Dollhouse Upfront Teaser Hits the Net; Wheadonites Rejoyce

Have you noticed all these ads around NYC for TV Networks, a'cept they're not asking you to watch their network, they're telling you that you should advertise with them? This is because it's time for UPFRONTS, when all the advertising suits come to town and get wined and dined by network suits who show them splashy presentations of their amazing new post-strike fall seasons. And while it's hard to get too excited about anything TV-related because the cultural relevance of network/cable boxed television died with the last really good HBO show, one interesting leak did make it online; the very rough looking teaser for Joss Whedon's return to network TV, Dollhouse.

Why you should not expect this trailer to be very good, after the jump...


Keep in mind this is a teaser designed to appeal to advertisers, not audiences. It's very BASE, is what I'm saying. Not FANbase, just base. As in, lots of clumsy exposition, skin, cheesy aftereffects and bad font choices. And it's not like they have a ton of footage to pull from, they've been in production for a month. A month! This is probably why they don't want this kind of thing leaking on the internet. But as a fan of many people involved on this particular project (faithfaithfaith), I can't NOT watch and post it.

Extra points to anyone who can spot the clip from Buffy Season 3, presumably thrown in because they simply haven't shot enough action sequences to fill a two minutes trailer (again, one month of production). Also note that actor Harry Lennix makes an appearance (the skeptical black guy about 1:45 in), who you might remember from one of those awful Matrix sequels, but who you SHOULD remember from Titus, in which he gave a supervillianous performance for the ages.

Anyway, if you Wheadies out there are looking for more of a reason to have (ahem) confidence in this show (see how I avoided a potential pun there?), check out this New York Magazine article in which Joss says he created Dollhouse to save Eliza Dushku from B-Horror Movie Starlet Hell and that she guilt tripped him into not sheving the writing duties off on someone else. How can a series so steeped in personal drama fail!? The stakes are simply too high.

Team Fortress 2 - Cartoons Never Looked So Badass

Since the PS3 and XBox360 came out I've wondered how long it will be before video games begin using character animation sophisticated enough to make gameplay indistinguishable from say, a Pixar movie. Turns out the designers at Valve are in fact hard at work creating gorgeously rendered, chunky-yet-smooth cartoon character designs for the upcoming Team Fortress 2.


Illustrative Rendering In Team Fortress 2

This behind-the-scenes vid is refreshingly technical and info-packed, but those who, like me, don't include the words "clamped lambertian" in their volcabularly might get lost around 2:13. Might. I'm not saying I did.

For high-res vids of these hot graphics in action, check out the game teasers, which show off a great sense of humor as well.

Via Bleeding Pixels

Iggy Pop and Sean Penn To Voice English Dub of Persepolis

While Watchmen movie rumors are all well and good, the other most exciting upcoming comic-to-film adaptation is Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. It's the autobiographical story of a girl growing up in Iran while theIslamic Revolution reached it's height. This foreign-yet-understandable trailer focuses on a counter-revolution going on in the 1970s; HARD ROCK.



Bad. Ass. Who says 2-D animation is dead? ICV2 blogged today that A-lister Sean Penn and punk rock god Iggy Pop will both be voicing roles in the English-language release, due out in late 2007.

Analysis after the jump.



This project is only a blip on Iggy's illustrious acting career, which includes a reoccurring role as Michelle Trachtenberg's dad on "Pete & Pete" and a great cameo in Dead Man's most homoerotic scene. But it's a pretty remarkable gig for Sean Penn - it's rare for truly respected American dramatic actor to do cartoon voice over work, since not many high-profile dramatic animated films are released in the USA for widespread consumption. Usually only Miyazaki gets the big acting talent to show up for English dubs. Of course, cinematic acting skills don't always transfer over to the magical craft of voice-acting, so here's hoping Sean Penn nails it on his first time out.