Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Thread

PadmeLeiaJaina, thanks for posting the differences between the pilot as it now stands and the earlier version, which doesn't sound as good. I enjoyed the pilot as shown on Yahoo the other night, and I hope for a long run for the series. As I said before, it wasn't perfect but it has great potential.

Nice work on the site you co-admin! Have fun at the premiere with cast and crew!

 

I'm certainly willing to give it a fair chance and I'm excited for the premiere, despite any changes to the pilot. FOX does have a history of canceling new shows rather quickly but, like Quest said, with a lack of new drama episodes, I think it will stick around for a while.

 

when does this show start? And what night is it on? If it's a Friday night and Saturday night thing, you can pretty much kiss it goodbye. The Studios suck.

I'll tune in just for Summer.

D_M_S_L

 

It has a two-night premiere on Sun. 1/13 and Mon. 1/14. I believe the show will air in the 9 p.m. Monday time slot, previously held by 24.

 

Starts in about a half-hour.

 

I hate killer robots that have a sense of humor and crack one-liners.
I hate killer robots that pause dramatically before taking a clear shot at their target.
I hate killer robots that take the time to explain themselves to their victims.

Summer Glau certainly has the physical chops to do the Terminator thing, but I'm not sure that I care for her subdued, apologetic demeanor.

It's been long established that Terminators are virtually indestructible. Having them throw each other through drywall isn't an impressive display of ability.

Despite how annoying it makes him now, I kind of like that John's a whiney, typically selfish kid.

Jury's still out on Sarah. She hasn't blown me away, but she hasn't driven me away, either. Given that the show sports her name in the title, she better be able to show some real strength, determination and humanity.

On the whole, the first episode was very okay. I'll give the show a shot, but the general feeling I'm getting is it's not going to be treated with the respect it deserves.

Was this show originally slated to start at the beginning of the season? Because having them arrive in September '07 instead of January '08 seems kind of awkward. . .

 

I?ll at least give the second episode a shot, but only on the hope that the creative team got all the obvious movie rip-off situations out of their systems with the pilot. It?ll probably be in vain, though. So far it?s pretty much a hollow collection of action scenes, a few franchise buzz phrases, with a hottie terminator there for the sake of having a hottie terminator.

I?d rather they stuck with the T3 timeline and made a show that featured the drifter phase of John's life after his mother's death. No robots, no time travel, all character development. But alas, brand names are what makes the money...

 

From what I've heard, part two focuses more on character development. Supposedly the plot gets a lot more interesting, also.

And Terminator without robots isn't really Terminator. That's like asking for Pirates of the Caribbean without pirates.

 

I liked the direction they're taking the franchise. I never really liked T3, I felt it was rushed and didn't "Feel" right.

I have high hopes for the series. Hope they don't loose their way.

 

I don't mind the direction -- I don't care for the execution, though as I said, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. Many shows don't really find their legs for several episodes.

 

Overall I liked this show. I am bothered that the events of T3 were simply dropped and are no longer relevant to this series.

 

I'm not. The first two films are the canon here. T3 and its spin-offs (Allston's novels, etc) are one possible future; the S.M. Stirling novel trilogy another, Sarah Connor Chronicles another, etc. -- and frankly I'm perfectly happy with that. If they were highlandering it -- that would be a different story. But they're not.

 

I missed it. Does anyone know if they'll have it online again in the future?

 

Hey guys - hope you all enjoyed the premiere! I had fun in LA last week w/ the cast!

Here's a link to my article on being there!

 

I thought that it was a decent start to the series, I'll try and catch it tonight.

- It was great to see Summer Glau act coherently, although is there a stipulation in her contracts that requires her to be naked in each show pilot she's in?
- They've got a couple storylines started up here, one from the FBI and the other from the future robots, which should be interesting.

Hopefully, they'll stick more towards storyline and not a number of standalone episodes.

 

Good question. I missed it last night, too.

 

The show worked for me. I think Lena Headey is a good choice for Sarah and the new chick terminator has potential.

 

Second episode was better. Not great, but a step in the right direction.

 

I agree. The second episode was well-worth watching.

 

Enjoyable riff on The Terminator up until the time-travel into the future. Sort of negates the whole dramatic arc of Kyle Reese's mission. Yeah, that's fanboy nitpick, but actually it misses the whole point of the time-travel in the movies -- you can go back, but not forward, because fate is what you make it, and what-have-you.

