “Anna” (Baccarin) appears projected on the bellies of the massive ships (which are not as well rendered nor as cool-looking as the Galactica) and delivers a message. In gist, it’s “We come in peace” mixed in with “hey, Earth has something we need, but don’t worry we’ll be best friends with you and cure cancer and then be on our merry way.”

That certainly bodes well, doesn’t it?

We fast forward a few weeks to a point where humanity has largely welcomed and become enthralled with the “visitors” (“V”). This is the part that doesn’t ring quite true, even in context of this being a show about alien invasion. If giant alien spaceships that demonstrate clear superiority and just happen to electronically disable human jets that approach it, it seems difficult to believe that humanity as a whole would be, like, just so totally super excited to be, BFFs.

Thankfully, there are a few characters here and there who feel the same way. One of them is a doubting priest (Joel Gretsch) who questions the Vatican’s official position on the Vs (“we are all God’s creatures”) as well as one of his parishioners who staggers into the church, bleeding to death and begging the priest to deliver a package to a secret meeting.

Meanwhile Elizabeth Mitchell’s character, Erica Evans, is an FBI agent working with Alan Tudyk to uncover some kind of “sleeper cell” in a plot line that is very random and very unexplained. The lack of exposition is saved by the charismatic Dale Maddox, played by the always excellent Alan Tudyk (whose first appearance on screen prompted the biggest cheer of the night — Comic-Con is the natural environment for “Firefly” fans, after all).

The story moves along as V spokesman and leader apparent “Anna” encounters a middle-echelon broadcast reporter played by Scott Wolf. He asks her as she enters the UN if all the Vs are babes and she replies with, “You’re not so bad yourself.” The positive press coverage on her sense of humor inspires “Anna” in a very Big Brother-esque scene to announce to one of the other V’s that she chooses Wolf’s character Chad Decker to interview her.

One of the first hints of the Vs’ nefarious plots is revealed a few minutes before the interview is to take place. In short, Anna instructs Decker to ask only questions that cast a positive light on the visitors. When he tells her that it’s not a journalist’s job to spin, she threatens to cancel the interview and seduces the reporter with the promise of career advancement should he do as she asks. Decker casts away his scruples and relents.

The final act of the pilot culminates in Erica and Dale’s investigation leading them to some kind of warehouse. Erica enters first and discovers an anti-V rally, led by one guy who makes some very good points. He suggests that the Vs are reptilian-like creatures that cloned humans so as to appear human and asserts that the Vs’ reveal of themselves to Earthlings was merely the last stage in their plan to conquer the world.

Erica asks for proof and the doubting priest comes forward, bearing the bloody message given to him by his parishioner. Inside are photos of a mysterious terrorist suspect that Erica has been investigating and who she hasn’t been able to attach to any name or any of the many forged passports they found at a crime scene earlier. Just as the group of skeptics begin to put the pieces together — specifically that the man in the photograph is a V — they are attacked.

Shockingly, among these attackers is Dale Maddox, who tries to kill Erica until she manages to strike his head with a bar and discovers that the claim of the reptilian-like aliens wearing human skin is in fact the case.

The pilot ends with Erica and the priest, who both managed to survive the attack, realizing that they now need to form a resistance.

So what’s the verdict?

The potential for true drama and intrigue is definitely there. The interplay and politics of the Vs’ relationship with characters like Chad Decker and Erica’s V-obsessed teenage son could certainly be interesting and the gradual reveal of the Vs’ true intentions make for a promising story.

The bad?

For the most part the writing was predictable at best and flat at worst. Several of the characters suffer from LOST-imitation-itis, which is to say that the writers are clearly attempting to create a diverse ensemble each with a interesting to-be-revealed backstories but unfortunately fall short. Characters like Erica Evans’ son, the priest, Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut) are all plagued with dull and familiar dialogue (a possible exception being Nichols, who is at the end revealed as a “traitor” V, an alien who fights on the side of the humans) that serves to make them feel like filler characters.

