E Online and TV Guide are reporting that Fox has committed to an entire seven episodes of a new television series created by Joss Whedon and starring Eliza Dushku. The show is called “Dollhouse”, and according to TV Guide, it could start showing on Fox as early as next spring.

Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody’s fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo’s burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.

How did this get started? Joss Whedon came up with the idea literally over lunch with Eliza Dushku:

Can you tell me how this all came about?
Through a rather time-honored tradition called “lunch.” Eliza had her deal with Fox, and we went to lunch, as we sometimes do, to talk about her career and what her next step should be. Like, do I know writers, and what was the best way to protect herself, and what type of show. Eliza and I do this sometimes, because she’s a friend and a great talent, and that’s easily misused. She was trying to protect herself, and I was trying to get a free lunch. In the middle of lunch, I came up with the idea of this show and the title by accident.

Tell me this isn’t that easy for you…that it just came to you in between bites.
I went to the bathroom and came back and said, “I figured it out.” So, there it is. It took longer than between bites. It came so organically through our conversation, and what I know she is capable of, and what she was talking about and what people were expecting of her. It just kinda happened, and when it happens like that and it has a title, that’s a big deal—if it has a title, you can’t just turn your back on it. So, I told her, and she freaked out, and I told her I was busy with these films I am trying to set up, but Fox is interested, and Fox said let’s do seven episodes instead of a pilot, and here I am.

Read more interview Q&As with both Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku at E Online and TV Guide.

Firefly was cut short before its time (only one season shown completely out of order), and Serenity didn’t do as well in the theaters as fans hoped. A bigger success in the theater could have meant sequels, but news on that front has been lacking. However, according to MovieHole.net, Alan Tudyk, aka “Wash”, says that there is talk about doing another Serenity movie since the first one did so well on DVD.

“They had to put [the new DVD] out because they’ve been selling out of the other one and so Universal’s like ‘So, let’s do another one’. And now… there’s now a chance there’s going to be another movie”.

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If there is a sequel, it could be a direct to DVD movie rather than a theater release. Anything at all would be awesome though! I’ll take whatever I can get. Can’t stop the signal!

SyFi Portal reports that Battlestar Galactica will be ending after the upcoming season four in 2008. While this is not “official” news, it sounds pretty likely. The rumors have been floating around for a while now that season four might be the last.

I have mixed feelings about this. It is currently one of my favorite shows on television, and compared to some shows out there, four seasons is not very long. On the other hand, if the alternative is to have it continue and degenerate into crappy writing and plot, I’m not sure I’d want to see that. Simpsons sure would have been better off if it had finished years ago. I still have very fond memories of all seasons of Buffy and Angel, even though I wish they had continued. At least they had a chance to have an actual “end” in the storyline (although in the Whedonverse there is always room for more). I can tell the writers want to see the story come to a conclusion for BSG as well. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Tuned In has posted an interview with Battlestar Galactica Executive Producer Ron Moore. The interview was conducted AFTER the season 3 finale aired, and it does answer a few questions raised in the episode. The interview has MAJOR SPOILERS, so don’t read it if you haven’t seen the season 3 finale.

» Interview with Ron Moore

Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica has come to a close with a couple of shockers in the final episode. I have a few thoughts on this season’s finale and some info about what happens next (DVD movie and season 4). This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so don’t read on unless you’re caught up!

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Quite a few articles and interviews for Stargate Worlds have appeared on various MMORPG sites in the past few weeks. Joe Ybarra, the VP of Product Development for the game, has done a number of these interviews. Stargate Worlds is being developed by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, and is still in the internal development phase. Read on for a summary of interesting info from the articles and interviews.

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In an interview with iF magazine, Matt Groening revealed that the title of the first direct to DVD Futurama movie will be “Bender’s Big Score”. It will be released in December of 2007, and the movies (four total) will be “reconfigured” into episodes and shown on Comedy Central starting in 2008.

MATT GROENING: We’re doing four DVD movies around ninety minutes and then we’re going to reconfigure those and they’ll be episodes on Comedy Central. The impolite way of saying it is we’re chopping them up and the polite way is to say we’re reconfiguring and we’re going to add narration and more stuff. We’re going to be doing some fun extras on the DVD show, there’s going to be “Everybody Loves Hyptno-Toad” – a whole show of it. The DVD’s are going to be self-contained packages, but the episodes will also work, we hope. That’s the goal.

Read the rest of the interview.

Dark Horse comics is holding a Buffy the Vampire Slayer contest. The prizes are Buffy comics, and 23 people total will win something. The contest is free, so go sign up!

A gag reel from season 3 of Battlestar Galactica has been posted on Google video. Be warned, there are spoilers if you haven’t seen season 3, but it is pretty funny. Battlestar Galactica gag reel.

GeekMonthly.com has posted a three part interview with Tim Minear, co-creator and executive producer on the upcoming Fox show Drive. Tim Minear is known for his writing on shows like Angel, Firefly, and Wonderfalls. In the interview, Tim Minear discusses some of his experiences with the show and plans for it.

GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Do you see a wide range of possible stories?

TIM MINEAR: You can have the mystery of the missing wife or the mystery of the sick father. You know, the different mysteries, the different information being transmitted about the different characters, the different agendas they have and the sort of larger story character stuff for each. But once the starting pistol is fired, the agendas become the same and it’s difficult to cut away and do something different because they’re all racing towards a goal.

Read the full interview: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3