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.

“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Not true, at least in the case of these brilliant TV shows. We all know the pain of falling head-over-heels for a new show, only to realize that you are the only one in the world who understands its true brilliance…before it’s too late. Here is a list of eight of the best shows to be cancelled before their time.

1. Arrested Development
No TV family has ever been so dysfunctional to such comedic effect in the history of television. The Bluths were a successful model home dynasty, until shady government dealings left them bankrupt and their patriarch in jail. Now it’s all up to Michael, the one sane member of the family, to hold them all together. Will Arnette, Jason Bateman and especially Michael Cera pretty much owe their comedic careers to this show. Despite its cancellation, however, there are constant rumors of a film being made. Maybe this year?

2. Firefly
It was a space western. The perfect marriage of two radically different genres. Add to that a cast of plucky underdogs, groundbreaking cinematography and the humor and drama Joss Whedon (creator of “Buffy,” “Angel,” and “Dollhouse”) is known for, and you’d think you’d have an instant hit. You’d be wrong. But at least “Firefly” fans got to say “I told you so” when their beloved show was turned into a big damn movie, “Serenity.”

3. Greg the Bunny
Puppets, or “Fabricated Americans” live among us. Some of them are working alongside humans in a children’s show called “Sweet Knuckle Junction.” But instead of charmed lives, they all have problems with substance abuse, ex-wives and failure. Seth Green starred (alongside adorable Greg the bunny) in this ridiculous satire.

4. Wonderfalls
Graduating and moving back home can be frustrating. But for Jaye, who works a dead-end job at a Niagara Falls gift shop, it starts to get a little weird when the taxidermied animals in the shop start ordering her to help people in need.

5. Freaks and Geeks
The show followed the Weir siblings, Lindsey and Sam, through their eternal quest to fit in with their chosen social castes. Lindsey went from the star mathlete to an army-jacket-wearing “freak” and Sam, pining for his cheerleader dream girl, has always been a “geek.”

6. Pushing Daisies
Possibly the most adorable love story ever, Pushing Daisies focuses on the Piemaker, who has the unique talent of bringing dead things back to life. But there’s a catch: If he touches something twice, it goes back to being dead. This comes in handy while solving crimes with no-nonsense P.I. Emerson Cod, but things get a bit complicated when he brings his childhood sweetheart back to life, and can never touch her again. Also, Kristin Chenoweth sings.

7. Carnivale
The battle between good and evil takes place in the Dustbowl in the 1930′s. Humanity’s only hope lies in a traveling carnival and Ben, their new recruit and reluctant hero. Layered with symbolism, a complex mythology, and phenomenal acting, it was hard to believe “Carnivale” wasn’t renewed for a third season.

8. Kings
The classic tale of the Bible’s King David came to life for one brief season last spring. With little-to-no heavy-handed religious themes, viewers were taken into a modern-day interpretation of the story. With some of the most incredible writing television has seen in a long time and superb acting (especially by Ian McShane, or “King Silas”), the hour-long show immersed viewers in a tale of bravery, betrayal, love and power. Alas, we were left full of questions at the season finale.

It almost happened to “30 Rock,” it almost happened to “Dollhouse,” and it could still happen to “Glee.” Please, watch original shows. Don’t let the networks kill off innocent plotlines on a whim.

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.

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.

Maybe it’s the decided lack of new (good) adult cartoons nowadays, but yesterday sources announced Comedy Central would be renewing the six years dead TV show “Futurama” with a 26 episode count. Surviving with reruns on Comedy Central and a series of straight-to-DVD movies, “Futurama” has remained popular enough to be brought back from TV-on-DVD land.

This is reminiscent of when FOX show “Family Guy” was renewed several years ago after being axed due to its high DVD sales and continued popularity.

We at Blast would like to suggest the renewal of a couple more unfortunately departed FOX TV shows that still have some extra kick in them.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

Even with an “Arrested Development” movie on the horizon (fingers crossed), the true magic of the three season long comedy about the unapologetically terrible Bluth family came from the character interaction and insanely interwoved plot lines that coursed through the series.

Like “Futurama” and “Family Guy,” “Arrested Development” has seen life after death with high DVD sales and an impassioned fanbase (the idea for an “Arrested Development” movie didn’t come from nowhere… well, maybe Ron Howard). Plus, the show remains one of the most critically acclaimed comedies of all time.

With the marketed success of Michael Cera and the maintained popularity of stars Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett and David Cross, new seasons of “Arrested Development” could reach a wider, more willing audience. At the time, the Bluths were criticized as being “unrelatable” and the episodes were too disjointed, but with shows like “The Office” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” growing in popularity and viewership each year, maybe it’s time for “Arrested Development” to return to television.

Check out season three’s “S.O.B.s” episode, “Arrested Development’s” response to finding out they were canceled:

FIREFLY

We don’t care that Joss Whedon has “Dollhouse” now, that Nathan Fillion has “Castle,” that Alan Tudyk is headed to “V” or that “Serenity” has already been made: We want more “Firefly.” We give FOX credit for giving “Dollhouse” a second season, and yes viewership was low for “Firefly’s” first and only season, but with the success of both “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its spin-off “Angel,” FOX should have known to trust the magic that is Joss Whedon.

The magic of “Firefly” is its reinvention of outer space. Its western feel and comedic relief was a welcome change to the “Stargate” ripoffs littering the major networks. “Firefly” had a character that was uniquely its own, and that’s something few sci-fi television shows can say.

With the popularity of its spin-off comic book series and the multitude of storylines that have yet to be told, “Firefly” has many more seasons left in it. Whedon clearly left the series open to go a varity of different ways — a fact made more clear by the quick wrap-up of River Tam’s storyline in “Serenity” — and has a growing and dedicated fanbase that would stand behind the resurrection of this show. Don’t believe me? Check out Can’t Stop The Serenity in Boston this month.

Blast’s resident Whedon expert Kellen Rice also would like to point out that maybe if “Firefly” hadn’t been canceled so early on, SPOILER Alan Tudyk’s Wash wouldn’t have been killed off in “Serenity” — something she still feels can change.

Watch “Firely” episode “Out of Gas” here, and check out the entire series for free on Hulu.com:

What TV shows would you like to see brought back from the dead? Share with us your most dearly missed shows below!

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.