On the other end, of course, is Morena Baccarin’s fantastic performance as “Anna.” She is unsettling and somehow nonthreatening at the same time. Creepy, yet pleasant. On the whole Baccarin is the standout performer and her character Anna is certainly one of the most intriguing and unique characters on the show.

Visually, the show is clearly a pilot — the CGI shots are uninspiring. The cinematography, on the other hand, was nicely done and on the whole the pilot was edited superbly. There were many moments of great storyline juxtaposition and parallels that really contributed a lot to the sense that there is a lot of story to be told with this premise.

In all, it earns a B rating. Certainly intriguing but ultimately hampered by its lackluster plotting and general predictability. Despite that, though, it is absolutely worth a try when it arrives on screen later this year.

Fans went absolutely batty with the Fox announcement that a special limited edition Blu-ray and DVD of Dollhouse Season 1 will be individually numbered to only 5,000 (2,500 Blu-ray, 2,500 DVD). This prompted a run on Foxstore.com, which sent the website crashing down.

“Within a couple of hours, fervent fans of Joss Whedon’s television hit “Dollhouse,” created a colossal traffic jam temporarily halting the pre-sale at Foxstore.com,” the company said n a statement.

Each limited edition Blu-ray and DVD features a personal letter to fans from Whedon and special packaging. The DVD is available for pick-up exclusively at San Diego Comic-Con International.

“Dollhouse” Season One BD and DVD will be available everywhere July 28.

Blast recently got the chance to speak with the always charming Alan Tudyk, also known as the beloved Wash from the critically-acclaimed series “Firefly” and as (spoiler!) Alpha from Joss Whedon’s latest series “Dollhouse.”

Tudyk also has a new series due out this fall from ABC called “V.”

Our conversation touched on such various subjects as a possible future for “Firefly” (“I’ve been telling Joss to do a whole TV series on Wash”), his thoughts on a Twitter war with former co-star Nathan Fillion (“I do not want to play that game with Nathan Fillion”), and his love for the new Star Trek film, capped off with a bit of exciting news for “Dollhouse’s” next season.

BLAST: Tell me what it was like working with Joss again on “Dollhouse.”

ALAN TUDYK: It was really great, you know, I didn’t work with him in a directing capacity. He was around doing the extras for the DVD so I definitely ran into him. It was really great.

BLAST: What is it about Joss Whedon that makes these group of actors follow him around?

AT: Um, he has dirt on all of us. Really embarrassing stuff. It’s blackmail, really, I mean I’ll call it what is. That, I guess, and you know in his shows “" the two I’ve been on “" there’s a way that you can have really high-stakes, dramatic situations taking place right next to very funny, and wry, sarcastic commentary. Which is hard to pull off and nobody does it better than him. So you get the opportunity to do something that’s rare.

BLAST: I caught that sneak mention of “Firefly.” You know there are always rumors of “Serenity 2″ flying around, and Joss does have a history of bringing back characters from the beyond. Would you do another one?

AT: Oh yeah, I’ve been telling Joss to do a whole TV series on Wash. Forget about it, that’s what I want!

BLAST: I don’t think you know what you just did. I think the fans will explode.

AT: Well, I’ve said that to fans before and they go, (unenthusiastically) “Yeah! But actually the great thing about “Firefly” was everyone working together…”, and I say, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll start with one and go from there!” But yeah, of course I would do it.

BLAST: About Alpha…

AT: Great.

BLAST: What personality of Alpha’s “" I think, what, 38 of them? “" which was most fun to play?

AT: Well… I think it’s forty “" well, I’ve been saying 42 but I think it’s 48. It’s tough to know. (laughs) The only one, you know… It’s interesting doing episodic television, because you can’t peer around the corner. When I was doing the episode of “Briar Rose,” I didn’t know where Alpha was going in “Omega.” I knew that I was taking her… but I didn’t even know what I was taking her to do. (laughs) I didn’t know why I was taking her until the day after we ran “Briar Rose” and I read the script for “Omega.”

