Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

[RedsBaron]

I stuck with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles; judging by the ratings, I was in a small minority. Nevermind, I enjoyed it anyway. Unfortunately, when it moved to Friday nights it had a series of uninspired episodes, which probably doomed the show to being cancelled. The final few episodes were very good, and the season (series?) finale last Friday night was memorable.

[BuckeyeRed27]

I love this show. There was about a four episode lull in there but I thought it did a decent job of building the story and the last few episodes have been great. Too bad it probably won't make it.

[RosieRed]

Yeah, it really picked up toward the end. Loved the last couple episodes.

[Degenerate39]

Speaking of the Terminator I can't wait till T4 comes out. It sucks Arnie won't be in it but Christian Bale will make up for that.

[Unassisted]

It's interesting to read my comments from a year ago. I lost interest during the hiatus and haven't seen any of the episodes that aired in 2009.

[RedsBaron]

TTSCC's ratings were harmed first by the writers strike last season, which prematurely ended season one after only nine episodes. This season there was a break of several weeks mid-season, followed by the show moving from Monday to Friday night, which didn't help it in the ratings.
The cast was very good, the concept was excellent, but the scripts were uneven. I believe the show was really hurt by a story arc of several episodes that focused upon Sarah Connor's psychological issues, including one episode devoted to her having problems sleeping. While Lena Headley was fine as Sarah Connor, her character just was not that interesting, with a fixation on destroying "metal" and an inability to always tell friend from foe.
The show may have been better had it been "The John Connor Chronicles," as the growth of John Connor into the man who will lead human resistance and his relationship with terminator Cameron Phillips were the heart of the show and its most interesting dynamic.
I tought that Richard T. Jones (Ellison), Shirley Manson (Catherine Weaver), Garret Dillahunt (Cromartie/John Henry) and Brian Austin Green (Derek) were all well cast; I was surprised that Green, whom I had never cared for, and Manson did as well as they did.
Thomas Dekker grew into the role of John Connor. At times this season he came across as little more than an unreliable, self-absorbed teenager, but his character showed maturity and greater complexity in the closing episodes.
As for Summer Glau, she was the breakout character of the show, leaving viewers to think about what it means to be human. Summer Glau is nearly age 28, but is credible at playing a teenager. She steals every scene she is in. She is both easy on the eyes and a good actress.
The final episode was terrific. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW:

The bedroom scene between John and Cameron was both highly erotic and downright creepy at the same time (I wonder if Thomas Dekker intentionally messed up several takes of that scene just so he could remain on Summer Glau ).

The breakout of Sarah from jail recalled scenes from the first two Terminator movies. Catherine Weaver then reveals herself and her purpose to Sarah, John and Ellison in a well set-up, action filled scene.

All of those scenes set up the poignant ending. Cameron sacrifices herself, giving her "chip" to John Henry, with John & company finding her "dead" body, while a computer screen says over and over: "I'm sorry John." John then follows Catherine Weaver into the future, abandoning his mother as he cries that John Henry has "her (Cameron's) chip," as John tries to pursue Cameron across time.

In the future John is first confronted by his Uncle Derek, who died in the prior episode but is alive in the future, possibly in another time line, but this Derek does not know him and has never heard of "John Connor."

In a quasi-"Field of Dreams" moment, John then meets his father, Kyle Reese, but this Kyle doesn't know him either (In T1, Kyle died without even knowing that Sarah was carrying his child).

Then John thinks he sees Cameron, and a look of utter joy comes onto his face. However, this young lady has no return look of recognition, and begins to pet a dog, who sits quietly even though dogs react violently to the presence of terminators. We the audience realize that this lady, also played by Summer Glau, is actually Allison Young, the person who will be killed in the future by Cameron before she is reprogrammed by John. John doesn't know who she is, but his smile fades into puzzlement as he realizes that this is not "his" Cameron.

This show deserves a third season but reportedly will not get one. It will probably be replaced by Fox with something called "Surviving and Dancing with the American Idol Stars" or yet another "reality show."

[MrCinatit]

I've still followed it and am still a fan. Very disappointing that Fox is about to cancel it - but it is pretty much to be expected from that next work and its inability to understand scifi long term (see: Firefly).

Shirley Manson was downright spooky. And Summer? Yowzer.

[TRF]

I've still followed it and am still a fan. Very disappointing that Fox is about to cancel it - but it is pretty much to be expected from that next work and its inability to understand scifi long term (see: Firefly).

Shirley Manson was downright spooky. And Summer? Yowzer.

You can go back further than Firefly to Space: Above and Beyond.

That's the ONLY television series I own.

[Chip R]

I've been watching this show too. I saw the season/series finale and have the 4-5 shows before that DVRd so I still have to watch those. It's a good show but it's hard to follow sometimes.

[marcshoe]

I'll be disappointed if the show disappears. It's one of only two I've been watching regularly. Maybe the movie will do well enough that Fox will save it.

