After showing his Dollhouse pilot to fellow director David Lynch, Joss Whedon has decided to write a fresh opening episode for the new Fox series, set to begin airing at the start of 2009.

“I showed some scenes to David Lynch and he’s all, ‘Whuh?’ Bad sign,” Whedon wrote on his website blog, adding later that “There were some slight issues with tone. I was in a dark, noir kind of place and didn’t bring the visceral pop the network had expected from the script. The network was cool about it, but not sure how to come out of the gate with the ep.”

Fox confirmed that the decision had been made by Whedon. “Joss came to the realisation that there was a better way to start the show,” a spokesman commented. “After he wrote episode two, he asked the network to use that as episode one.”