er, Jack, you're right. I like your angle - creepy dog stalks beloved owner through time - better!

Even better, this is the second Monte Cristo adaptation in recent years, if you count Life (the Damien Lewis show). For Life Monte Cristo wasn't so much a blueprint as a general inspiration - guy gets put away by a conspiracy of enemies, guy gets released years later with a butt-load of money, guy goes about…

Nice analysis. But some character roles have been redistributed - for example, the conspiracy didn't target Emily, it targeted her father. So while Victoria is kind of a twisted Mercedes, Sam also fills the Mercedes role, since he's Emily's former sweetheart and still carries a (somewhat creepy) torch for her.

like the techie said, the asthma and bad eyesight came with the personalities they remixed to imprint her with. They can't pick and choose that closely in order to exclude negative traits - they come part and parcel with the good ones they need to give the actives.

It was pretty clear to me, reading promo material/interviews/other ancillary material before Dollhouse aired that Whedon is entirely aware of the misogyny of the setup of the show. A creepy institution that sells made to order women? It's clear to me that exploitation of people in general and women in particular is…

Drive was ridiculous, but Nathan Fillion was great…I was pretty disappointed when they axed that show, too, especially when the last episode was Fillion opening up that Dodge Challenger.

He meant Earth, I think.

Exposition on Buffy was terrible and formulaic! It was mostly: do research in dusty books, exposit background, kill monster. Besides, the mythology on Buffy wasn't nearly as complex as BSG, and relied a lot more on folklore that we already have a good handle on - vampires, werewolves, etc.

I think procreation provides the possibility for real change at a much faster pace for a civilization: your children are recombined DNA from the parents, different people with a whole new range of possibilities for thoughts and actions. Keep resurrecting yourself and you know exactly what you'll get - more of the…

That's really funny - I didn't know that. I remember watching the episode while attending Berkeley and laughing out loud seeing the Chief and his communist beard quote Mario Savio.

That was the first ep of BBT I watched. I remember because my mom called me from overseas to tell me about this sitcom about nerds who dressed up like the doppler effect. It took me a good deal of google-fu to figure out which show it was.

And Pam's frozen face as she threw it was perfect. And the reaction when the audience got hit in the face with mounds bars.

Yeah, I'm glad they didn't drag it out either - I'm tired of angst being milked for half a season when it could be resolved with a simple conversation. I mean, I guess this trope is at least as old as Romeo and Juliet…but still, every time I scream "Just TALK to each other!" at the damn screen.

and, half a year later…
I just saw this movie, finally, and decided to check up on the AV Club review. I'm kind of amused that no-one crashed this thread saying "That was totally a misinterpretation of MMA, what a technical fuckup" like all my MMA-obsessed friends did.