As to the time stream problem, I assumed they had traveled to a time before any of the other events had occured, but I confess to not being up on all the mythology.

[Chip R]

As to the time stream problem, I assumed they had traveled to a time before any of the other events had occured, but I confess to not being up on all the mythology.

Yeah, it's confusing. I haven't watched any of the movies besides the original. I freely admit that Summer Glau was the main reason I watched the show. But besides her it's pretty interesting. And I think she does a darn good job as Cameron. It can't be easy playing someone without emotions.

[RedsBaron]

Yeah, it's confusing. I haven't watched any of the movies besides the original. I freely admit that Summer Glau was the main reason I watched the show. But besides her it's pretty interesting. And I think she does a darn good job as Cameron. It can't be easy playing someone without emotions.

I sometimes believe the show would be/have been better if it had been "Terminator: The Connor Chronicles." The focus on Sarah Connor was sometimes counter-productive. I don't blame Lena Headley for that, as I thought she was fine in the role, but her character was not as interesting as some of the others on the show and often became unsympathetic as her fixation on destroying all machines blinded her to other issues.
Probably the worst episode in season two was "Some Must Sleep" which focused on Sarah Connor's inability to sleep. While it did reveal a few matters via a flashback, it was for the most part boring. The most memorable scene in the episode was Sarah dreaming about her son, John, being attracted to Cameron, who is briefly shown wearing only her bra and panties.
Another self-contained episode that primarily focused on only one character and that didn't move the story line that much but nevertheless did work was "Self Made Man." In that story, the focus is on Cameron along with a terminator who accidentally goes back too far in time, to the 1920s, and whose initial appearance kills someone vital to his mission. This terminator adapts to the situation and shows imagination in developing a new way to accomplish his mission. Meanwhile, we learn what Cameron does at night while Sarah and John sleep; she researches, locates and takes care of other threats, including terminators. She also befriends a paralyzed worker in a library and, while her social skills need work, shows kindness to him inconsistent with a terminator solely focused on the mission.
Anyway, the supporting cast is great, but I found John and Cameron to be more interesting that the title character, Sarah.
Oh yeah, Summer Glau is what initially drew my interest in the show. She reallly does give a terrific acting turn as Cameron, and, yes, she terrific to look at.

[RedsBaron]

Given its relatively poor ratings it may not be enough to save the show, but Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles clobbered the competition in the online "Save One Show" results released today.
T:TSSC received 53% of the total votes.
Chuck had 25%
Dollhouse had 10%
Life had 8%
Privileged had 4%

[GAC]

Saw previews of the the new Terminator:Salvation movie starring Christian Bale as John Connors. Looked pretty good, but then, all previews do.

http://www.scifimoviepage.com/art_terminator4.html

On January 6th 2008, producer John Middleton had the following to say about the movie: "It's post-apocalyptic. It's set after the events of [Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines], where we see the nuclear exchange at the end of the movie, and we show what the world is like after this event, and we show how people try to deal in a post-apocalyptic world. And we introduce a new character, who becomes very important to the resistance and to John Connor, a new hero. It's really about the birth of a new hero."

About John Conner, he said: "I would look at him as a character that is introduced and that will grow in the second and third movies of the trilogy."

On Arnold Schwarzenegger's involvement in the film: "He has been approached, and in the early days of our development of T4, one of our producers, Andy Vajna, who's a good friend of his, spoke to him about doing a cameo. This was even before he was governor. But we know now that he is governor, he's got priorities that are above doing movies."

PLOT

In this new installment of The Terminator film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators.

But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past.

As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

WE SAY

To be honest we weren’t all that excited when a fourth Terminator movie was announced. And when it emerged that Arnie will only have a small cameo in it (if at all!) and that it will be directed by the pretentiously named McG whose credentials include the brainless Charlie’s Angels movies we just rolled our eyes and gave up on the whole affair.

After all, when one is honest about it, the three Terminator movies made thus far are basically the same movie made over and over again: an artificial intelligence from a future in which mankind is battling for its survival against said machines sends an unstoppable killing machine back in time to kill the man who will lead the human resistance before he is born or just a boy.

But it seems the future has finally arrived . . .

When it became apparent that Terminator 4 won’t be rehashing that whole plot again (after all, how can they after the ending of Terminator 3 – Rise of the Machines?) and that it will be largely set in the post-apocalyptic landscape in which humanity is pitted in a desperate battle for survival only glimpsed in the various movies we perked up. When they cast new action god Christian Bale (Batman in The Dark Knight) we really started paying attention. Hey, this new Terminator flick just might be worth checking out after all . . .

And then came that teaser trailer . . .

So: consider us excited. Terminator Salvation as the fourth movie is now officially titled just might be a worthy entry in the franchise, one that might even equal any of Jim Cameron’s entries (come on! did you see that trailer?). Or will at least be better than the tired rehash that was Rise of the Machines . . .

[Chip R]

Looks like it's over for this show.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/...fox_new_season