BLAST: You kind of had to play it by ear then.

AT: There are a couple of things that happened with the performance. It was like, wow, this guy talks a great deal. He always speaks quickly and he doesn’t ever want to stop talking! There are a lot of lines to learn. But also, I knew that he had 48 people in him, but I didn’t realize that it was just a riot of people, of difficult, zany folks. If I had to do it over again I would have brought more personalities out in the first one. (hesitates) Eh, I don’t want to say I have regrets, but I “" I don’t know who all the personalities are. And there’s Kepler, you know whoever that is, whatever personality he’s using there. But that was kind of, you know, Alpha was doing a little acting, also.

BLAST: The acting part was one of the things fans have kind of been wondering about. To what extent was Alpha in fact Kepler, or was he acting the whole time?

AT: I think with Alpha, if I, personally, was able to know intimately 48 perspectives, and backgrounds, and upbringings “" perspectives, I got it right the first time “" 48 different perspectives, If I had the benefit of that, myself, I would be an amazing actor. That’s what acting is, you’re putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes and really trying to get as close to them as possible. So Alpha has the capacity to be the greatest actor. I feel like his Kepler was an amalgam of who he is, he can borrow a great deal from himself. And you know, we get to see Eliza Dushku’s character put on all these different roles. So you have to think about all these different pieces of her that she could borrow from. And there are a lot of differences between them.

BLAST: You mentioned one thing I was going to ask you about. If you could have one skill or ability downloaded into your head, what would it be?

AT: Uh… Inner peace.

BLAST: Is that a skill?

AT: It’s not a skill… but you know, you get these perspectives so you could download anything, like enlightment. Some kind of thought process, not so much a religion. Like the Dalai Lama! I could download a piece of the Dalai Lama and just chill. (laughs)

BLAST: Are there other characters in the “Jossverse” besides Wash and Alpha that you would like to play?

AT: Buffy. I would love to play Buffy. I’ve always felt that Sarah Michelle Gellar did a great job, but there was stuff she missed. (laughs)

BLAST: Hey, you know they are supposedly doing a Buffy movie without any of the actual Buffy characters. So will you throw your hat in the ring?

AT: (laughs) If I can find time outside of my new TV show “Wash,” sure.

BLAST: Well you do have a new TV show, “V.” Can you tell me about it?

AT: Sure. It’s kind of an “Independence Day” scenario. You know it’s based on the original miniseries that came out in the 80s. And, it’s aliens, and it’s about this alien race…

BLAST: Are you an alien?

AT: I am not at liberty to say.

BLAST: Oooh. Really?

AT: Yeah, I can’t say one way or the other. It’s just about an alien race coming in, and the reaction to having another race of people with alien technology and all that would mean if we actually had spaceships parked over our cities and what that would mean.

BLAST: Is it the sci-fi of it that drew you to it?

AT: No, it was the script. There was one part in the script, right in the beginning when the Vs first show up and this F-16 falls out of the sky over the streets of New York City and explodes, and it’s like, oh man, what’s going on? This is great!

BLAST: I asked some Twitter people if they had any questions for you and one question was: why did you leave Juilliard before graduating?

AT: (laughs) Wow, how to do I answer that?

BLAST: From aliens to Juilliard, right?

AT: Yeah, right. Well, (laughs) I was following in a long line of actors who left Juilliard in their third year. Val Kilmer, Robin Williams… Juilliard’s fourth year at that time and I think it’s still the case, was where you study for three years. You do plays, but it’s in conjunction with classes. And then your fourth year becomes solely a performance year. There’s a couple of classes that are like, “How to Audition!” and “How to Get an Agent!” And I had worked really hard to get an agent before I left Juilliard, I had an agent before my third year. So I didn’t feel those classes were necessary and I didn’t need a year full of, you know, “18th century Spanish plays that have never before been translated until now!” That’s awful. That sounds awful! I like the people at Juilliard.

