The Dollhouse Trailer: Science in a House Full of Hot Babes

There's something a bit half-baked about Dollhouse, the new science fiction series from total genius Joss Whedon. But I can't tell if it's a problem with the show, or just an artifact arising from the choppy way the trailer has been cut together. They're certainly leaning on the sex pretty heavily -- do these "actives" (let's roll with the terminology here) actually work as high-class hookers for some of their assignments? Or did they used to be high-class hookers before they were prostitutes? I can't figure it out.

I like Eliza Dushku in this though, which is nice, since I've never especially liked her in anything else. She seems to have dropped some of her tough-chick schtick. And huge bonus points to Whedon for getting Olivia Williams—the alluringly relatable English girlfriend from Rushmore—back from whatever shadow-dimension she's been lurking in.

Here's an equally mysterious scene from the Dollhouse pilot:

It's when she says "bendy" that you know you're in a Joss Whedon universe.