Feature by Jon Lachonis, Contributing Editor

There is no denying Joss Whedon's indelible fingerprint in the pop-culture firmament. Whedon's story-telling sensibilities have earned him a well-deserved and steadfast following, due mostly to the monolithic runs of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. In the straight math, though, Whedon's luck has been a study in getting it right the second time around - if you were to sum up the trend, it'd be hard to look at Whedon's latest effort to boggle the minds of the TVsphere, Dollhouse, without a bit of heavy hearted cynicism. Before you Whedonites get your pitch-forks from your closets and spark up your torches, let me explain.

Joss Whedon's history as a writer is mostly founded on high-concept enrichments of genre perennials. Vampires meet Valley Girl. Space Opera meets The Magnificent Seven. Frankenstein meets Alien meets The Exorcist. You get it. It's the type of story formulation that is tantamount to a chemist throwing random chemicals together hoping for an explosion. The difference between Whedon's efforts and the usual crop of "this plus that" cookie-cutter development in the 'wood is that Whedon is acutely aware of his audience and has remarkable taste in who he brings in to further extend his 'vision.' Oh, and some freaking remarkable casting too.

Strangely though, Whedon's creations rarely succeed the first time around, for one reason or another. Buffy the Vampire Slayer the movie is case in point. The line that Whedonites tow is that Joss's 'vision' was tampered with so heavily that the film cannot be considered an adequate representation of what he would later establish in the mythology of the series. There's no real reason to doubt that, Buffy the Vampire Slayer the series does extend from the universe of the original script, not the movie; but this isn't about the story. The idea that a flop movie, regardless of how well regarded the original script was, would be resurrected five years later as a television series is a bit... off.

Put away your filet knives. I realize Whedon himself has been very vocal about his dissatisfaction with the original film, and there is no denying the addictiveness of the Buffyverse. But it makes a great example of how Whedon's success seems to come in second chances.

Whedon's luck continued with Firefly. Well, not exactly Firefly. Firefly's overt obsession with being a series 'western' was somewhat offensive to some science fiction fans; especially those that figured the 'wild frontier' motif had already been done to perfection - making Whedon's crystallization of the combo superfluous. Fans and zealots (there is little difference when it comes to Whedon) are quick to point fingers at FOX, and despite the network's reputation for having a quick kill finger they did run eleven episodes with abysmal ratings. Enter Serenity.

Serenity jettisoned the more harsh contours of Firefly's Civil War/Frontier/Star Wars amalgam and became more of fan success. Despite failing to set the box office on fire, Whedon's second shot at his vision was relatively immune to the complaints of critics who found the series' attempt to juggle the mish-mash am exercise in boredom.

It's an inversion of the Buffy experiment. Buffy fails as a feature film, but succeeds - wildly - as a television series (and, oh, so much more.) So it would seem completely likely that Firefly, which failed as a series, would become a big screen success. The gamble surely rested squarely on Whedon's Buffy musk. But alas, it was not to be. Serenity wound up doing enough business to fulfill the cynical prediction that it would ultimately be nothing more than a costly thank you to a small, but mighty, fan-base.

Again, though, this has nothing to do with the merits - or lack of - in the story. It has everything to do with the fact that Whedon seems to get a second shot at everything, regardless of how severely his first round tanks. With his largest successes being based in mythologies that transcend any single contributor - let's face it, Vampires are a pretty rich foundation - Whedon's bag of tricks becomes a bit redundant and obvious. Whedon's career is marked with familiarity, themes that have existed a lot longer than he has and already been produced successfully ad nauseum, and deceptively powerful female characters. His deification seems more the stuff of Tiger Beat than the shock waves of a genuine groundbreaker touching down. Which brings us to Dollhouse.

Even before Dollhouse hits the air there is without argument a tremendous amount of Whedon excitement in the air. After much pomp and circumstance, Whedon's stab at Wonder Woman collapsed - but it was almost too much of an affirmation of Whedon's feminist mastery to stomach any ways. With that out of the way, the Whedon slate is full of promising projects. First, the notion of a big screen Buffy reunion was whispered at Paley, next is the forthcoming horror flick "Cabin in the Woods," co-written by Whedon and Drew Goddard. So if Dollhouse should fall to land big, Whedon has plenty of those second chances (and maybe a third, with Buffy) to fall back on. But will it?

Next: We've Read the Script! >>