BLAST: What fictional character would you most like to play? Have you ever thought about it?

AT: Wow. Gosh. You know, I don’t know.

BLAST: Maybe another round as Steve the Pirate?

AT: (laughs) Sure.

BLAST: So we’ve got Alan the Vampire Slayer, we have Wash the TV show, and a Steve the Pirate movie. I hope you know I’ll be holding you to your word.

AT: (laughs) You know I don’t know that a Steve the Pirate movie would be very interesting without the rest of the cast. He doesn’t say very much… His humor is best in small doses of “Garr!” and “Arrgh!” in the right moment. I would only want to undertake that with Justin Long, and Christine Taylor, Vince Vaughn, Joel, Ben Stiller. We’d need the whole group.

BLAST: (laughs) Fair enough. What is on your iPod?

AT: What’s on my iPod? I’ve got a lot on my iPod. I can tell you what I’m listening to right now… My current favorite song is by a band called Band of Skulls, it’s called “I Know What I Am.” Great song. And I’ve got a little throwback to when I was in high school, Anthrax’s “I’m the Man,” hysterical song. A hard band but the song is really funny. And the Black Keys’ new album is fantastic. There’s a song on it called “I Got Mine,” which is kind of that bluesy, ballsy music. The whole album is great. I could go on, and on, and on…

BLAST: You are a regular at fan conventions, so I was wondering: are you a sci-fi fan yourself and will you be at this year’s San Diego Comic Con?

AT: I don’t know about San Diego. Am I sci-fi fan, that was the other question? I liked “Star Trek: The Next Generation” when I was growing up, a lot, and the original “Star Trek” when I was a kid, watching re-runs. But “The Next Generation” is the first show that really grabbed me. I loved the characters, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. Then I kind of took a break, well you know, “Star Wars” and all that stuff is great. But I wasn’t the biggest sci-fi fan until “Firefly “sort of brought me back in. Yeah, I am a sci-fi fan. The new “Star Trek” movie, best movie I’ve seen… you know, a lot of people say it’s the best movie they’ve seen since “Iron Man,” but I think it’s better than “Iron Man.”

BLAST: “Star Trek” was really good. It was a movie that had so much weighing on it, and managed to appeal both to the masses and the fans. Great movie.

AT: Yeah. I’ve seen it twice.

BLAST: Me too!

AT: Yeah. It was done, and I was like, let’s roll it again! I’m ready to see it again. Let’s go. Like, now. So entertaining, so entertaining. You know, they have something in the “Star Trek” franchise… I definitely haven’t seen all of it, but they have something in this one that I’ve only seen in “Firefly” before. You’ve got your hero, your Captain Kirk, getting his ass kicked. That first scene when you’re meeting him as an adult, he gets his butt whipped in a bar, and it’s hysterical. Very Malcolm Reynolds-y. And then also, when he lands in the ice planet before he meets Spock, and he’s complaining and trying to cite the rules that have been broken, and he’s looking off in the distance, and the the giant behemoth is coming at him. He’s running from it, screaming like a girl, (high voice) “No-o! No-o!” The hero can be very uncool, the hero can be afraid, the hero can be chicken. That was really refreshing. He can make mistakes and be goofy. That whole scene with him and the doc, and the shots. It’s just fun.

BLAST: There’s a certain fearlessness with the way Joss treats his characters and I think with the way they handled the characters in “Star Trek.” I think you’re quite right about that.

AT: Yeah. Absolutely, definitely.

BLAST: I have maybe one or two questions more, so my next one is: are you on Twitter?

AT: No, I’m not! You know…

BLAST: Are you going to get on that?

