The IGN Theater was completely packed today at New York Comic Con, with thousands of fans in attendance to see Joss Whedon, as he introduced his new series Dollhouse, premiering this Friday on FOX. Joined by one of his stars, Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica), Whedon showed the first act of the premiere, establishing a series Whedon described as one where "Certain people [called Actives] have had their personalities removed so they can be implanted with personalities of another person," by clients willing to pay a fortune for someone to be everything they want, whatever that entails.

Spoilers for the first few minutes of Dollhouse follow in this paragraph: The opening of the show introduce us to Eliza Dushku's Echo in what is presumably her true identity, a woman named Caroline. We see her meeting with Olivia Williams' character Adelle DeWitt, discussing her entering the Dollhouse program – which DeWitt refers to as a volunteer decision, while Caroline/Echo says she has no choice. We then cut to sometime later, with Echo in a much different persona – a sexy, wild child on a motorcycle, spending an exciting weekend with a man she clearly cares deeply for… only for her time with him to be up, and for her to be escorted away. We see her mind wiped, as she reverts to the childlike state she and the other Actives retain while inside the Dollhouse. We see her handler Boyd Langdon (Harry Lennix) display some clear doubts about what is going on, while programmer Topher Brink (Fran Kanz) is the opposite – excited by what they do. We then are introduced to a clearly wealthy man being driven in a car, talking to his young daughter, when his car is stopped – only for his daughter to meanwhile be grabbed at home by masked men, who take her away.

Penikett's character was not seen in the footage shown, causing Penikett to quip, "That clip would have obviously been a lot better if I was there." Penikett said his character, Paul Ballard, was "an FBI agent given the case of the Dollhouse; trying to expose the urban myth of the Dollhouse. Nobody has any confidence he'll get to the bottom of it, because nobody really believes it exists." Penikett noted, "Paul on the other hand absolutely believes it and he becomes quite obsessed and driven to expose it."

Whedon said that when it comes to Paul's investigation and how it's portrayed on the show, "He can get close to it; even get close to her, but she won't remember. So they can meet for the first time all year! But he does make progress." However, he noted that the people behind the Dollhouse "are as anxious to not be discovered as [Paul] is to discover it."

Whedon described Dollhouse as "far and away the most disturbing thing I can remember doing, at least since Season 6 of Buffy, and probably more than that." He then noted that there were potentially disturbing elements in the show, regarding Echo seeming somewhat enslaved, and the fact that she sleeps with clients, only to not remember it. He said that for those offended, "they're not wrong" and "I went for something that is very dark." Or as he joked, "I'm such a bitter, sad man, and this is my bitter, sad show. Welcome to it!" He noted that his intention was "The audience comes away as unclean as the people in the show – everyone is compromised."

Whedon noted "The subject matter is daunting and potentially creepy. We want to make sure we're not just objectifying people – it's a very fine line."