The film follows Penikett's character, Matt Ellman, after his death when he wakes up in a new world along with everyone else who died — including September 11th victims and Mark Twain. He's determined to find his girlfriend, (Laura Vandervoort) who also died with him. But lots and lots of insanity gets in the way including one very blue Alan Cumming.

Here's the official synopsis:

When American war zone journalist Matt Ellman (Tahmoh Penikett, Battlestar Galactica) and his fiancée, Jessie Machalan (Laura Vandervoort, Smallville), are killed in an explosion, Matt awakens, separated from Jessie, on the banks of a river snaking endlessly across a mysterious new plane of existence. On Riverworld, everyone who has ever lived on Earth, ever soul throughout time, has been reborn along the banks of a seemingly endless river. Determined to locate Jessie, Matt aligns with Tomoe (Jeananne Goossen, Falcon Beach) , a 13th century female warrior, Allegra (Romina D'Ugo, Hairspray), a 15th century courtesan of shifting alliances, and American novelist and Riverboat captain Samuel Clemens (Mark Deklin, Justice), better known as Mark Twain. With a full crew of adventurers, they embark upriver to understand where they are, why they are here, and to what unknowable end the river winds.

Under the guidance of the peculiar Caretaker (Alan Cumming, Tin Man), their quest takes them below to a torturous Cavern of Souls and the Underworld prison, above in a Zeppelin piloted by a brilliant German engineer, and forward to cross paths with renowned explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton (Peter Wingdfield, 24) who has joined forces with Francisco Pizzaro to conquer and destroy Riverworld. For Matt, each unfathomable day, each nefarious encounter, only deepens the conundrum of Riverworld and raises more questions…What happened to Earth and when? What is the purpose of the burning Orb? What powers are contained in the infamous Dark Tower? And why is their every move being followed by the watchful eye of an alien being? The answers are waiting beyond the endless swells of Riverworld.

Charting a territory somewhere between Gulliver's Travels and The Lord of the Rings" (Time), Philip Jose Farmer's Nebula Award-winning saga becomes a spectacular miniseries event-a feast for the eyes, the mind, and the heart of everyone who longs to explore the meaning of life, the mysteries of death, and everything that lies between.

Riverworld will be on Syfy in early 2010.

Oh, and there are spoilers in here — especially if you haven't seen the end of Dollhouse season one, or Battlestar Galactica.

We were excited to talk to Penikett, who's one of the most compelling actors on television, at Comic Con. In case you can't hear the audio on that clip, he told us not to be too sure that former FBI agent Paul Ballard is really working for the mysterious Dollhouse that he was fighting to destroy for so long. In fact, Penikett hints that Ballard still has his own agenda. As for the peppery relationship between Paul Ballard and Boyd Langton, which included a fistfight as well as a team-up in last season's "Omega," Penikett tells us to expect a lot more conflict between those two.

We had a question we'd been dying to ask about the end of Battlestar Galactica — before the final episode aired, Penikett told some interviewers that he'd convinced the show's producers to change Helo's fate. In the original script for the finale, Helo had an ending which seemed too obvious, according to Penikett — until talked the producers into changing it. So we were dying to know — what was Helo's original fate? And according to Penikett, Helo was supposed to die in the final battle.

We were also excited to talk to Penikett about Riverworld, the Syfy miniseries based on the classic novels by Philip José Farmer. He's starring in this adaptation, which airs this January or February and which could turn into an ongoing series. He praised everyone involved with the production and says that Mark Deklin is great as Mark Twain — and he does build his riverboat, like in the books. Most importantly, though — we needed to know if Penikett will be resurrected in the buff, just like everyone in the books? Here's what he said:

Ah, marketing — you certainly know how to get our attention, tie the boys up and we're there, especially if it's Tahmoh Penikett. But all kidding aside, Riverworld is a huge undertaking for the Syfy channel. It's a wild story about the place we all end up after death, focused around a man separated from his fiancée and his struggle to get her back. All with the help of other famous dead people, like Mark Twain. It's a fantastical epic, and it will be quite an adventure, if they can pull it off. We've got our fingers crossed. Until its release in 2010, here's a new, and longer, synopsis.

official synopsis:

