As anyone who has any interest in the matter knows, tonight sees the last ever episode of Dollhouse. You may have found yourself wondering, How am I going to cope once Dollhouse is sent to the Attic? Well, fret not; your faithful Sci-Fi Block editor in chief has your coping mechanisms covered. Here are six Dollhouse substitutes you can turn to when you’re jonesing.
6. The Man Who Changed his Mind
Yes, back in 1936, the great Boris Karloff already had this memory/personality implanting/extracting thing all figured out. Okay, I exaggerate. It wasn’t Karloff; it was his character, Dr. Laurience. Laurience called this the exchange of “thought content,” but his process is remarkably similar to that of the Dollhouse’s, as he extracts said thought content, stores it “like electricity” and implants it into whoever he can get to sit in his lab chair. The only downside: he greatly lacks Topher’s people skills.
5. (Some) Battlestar Galactica
(Warning: Battlestar Galactica spoilers here.) I know, I know, Battlestar Galactica is focused mostly on robots acquiring self-awareness. But wait a minute ... The Cylons “box” the conscious of defiant models? Doesn’t that sound a lot like being put in the Attic? And when a Cylon’s body dies, their memories are simply downloaded into a new body, kinda like ... almost every character in Dollhouse? Then you have Boomer, who, like Madeline, can be remotely activated at any second to become an instant killing machine. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, you’re best off starting from the beginning, but for the heaviest Dollhouse parallels, I recommend revisiting episode 1.13, “Kobol’s Last Gleaming: Part 2”; episode 3.12, “Rapture” (for the first “box” scene); and, even though it’s not that great, the tie-in film Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, for even more “You’re not who you think you are” goodness as well as a resurrection tank layout nearly identical to that of the Dolls’ beds.
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Long before Dollhouse, and even before The Man Who Changed his Mind, we had Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You think Rossum’s got the technology down, but Dr. Jekyll figured out how to partition totally different personalities in his own head using nothing but a chemical mixture, and he even caused his physical appearance to react to the presence of the active persona! Of course, I guess the whole “I can’t control myself anymore, and my ugly, murderous half is taking over” deal diminishes the doctor’s reputation for such matters. For a truly great and classic film, see the 1931 version, but the 1920 silent film is no slouch, either.
3. Caprica
We’re only one episode in (the second airs tonight), but Caprica is already setting itself up to be partially about the transplanting of memories. Are our memories what make us? Do our souls travel with them when they’re implanted into a new body or when they’re being stored outside of a human body? These are questions that Dollhouse asked, and they are questions that Caprica is asking, too. Plus, you’ll feel right at home watching a show that requires you to stay home on Friday nights to see the original airing.
2. Total Recall
With memory implants and erasures, big corporations that perform the procedures, and chairs that emit painful shocks to your brain to accomplish the task, Total Recall is remarkably similar to Dollhouse -- at least its premises are. It also, like Dollhouse, has its fair share of twists and turns along the way. Plus: Arnold Schwarzenegger!
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Perhaps even when pitted against Dollhouse, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind stands as the definitive memory-erasing story. When Joel breaks up with Clementine, the orange-haired woman he so dearly loved, he heads to Lacuna, Inc. to have all his memories of her erased. What ensues is a surreal journey through his conscious as he changes his mind mid-procedure and races through his own thoughts, trying to rescue his memories of the relationship before they are erased. And you thought Whedon could be confusing.
Comments
thanks for the fix! what
thanks for the fix!
what about Memento?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/
Hmmm.
Hmmm. Good thought. Memento is a mind game as a movie, yes, but I didn't consider it since it doesn't have any actual mind extraction/implantation stuff, unless you count Leonard creating artificial memories organically.
Great movie, though.
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