ECHO’S GHOST: A TALE OF TWO PILOTS

This was my submission to the Smart Pop "Dollhouse" essay contest.  My submission did not make the final cut.  Hope you enjoy.

Picture the scene, an early fall afternoon in L.A., 2007, two former co-workers and friends meet for lunch: the one, a gentleman in his early forties with reddish brown hair and a receding hairline; the other, a brunette beauty in her late twenties. In 1992, she was acting in her first feature film, That Night the same year his movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit movie theaters. At that time, neither of them knew that Joss Whedon’s film would springboard into a successful television show, and that Eliza Dushku would co-star as his anti-hero “Faith” on that series six years later.

Four years had passed since Buffy and her crew had bid adieu to the small screen in 2003. During that time, Eliza had starred in the short-lived, yet well received series Tru Calling. Joss had bittersweet success with his movie, Serenity, based off his sci-fi western series, Firefly. Both Tru Calling and Firefly, though worlds apart, both figuratively and literally, had two things in common, both aired on the Fox network and both were unceremoniously cancelled.

In an interview for the A.V. Club, Eliza Dushku described to reporter Scott Tobias the heart of the discussion at that fateful lunch meeting with Joss Whedon, “…we sat there talking about my career, my life as an actress, life in this business, life in this society today, and people having the Internet, and having so much control and wants and needs and sexuality and desires…” , and the end result was a concept for a television series to showcase Eliza entitled, Dollhouse. Whedon hit the ground running with idea, which he described to E! Online’s Kristen, “We had lunch, and a few days later I wrote a treatment, and then I wrote an episode guide, a pilot outline and even a poster. I Photoshopped a poster one night. A couple of days after that I went to Fox, and a couple of days later they gave us seven {episodes}.”

All of Whedon and Dushku’s momentum for their new project came to screeching halt. Just days after their announcement to the media about Dollhouse, the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike for better compensation of their work. According to Wikipedia, the WGAE and the WGAW labor unions represent film, television and radio writers working in the United States. More than 12,000 writers joined the strike which lasted from November 5, 2007 and concluded on February 12, 2008.

Whedon worked quickly after the strike to finish the script and shoot the pilot. Due to the length of the strike, the series, which was originally rumored to be slated on the Fox Fall 2008 line-up, got moved back to mid-season. Then, the show received another blow, this time by Whedon himself, who decided to shoot a new pilot after his meeting with the suits at Fox. “I understood their consternation, and saw the gap
between my style and their expectations, and I suggested I shoot a new {pilot} and make the {original} I’d shot the second.”

Whedon’s plans to air the original pilot as the second episode never came to fruition. By the time Dollhouse premiered with “Ghost” on February 13, 2009, the original pilot was dissected and some scenes were scattered throughout the first few episodes. Fortunately, for fans who were interested to see Whedon’s original vision for the series, the first pilot, “Echo”, made its way onto the Dollhouse Season One DVD.

With the exception of the luxury spa-style set and Adelle’s green ceramic tea pot, the differences between “Ghost” and its predecessor, “Echo” are vast. From the opening scene to the final fade out, each episode has its own storyline, pacing and style. Each version has its own set of merits as well as its criticisms, and to watch them back to back is a fascinating exercise to compare what was added, what was changed, and to consider what could have been.

Welcome to Dollhouse

The unaired pilot opens with Echo diving into a pool. She swims across then allows herself to sink to the bottom in an upright fetal position. Meanwhile, Adelle Dewitt sits in her office, sipping a cup of tea, giving her unseen potential client, and therefore the audience, her introductory spiel regarding “actives”, that they are not “zombie slaves”, they are “the truest soul{s} among us.” We then see Echo in a variety of different roles – an ex-prostitute taking on her former john in an effort to save a girl from falling into the same trap she did, the classy wedding date of the bride’s ex-husband, and a tough Spanish speaking drug mobster.

It is a very lengthy opening as the conversation between Adelle and her potential client continues after the opening credits. The client’s Q & A session is a crash course on engagements, handlers and privacy issues. It is a lot of information to front load onto an audience, but it is well delivered.

In contrast, “Ghost” opens with Caroline and Adelle being viewed on a closed-circuit television. Adelle pours distraught Caroline a cup of tea. There is an uncomfortable silence and Adelle breaks that silence saying, “Nothing is what it appears to be.” As Adelle offers her a “clean slate”, Caroline replies to her, “You ever try and clean an actual slate? You always see what was on it before.” This line is the cornerstone for what is to come in the series as Echo begins to evolve with each wipe. Adelle pushes her contract toward Caroline and asks if she is volunteering. Caroline obviously has done something that has put her in this precarious situation and she basically knows that she has no choice. “I know. I know. Actions have consequences,” Caroline says, defeated. Adelle looks up at her and replies, “What if they didn’t?”

Unlike the original pilot, where there is no trace of Caroline except for her name on the back of a photo on Ballard’s desk, in “Ghost”, it is Caroline we meet first. She is a mess of a young woman who is pressed into a desperate choice to give up five years of her life. Whedon made a wise choice to open the second pilot with the Caroline introduction. We get a glimpse of the girl who loses herself, which makes Echo’s connection with the viewer stronger. It also makes one ponder what exactly she could have done to get her to this point in the first place. Why chose to become an active? What would have been the consequences if she did not volunteer?