When American war zone journalist Matt Ellman (Tahmoh Penikett, Battlestar Galactica) and his fiancée, Jessie Machalan (Laura Vandervoort, Smallville), are killed in an explosion, Matt awakens, separated from Jessie, on the banks of a river snaking endlessly across a mysterious new plane of existence. On Riverworld, everyone who has ever lived on Earth, ever soul throughout time, has been reborn along the banks of a seemingly endless river. Determined to locate Jessie, Matt aligns with Tomoe (Jeananne Goossen, Falcon Beach) , a 13th century female warrior, Allegra (Romina D'Ugo, Hairspray), a 15th century courtesan of shifting alliances, and American novelist and Riverboat captain Samuel Clemens (Mark Deklin, Justice), better known as Mark Twain. With a full crew of adventurers, they embark upriver to understand where they are, why they are here, and to what unknowable end the river winds.

Under the guidance of the peculiar Caretaker (Alan Cumming, Tin Man), their quest takes them below to a torturous Cavern of Souls and the Underworld prison, above in a Zeppelin piloted by a brilliant German engineer, and forward to cross paths with renowned explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton (Peter Wingdfield, 24) who has joined forces with Francisco Pizzaro to conquer and destroy Riverworld. For Matt, each unfathomable day, each nefarious encounter, only deepens the conundrum of Riverworld and raises more questions…What happened to Earth and when? What is the purpose of the burning Orb? What powers are contained in the infamous Dark Tower? And why is their every move being followed by the watchful eye of an alien being? The answers are waiting beyond the endless swells of Riverworld.

"Charting a territory somewhere between Gulliver's Travels and The Lord of the Rings" (Time), Philip Jose Farmer's Nebula Award-winning saga becomes a spectacular miniseries event-a feast for the eyes, the mind, and the heart of everyone who longs to explore the meaning of life, the mysteries of death, and everything that lies between.

Watch a video of Alan Cumming going blue for his character over at RHI.

Heraclitus said you can't step into the same river twice, but that's what Syfy, having adapted Riverworld into a standalone feature in 2003, is trying with next year's more ambitious, four-hour miniseries based on Philip José Farmer's beloved novels. Judging by this Q&A at SciFiWire, however, scribe Robert Hewitt Wolfe (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The 4400) seems undaunted by the prospect of alienating Farmer's loyal readers with an adaptation that ditches the original's storylines and relegates its protagonists to supporting character (or antagonist) status.

The basic premise is the same: deceased humans from across time find themselves living in a watery limbo, a planet-traversing river, where famous historical personages and obscure folk unite to unravel the mystery of their situation. Like the 2003 movie, however, the Wolfe miniseries will push aside the first book's protagonist (real-life Victorian explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton) in favor of a contemporary American protagonist (to be played by Dollhouse's Tahmoh Penikett) with a simple motive: to find his missing love (Smallville's Laura Vandervoort), who died with him in a suicide bombing.

Wolfe (whose strong résumé includes multiple episodes of Andromeda, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and The 4400) suggests that he wants to leave the saga's spiritual and philosophical underpinnings intact, but downgrading the swashbuckling, complex, real-life protagonist to a supporting role because American TV viewers might find him too obscure and unlikable doesn't speak well for the project's literacy and thoughtfulness. In fact, Wolfe hints that Burton may be more of an antagonist than a protagonist. Mark Twain, the hero of the second book, will turn up early on, having managed to build himself a riverboat.

Plus, Wolfe envisions future installments of this possible ongoing series, where he uses Farmer's platform as an opportunity to dig up various historical figures and watch them fight. "I'd love to do a story where the real Macbeth finds out about this play that has been written about him and is freaking pissed off because it makes him look like a dick!" Heh heh. Watch your back, Shakespeare!

Farmer, who died in February at 91, was reportedly upbeat about the prospect of this miniseries. These days, however, he's probably on a steamboat somewhere with Twain and Shakespeare, plotting vengeance.

The Riverworld books are set on an alien (but Earth-like) planet in the far future where, for some unknown reason, everybody who has ever lived is simultaneously resurrected as healthy, twenty-five year old versions of themselves. The various stories set in this universe explore both how famous historical figures interact with each other and their strange new surroundings, as well as the larger attempts by the thirty-six billion people on the planet to recreate human society.

