Sarah Connor Chronicles: TV Series

[asher marquering]

hmmm this sounds interesting i do you guys think it'll come to South Africa?

 

[Brigitte]

I'm not sure what to think about this series. It took a while to grasp that whole "new timeline" concept to explain how they jumped past what used to be judgement day (in 2004) in the following film (T3), if that makes any sense. Also, I'm a little disappointed by the corny lines at points (i.e. I'll take shotgun... I'll take 9 millimeter). *Gags*

 

[Sylanya]

I'm an not a die-hard Terminator fan, I've really only seen the first one of the films.

But I did watch the first two episodes this week.

I have to saw, they were....alright. I like the idea of a "good" terminator (especially played by Summer Glau), although the guy playing the bad terminator is not very good. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of plot yet, but I think I might keep watching just to see where it is going. I will reserve finally judgement until later.

 

[C Of K]

I may be mistaken, but didn't I see that metal skull travel through time, in the second episode?

No, I'm almost certain I saw it...

 

[clovis-man]

I may be mistaken, but didn't I see that metal skull travel through time, in the second episode?

If you're talking about the skull that the construction worker picked up, I got the impression that it was left over from the bank vault explosion. When the rest of the termonator body reassembled itself, it then went looking for the head. With all parts in place, the skeletal terminator dressed all covered up in clothing and mingled with the homeless waiting for its prey to reappear in 2007.

I guess that's time travel in more leisurely fashion.

Jim

 

[tangaloomababe]

-This series is coming to Australia in February, I will probably take a look but its not really Sarah Connor (the only real Sarah is Linda Hamilton) Might be worth watching Summer Glau though.

 

[C Of K]

I thought that it might have been left over as well, but I've watched the episode several times. That skull pops right out of the time warp bubble that showed up in the middle of the street.

It was really quite funny, to tell you the truth.

 

[tangaloomababe]

Well I watched the first episode of this series last night. It wasn't to bad. At least I didn't change the channel!!! It has some potential, although I wonder how long it will take before I get sick of terminators throwing each other through walls etc.
The time travel sequence in the bank vault wasn't explained to clearly, but maybe that will be expanded on in further episodes. I thought Summer was suited to her role and the girl playing Sarah was alright but I havn't warmed to John Connor yet.
I'll be back!

 

[Quokka]

Pilot Spoilers

Saw the pilot last night and was fairly disapointed, mainly with the writing and I can't see myself watching the rest of the series. I thought Sarah and John Connor were ok for the roles and Summer Glau is certainly beautiful I just had to laugh that when she was first introduced she seems all normal and then as soon as it's revealed she's a terminator she starts doing the robot. The only actor I thought was really bad for the role was the bad terminator and to be fair he was the one trying to fill in for Arnie, so a no win situation there but still he was trying so hard to look implacable and machine-like that I kept thinking he was pulling a funny face.

I think they did as well as they could with the time travel plot, they had to move the story from the mid 90's to current day without John being in his 30's and I actually like what I think is being introduced that because of what happened in T1 & T2 the terminators/skynet as they know it never exists and so they have some leway with introducing new terminators etc in the series.

But what really bugged me was the dialogue and corny one liners, the worst of the lot was the terminator turning to say "class dismissed" or something like that before jumping through the window. Why? Arnie's catchphrases kind of suited the character, I'll Be Back he was just saying honestly (he was), it was how he said it that made it a catchphrase and Hasta La Vista he was taught but when did the Terminators decide to implant action hero chips?

Just my 2 cents but I wish they had been able to use better writers for the dialogue, as I think that can hold a show together even when the plot lines start getting more and more unbelievable.

 

[GOLLUM]

OK, I missed it but it doesn't sound that good. Dissapointing as I was looking forward to checking it out.

Anyone think it's great?

 

[Quokka]

I wouldn't right it off just yet Gollum I'm a bit jaded on most TV series at the moment

 

[Culhwch]

Well, I saw it and was supremely unimpressed as well. It had the potential to be a good series, I think, but it just comes off as 'Terminator Lite'. I mean, the Sarah Connor in this barely resembles Sarah Connor as she was at the end of T2. There's no way that that Sarah Connor would make a stupid sentimental mistake like using the alias 'Reese', coupled with their actual first names. And it was just corny. I didn't understand the whole jumping forward in time thing either, except as Quok points out to conviently have it set now rather than then. My girlfriend and I just spent the entire hour making fun of it. Might be some value there. And I agree with you, Quokka, about the Terminatrix going from natural to robot in a heartbeat. Just not well... thought through, I think, on the whole.