AT: Yeah, you know I was hoping it would be gone by now. Is that going to go away any time soon? (laughs)

BLAST: You know supposedly, the top 10 percent of Twitter users account for 90 percent of the Twitter traffic. So I guess most people’s lives really are that boring.

AT: Yeah, I took that stance that I’ve heard… if I’m writing somebody that I’m standing in the park enjoying the smell of flowers, I’m lying because in fact I’m standing in the park twittering, being distracted from the flowers that I was smelling previously. I just need to live my life, not need to open that window all the time to let everybody know what’s going on. But as a social networking tool, you need to be connected to your friends. We all lead such busy lives that it’s hard to touch base with so many people. So if you can keep in touch just by a word here or a word there…

BLAST: I guess that’s fair.

AT: (laughs) I’m telling you why I’m not on it, and I’m also explaining why I’m going to be on it. When I end up on it, that’s my reasoning.

BLAST: (laughs) Everyone succumbs, right? Well, you know Nathan Fillion is on it so maybe you should get into a Twitter war with him or something.

AT: What the hell is a Twitter war?

BLAST: I guess it’s where you see who can get the most followers the quickest.

AT: I do not want to play that game with Nathan Fillion. (laughs) He’s a much more social animal than I am. I concede the fight before it begins!

BLAST: You might be surprised! Oh, I think our time is up, so thank you for your time.

AT: Brilliant. Thank you. Hey, thanks for that top nine reasons why Dollhouse is back on the air, I appreciate it.

BLAST: Oh, thank you for reading it! I’m as thrilled as anybody.

AT: (laughs) Cool. Well, I look forward to next season and I hope you like it. I think it’ll be fun.

BLAST: Oh “" will we see you next season?

AT: (pause) Yes you will.

BLAST: That is the best answer. Thank you so much.

AT: All right, take care.

Rumors have been flying for weeks about whether or not Fox would broadcast the final episode of the first season of Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse.” After Fox unexpectedly renewed the series, interest in Episode 13, called “Epitaph One,” surged.

Blast spoke to a source at Fox who told us, “At this point, Fox does not have any plans to broadcast Epitaph One,” but “it is confirmed to appear on the ‘Dollhouse’ Season One DVD collection, which is being released on Tuesday, July 28.”

With “Dollhouse” set to premiere internationally, the question of will-they-or-won’t-they air the episode has dominated discussion among “Dollhouse” fans, though not just for continuation of the story. Part of the agreement to renew the series for another season was a slashed budget after Joss Whedon shot episode 13 on half the budget that he had used for the other twelve episodes. So “Epitaph One” is by far the clearest indication of what season two will look like.

It might be a smart move — the buzz “Dollhouse” has received thanks to its renewal will likely drive up DVD sales, and putting the lost episode on the DVD release might pique the interest of those who otherwise wouldn’t purchase the DVD set.

So I caught up on “Dollhouse” a few days ago (as my Twitter followers can attest, thanks to my wild exclamations and general giddiness) and I’m gladder than ever that it was renewed. In fact, here are nine reasons why it’s a great thing that “Dollhouse” is coming back for round two:

1. The Joss Whedon Method, otherwise known as “Buffy” season two. For all the cheese and not-as-good-ness of “BtVS” season one, season two was amazing. Season two introduced Spike, Angelus, Oz, et cetera and was just better all-around in terms of plot complexity, character development, acting, and so on. I expect the same story development to happen in “Dollhouse.”

2. The premise of “Dollhouse” is saturated with potential. This show has the scaffolding in place to explore issues just as deeply (and perhaps even more thoroughly) as “Battlestar Galactica.” The concepts of self, self vs. body, informed consent, identity, death, perception… all of these are fascinating topics that “Dollhouse” season one touched on and upon which season two will hopefully expand.

3. Speaking of “Battlestar Galactica” “" and I hate to say it “" it’s over. Yeah, there’s “The Plan” coming as well as “Caprica” (which looks to be tackling some of the same issues as “Dollhouse”), but for now, the space where deliciously layered and complex Sci-Fi used to be on my TV is currently empty. Even emptier, now that “Terminator: TSCC” is canceled. “Dollhouse” fills the void and I think the last five or so episodes proved that it can be equally as thrilling.