Penikett plays Matt Ellman, a war correspondent who is killed and resurrected along with his fiancé, played by Smallville's Laura Vandervoort. The two characters, who as far as I can tell are being newly created for the miniseries, will serve as the protagonists and audience identification figures as they attempt to discover Riverworld's secrets and discover the sometimes surprising identities of the famous people they now meet. Joining them in the cast are Jeananne Goossen, Mark Delkin, and Alan Cumming as "The Caretaker."

Riverworld is just one of three four-hour movies, along with new adaptations of The Phantom and Alice in Wonderland, that RHI Entertainment is producing for the Sci Fi channel; RHI was previously behind the Tin Man miniseries that aired in 2007. All three are being considered as backdoor pilots, in that they may become regular series if ratings and reviews are strong enough, similar to Battlestar Galactica. (It's particularly fitting Penikett would now be the star of such a movie, considering Helo was never even supposed to survive past the BSG miniseries.)

Of the three, Riverworld is considered the best candidate for a follow-up TV series, although the other two are not without potential. The Phantom adapts the long-running comic strip, which follows Kit Walker, the twenty-first member of his family to bear the mantle of the Phantom in a tradition that stretches back to the 1500s. Screenwriter Daniel Knauf explained the TV-movie's particular take on The Phantom story to Newsarama back in 2008:

"In our story, we have a break in the lineage. The 22nd Phantom, the one we all know and love, his wife and his son died in an automobile accident. So when he died, there was no one to take over…But it turns out the son survived and has been raised by a foster family and has no idea who he is. They find him through a fluke when he's arrested on a trespassing charge, and he ends up getting his DNA into CODIS [the national DNA database]. The people in Bangalla who are still part of the Jungle Patrol — which we call Bpaa-Thap (which literally translates to 'Jungle Patrol') — they find him and decide to bring him in and train him. So it's a whole new game for this kid. So he's very conflicted, as far as who he was and who he thinks he is."

Desperate Housewives actor Ryan Carnes is set to play the Phantom, with Isabella Rossellini guest-starring as Lithia, a mind-control experiment's evil director (but then, is there any other kind?). Cameron Goodman and Sandrine Holt have also joined the cast. Less is known about Alice, RHI's third project. (Although we found a scary-looking photo of Whoopi Goldberg as the Cheshire Cat on RHI's website.) As one could probably guess, it promises to be a darker, more adult revamp of Lewis Carroll's classic along the same lines of how Tin Man reworked The Wizard of Oz.

Of course, there's one question that hangs over any Tahmoh Penikett casting announcement - what does this mean for Dollhouse? The short answer is "not much." Riverworld and The Phantom started production yesterday, with planned air dates set for 2010. Considering the Syfy Channel's usual lag between miniseries and series (there were ten months separating the BSG miniseries and the first episode of the series proper), any regular series that would require a substantial time commitment from Penikett wouldn't likely materialize until 2011. As much as the latest wild Internet rumors are rather positive for Dollhouse's future, the show would have to make it all the way to a third season before there would be any potential conflict, and that's assuming Riverworld is successful enough to launch a series. In any event, this shouldn't be taken as an indication that the Dollhouse cast is already looking for other work.

So, for now, it's best to take this news at face value - that Tahmoh Penikett continues to get roles that he richly deserves. It only makes sense that you'd need a veteran of Battlestar Galactica to replace Battlestar Galactica.

['Battlestar' actor to star in 'Riverworld']
[Sci Fi orders 'Phantom,' 'Riverworld,' 'Alice']

So began the first ten or so minutes of the Dollhouse pilot. It starts with a quiet yet heated argument between Echo (Eliza Dushku) and Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams). The gist of it seems to be that Echo is signing a contract for a five-year term of service, and she's not happy about it - "I don't have a choice, do I?" she snaps. DeWitt reminds her that "Actions have consequences. ... But what if they didn't?"

Then we jump into a wild motorcycle chase through a city, with two people in red helmets racing each other. Then one of them crashes, and takes off her helmet to reveal ... hot, leather-panted Echo! Naturally. She jumps back on the bike and heads off after her opponent, who is way ahead by now. They roll into a restaurant/club area, where a giant banner reads, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT."

