Dusk 'til Dawn | News, Reviews and more on all things Whedon (and more!)

Where do we go from here?

Jaina — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:52:56 +0000

My on the spot thinking of trying to think of a Whedon quote suitable for the title of this entry has failed me somewhat. Will this one do? I guess you can tell me once you’ve read this entire entry. It’s getting ominous!

Over the past few weeks, maybe months, I’ve been thinking about the future of DTD. Thinking hard. Thinking long and hard. Thinking which has led me to a decision that I’ve been teetering on the edge of for a very long time.

That decision being *drumroll please* …. Closing Dusk ’til Dawn down.

Shocking? Maybe not as shocking as the news could be. The updates, reviews and general entries from me have dwindled in recent days. Since I ported this site to a new content management system I’ve never really been able to import all the old content, and for that I feel incredibly guilty for any visitors who’ve come here.

It’s been a fairly known fact that I’ve not loved Dollhouse. And what’s probably less known is my admiration of Joss Whedon slowly diminishing. Slowly I might add, he’s still very highly regarded with me! These factors coupled with a lack of time has led me to the decision of closing DTD down.

I opened this site back in 2000. We’d got through the millenium, bug-less, and it was all about the internet. This site has been going for a decade! Putting that into words has shocked me actually! This site has been around for longer than the likes of flickr and Facebook! Well, maybe it didn’t lift off quite as well, but its had its hay day, and it was a good hay day.

I’ve really enjoyed running the site. I’ve met a fair few people who I’ve got into contact with through this site and made some really good friends from the UK and over the pond. It’s been a lot of fun and I wouldn’t be a web designer right now had I not started this site when I was 15.

So goodbye DTD and thank you to all of you who’ve visited DTD and have left me nice comments on the site, forum, old guestbooks, emails, wherever. Had it not been for you guys, I probably would have taken the site down years ago.

I will be keeping the Twitter site alive, but it may undergo a name change. The forums, however, will be going.

I won’t be disappearing from the Internet completely either. You can find me on my own Twitter account and I’m blogging on and off at an old domain of mine – Time Well Spent. I also co-own Jonathan-Woodward.com. There’s also my flickr site where I post all of my photos, including those of any conventions and signing events I will inevitable still going to. So there’s plenty of places that I’ll still be around.

A big thank you to all the visitors, contributors and friends I’ve made over the years here, you’ve made the site worth running and it wouldn’t have lasted as long without your help. 2000 – 2010, it’s been fun guys and hope to see you around somewhere, some other time!

Dollhouse: The story so far … or the end of the story so far

Jaina — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:40:54 +0000

I was meant to be doing these Dollhouse reviews as the new episodes began airing, but you know what it’s like. Also the fact that Dollhouse doesn’t exactly inspire me to write. I’ve got a few moments now to jot down some thoughts I’ve had since Dollhouse returned to see its self through to the end.

There’s been a lot of praise for Dollhouse since it came off its hiatus break, and I’m sure some of that is deserved, but I can’t help but feel that people are just cheering for the final hurrah. I’m not saying some of the hurrah isn’t deserved, but it’s still been pretty much the same old Dollhouse for me. Some hit, but a lot of miss.

Take Alan as Alpha for example. I think he’s a fantastic choice of actor for the role of Alpha and seeing him return was brilliant. Though the episode before that with Echo taking, in three short months, control of all her personalities, rescuing a random woman from a prison. I just didn’t see the point. Well I saw the point – we’ve got to see Echo as Echo, not a blank doll and someone special. But it was all far too rushed. And really, with all the powers of the Rossum Corporation and the Dollhouse they couldn’t find her?

The same could be said about last week’s double bill. Enver’s a fantastic actor, but Roger is such a stereotypical English gentleman it makes my eyes roll to the back of my head and never return. That episode wasn’t the strongest one either, despite Enver’s brilliant performance. Again, it felt rushed. I understand that with the cancellation they’ve had to rush some storylines, but part of me would have preferred to just have something satisfying and open than what we are getting.

I was also completely unconvinced of Rossum’s ‘army’. Really? That was them? And how easy it is for Echo to seemingly to anything and everything. What she does is right out of The Matrix! Was it ever really explained how she managed to get control of all the people in her brain?

The Attic was a much better episode. Seeing Reed Diamond again lifted it for me. However the best dream like episodes seen from a Joss show are Buffy’s Restless and Angel’s Soul Purpose. They get the dream like quality in the episode down so well. This almost got it right. The scene with the snowy tree in the atrium of the Dollhouse did look stunning.

I like how the attic is explained now. Before it was like the Boogeymen. You tell your kids about it just to scare the bejesus out of them. And what they did explain made sense. Get caught in an endless loop in the hope of escaping. Nice touch. Though it all felt a bit fudged. Being able to jump from mind to mind and how easily Echo did escape in the end. Shame she didn’t bring Mr. Dominic with her.