4. The all-star cast… and Eliza Dushku. It’s the general consensus that Eliza Dushku’s charisma shines through just a little too much when playing Echo in all her incarnations. She’s the weak link, acting-wise. But there are other actors on this show “" the impeccable Olivia Williams, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz (who has somehow managed to make the amoral and at-first disgusting Topher one of the highlights of the show), Enver Gjokaj (the best actor of all the Dolls for certain), Dichen Lachmann, Reed Diamond (if he comes back), and of course the brilliant Alan Tudyk (please come back!). Not to mention Tahmoh Penikett’s pecs. The supporting cast is, quite frankly, outstanding.

5. Longevity. The “Dollhouse” premise has the potential to tell a wealth of different stories, and not simply because the Dolls can be programmed for anything. Consider this: the show has already established links between the Dollhouse and the corporate world, government, the National Security Agency, and rich people in general. The possibility for in-depth conspiracy storylines with just one of those connections is tenfold… all together? The potential is limitless. Remember that episode with the fake documentary subjects talking about the urban legend of the Dollhouse? Exploration into that could prove fascinating.

6. It’s been said the Dollhouse does not want to go the route of “Battlestar Galactica” and the local news approach of “Is your neighbor the twelfth Cylon? Tune in tonight at eleven… or will you make it until then?” when it comes to sleeper Dolls, like Miracle Laurie’s Mellie/November. But that isn’t the only way to use the idea of the Secret Doll. The concept of being sent to the “Attic” or that a character we come to know might either become a doll, be a doll already, or even a client adds another aspect of “who are you really?” to each character introduced.

7. Dollhouse (and Mutant Enemy) have proved to have serious cojones when it comes to subject matter. The idea of Dolls is already icky enough and yet the show has fearlessly confronted the issues of prostitution, exploitation, slavery, rape, and murder. Yes, there are viewers who are simply too freaked out to watch, but the idea of a network show dealing with some hardcore, difficult issues in prime-time is absolutely unthinkable and incredibly bold. It speaks to the fearless storytelling we have come to expect from Joss Whedon and he hasn’t even had to kill a character yet.

8. Alan Tudyk. Or, more specifically, Alan Tudyk as (spoiler!) Alpha. Joss Whedon has a cadre of amazing actors who willingly follow him from project to project. This says a few things: one, that there is a guaranteed set of amazing guest stars, and two, there will be great actors for great villains. Alpha is a character who could only be good if performed by a great actor and I doubt that anyone disagrees that Tudyk is brilliant. With a Whedon show, not only are we pretty well assured of exciting villains but we are more importantly assured of quality actors to portray them.

9. “Dollhouse: The Musical!” Whedon has proved, with “BtVS’s” “Once More With Feeling” and the fantastic “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” that just about any kind of storyline is ripe for both comedy and music. The episode of “Dollhouse” where everyone accidentally loses their inhibitions thanks to some drug or another reminded those watching just why Whedon is so revered; the guy can make almost anything funny. And the cast showed that levity is possible even in such a dark world. Plus, how amazing would another musical episode be?

With the 2009 Upfront Presentations beginning in New York today, broadcast networks scrambled over the weekend to renew current programming and greenlight new television pilots.

ABC has signed on to renew mid-season drama “Castle,” starring cult favorite Nathan Fillion of “Firefly” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” fame, for a second season.

Joss Whedon’s newest baby, “Dollhouse,” was renewed by FOX for a second season with a 13-episode order. “Dollhouse” stars Eliza Dushku, who also was a recurring member of Whedon’s earlier shows, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.”

ABC’s new office comedy “Better Off Ted” has also been signed for a second season. The show, starring Jay Harrington and Portia de Rossi, follows the inner workings of Veridian Dynamics, a business that makes just about anything.