Echo, still totally hot, bitches out the motorcycle guy, whom we now know to be Matt. She accuses him of cheating; he says they should let it go and just dance. She agrees! Probably because it's another chance for her to be super hot. And Matt is eating it up - after the dance, they go off to the side and he gives her a speech about what an amazing weekend he's had with her (while she winkingly returns with sexual innuendo). He gives her a heart necklace and says he's just going off to get a drink, but as he walks away he gives her a longing smile.

Another party attendee approaches him. "Who's your friend?" he asks, clearly affected by Echo's hotness. "She had to go," Matt replies, and makes a crack about her carriage turning into a pumpkin at midnight. "Midnight? It's like five," says Clueless Dude.

Meanwhile, Echo is grinning and twisting the heart necklace in her besotted hands, until all of a sudden her face washes clear and she heads away from the party. She gets into a black van with Boyd Langton (Harry J. Lennix), who asks her how it went. "I met a guy," she tells him, grinning. They drive away.

He takes her to what we well know is the Dollhouse facility, and as Echo gets into an elevator, she makes Langton promise to take her back to the party when her "treatment" is over. He nods, but as the elevator doors close his face says: Yeah, right.

In a room full of mind-wiping equipment, Echo continues to babble about how psyched she is to have made such a true romantic connection. She changes out of her party clothes and into yogawear (but is still hot, of course). Tech guy Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) humors her, and then settles her in for a treatment. What follows is a geniuinely cool montage of everything that has passed in the fake life that Echo has just been leading over the weekend - getting the heart necklace from Matt, dancing with him, the motorcycle chase, even her childhood. There are some great flashback effects, and the final shot is the heart necklace crashing to the floor. Then comes the part we've all seen in the trailer, where Echo suddenly wakes and sees Topher.

"Did I go to sleep?" she asks. And then: "Shall I go now?" "If you like," he replies. So Masterpiece Theater. Echo walks away, completely blank, and wanders the Dollhouse facility with the other Actives. We follow Topher as he grabs her still-hot memory disk from the mindwipe station and takes it to the storage room. Langton is waiting for him, looking pensive. Topher makes his familiar joke - a ha ha, she doesn't remember anything now! - but goes on to speechify about how they've just given two people an unforgettable weekend. They're philanthropists. Langton seems unconvinced: "I think she finally met the right guy," he tells Topher.

They walk out and gaze at the Actives. "Not a care in the world," says Topher.

Then we cut to a little girl with long brown hair, and a guy in a limo who's talking to her on the phone. "I did my homework," she tells him. He says she still can't watch reality TV because it will melt her brain, and therefore her reward for doing her schoolwork is - "Knowledge," she finishes. "I hate you." It's a cute father/daughter moment that is quickly overtaken by what happens after she hangs up the phone.

The girl flops on her bed, and black-geared men appear over her. They clap a cloth over her mouth and hoist her into a black body bag. As she looks up, dazed and frightened, we see that one of the men is wearing a creepy tan mask that half-hides his face.

End of Act One.

Of course, Tahmoh Penikett's character Paul Ballard doesn't appear in Act One - "this is Tahmoh-free TV," Whedon told us cheekily. After the clip, Penikett said a few words about his character, and he expanded a bit on what we've heard before. Of course, Special Agent Ballard is a golden-hearted Mulder Redux, assigned to the Dollhouse case as the laughingstock of the rest of the FBI - who don't believe it's the human trafficking operation it really is. Ballard investigates Echo, and while he is at first dazzled by her beauty and eventually becomes her rescuer, "there's more to it than that," Penikett told us. With these characters, nothing is either one way or the other; Ballard ends up facing quite a few moral dilemmas, and by the end of this 13-episode run has gone through a bit of a personality change himself.

Other spoilers? Whedon revealed to us that Dushku sings in episode 3, when Echo plays the backup singer for a pop star. Apparently, though, a musical episode of Dollhouse is not yet in the works - "oh, I can't sing," Penikett explained. But he has done several years of Muay Thai - a martial art that is often referred to as "Thai boxing" - and he does it shirtless in the pilot. (Move over, hot!Echo.)

A fan asked if we were ever going to see Dollhouse comics. Whedon said he didn't think so, because the strength of Dollhouse was the acting and the interaction between people - it doesn't pack the superhero visual punch of Buffy. Whedon did, however, say that he would look into web series, although he hopes that "people will be into the show enough that they don't have to ask about other things!" As in: Please don't cancel this before it's time, FOX.

