Epitaph One

"Epitaph One" is the 13th episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Dollhouse. The episode originally aired on the Season Pass on demand service from SingTel mio TV in Singapore on June 17, 2009 and later became available on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2009. It is also the first episode of the series to feature Felicia Day, an actress with whom Joss Whedon has worked a number of times prior to Dollhouse.

The episode was not aired in the USA due to different contractual obligations with the Fox Network (the television broadcaster) and 20th Century Fox Television (the production company). 20th Century Fox needed thirteen episodes for the first season's DVD release and to sell to foreign markets, and having paid for but then scrapped the unaired original pilot episode, Fox only contracted the subsequent twelve episodes, but not the thirteenth. While Fox did renew the show for a second season, they never broadcast "Epitaph One." Due to Fox's decision not to air "Epitaph One," 20th Century Fox opted to promote the episode as a special incentive to buy the DVD and Blu-ray set releases of the Dollhouse's first season, in which the episode, and the original unaired pilot, are both included. In the United Kingdom the episode aired on the UK Sci Fi Channel on August 11, 2009.[1]

The episode is set in 2019 in a post-apocalyptic state and utilized flashbacks within the episode to hint at the future the show may or may not take in later seasons. (Season Two confirmed that it did) Joss Whedon screened the episode during the Dollhouse panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International and said the show would continue to feature scenes set in the future, that several of the characters introduced in this episode (including Felicia Day's character) would appear in episodes of the second season, and that the second season would follow the general continuity laid out in the episode, while reminding the audience that the episode is based on memories that may or may not be accurate.[2]

A sequel, "Epitaph Two: Return" was aired on January 29, 2010.