 

[GOLLUM]

I wouldn't right it off just yet Gollum I'm a bit jaded on most TV series at the moment

My confidence is slipping with each new post....

 

[clovis-man]

My confidence is slipping with each new post....

The best way to judge is just to watch it. I know that may be hard in some locations around the world. But I (perhaps in the minority) think it is worthwhile.

I definitely think it is a mistake to judge this (mainstream network channel) series by our imprints of the motion picture Terminator series. We're not going to recapture Linda Hamilton or Arnie. So it makes more sense to me to just go with the story and characters as they unfold.

I like the introduction of characters which go beyond the simple Skynet versus the humans scenario, e.g., the tenacious FBI agent, Sarah's ex-boyfriend, additional humans & terminators on missions from the future, etc. I think it takes more concatenations in the plot to keep a TV series from going stale. So I'm willing to give it a chance. We're 5 episodes along now and I still find it interesting.

Jim

 

[MG1962]

Saw the opening episode here in Oz last night - 20 minutes in, I was pretty dazed, 40 mins, I was scanning to see what else was on

 

[Dave]

It is now showing on Virgin1 in the UK and I will give it a few episodes before I make a judgement.

I do agree about the "Reese" error, the corny lines and "Terminator action hero chip implant" and the jumping forward in Time, however at least there is some explanation for why they are in 2007 with a teenage John and no Judgement Day. I don't have a problem with this being a different Timeline. It does retcon T3, but if you can change the Timeline once and you can do it again and again. It just gets a little confusing, especially if there will be a T4 film in the other Timeline.

 

[Coolhand]

I think I'll join the general sense of "slightly underwhelmed" that most people seem to have been given by the series so far (Seen the first two eps on Virigin)

The SFX are nice, and the gunfights and terminator effects are groovy. There are massive unexplained plot holes (Just how did the decapitated T800 Endo-Skeleton from 1997 end up in a junk yard, for one thing? You seriously telling me that when they dug that thing out of the rubble, no one thought "hmm. Bit unusual, maybe I'd better call the FBI or something?")

Lenna Hensley is a pathetic Sarah Conner who wears makeup, cool clothes and has no muscles. Linda Hamilton's hard as nails, survialist, buffed up, slightly unhinged, one-handed-shotgun-rackin' Sarah would eat her for breakfast without even breaking a sweat. She probably the most dissapointing thing in this. By a mile.

The Terminator chick is quite endearing, and quite cute in a "learning to be human" kind of way.

John is a whiny twit, but then I guess he's supposed to be. As long as we see him start to become the Saviour of Mankind at some point, I'll put up with him.

The acting is a little odd in places, the dialouge bizzare.

But it does have a bit where a headless T800 tries to inconspicuous by shoving a decapitated human skull onto it's neck and strolling about with a motorbike helemt on. FANTASTIC!

I'll keep watching for now.

 

[rune]

Ive just started watching this, not sure what I think as yet, its OK but not that earth shattering

 

[j d worthington]

Ive just started watching this, not sure what I think as yet, its OK but not that earth shattering

I think that's the problem with this one -- it started out with some good points, but overall quite weak; while definitely improving in various ways, that may have crippled it altogether. And the ways in which it is improving is in the ideas they're playing with, and in the various types of social commentary and the issues they're addressing (sometimes quite subtly, sometimes rather clumsily, and sometimes with a fair amount of humor).

It has the potential to be a really great series (though I was extremely dubious about the whole idea to begin with, and still remain somewhat so) -- but that very shaky beginning, coupled with the fact that it hasn't really stretched its wings yet with what virtues it has got, has me thinking it's probably not going to last. But I wish they'd at least have taken the chance and pulled out all the stops and gone for the meaty potential on different they've only hinted at so far. Might not have made it a success (though one never knows), but at least it would have been memorable....

 

[clovis-man]

It has the potential to be a really great series (though I was extremely dubious about the whole idea to begin with, and still remain somewhat so) -- but that very shaky beginning, coupled with the fact that it hasn't really stretched its wings yet with what virtues it has got, has me thinking it's probably not going to last.

Well, the "suspense" will be over shortly. The two hour "season finale" happens next week. Then there will be the inevitable wait to see if it reappears in the future (sorta like Skynet).

Jim