Dollhouse

Die-hard Whedonites are rallying to save Dollhouse, the sci-fi drama about a group of high-tech killer assassins — eight months before the show even hits the airwaves.

Fearing Dollhouse will get booted off the air, just like the Joss Whedon-helmed show Firefly, fans are plotting and organizing their efforts in online forums.

Led by DollhouseForums.com, the campaign urges followers to organize viewing parties, watch the trailers online, buy Dollhouse-endorsed merch and create more fan sites.

DollhouseForums’ trailblazing leader Nathan posted the following as a call to arms: "After seeing some of my favorite television shows get canceled in the past — as well as the ’save this show’ campaigns that followed — I had the idea that a fan campaign BEFORE the show begins may be the best thing to do."

A Facebook fan page dedicated to the online campaign already has nearly 1,500 members.

Some worry the efforts are overkill and will become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. At fan site Whedonesque, several commenters suggest that such pre-emptive campaigning will negatively affect the show.

"There is a fine line to walk so that this won’t be another obnoxious Whedon fan campaign that will piss people off and make them talk negatively about the show in advance. Please be careful," writes TamaraC.

ShanshuBugaboo adds: "I agree that too much ’in your face’ promotion could backfire."

Our contacts at Fox told us early on that the show was greenlit even before the pilot was shot, and several sites are reporting that the seven-show season was recently upped to 13 — all evidence that seems to point toward the network’s confidence in the show.

Then again, fanatic fandom support doesn’t always equal show continuation — take vampire drama Moonlight or the nuclear-devastated show Jericho. What do you think? Is the early Dollhouse campaign overboard or a just cause to rally as much support as possible for Whedon’s series?