Character Study

There are three characters that have distinct differences from “Echo” to “Ghost”: Agent Paul Ballard, Sierra and Dr. Clare Saunders. Each one of them is introduced differently. Ballard goes up against the ropes. Sierra gets a shocking experience, and Saunders loses her nickname.

In “Echo”, we first see Paul as he walks into a party where he questions Lubov, his Russian mob family connection about the Dollhouse. Lubov is very wary and is afraid Paul is going to get them both killed by the Borodins. He tells Paul that the Dollhouse is a “myth”, and that he looked into his background and knows that he is unsuccessful at his job. He tells Paul, “{the} Bureau takes pity, gives you the one job you can’t blow because it doesn’t exist.” It is an awkward scene to follow because there is not a real introduction of the characters. Unless you are paying close attention, it is easy to get lost on what they are discussing. In “Ghost” there are scenes added between Paul and Lubov that lead up to this exchange, which is finally seen the third episode of the series, “Stage Fright”.

Paul is introduced sweaty and shirtless in a kickboxing ring in “Ghost”. Scenes of the boxing match are interlaced with an uncomfortable meeting at the FBI, where Paul is being dressed down by two superiors who basically tell him his Dollhouse assignment in a joke and that the only thing he has been successful at following through on is his divorce. The more they tear him down in the office, the more he gets beat in the ring, but then something changes. As his superiors demand for him to back off, in the ring he gets his second wind and knocks down his opponent with a cold vengeance. Even with the odds against him, Paul will not be stopped.

Sierra is a classic beauty, so it is no wonder she was introduced in the original pilot wearing a Jackie-O style dress and a string of pearls. She comes out of the elevator with a head wound and running mascara. It is obvious she has been crying. It is an insight to the fact that not all engagements end well for the actives. In a following scene, after she has been wiped, she blissfully sits down for lunch with Echo. It is the moment that reveals that Lubov is actually an active named Victor. This scene was used in episode four, “Grey Hour”.

Whedon decided to re-write and enlarge Sierra’s role the second time around. Echo walks in on Topher’s lab where Sierra is being imprinted for the first time. She is covered in wires and crying from the pain. It is a very disturbing moment that reveals the initial process of becoming an active. It has such an effect on Echo, that it remains in her subconscious after she is wiped, and that connection with her leads her into a friendship with Sierra that grows throughout the series.

A woman filmed in shadow, scarred both inside and out, Dr. Clare Saunders is an enigma in both pilots. In “Echo”, we first see her with her back to the camera in her dark office tending to Sierra’s head wound. Later on, Topher has a discussion about her with Boyd. He calls her “The Phantom”, and describes her as “self-lacerating”. As they speak of her she walks through her office with a glimpse of a shadow behind her.

Later on in the episode Topher sneaks into her office to look at Echo’s file. He thinks Saunders isn’t there, but when he goes to pull Echo’s file, she is standing on the other side of the bookcase. Her partially-hidden face spooks Topher. Saunders comes around the corner and speaks to him from a distance, her face in shadow. When Topher moves closer to speak with her, she moves to a corner of the room, as if in a defensive position, and as soon as she can, she moves quickly to her desk, and that is when the viewer gets to finally see her scarred face. They discuss Echo and her last assignment. Topher is in disagreement with Dr. Saunders sending Echo and others out on pro-bono altruistic missions, and she believes that it is necessary for their physical well-being. Their discussion becomes rather heated, especially on Topher’s end. After Topher leaves in frustration, she picks up Echo’s file that he left behind and starts to read it.

Saunders roll in “Ghost” is severely diminished. Once again, she is first seen in her office, filmed in shadow, but this time her helping Echo, who hurt her knee. Echo tells the doctor she cannot remember what happened. Saunders assures her by saying, “We’ll look after you.” Echo reaches up to touch Dr. Saunders scars and asks, “Does someone look after you?” Saunders recoils and does not answer her question. Later on, Saunders goes looking for Echo and finds her in Topher’s office. She does not come in, but lurks halfway in the doorway.

All of the Saunder scenes from the original are completely gone. Topher does not refer to her as “The Phantom”. The whole dynamic of Saunders treating the actives as human beings versus Topher’s belief that they are more like “bison” is completely lost. There is a more unspoken animosity between the two characters in the second pilot, and it is layered in throughout the first season though it is never fully explained or resolved. It is disappointing that one of the major character interactions from the original pilot was completely lost in the re-write. It is difficult to speculate why the scenes were completely cut, but one of the more likely reasons is because of the dynamic plot changes in “Ghost”.