All in all, I still don’t think Dollhouse is one of the best shows on TV. Far from it. I have a list. It’s quite long and Dollhouse is nowhere near the top. Sadly. The last few episodes have been better than season 1 put together, but that doesn’t mean this show doesn’t deserve a cancellation. Despite having a brilliant supporting cast, Fran Kranz has been brilliant this season, the show still needs a leading lady who can carry the show. Which it doesn’t. The central concept’s still fairly loose and maybe too complicated for it’s own good.

I’m interested to see where the final episodes will take us. But I can’t say that Dollhouse has been like Firefly – short lived, but every episode a gem. Dollhouse is just short lived and utterly forgettable.

Brand new Supernatural Convention, updated 2010 list

Jaina — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:03:09 +0000

This is somewhat old news but it gives me an excuse to update the Conventions of 2010 list.

Massive Events will be running their first ever Supernatural convention next year in September in Birmingham. The convention’s called Roadhouse and you can find more information on it at the website. Currently there’s only one guest lined up: Mark Rolston who played Alastair. I’m sure more guests will be announced as and when in the next few months.

I also forgot to add a list of the Wolf Events to the list I previously posted, so they’ll be included this time. They mostly specialise in Stargate related conventions.

Read on if you want to read the updated list of conventions for next year. I’ve tried to highlight the new ones on the list with a little *:

*NEWWolf Stargate Worlds
Date: 22nd – 24th January 2010
Venue: The Thistle Hotel, Heathrow
Theme: Stargate franchise
Guests: Dan Payne, Garry Chalk, Patrick Currie, Paul McGillion

Massive Events: Chevron 7.4
Date: 29th – 31st January 2010
Venue: Hilton Metropole, Birmingham
Theme: Stargate franchise
Guests: David Hewlett, Brian J. Smith

Massive Events: Housebroken
Date: 5th – 7th February 2010
Venue: The Park Inn, Bedford
Theme: Being Human
Guests: Jason Watkins, Annabel Scholey, Dylan Brown, Sinead Keenan, Sama Goldie, Dean Lennox Kelly, Paul Kasey

Massive Events: Eternal Twilight 3
Date: 19th – 21st February 2010
Venue: The Hilton Metropole, Birminham
Theme: Twilight
Guests: Christopher Heyerdahl, Charlie Bewley

Starfury: Breakout Farewell
Date: 12th – 14th March 2010
Venue: The Thistle Hotel, Heathrow
Theme: Veronica Mars & Moonlight
Guests: Percy Daggs III, Francis Capra, Michael Muhney

Rogue Events: Insurgence Blood Lines
Date: 19th – 21st March 2010
Venue: The Hilton Metropole, Birmingham
Theme: Vampire Diaries, Smallville, Supernatural
Guests: Michael Rosenbaum,

Massive Events: The Hub 4
Date: 9th – 11th April 2010
Venue: The Park Inn, Northampton
Theme: Torchwood
Guests: Eve Myles, Kai Owen, Tom Price

Starfury: Echo-1
Date: 7th – 9th May 2010
Venue: The Thistle Hotel, Heathrow
Theme: Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica
Guests: Tahmoh Penikett, Dichen Lachman, Fran Kranz, Miracle Laurie, Mark Sheppard

Rogue Events: Asylum 4
Date: 14th – 16th May 2010
Venue: The Hilton Metropole, Birmingham
Theme: Supernatural
Guests: Kurt Fuller, Jim Beaver, Alona Tal, Katherine Boecher

Rogue Events: Asylum Europe
Date: 21st – 23rd May 2010
Venue: Dorint Parkhotel, Bad Neuenahr, Germany
Theme: Supernatural
Guests: Mark Pellegrino, Jim Beaver, Chad Limberg, Samantha Ferris, Traci Dinwiddie

Starfury: T-2
Date: 11th – 13th June 2010
Venue: The Thistle Hotel, Heathrow
Theme: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Chuck
Guests: Thomas Dekker, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Bonita Friederocy, John Billingsly

Massive Events: Better than Life 2
Date: 9th – 11th July 2010
Venue: The Park Inn, Bedford
Theme: Red Dwarf
Guests: Danny John-Jules, Chloe Annett

Massive Events: Bitten
Date: 6th – 8th August 2010
Venue: The Park Inn, Northampton
Theme: True Blood
Guests: Sam Trammell, Kristin Bauer

* NEW Massive Events: Roadhouse
Date: 3rd – 5th September 2010
Venue: The Hilton Metropole, Birmingham
Theme: Supernatural
Guests: Mark Rolston

Massive Events: Hallowhedon 2
Date: 29th – 31st October 2010
Venue: The Thistle Hotel, Heathrow
Theme: Joss Whedon’s work
Guests: Anthony Head