“Scrubs” will be returning for a ninth season on ABC, albeit with a different face. Most primary cast members are under contract to return for a six episode transition to its new set-up, though Sarah Chalke is not a definite. Cast members Donald Faison and Neil Flynn co-star in ABC’s pilots “The Law” and “The Middle” respectively, while McGinley stars in CBS’ drama pilot “Back.” All three are set to return as regulars to “Scrubs” in second position to the new shows they are involved in.

FOX has okayed the return of “House” and “24″ for next season, in addition to a fifth season of dramedy “Bones,” starring David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel.

Blast got the chance to ask a few questions of animation legend Bruce Timm, the originator of the classic “Batman: The Animated Series.” Timm also produced DC’s latest animated feature “Wonder Woman” which was released on DVD and Blu-Ray yesterday.

Kellen Rice: How was the experience working on Wonder Woman different from on Gotham Knight?

Bruce Timm: Wonder Woman has been completely different in that for “Batman: Gotham Knight,” most of the pre-production work was done by the Japanese creators and animators – and they were all half a world away. The actual process was completely different, right down to having to do a scratch track of all the dialogue for the initial animation and then recording the actors in ADR. “Wonder Woman” allowed us to be much more hands-on, working closely with the writer and director and crew throughout the entire process.

KR: The first short in “Gotham Knight” was about the different concepts of Batman thanks to the huge variety of Batmans (Batmen?) in the comics, cartoons, and films. Did the comparative lack of modern material on the solo Wonder Woman make the film more or less challenging for you as a filmmaker? In short, how is it working with a lesser known character versus, say, Batman?

BT: There’s plenty of material on Wonder Woman, and we pulled from a lot of the best of it. What was liberating in some ways was that we didn’t have a set story to follow. This film wasn’t based on one single graphic novel or comic series. In “Superman Doomsday” and “Justice League: The New Frontier,” one of the things that gave us grief – and I know it bothered the fans – was that we had to trim pieces of the original material to create one cohesive, tight, 75-minute story. We got to work the opposite way in “Wonder Woman,” building a story that not only fit the time constraints but also told an entire story without having to omit key plot points or things the fans were hoping to see translate from the comics to the film.

KR: The voice talent in this film was outstanding. Aside from making the film as good as it can be, what effect do the big-name stars have on the film and its reception?

BT: The conversation surrounding casting for the DCU films always starts with a focus on who will be the best voice for each part, which actor will best fit each role, and who will bring something special to the table. We do seek “name” talent to help our marketing and publicity teams, but never to the detriment of the film. I think we’ve been quite successful thus far in finding great, new voices for some classic roles, and bringing back some old favorites. And in terms of talent, I think the casts speak for themselves.

KR: You’ve worked with Nathan Fillion on “Wonder Woman” as well as a great deal of the so-called Joss Whedon crew – David Boreanaz, James Marsters, Alexis Denisof, Juliet Landau, etc. Do you plan on watching “Dollhouse” and if so, do you plan on using any of the actors for future DC projects?

BT: I am watching “Dollhouse,” and I am enjoying it. I’m intrigued by it, and I don’t know where it’s going yet. Joss has got a real eye for acting talent, so I kind of use as many of those people as I can. I do that because one, I’m a fan, and two, they’re all terrific talented actors.

KR: After years of being a part of what today’s grown-up fans consider definitive works, how do you view your past work? What’s your reaction to viewing, say, “Heart of Ice” from “Batman The Animated Series” today? How do you think you’ve changed as an artist since then?

BT: I actually find it difficult to go back and watch my old stuff. I appreciate its relative value, especially considering the time during which it was made, and the restrictions we had in terms of technology and such. These days there’s so much competition and there’s such a variety of terrific stuff in animation that it really keeps me on my toes, and have to keep pushing the outside of my own envelope.

