Watch Dollhouse 1x00 Pilot

his episode was originally intended to be the on-air series pilot, but after test audiences found it "too confusing and dark," Joss Whedon decided to shoot a new pilot, "Ghost," to better introduce the story and characters to the viewing audience. It was originally reported that "Echo" was going to be aired second, after "Ghost," but when it proved impossible to salvage (even after reshoots), Whedon decided to shelve the episode completely and instead scraped footage from it for inclusion in later episodes. The episode has a different opening with Echo in multiple assignments from overseeing a criminal deal to helping a girl go into rehab. One major change is the revelation of Victor being an Active took place in the pilot rather than put off as in the original episode run, as well as Ballard's first encounter with Echo. Two actresses who featured later in the series also starred in this episode as different characters.
The episode was included on the DVD and Blu-ray season sets released on July 28, 2009.