And as for Dr. Horrible? Whedon definitely wants to do more guerrilla filmmaking, he said, and also definitely wants to do "what's up with Dr. Horrible." Much cheering ensued.

Talking to the LA Times about his new role, Penikett said that he's feeling good about his new home despite production worries:

I don't like panicking... I'm also old enough now where I try not to stress over things too much.

But in the middle of his attempt to persuade the Times' reporter about Dollhouse's long term prospects, he managed to make us pause for thought:

"I knew 'Battlestar' would go on for a while. You could feel it," Penikett said.

He added that the feeling was the same on "Dollhouse" — even while he was having a tough time keeping track of his character's now-jumbled story. "One of the writers told me they had to make a chart for Paul's arc to keep it all straight," he said. "We just shot Episode 9, and I'm only now beginning to figure things out."

Okay, on the one hand, yay for complex storytelling. On the other, I'm a fan of intentionally complex storytelling, not something that the writers say requires a chart to "keep it all straight." Here's looking forward to February 13th and see whether we viewers will require scorecards as well.

Faces to watch: Tahmoh Penikett [LA Times]

The fact that Whedon is now being so open about admitting that Dollhouse was in terrible trouble recently may, perversely, be a sign that the worst is over. Writes Whedon:

Yes, it's been hard and I've been depressing to be around for awhile. Basically, the Network and I had different ideas about what the tone of the show would be. They bought something somewhat different than what I was selling them, which is not that uncommon in this business. Their desires were not surprising: up the stakes, make the episodes more stand-alone, stop talking about relationships and cut to the chase. Oh, and add a chase. That you can cut to. Nothing I hadn't heard before on my other shows (apparently my learning curve has no bendy part) but frustrating as hell given our circumstances - a pilot shot, scripts written, everybody marching together/gainfully employed... and then a shutdown. Glad I was for the breathing room, but it's hardly auspicious.

The most startling part of Whedon's update: it turns out that everything we were told about the original pilot was wrong. We've been told, over and over, that Dollhouse's original pilot would still air, as its second episode. The new pilot would be more of a standalone episode, introducing the show's premise in a fairly easy-to-digest way. And then the original pilot, which introduces a lot of long-running subplots and mysteries, would air the second week, to pull people in.

But now, it sounds as though the original pilot is just gone. Whedon says he even reshot most of that episode to try and salvage it, but it couldn't be saved:

The original pilot was in fact thrown out. Again, at my behest. Once it became clear what paradigm the Network was shooting for, it just didn't fit at all, even after I'd reshot more than half of it (see above re: despair). To get a sense of how completely turned around I was during this process, you should know there was a scene with Eliza and the astonishing Ashley Johnson that I wrote and shot completely differently three different times, with different characters in different places (actually I wrote it closer to eight times), and none of it will ever see air. Which is as it should be (though I'm determined to get Ms. Johnson back in the future). The scene just didn't belong anymore. Similarly, the character of November has fallen out of the mix, because the show simply moves too fast now for me to do what I wanted with her.

November (played by Miracle Laurie) was one of the "Actives," or programmable mind-wiped puppets, in the Dollhouse. She was described as "the Tracy Turnblad of the Dolls." Her character may pop up in Dollhouse season three, Joss jokes, but meanwhile, Laurie has a new role, as an FBI worker who pines after Tahmoh Penikett's agent Paul Ballard.

Other changes: plot developments that Joss had originally intended to hold back for a while are now coming out early. And some plot elements that he had wanted to introduce right away are being held back. Steven DeKnight, who wrote and directed an episode that helped redefine and save the show, isn't staying on. But Jane Espenson (Battlestar Galactica, Firefly) is joining the staff.

In any case, fear not — Joss says that he and the rest of the staff are re-energized by the new direction, and after feeling despondent and lost a month ago, they're now full of excitement again. Joss was so thrilled, he was able to write a new episode in record time — partly because he had to, but also because the words poured out of him. He says the network wasn't wrong to want the show to be "exciting and accessible," and the retooled version sounds like it'll be more upbeat. (And therefore, possibly, less likely to die quickly.) Joss adds:

Nothing essential has changed about the universe. The ideas and relationships that intrigued me from the start are all there (though some have shifted, more on that), and the progression of the first thirteen eps has me massively excited. The episode we're shooting now I wrote as fast as anything I have before, not because I had to (although, funny side-note: I had to) but because I couldn't stop the words from coming. Because I can feel the show talking to me; delighting, scaring and occasionally even offending me. It's alive. Alive! Which is a far cry from how I felt a month ago. It's been hilarious trying to keep up with what's in, what's out, who's met whom and when - we've shot all of the first seven episodes out of airing order - but it's come together in a pretty thrilling way.

