So how'd you like that Terminator premiere?
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- January
- 14
So that was some kick-off to a new series, huh?
I know, you can’t judge too much from a pilot episode. Writers and producers prove themselves over the long haul that they can maintain the suspense, excitement and compelling story telling that makes a series great rather than a flop. But in this blogger’s humble opinion, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles got off to a brilliant start.
I gave my review last week in a spoiler-tagged recap of the sneak preview that was posted on Yahoo! TV. Still, I tuned in for a little bit last night as a mental refresher more than anything else.
One thing that happened since I saw that preview that has affected how I’ll watch the show is that I saw the movie 300. Turns out—and I remember reading this last summer—Lena Heady, who plays Sarah Connor—also portrayed Queen Gorgo in the ancient Greek historical-action-drama.
If that’s what she really looks like, I can’t imagine how long she has to spend in makeup and wardrobe before she takes on the soldier-of-fortune/psychotic look that Linda Hamilton originally made famous.
But as I’ve said, there’s a good chance Heady will by vying for the spotlight with Summer Glau, whose turn as the good terminator protecting Sarah and son John is as intriguing a bit of acting as I’ve seen on TV in a while.
I don’t normally traffic in spoilers, or I might have shared this link to an article at Sci Fi Wire where Glau talks about the nature of the new terminator model.
“[Creator Josh Friedman’s] concept is that I’m the most advanced Terminator yet, but the way I’m advanced is in my ability to almost be human,” Glau said at a fan preview of the show in Los Angeles last weekend. “And there’s still this fine line. You almost wonder in certain scenes, like, … is she feeling something? I can’t really put my finger on it, but it’s like she’s actually feeling something. And I want that to come across. But I also want people to be startled sometimes when she is absolutely a robot.”
But Cameron—as she is named for original Terminator creator James Cameron—is not all touchy-feely, as SyFy Portal notes.
 According to Glau, “It’s very exciting and we’re doing lots of different things with cars and guns and explosions and things. But it’s also so much about the characters and just their lives together and their relationships. I think the way it’s written is very smart and very funny, but it’s also very personal.”
Series creator Josh Friedman tells IF Magazine he’d like to get into the whole human-machines war at some point, and he confirms for anyone still in doubt that for the purposes of the series, T3: Rise of the Machines never happened. As for the timelines, there are many, and they are parallel. This is one of my sci-fi pet peeves, but I get the sense that Friedman truly respects how time travel can impact on storytelling.
iF: As a fan of the original films, my biggest issue was with the alternate ending for T2 where Judgment Day never happened and John is a Senator and Sarah is an old lady. She may have still had a child, but that wouldn’t necessarily be John, is that right?FRIEDMAN: Well not to get too crazy, but obviously there was some version of John Conner leader of the human resistance that was not fathered by Kyle Reese, because he had to be the one to send them back. TERMINATOR itself is the second iteration of the story. How did John Connor get born before there was a Kyle Reese to send back? Obviously Sarah got pregnant by somebody else. So technically, when Reese comes back and impregnates her, he may be ******* it all up!
Just like I forgot about Heady’s past role in 300, I managed to block out that Thomas Dekker (John Connor) last appeared as Claire’s buddy and confidant Zach on Heroes. There was some controversy when Dekker left Heroes amid murmurs that he didn’t want to play the character gay as written. It seems like there are some still some lingering hard feelings, judging by a recent interview with TVGuide.com. Judge for yourself.
TVGuide.com: Sounds like it wasn’t a difficult decision to leave Heroes to take the role on Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Dekker: It wasn’t at all. I was only supposed to be on Heroes for the first episode, and I never had a contract. Every episode I had after that… was a surprise. So I was auditioning the whole time I was on the show and I auditioned for [Terminator]. When I got it, I wanted it so badly. Of course, they weren’t very happy when I got it. I had a three-hour phone call with Tim Kring sort of asking me not to go. But I respect so much the writers and the producers of [Terminator] and I feel a bond with [them]. I never felt a bond with a single person on Heroes and that’s very important to me if you’re going to be creating something.
Photos courtesy Fox Entertainment, from the Jan. 9 screening party in Hollywood.
This entry was posted
on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 12:11 pm by Brian Howard.
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I'm a big fan of the Terminator movies (especially T-2) and was pretty impressed with the pilot episode last night. It seems to be well cast and if the show can keep the momentum going, I think it will be a great show! I'll be tuning in to see what happens…
i loved the show last night and hope the story line keeps me hooked. their are so many cool thngs you can do its about time we got a terminator series its well over due
I loved the pilot episode It left me hanging and waiting for the next episode. I just hope they explain the future war a little better, but besides that Im Hooked
I loved it…I watched the first episode, and was very impressed by it. So I tuned in for the second episode last night. And it didn't dissapoint. Very good show. Well casted just hope it doesn't get canceled.