Culture

Sci-Fi Smackdown: <cite>Sarah Connor</cite> vs. <cite>Dollhouse</cite>

With an urgent bulletin posted Monday, Wired.com joined the critical mission to save Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a sci-fi series said to be on Fox Broadcasting’s chopping block. Many of Wired.com’s readers are Sarah Connor fans, but when @wired tweeted the call to arms, mixed among the copious retweets were some shouts to save […]

elizavsarah

With an urgent bulletin posted Monday, Wired.com joined the critical mission to save Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a sci-fi series said to be on Fox Broadcasting's chopping block.

Many of Wired.com's readers are Sarah Connor fans, but when @wired tweeted the call to arms, mixed among the copious retweets were some shouts to save Dollhouse, the Joss Whedon drama with a similarly questionable future.

So I asked @wired's 40,000-plus followers on Twitter what @Makitso described as "a Sophie's Choice":

@wired: If you could only save one: Sarah Connor Chronicles or Dollhouse?

A barrage of votes, pleas and fan angst ensued. After more than 200 votes, Dollhouse was the clear winner. As of 4:30 p.m. PDT, the count was Eliza: 125, Sarah: 77.

Both shows, which have aired back-to-back Friday nights on Fox, clearly have adoring fans — more responses contained the phrase "hands down" than didn't. But is mind-wiping show Dollhouse truly more beloved and deserving of a lifeboat? In early voting, the race was close, but there was a clear inflection point at around 6 p.m. PDT Monday, after which the Terminator show was left in the dust.

The steamrolling began after this tweet:

@basia: #Dollhouse fans, @Wired Mag is asking Twitterers to choose between Sarah Connor Chronicles & Dollhouse. Tell 'em!!!

A somewhat organized campaign followed. Does this mean Dollhouse fans care more? Are *Sarah Connor *fans less dedicated, or merely less organized in Twitteronia? Whether or not the tweet box was stuffed, it's clear that many of you are fans of both shows. Our own Kevin Poulsen, editor of Threat Level and the Sarah Connor convert who penned the original missive, voted for the Terminator show:

@kpoulsen: @wired, Dollhouse goes. No-brainer (get it? "no-brainer" hahaha)

But even Poulsen appears to be a nascent Dollhouse convert. "I, too, would like to see Dollhouse renewed in the hope that, given enough time, it might become half as good as Sarah Connor Chronicles," he said.

Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku, who plays Echo, the mind-wiped "doll" with a seemingly never-ending stream of bizarre missions, remains optimistic about her show's chances:

@ElizaPatricia: Thanks for all the Twitts/tweets ;) as of today, Dollhouse is not canceled, I'll letcha know as soon as I do about future, nxt wk ep rocks imo.A.T., man

If she's right, Sarah Connor's the one who really needs salvation.

Illustration: Wired.com

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