There's much more, including Joss praising Eliza Dushku and riffing a lot, at the link. [Whedonesque] (Dollhouse Trailer Screencaps from All About Tahmoh)

Talking to Newsarama about the end of BSG, Tahmoh Penikett explained that the final scripts were note-perfect... almost:

Ron Moore did such an incredible thing with this series. The way he ends it – it's brilliant. He got the job done and then some. There is a conclusion to a lot of the storylines we all need closure on. Those of us that are true Battlestar fans and have ridden the rollercoaster through thick and thin... we have been accused many times of being really dark, but listen man, you are going to watch this and be happy... We had the opportunity to go in one direction [with Helo's fate] which I thought was the obvious direction and I fought against it. I talked with a few powers that be and said, "Let's not do that." Everyone agreed and it was great, so I had a little bit of influence on that. I’m happy with the end of my storyline, and it will surprise people.

Time to put on your guessing pants, people: What would be the most obvious ending for Helo? And what would be the opposite ending, which is now the more likely ending, thanks to this double-guessing conclusion?

Battlestar to Dollhouse: Tahmoh Penikett Talks Helo, Whedon [Newsarama]

So once we hashed out the whole "Helo always does the right thing" meme, which I totally believe, we asked Tahmoh if we were going to see him go darker in Dollhouse. In Dollhouse, Penikett plays Paul Ballard, an FBI agent who is investigating the mysterious "Dollhouse," where you can hire a mindwiped puppet who can be programmed to be anyone you need him/her to be.

Penikett says that unlike Helo, who is a "family man" who's all about his wife and kid, Ballard is a lone wolf, with nobody in his life. Ballard used to be a rising star within the FBI, but his belief in the shadowy mind-erasing Dollhouse has ruined his credibility. He's "hanging on to his job by a shoestring," and the Bureau is disappointed with him.

And Ballard is curious about the Dollhouse and its technology. Could he be curious about it because he'd like to hire an "Active" for himself? Or does Ballard secretly want his own mind erased? Penikett hinted that it may be the latter. Ballard has some things that he wants to forget, and the Dollhouse's technology could help him leave his past behind.

Penikett also says the majority of his scenes in the original Dollhouse pilot are with Eliza Dushku. He's excited about the new pilot, because it's "like getting a second chance... You do a project, you have a timeline, you do a great job, and then suddenly you see another opportunity to basically do a test sequence." This lets creator Joss Whedon do an episode before the pilot and introduce the premise a new way.

Whedon says he's had a man-crush on Penikett for quite a while. He's a big fan of BSG, and loved Penikett and wanted him to be the FBI agent who investigates the Dollhouse. He keeps getting closer and closer to Echo, Dushku's character, but then she becomes somebody else. Whedon said Tamoh could talk articulately about his character without even having read a script. Suddenly he stops. "Wait, is the term man-crush? Or bro-mance?"

Whedon acknowledges that there is worry that the show is a niche show or that they're failing. That's not the case, he insists.

Dushku says her favorite scene in Buffy was the "dance-kill" scene where she was just dancing in a bar and killing people. "We had a lot of dancing and killing in that show." Whedon said the moment in Angel where Dushku was in the alley saying "Kill me I'm bad," he would start crying. "You're so full of it," Dushku says.

Dushku describes the oft-told tale of Dollhouse's inception, which came out of a conversation about what she'd like to as an actor. She says Whedon "makes the words party on the page." He got it, he knew what she was thinking, he went to the bathroom, and "He came back and it was Dollhouse." She says he "fully puts me at ease and it's fun work and fun livin." She says the show is "a personality playground and I'm ready." Whedon says, "I'm not ready."

An audience member asks what the difference is between Faith and Echo. "Echo we don't know much about. We're trying to figure that out, and she's a different person in every show. I might bring some fury and funny to it."

