What follows is a bit spoilerific, particularly regarding Battlestar Galactica. Consider yourselves warned.
Fridays will be packed with good SF for the next few weeks, with Joss Whedon's much-delayed Dollhouse and the return of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox and the last few episodes of Battlestar Galactica on SciFi. Free will is the emerging theme on the three shows, with plenty of flawed creations rebelling against their makers thrown in for good measure.
Things have been rough for the Terminator formerly known as Cromartie. After stalking the Connors for a season and a half or so he was killed (in a church!), only to be resurrected by Catherine Weaver, a T-1001, as the mouthpiece for the Babel computer (a precursor to the evil Skynet). (If you haven't been watching the show, all that is really way less complicated than it sounds.) Now named John Henry, the robot has become pretty inquisitive in his philosophical discussions with former FBI agent and apocalyptic Christian James Ellison. In the most recent episode, "The Good Wound," Ellison finds Henry playing with some toys, and the android makes some comments on the lack of intelligence in his body's design:
They have excellent range of motion in their limbs. It's from the ball and socket joints. This body uses hinge joints in the knees and elbows. It's less efficient... I have a question for God... I wish to know why he didn't use more ball and socket joints when he made you.
[I've taken the liberty of finding the scene for you right here:]
John Henry's question has an impassioned parallel in "No Exit," the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica. Brother Cavil (whose real name has now been revealed as "John") has always been cynical in matters of religion. In this episode, he confronts Ellen Tigh—the last of the Final Five, who (as we now know) created all of the other Cylon models—about the reasoning behind their design:
In all your travels, have you ever seen a star supernova?... I saw a star explode and send out the building blocks of the universe, other stars, other planets, and eventually other life. A supernova: creation itself. I was there. I wanted to see it and be part of the moment. And do you know how I perceived one of the most glorious events in the universe? With these ridiculous gelatinous orbs in my skull, with eyes designed to perceive only a tiny fraction of the EM spectrum, with ears designed only to hear vibrations in the air... I'm a machine, and I could know much more. I could experience so much more. But I'm trapped in this absurd body. And why? Because my five creators thought that God wanted it that way.
[And again:]
Ellen isn't claiming to be God, of course, but in a very real sense Cavil is confronting his creator directly. And a rebellious creation he is, too, and as the full extent of his evil becomes clear—he masterminded the Cylon attack that wiped out the twelve colonies, and planted the Final Five among humankind so that they could witness the fruits of his rage—his relationship with his creators becomes much more complicated. But the very fact that he is able to rebel at all is part of the nature that the Final Five built into him. Later in the episode Ellen brings up the issue of free will directly: Cavil cannot lay the blame for his evil actions at other beings' feet, but by the same token he can choose to be good. Ellen shows that even for a monster like Cavil, the door of redemption is still open a crack. Indeed, forgiveness may prove to be the overarching theme of Battlestar Galactica as a whole, as humans learn to coexist with the Cylons who virtually destroyed their entire species.
The themes of Dollhouse have not yet begun to emerge on that kind of grand scale, but it's certainly off to a good start. The eponymous organization is difficult to explain—it's somewhere between a spy cell, a mad scientist's lab, and a brothel. Basically, Dollhouse rents out brainwashed women who are given memory implants to enable them to meet whatever needs their clients may have. In the first episode, a Doll named Echo is grafted with the personality of an expert hostage negotiator to handle a ransom transaction for a kidnapped child. But questions of identity, ethics, and free will are inherent in the show's concept, and there are hints that the erasure of Echo's mind at the end of each mission may not be total. (That kind of thing is de rigeur for stories involving memory implants, of course.) Moral issues are sure to be dead-center in Dollhouse's future.
While I liked the philosophical issues in Dollhouse, I didn't find the show engaging. I appreciate that Joss is trying not to repeat himself by leaving out most of the humor, but I'm not convinced he actually knows how to carry a "serious" show.
At least it felt like he'd taken the time to consider some of the issues of identity, rather than just paying them lip service.
Oh, and just a minor correction: I'm pretty sure they rent out brainwashed women AND men. Unlike Slayers, there are no gender requirements for being a "doll" or whatever they're called.
Posted by: Erin | February 15, 2009 at 09:35 PM
Of course, "Dollhouse" will probably be canceled by episode 4, before they get into the show's philosophy, and "Terminator" will probably be canceled by May upfronts, so who cares?
Posted by: Wade | February 17, 2009 at 01:53 AM
i agree with this last comment. this show will be cancelled.
Posted by: watch friends online | April 05, 2009 at 10:31 PM