Rogue Events: Asylum 5
Date: 29th – 31st October 2010
Venue: The Hilton Metropole, Birmingham
Theme: Supernatural
Guests: Fredric Lehne

Starfury: The Vampire Ball
Date: 26th – 28th November 2010
Venue: The Thistle Hotel, Heathrow
Theme: Vampires (True Blood, Buffy, Angel, Moonlight, Forever Knight, Bring Human etc.)
Guests: Marianna Klaveno, Juliet Landau, Clare Kramer, Dayne Johnson

Why hello there! Dollhouse Spoilers

Jaina — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:02:30 +0000

Big news. New Dollhouse episode promo shots have revealed something that even I’m vaguely excited about. Yes -a hardcore Dollhouse cynic has raised a slight smile at seeing these promotional images.

So if that’s picqued your interest feel free to read on. Everything’s hidden away to avoid spoiling anyone. But my bet is that you’ve already read the news, seen the images and aren’t all that intrigued by my mumbo jumbo.

BSC Review have posted some brand new promotional images for upcoming Dollhouse episodes Meet Jane Doe/A Love Supreme. The two episodes are slated to be aired back to back on December 11th.

Most notably in these images we see Keith Carrdine’s character, once again. (Though I’m a bit stumped – did he dump his Dexter role for this?) More excitingly there’s Alan Tudyk, back playing Alpha, who was a highlight for me for at least 1.5 episodes last season.

I really enjoyed seeing Alan on V, so once again, sad to see he’s effectively out of that one now. He plays one hell of a bad guy and can really deliver lines with some Whedon wit in them, which I think Dollhouse really lacks at the moment.

Your thoughts? I’m guessing the majority of Dollhouse fans are far more excited than me. But then I don’t class myself as a fan. Merely an interested viewer. Alan – yay or nay?

Chuck Season 3 Preview

Jaina — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:40:21 +0000

This is slightly old news, but only for those people over in the States who were able to watch this on the NBC website. It’s now on youtube for the world to see, and I hope the world makes an effort to watch it.

And because you can never have enough Chuck, here’s a video combining all the latest promos:

What do you think?

Things are changing – news updates on Twitter

Jaina — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:03:54 +0000

I’ve changed things up a bit here. As I’ve been finding it hard to post the usual list of news links on a daily basis, like I used to here, I’ve found a solution. Twitter!

From now on you’ll find all the usual fandom heavy news links I find updated on DTD’s Twitter. I’ve been doing this for most of the week, and think I’m updating more news items now!

So if you want the usual updates I used to do here, follow DTD’s Twitter. This site here will now be reserved for views, reviews, opinions and any fandom related blurting out I feel the need to do.

Twitter eh? I’m trying to embrace the future!

Twitterific Whedon Alums – UPDATED

Jaina — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:21:23 +0000

A long time ago, not in a galaxy far away, I posted a list of Whedon alums who are on Twitter.

Well due to the changing state of the Internet and Twitter, that list now needs a bit of an update. More people have joined and I think I’ve found a few more useful people to follow. So here’s the updated list. New people have a * by them.

Again, let me know if I’ve missed anyone out by commenting on this entry and I’ll do an update.

Whedon Alums on Twitter

AdamBusch – Adam Busch aka 1 third of the geek trio – Warren Meers and also band member of Common Rotation.
AlyDenisof – Alyson Hannigan aka Willow on Buffy and currently Lily on How I Met Your Mother.
Amber_Benson – Amber Benson, or Tara from Buffy. Frequent and amusing tweeter.
AnthonySHead – Anthony Stewart Head aka Giles.
CapricaSeven – Talented Whedon writer Jane Espenson. Big thumbs up to her for her work on Galactica as well.
Chris_Gorham – Christopher Gorham who appeared in the season 2 epsiode of Buffy – I Only Have Eyes For You but has gone on to brilliant things such as Popular, the much loved by me Jake 2.0, Ugly Betty and currently almost done with Harper’s Island.
ClareBerry – Clare Kramer aka Glory from the 5th season of Buffy.
Dichenlachman – Dichen Lachman aka Sierra on Dollhouse and also Katya Kinski from Neighbours.
Dr. Horrible – Twitter for all things Dr. Horrible and Whedon-ness.
ElizaPatricia – Eliza Dushku who’s been Faith on Buffy and Angel, Tru on Tru Calling and obviously more recently Echo in Dollhouse.
FeliciaDay – Felicia Day, probably one of the first Whedon alums to take up Twitter. Also spy her on DeliciaFay and The Guild’s Twitter.
* FranKranz – Fran Kranz aka Topher from Dollhouse. Also soon to be appearing in Cabin in the Woods.
JimmyLeary
JewelStaite – Jewel Staite aka Kaylee from Firefly/Serenity and also Dr. Jennifer Keller on the recently finished Stargate: Atlantis.
JulieBenz – Julie Benz who’s currently playing Rita on the amazing Dexter but also remebered as Darla on Buffy and Angel.
JulietLandau – Juliet Landau aka Drusilla from Buffy and Angel. Post very regularly and updates on all things she’s working on.
Mark_Sheppard – Mark Sheppard aka Badger from Firefly and the bizarrely named Tanaka from Dollhouse. And also appearing in practically all other TV shows on air right now.
Miracle Laurie – The totally adorable Miracle Laurie aka Mellie from Dollhouse and one half of the brilliant Uke Box Heroes.
MoTancharoen – Maurissa Tancharoen of Dr. Horrible fame.
NathanFillion – Nathan Fillion aka Mal from Firefly and Richard Castle on his new show Castle.
* ActuallyNPH – Neil Patrick Harris. I don’t think he needs an introduction, but in any case – Dr. Horrible, Barney Stinson and Doogie Jowser, among others!
TomLenk – Tom Lenk aka Andrew from Buffy and a bit of Angel. Very amusing Tweeter!