And now they go back to the future? Why? Is that even necessary? Haven't they solved cancer in the future? Why don't they send guys back, fix the hot mom, and voila! I think it'll be funny if the intention of Sarah asking about the gun being nuclear is to mark it as the cause of her eventual cancer. (Shouldn't have fired the gun...)

John must be happy that the new Terminator swallows. He'll be testing out the "do-as-I-say" feature any second now.

I really am looking forward to Cameron teaching John Connor the Kama Sutra. After all, she's programmed for erotic pleasure. Considering how heavy Terminators are, she'd always have to be the bottom. Crushed pelvises are no way to go through life as the Messiah. Just ask Jesus.

The Terminator designers of the future aren't even trying anymore. "Well, the liquid metal didn't work, so...GLOCK-IN-LEG?"

Eh?

I say that, but I unabashedly love T2, that Furlong dip**** and all. I wish Enrique hadn't been revealed to be a snitch. It would have been so much more interesting if it was ambiguous. The head...my God. Apparently, it flew off as the portal was going off.

Which begs the question...how? "Nothing dead will go." Sarah, John, and Cameron lose their clothes in the portal. So how did a metal Terminator skull go through? The show keeps cherry-picking which rules to follow, and it's driving me insane. Going to the Terminator-head thing...God, I don't like thinking about this, but it's clearly shown that the chip is in the head. We're all agreed on this, yes? Chip. Brains. Et cetera.

How the hell does the body work without it? I'm trying to imagine anything more awkward than being 15 years old, and ending up naked with your hot, naked mom, and your hot, naked robot guardian.

 

Also:

Sunday debut of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles scores best opening-night ratings of any new show in three years.

Regarding the "19 out of 22 witnesses said the gunman had a robotic leg" statement:

Wonder how the FBI guy explains that one to himself? And as non-subtle as the Terminators are, you would think law enforcement would have seen them by now. So I don't buy the complete lack of belief by the FBI. (How do they explain the Terminator at the bank? Surely they would have footage of him at the vault door?)

Part of what I love about the black FBI agent (who's basically filling the role of the Barry Morse/Tommy Lee Jones character from the small- and big-screen Fugitive interpretations) is that he doesn't explain it away to himself. Even as he's dedicated to tracking down the Connors, he's allowed to be intelligent enough to know that there's more going on that he sees. The same quality made the Gerard character a compelling anti-hero, and I'd love to see the same thing here.

I think the bigger problem with the scene is why the school-Terminator even used a gun. At that point, John had no reason to suspect him, so why break cover? Why not just wait to get close to John, and snap his neck? (AICN's "Herc" even brought this up in his review, I see.)

It's a fair question. I wouldn't be surprised if that model was older than Arnie's model. Perhaps it was sent back at a future point where Connor and Co. really had Skynet on the ropes, so the old ****ty models were all it had left. More primitive programming may limit its stealth processing.

I hope they don't get attacked by a Terminator every week. Terminators should be introduced sparingly. I'd even argue that the episodic "A"-plots should be far more mundane and intimate.

 

Also, I'm making the call on the Terminatrix, Ms. Glau:

She's not from the future. She was built by the same inventors that came back in 1964 to build the plasma gun and time machine in the bank. They've had forty-plus extra years of R&D on her, so she'd definitely be more advanced than the T-800s we keep running into. The T-1000 and T-X were prototypes, and weren't possible to replicate before Skynet was destroyed.

That has to be the reason she could emote early in the first episode. Imagine a smiling slip of a girl executing one of the snitches with nary a thought. That'd put a chill through you.

The timeline ****ery is giving me a headache. Thankfully, everything involving characterization (except for badass Enrique turning into Esteban Vallejo from Kill Bill), I'm actually kinda digging.

If that was enough to make me stick through the worst of 24, it's enough to buy at least half a season with this. I can only assume Warner Bros. are really happy with the debut numbers. It proved that audiences will still see a Terminator project that doesn't star Arnold. Things are looking up for Terminator: Salvation next summer.

On another side-note: I would love to see an episode where they meet a young (under ten) Kyle Reese. And they can get Michael Biehn to play his dad.