Whedon says, "Faith and Echo both have a lot of pain to go through. Eliza's good with pain and crazy." Dushku says she emails Whedon emails about her life and he puts it into the show. Last month, she was in Iran and Peru, and she's been telling Whedon about her adventures there. "It's true — I get these bulletins bout where Eliza is today — it's all true in Dollhouse. This is a documentary."

Penikett says he's wrapped up shooting BSG and he doesn't want to talk about it too much on stage because he might cry.

The fans are about to kill a person who goes up to the mic and dares to admit she's not excited about the new show, which doesn't seem "as much out there" as his other shows. Whedon makes a face, the fans boo, and then he replies:

This show is a little different — there is a fantastical premise, but it is modern-day and it's people without vampires and spaceships. But you should know everything I do is about people. That's what I tell stories about. Echo has a removable personality, she's different people all the time, and she's trying to figure out who she is between times. Each time she meets Tamoh, she's a new person and their relationship is really twisted. Every relationship on the show is going to be really twisted. Questions of identity are going to be twisted in ways I never have before, and it's going to be really exciting.

"Take that, girl!" says Dushku. Later, she calls Whedon "a career brassiere." Whedon says, "That's the t-shirt I'm not going to wear."

Whedon says that the thing about Dr. Horrible was that he wanted to get that vision out there, because he didn't think a network would want a superhero musical. With a show like Dollhouse, he says, every scene requires you to ask if it's amusing and engaging and you have to deal with executives too. Fox has ways they want things to go, and the way they want action to pop. It's not that different from doing a show like Dr. Horrible. Except with Horrible, we didn't have sets or a dolly or . . . time.

With network, you need to know what they want, and communicate them. I've worked with execs who don't know what they want . . . or don't know what they don't want. But these are not those people. We've been clear about the way this show will go.

Whedon says he has no deaths planned for Dollhouse, unlike in Firefly. Then he jokes that he'll kill anyone who pisses him off. He says somebody might die at some point, but right now they're just coming to life. "Gimme a break, I don't kill everyone!"

Penikett talks about his first scene in Dollhouse. He says he was so taken by Dushku that he kept forgetting his lines every time Whedon would say "action." He flubbed his first line, which was supposed to be "How did you hear about the Dollhouse?" and instead he said, "How did you hear about the Mallhouse?" He added that Helo, his character from BSG, is very different from Paul, his Dollhouse character. "I'm really intrigued by him but I need to get to know him better over the next few episodes."

Whedon says there could be singing in Dollhouse. "Because after all she's everybody's fantasy, and and some of those must be geeks like me! So there could be some singing. We'd have to work up to that though. Not right away."

Whedon says he has several ideas for more indie productions like Dr. Horrible. "It's a dark and crowded place in my head, I have a lot of stuff in here. I want to do them all. But first I want to do a little bit of [Dollhouse]. Hopefully a lot," he grinned. He's incredibly excited about figuring out who Echo gets to be every week, but he's most excited about the Dollhouse itself. He said he's intrigued by the people who work there and Paul's investigation of it, and the way Echo's personality evolves, as well as the twisted relationships that everybody forms. "That to me is the thrill," he says. "It feels like a premise that can be sustained for a long time."

Is there a common thread between Buffy and Dollhouse? "It's probably a search for the soul," says Whedon. "Vampires are considered unpeople, and so are Actives. So it's really about Echo's search for her soul."

Dollhouse is influenced by A.I., The World Can Never Let Me Go, and Collateral because Whedon thinks it's a great L.A. movie. He says, "This will be feistier than I'm used to. I go a little Ang Lee, but the way I'm filming it, it will be more visceral, a frenetic ride. That part is challenging."

Whedon reassures us that the original pilot will air as the second episode, not the last like in Firefly. He says it was a challenge to go backwards and and reshoot. I did some things that weren't right for the network that I'm shifting around — I'm not changing the premise, cast, or heart of the show. It was just about how we get people into the world. The world will be there and I get to play.

"And I get to wear my leather pants," Dushku says.

"I made the vital mistake of not giving Tamoh any shirtless scenes but that has been rectified," Whedon adds.

Penikett isn't the only shirtless boy we'll see. In the extended clips we saw at the beginning of the panel, most of which have already been online, we saw a co-ed shower scene (the dollhouse apparently includes a co-ed shower).

Whedon says there will be webisodes.