Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles Episode #1

[Arnwyn]

I thought it was perfectly awesome. My wife loved it even more than me. It's nice to see the real sequel to the (also awesome) T2, and how they kept it very consistent with the Terminator storyline, as well as the feel (everything from the music, to the dark highway with Sarah's narration). Also, Summer Glau was great in this as

Spoiler

a new Terminator model

. Very cool.

The storyline was also intriguing, and better than I thought it would be. I thought it would just be a "get chased around season after season" kind of show - but seeing that they have a clear goal (what changed from T2 with regards to the creation of SkyNet) was a pleasant surprise.

P.S. Of course, I'm being silly when I say "real sequel", since I don't know what all the nonsensical talk about this mythical "T3" is... as we all know, there are only two Terminator movies.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Not a bad show, I'll be watching it for now.

The only big issue I have is the casting of Lena Headey as Sara Conner. Linda Hamilton left a big pair of shoes to fill and while Lena is a good actor, she falls short of the mark, IMO.

The rest of the cast is great. Thomas Dekker makes a good John Conner and Summer Glau is, well hot. (And she makes a good Terminator, even it she's abit on the small side for the part. Again, IMO.)

I'm unsure about the FBI agent. I think he may unnesiccarilly weigh down the plot. I mean, he has dozens of witnesses now, who have seen this 'robotic dude'. If he doesn't start to see the 'truth' fairly quickly it will put a huge hole in the believability of the show.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

It wasn't amazing, but I liked it enough to try again. I thought the whole thing with the bank was pretty creative, if a bit unrealistic with the whole

Spoiler

go back in time and build futuristic shtuff. I'm sure the guy was smart enough to build these things in 1964, but I find it hard to believe that even a fraction of the technology would be available. In 1964 a computer that generates a portal through time would probably be... as big as the moon.

. But otherwise, pretty good overall.

 

[mmu1]

P.S. Of course, I'm being silly when I say "real sequel", since I don't know what all the nonsensical talk about this mythical "T3" is... as we all know, there are only two Terminator movies.

Yeah, count me as another vote for the "It's a good thing they decided to write things as if T3 never happened".

T3 was not the finale of a trilogy - the whole point of T1 and T2 was that you can change the future, then T3 comes along with the big reveal that no, you actually can't, rendering the first two movies completely irrelevant - the ending is just one huge nihilistic cliche. Any series that followed T3 would have to go down that path as well, and make things even worse. I'm glad they decided to undo the mistake instead.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Actually, uh...T4 is in the works and its set in the future with Christian Bale as John Connor leading the resistance.

So this series is kind of existing off in its own place rather than wiping T3 off the map.

Though I liked T3, I can understand the hate for it. Me, however...I LIKE the idea that the future really was set in stone. There are even hints of it through the movies, like John's parentage...if the future had changed, how could anyone go back to be his father? Or even with having T2 exist. Though T3 was definitely a much more drastic view of things, it wasn't completely out of left field.

 

[DonTadow]

Yeah, count me as another vote for the "It's a good thing they decided to write things as if T3 never happened".

T3 was not the finale of a trilogy - the whole point of T1 and T2 was that you can change the future, then T3 comes along with the big reveal that no, you actually can't, rendering the first two movies completely irrelevant - the ending is just one huge nihilistic cliche. Any series that followed T3 would have to go down that path as well, and make things even worse. I'm glad they decided to undo the mistake instead.

We disagree, it completed the mythology. The ending proved that the robots would lose no matter waht needed to be done. It was great. It made sense as to why no more terminators would be sent, why more than one could not be sent. Because regardless, the future is set in stone. It wrapped up the whole series in a neat bow so all we need to worr yabout now is the war. The whole point of the movies was that the future can not be changed and here's how.

Right now its back in silly mode. Whenever you deal with time travel in scifi you got to be careful and a series is scary territory. Outside of Dr. Who, i have yet to see time travel done right in a tv show. Most of the time it is a writer's favorite crutch

Without rules to time travel this can't work. If the future can be changed, why not send a terminator back to early 1960s or to before the modern era of guns and kill off the lineage. Why not send more than one terminator. Why not send an army. Why be chronological with it, why not spread them out.

 

[Arnwyn]

This much, though, I'm with DonTadow.

Time travel sucks, period. Hmmm... that probably doesn't have enough emphasis. I'll try again: Time travel sucks. Period.. Better, but not much.

Sadly, though, we're saddled with it as it's part and parcel of Terminator. And believe me, the Terminators were good despite the time travel, not because of it.

 

[Rykion]

*Spoiler Warning*



I wasn't watching too closely. Was there any explanation saying that all that future technology in the bank vault was destroyed beyond recovery? Leaving terminator parts and a time machine in 1999 is a real good way to insure Skynet gets built.

 

[mmu1]

We disagree, it completed the mythology. The ending proved that the robots would lose no matter waht needed to be done. It was great. It made sense as to why no more terminators would be sent, why more than one could not be sent. Because regardless, the future is set in stone. It wrapped up the whole series in a neat bow so all we need to worr yabout now is the war. The whole point of the movies was that the future can not be changed and here's how.

Right now its back in silly mode. Whenever you deal with time travel in scifi you got to be careful and a series is scary territory. Outside of Dr. Who, i have yet to see time travel done right in a tv show. Most of the time it is a writer's favorite crutch

Without rules to time travel this can't work. If the future can be changed, why not send a terminator back to early 1960s or to before the modern era of guns and kill off the lineage. Why not send more than one terminator. Why not send an army. Why be chronological with it, why not spread them out.

All T3 showed was that Skynet and the war were (supposedly) going to happen no matter what.

It didn't really show that the future can't be changed - there are still two different dates for Judgement Day, for example (and we know the first one was real, since Reese and the first Terminator were both products of it), which means that years' worth of history was changed for six billion people.

Though really, arguing it along those lines is just a way to get tangled up in endless rhetoric. The truth of it is that T1 and T2 never really made sense either - they were just a mess of paradoxes that just about looked ok if you squinted just right, and T3 suceeded in screwing things up beyond all hope...

 

[Goodsport]

The first episode was pretty good (I have yet to watch Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, so I've had no problem so far with the series as T2's continuation). I can't wait for the second episode tonight.

Another interesting aspect that could flesh the series out, though I'm not sure how much time could/would be devoted to this (considering that our trio will be busy running from the Terminators and the FBI while hunting the origin of the new SkyNet), is the eventual culture shock for Sarah and John having jumped from 1999 to 2007.

Lots of things have changed during that time, the biggest obviously being the influence left by 9/11, but lots of other things as well. Though admittedly, that could also be said of any jump ahead of eight years, such as (for example) anyone who would jump from 1985 to 1993, only to see the Soviet Union having collapsed, hair bands fallen out of favor and a myriad of other differences.


-G