KR: How have you changed or evolved as an artist?

BT: Don’t have time. Don’t have time for that answer! I’m too close to myself to know how much I’ve changed. I know that the Batman shows had an enormous impact on, not just animation but spilling over into the comics. It’s cool, and it’s also very weird that I see people out there, where even if they’re not directly influenced by me, they be influenced by somebody by somebody two generations earlier — influenced by somebody who was influenced by somebody who was influenced by by me. So it’s weird to have all these great-grandchildren. It’s flattering, but it’s also kind of weird. It makes me feel old.

NEW YORK — If you’re anything like me, you marked the date for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse premiere the moment it was announced. And lucky for both of us, that day has finally come: tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on Fox, the creator of Buffy, Angel, Captain Malcolm Reynolds, and most recently Dr. Horrible has a new character to add to his acclaimed repertoire: a mysterious girl named “Echo.”

Eliza Dushku (a “Buffy” alum) stars as Echo, a mind-wiped “Active” who resides in the elusive “Dollhouse.” As an Active, she receives a new personality for every “engagement” for which she is contracted and after her mission is complete, her mind is wiped clean. She is a living Doll who can become anything imaginable — and yet she has no true self of her own.

But that might change as the 13-episode first season of Dollhouse unfolds.

Blast got the chance to participate in an interview with creator Joss Whedon at the New York Comic Con, during which he answered some of the most pressing questions about his new show.

To the casual onlooker, it’s hard to reconcile Whedon’s iconic Buffy with Echo, a beautiful woman who is hired out to the highest bidder for anything and everything — including sex. This seeming departure from Whedon’s hard-line stance on feminism was one of the first questions he addressed in the interview.

When asked, “Did you get a show about prostitution on a major network?”, Whedon responded: “First of all, it’s not just women. It’s women and men. And secondly — yes.”

After the laughter died down, he continued.

“There was, in the higher ranks (of Fox), some consternation after the show as being made,” Whedon began, and then caricatured the “higher ranks” in a mocking voice: “‘say, this seems like prostitution.’ And my response was yes, that’s part of the package.”

Whedon paused before going on. “That is part of what is going on. And it’s not all of what is going on, but it’s part of it. and some people have been greatly offended by that, and some people want to stay away from that. And my response to it is to hit it head on. Let’s talk about exactly that, and say: okay, well how much of this is morally reprehensible and how much of it is just stuff that we as an American culture deem morally reprehensible? It’s about what parts of our identity and the way we behave with each other are actually positive, and decent. What parts actually come from ourselves and what parts have been socialized. What parts are we being told are good, or bad. And that’s a theme you’ll find in “Serenity,” you’ll find in a lot of my work. What truly is a sin?

“My villain — and I mean people will refer to Olivia Williams (as) the villain, she runs the Dollhouse. But she is, in her own way, a very moral person. She has a code. And yes, what’s we’re dealing with — the reality of prostitution — is beyond appalling. But Eliza said, I want to deal with sexuality on my show. I want to be part of what we talk about. So yeah, it’s in there.”

Another concern with the show is the degree to which a main character whose personality changes every week can form any meaningful attachment with either the audience or another character on the show. To that, Whedon didn’t elaborate much beyond saying, “Yes, yes — she will form attachments to other dolls.” He also indicated that Echo’s attachments would lead to some conflict during the series, an idea to which the trailer alludes.

But what about Whedon’s signature humor and wit? “Dollhouse” is not a show that seems as conducive to comedy as, say, “Buffy.” But Joss says not to worry.

“There is actually a great deal of humor in this show. Not up front, because we wanted the premise to be more realistic. We didn’t have license to be as silly up front. Having said that, we do fall into idiocy fairly quickly. (laughs) We do have fun with these characters.”

As if I had any concerns, right?

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the interview, including thoughts about the possibility for Dr. Horrible 2 and his upcoming horror flick, “Cabin in the Woods.”