Plot and Style

Most dramatic television series use a mixture of both mythology episodes, (shows that deal with a main recurring theme i.e. the alien mythology of the X-Files or the alternate universe mythology of Fringe) and stand-alone episodes. The original pilot for Dollhouse was strictly a mythology episode. The main plot focused on Paul Ballard and his investigation into the Los Angeles Dollhouse and Adelle’s attempt to keep him off their trail. There are a lot of revelations early on – Paul gets Caroline’s photo on his desk, Lubov is revealed to be a doll, and Paul meets Echo/Caroline who is imprinted to find out how much Paul knows about the Dollhouse, and if necessary, assassinate him. Some could easily say that the episode gives away far too much from the onset, which is most likely why several key scenes from the original were used throughout the first few episodes of the series to give the show more revelations and suspense.

“Ghost”, on the other hand, although it has many mythology elements like Adelle persuading Caroline to “volunteer” and Paul Ballard’s meeting at the FBI, is mainly a stand-alone episode. It centers on the kidnapping of a young girl and Echo is programmed to become Eleanor Penn, a freelance kidnapping negotiator. Throughout the course of the show, “Eleanor” must prove herself to the distraught father of the kidnapped girl and ends up facing her own ghost, the man who kidnapped her as a child. Ultimately, the bad guys find justice at the end of Sierra’s gun and Eleanor rescues the girl. In the final chilling scene, Whedon moves back to the mythology by setting up the “Alpha” storyline by showing him sitting naked watching the Caroline college video while two people lay dead nearby.

“Echo” is not the first pilot to be re-written. Back in 1965, there was an original pilot for the legendary Star Trek series called “The Cage” that was rejected by NBC for being “too cerebral”, “too intellectual” and “too slow” with “not enough action”. These same criticisms can be attributed to “Echo”. It is an episode comprised of many lengthy discussions and character interactions. Topher, for instance has several long monologues on “grouping” and how everyone is programmed to some extent in their lives, which could be considered “too cerebral” or “too intellectual” for the average viewer. The characters in “Echo” discuss relevant points rather than relying on visuals, which could be considered that the story moves “too slow”. Take for instance the “Alpha” set up. In “Echo”, Alpha’s name is brought up during a phone conversation between Topher and Boyd while they are discussing Dr. Saunder’s scars. “We all remember Alpha,” Topher tells him, “Doesn’t mean I want to get him tattooed on my face.” It is the one time he is mentioned in the episode. Rather in “Ghost”, after the success of Echo’s mission Adelle hands a file into Mr. Domminick’s hands, and says. “Now tell me how we are going to contain this?” He opens up the file and the word “Alpha” jumps off the page. The visual aspect calls attention that the “Alpha” situation is more dire than merely dropping his name in the midst of a discussion.

The action in “Echo” is fairly non-existent up to the point where Echo, imprinted as Shauna Vickers shoots Paul toward the final act and goes to the hospital to finish the job when she finds out that he is still alive. On the other hand, “Ghost” takes an almost one hundred and eighty degree turn in this respect. After the initial introduction of Adelle and Caroline, it cuts into a high speed motorcycle race which ends at a birthday party with Echo dancing in a very short dress. Most of the lengthy dialogue scenes are all gone, but Topher, being the scientific genius that he is, still gets a lot of cerebral talk, but his dialogue is used more to describe how the imprinting works with regard to the new plot (like the reason why Eleanor Penn is nearsighted and has asthma). Still, there are a couple of gun shootouts and a speeding boat to temper Topher’s descriptive monologues.

Although “Echo” can be criticized for being “too wordy and “too intellectual”, “Ghost” can be criticized for being too cliché. The main kidnapping plot reminds one of a Sunday afternoon movie on the Lifetime channel. Although it is beautifully filmed and there is an exciting climax at the shack where Eleanor confronts the kidnappers, the plot just falls short. The idea that one of the girl’s kidnappers is the exact same man who kidnapped Eleanor Penn when she was a child is far-fetched. The story would have been more believable without that aspect. Where “Ghost” works best is inside the Dollhouse, the heart of the series, with the aforementioned scenes with Echo and Dr. Saunders and Echo walking in on Sierra’s first imprinting. It was wonderfully creepy, and kept me, and I am sure many other people tuned into the following week to see what would be happening inside the Dollhouse, rather than outside of it.

Everyday in this life is filled with choices. Cereal or eggs for breakfast? Work out at the gym or eat a Snickers bar? Air the original pilot or write a new one? Every choice has a consequence, no matter how miniscule. Would Dollhouse have thrived if “Echo” had aired first? No one will ever know for sure. From viewing both pilots, I believe that “Echo” would have taken the series in a different direction. It would have been more of mystery series, and more than likely we would have seen more elements of episode six, “Man on the Street”, (the episode that finally received the critical acclaim the show deserved) a lot sooner. With “Ghost” and the first few episodes relying on who Echo is for the week rather than who is Echo evolving into, led viewers to shy away initially because it was more of a plot driven vehicle and lacked character connection that the audience could become beholden to. Still there were those of us who saw the potential in “Ghost” and enjoyed the short-lived series as it evolved into a marvelous mini-masterpiece that dealt with issues of identity, loneliness and loss, and for those of us who would have liked to seen more banter with Dr. Saunders and Topher, or more romance with Victor and Sierra, there is always the never cancelled and continuing imagination and the creation of fan-fiction.