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When it was announced Joss Whedon was returning to the Fox network to helm a new TV series we all feared the worst. Had he not learned from the cruel cancellations that befell his previous works Angel and the outstanding Firefly? Even before the shows aired people were waiting for the sword to drop with Internet Deathwatches taking bets on how many episodes we actually would get to see.

Questions immediately sprang up. Would Buffy and Angel alumni Eliza Dushku as the mind-swapping doll Echo, be up to the task of leading a series that demanded a chameleon-like ability to become a new character every week? Would this live up to the extremely high expectations of the baying hordes of Whedonites across the world? And more importantly – would we have the chance to get to know the Dollhouse or would Fox serve a foreclosure notice while the show was just getting started.

The answer to all three questions is Yes. The DVD boxset offers a chance to revisit all 15 episodes (and much more – the bonuses in this box set are worthy of a purchase themselves) and this really is the proper way to revel in the labyrinthine and schizophrenic brilliance of Dollhouse.

If you’re new to the Dollhouse I need to explain a few things. There’s an excellent chance you won’t ‘get’ what is going on with the mind wiping/swapping going on, and the first few episodes aren’t sufficiently Whedonesque to satisfy those who turn up for the quirk. Stick with it though – everyone involved from Joss Whedon himself to the TV reviewers echoed the same mantra – Episode 6 is when it becomes good, get there and you’ll be rewarded. This is true; Man on the Street appears to be when Whedon was able to infuse his potent myth-making into the mix, bringing a whole host of twists, smoke and mirrors to add a new dimension to the show.

Up until that point Echo, one of the most popular ‘dolls’ in the house has been hired as a hostage negotiator, a girlfriend who becomes a literal moving target, a background singer, an art thief and a blind seer in a religious cult. In these early shows it is very difficult to empathise with Echo as she is a different character every week and the work and moral direction of the Dollhouse is disconcertingly vague; there is very little consequence to anything that happens. What was clear to me however watching these fledgling episodes for a second time was the potent seeds Whedon and his team planted, ideas are hinted at that erupt into full blown plot strands by the season’s end, and the genuinely revolutionary ‘lost’ episode Epitaph One.

Breaking the season’s plots down is akin to untangling a thousand cat’s cradles covered in treacle. Paul Ballard (former Galatica favourite Tahmoh Penikett) is an FBI agent searching for the mythical Dollhouse, following the whispers and rumours of a facility that houses bodies for hire, a place where the exceedingly rich can have a pretty young thing with the mind of a nuclear physicist for a night – you know – to talk with…

Ballard has one clear lead: a picture of Caroline (the pre-Dollhouse identity of Echo) and part of the first season charts his obsession with finding and freeing the dolls. On the other side we spend most of our time in the Dollhouse, getting to know the various dolls and staff and it is here that Whedon’s expertise in creating an ensemble comes to fruition. The steely owner Adele (the obligatory Brit in the cast – Olivia Williams), the geek-king Topher and the various laconic security guards and the Sheppard Book-like handler to Echo, Boyd. We’ve seen these types before in Whedon’s oeuvre, but he and his writing team breathe new life into them and the Dollhouse becomes an intriguing place to spend time, while the broader plots play out around them.

The season picks up momentum after the tipping point of episode 6 and a dark shadow emerges behind the Dollhouse, with a plethora of outstanding twists and turns, as previously benign characters become psychotic killers, sleeper agents turn up inside and outside of the Dollhouse, the dubious nature of the technology becomes apparent and the moral ambiguity of the slavish dolls is pushed to the fore as the show finds its feet as the season builds to an incredible and thrilling finish, with many more questions than answers on offer at season’s close.

As with all Joss Whedon ventures you are thrust into a complete world and are led through an emotional maze by entertaining characters, expert writing and a unique look at a world that could very well exist. It is a minor miracle that Fox gave this show a second series, not because it isn’t quirky, intelligent and daring, but because it is all of these things, and – well it’s Joss Whedon – who was as surprised as any of us that the second season was given the thumbs up.

The DVD boxset is the perfect way to enjoy this season, not least because the world of Dollhouse is so accomplished and unique that the slightly cliché-ridden plots are given new life by the acumen and wit of the writers, but also because we’re given two new episodes. The unaired pilot, Echo, is a rare treat as Fox, upon seeing this original pilot, demanded Whedon reshoot the episode so to have this available on the DVD is a treat, giving us a look at the Dollhouse as originally envisioned. It’s a slightly dour episode and an odd beginning as many of the plot points that take a whole season to play out in the finished season are completed by the end of the episode. But it is a fantastic curiosity and well worth a watch to see where the series might have gone.

What is particularly exciting for Dollhouse fans is the inclusion of the famous ‘lost’ episode Epitaph One. In America the thirteenth episode hasn’t been shown, thought we here in the UK have been lucky enough to see it – for many it remains a DVD only look at an explosive episode of Dollhouse by way of the Terminator and Hieronymus Bosch. I won’t spoil it for any of you, other than to mention that this is the rich harvest we reap of the seeds sown by Whedon in the first season. It is a stunning climax to an immensely enjoyable first season of a TV series that has many years, and hopefully Epitaphs Two, Three and so on, in its future.

Dollhouse: Season One is out on DVD and Blu-ray this Monday, the 7th of September.