The wonderful world of Whedon

There are very few "cult figures" in television - that is, writers or producers who have a loyal following - and even fewer who have achieved the cult status of Joss Whedon, the man behind the hit series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel.

Dollhouse, the most recent of Whedon's projects, kicked off last night (C4, 9.30pm) by introducing us to its unique premise: the Dollhouse is an organisation which provides "actives" with specifically constructed personalities to anyone with enough money to hire one.

The "actives" have their mind wiped and replaced with a custom personality put together from stored memories and personality fragments by a Dollhouse technician and designed specifically for the task they are assigned to, be it a weekend of fun or, as in last night's main story, an experienced negotiator for a kidnapping.

Our main interest is Echo (played by Eliza Dushku), a girl with a suitably mysterious past who starts the show by volunteering for the organisation in order to escape some unexplained legal problems (I'd like think that the original girl is actually Dushku and her crime was that terrible Bring It On movie).

We also meet Agent Ballard (played by Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett), an FBI investigator who is trying to find out the truth about the Dollhouse and has information on the real world disappearance of Echo.

It's easy to spot Whedon's work, especially here: he has a tendency towards creating dominant female characters in his shows - Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy is the obvious example - and has used Dushku in the past, in both Buffy and Angel. There's also something uniquely "Whedony" about his projects; you can't put your finger on it, but there's definitely an X-Factor that identifies a particular show as being from Whedon's repertoire.

This might be why Whedon has a cult following: he creates shows which rely on several repeated elements (the female characters, the "Whedon Factor") that are appealing to only a small segment of viewers, meaning that true mainstream success has remained elusive.

Despite the lack of success, he has a small following that is fiercely loyal. You meet Whedon fans from time to time - you know the people I mean: they've seen every episode of Buffy, are willing to show you their DVD box sets, and probably have a picture of David Boreanaz or Alyson Hannigan (or both) on their wall.

To find out what the appeal was I emailed Jeni, a friend who is more obsessed with Whedon than anyone else I know. I asked what was so great about him, and here is what she said:

"What do I love about His Whedoness? It's the witty sarcasm that was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is the girl who died twice and still managed to save the world in her stylish yet affordable boots. It's the complex insanity of Firefly; secret Government experiments on gifted teenagers, which also happens to be set in space with heavy western themes. He creates worlds with credibility and characters that his audiences can identify with. His characters are the voice of the small people standing up to the Big Bad."

So, Joss Whedon creates characters that are relatable and who give viewers an opportunity to vicariously "stick it to the man", all while working in some of that "Whedon Factor" magic. Noted.

Aside from the success of Buffy The Vampire Slayer - which ran for 7 seasons from 1997 to 2003 - and its spinoff Angel (cancelled in 2004), Whedon hasn't really achieved mainstream success with anything else he's done.

There was Firefly, a 2002 sci-fi/western series starring Nathan Fillion which lasted roughly 11 episodes on air before being cancelled by its network due to low ratings (though, to be fair, the show did spawn a feature film and two sets of comic books).

There's also Dr Horrible's Sing-along Blog, a 3-episode internet show starring Neil Patrick Harris which has never been aired on network TV.

In addition, he wrote two movie scripts that were bought by studios but never produced; spent the mid-90s writing uncredited draft scripts (meaning, he changed the original then the studio changed his before filming started) for the films Waterworld, Twister and X-Men; and was partly responsible for 1997's Alien Resurrection (or as I like to call it, "that Alien sequel movie that never happened, you hear me").

Not a glittering resume, by any stretch.

Whedon fans know Firefly and Dr Horrible's Sing-along Blog, and probably have multiple copies on DVD, but - because of a lack of mainstream success - chances are the Average Joe has never heard of them and probably wouldn't be interested even if he had. For the most part, Whedon's projects rely on the "Whedon Factor" and appeal to Whedon fans only - and that, more than anything else, is what makes him a "cult figure".

In fact, if you looked at other "cult figures", you'd probably find the same thing - a "Kevin Smith Factor" or a "Quentin Tarantino Factor" which make their films so appealing to some, while completely missing nearly everyone else.

So - do you consider yourself a fan of Joss Whedon? Or is there another creative mind or "cult figure" that catches your attention? Have you watched any of Whedon's shows? Did you watch Dollhouse?