And now here are some other people and places I follow on Twitter who have either got amusing or informative tweets.

Non-Whedon but Great Celebs to Follow

* MsAmberRiley – Amber Riley who plays Mercedes on Glee.
* brendansband – Brendan’s Band – Fronted by Brendan McCreary, brother of Bear McCreary, the band are brilliant and their songs have appeared on the BSG and Sarah Connor soundtracks. Also Brendan is the one who sings All Along the Watch Tower in BSG.
DHewlett – David Hewlett, best known fro playing Dr. Rodney McKay on Stargate: SG-1 and Atlantis. Very funny tweets about himself and family life!
* DerrenBrown – Derren Brown, entertainer, magician and all out crazy clever genius dude!
* frankenteen – Cory Monteith from Glee.
* ChrisColfer – Chris Colfer who plays Kurt on Glee.
* himymprod – Twitter from the HIMYM production staff. Good for a bit of backstage fun.
JakeSmollett – Actor who most recently played Noser in the completely underrated and brilliant The Middleman.
* KChenoweth – Kristin Chenoweth, who shouldn’t need any kind of introduction.
* msleamichele – Lea Michele from Glee.
* MarkChrLawrence – Mark Lawrence aka Big Mike from Chuck.
Rajskub – Mary Lynn Rajskub, also known as Chloe from 24. Best thing to happen to that show! Chloe!
NatalieMorales – Natalie is probably better known as dubdub or Wendy from The Middleman.
* NeilGrayston – Neil plays Douglas Fargo on SyFy’s Eureka but was also the ‘mouth breather’ in Wonderfalls.
OKBJGM – Javier Grillo-Marxauch, creator of The Middleman but also talented writer and has written for the likes of Lost.
Josh_Friedman – Josh Friedman, one of the guys behind Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
* MarkChrLawrence – Mark Christopher Lawrence, also known as Big Mike from Chuck.
* RyanCartwright – Ryan Cartwright, most recently seen in Mad Men as John Hooker but also appears in Bones as Vincent Nigel-Murray.
* theThomasDekker – Thomas Dekker of Sarah Connor fame.
CyborgTurkey – Twitter for Robot Chicken. If you’ve not seen this show, you really should! Features loads of people you’d recognise and Seth Green’s one of the men behind it.
* ZacharyLevi – Zachary Levi aka Chuck from Chuck!

And here are some other useful TV news/gossip/etc type sites which I love to read.

Misc Websites/Twitters

EWAusielloFiles – Twitter of EW’s Michael Ausiello. Other EW related Tweeters are Natalie Abrams, EOnline and Kristin Alert.
MoRyan – Writer for the Chicago Tribune often with some great TV related news that’s Tweeted there first.
* Showmasters – Showmasters Online run various signing events such as Collectormania, London Film and Comic Con and more. News announced on the twitter first.
Televisionary – Twitter feed for Televisionary Blog with good TV related tweets.
TVbytheNumbers – Twitter for the TV by the Numbers website. Tweets some good info around ratings of all things TV.
* TVdotcom – More TV news, gossip and spoilers.
TVGuide – Twitter feed for TVGuide.com.

Conventions for 2010

Jaina — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:50:43 +0000

As I tweeted yesterday, there’s a brand new convention coming to the UK next year – Vampire Ball. So I thought I’d take the time to do a run down of as many conventions that are happening in 2010.

These are only the ‘proper’ conventions. Be sure to check out Collectormania, London Film and Comic Con and London Expo to check out signing events that are going on nationwide.

Also for you people who are Stateside there’s the Creation Events for conventions ranging from Twilight to Stargate.