Exceeded Expectations, Terminated All Doubts
Added 11/12/2009
I did something with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC) that I rarely do: I purchased the complete show on DVD without so much as watching a single episode during its run on broadcast television or reading even one review. The reason for such a brash move? Well I've always enjoyed the franchise in its feature film form and figured that the weekly format would be a spectacular medium in which to fill in the gaps between the films.
As such TSCC does just that. In fact the series could be viewed as Terminator 2.5 if the motion-picture timeline is one's gauge of measurement. If you'll recall, Terminator 2: Judgment Day ended with Sarah Connor, her young son John (with the help of the 800 "Swartz" Series Terminator) manage to destroy both the liquid-metal T-1000, as well as the arm and chip from the first film's 800 Series Terminator. The film was set in the year 1995 with a then ten-year-old John Connor.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines jumped ahead to 2004 where a nineteen-year-old John Connor is living "off the grid" in the areas surrounding Los Angeles after the death of his mother. It turns out that Judgment Day did not occur in 1997 as had been predicted in the first film due to mankind's intervention to the timeline, which postponed the prophesied events. As is the robots of the future's way, another Terminator has been sent back in time (this time the female T-X unit) in effort to pick off Connor's future lieutenants in the human Resistance.
TSCC begins in 1999 with a fourteen-year-old John Connor still living with his mother on constant run from both destiny and evil cyborgs. Following the movie-formula, the duo finds themselves pursued by a T-888 Terminator unit but aided by Cameron, a female (800 Series) Terminator that has been re-programmed and sent back through time to protect John.
But before you go and get used to life circa 1999, the crew make a desperate escape by time traveling to the year 2007 and in the process jump right over the time where cancer should have claimed the life of Sarah Connor. The Terminator in pursuit in 1999 uses the eight years of their absence to reconstruct his damaged chassis and is quite alive and well by the time 2007 rolls around.
It gets worse still for our protagonists once they discover that that Skynet has in fact sent many Terminators back to the year 2007 for a whole variety of missions ranging from the execution of key resistance members to the physical construction of the network and facilities that will eventually become Skynet.
The bottom line is, and like the movies, our heroes have their hands full in what boils down to present day in effort to change future-history. The good news is, as an hour-long episode format, it works. The shows build with absolutely beautiful pacing, intense action sequences, and solid scientific explanations without tech overload.
I wasn't sure what to expect going in; after all, many of the films demanded an R rating to tell their tale not to mention boasted budgets that put even the ritziest television budgets to shame. I can state with confidence that producer Josh Friedman recognized these limitations and went about crafting the source material into a television effort with style and grace.
The acting is well above what's typically associated with made-for-television action drama efforts and the effects, while slightly pale compared to the efforts of the last two feature films, are easily on par with (and at times surpass) the visuals of the first two.
More impressive than the acting and visuals however would have to be the story/ plot structure itself which manages to take many of the elements that have made the films so enduring, and interweaves them with a slightly more dramatic feel than that of the movies (which were typically mass-destruction chases).
My only complaint lies not with the show in particular but rather some of the typical snafus and paradoxes that the series (and time travel in general) call to mind. Questions of predestination and multiple (parallel) existences can detract from an already difficult-to-follow timeline if the viewer allows themselves the distraction of pondering such things. As has been the case with all of the Terminator incarnations thus far, it is best perhaps to suspend disbelief and simply enjoy the ride.
The show was one of those that suffered due to the writer's strike and hence consists of only 9-episodes for the first season. Coming in at a total runtime of 394 minutes, the show spans 3-discs and contains a healthy dose of extras including staff commentaries over three episodes, audition clips, gag reels, and several deleted "Terminated" scenes. The second season was boosted to 22-episodes before ultimately meeting its untimely demise from television. A shame really, as the show managed to surpass most of my expectations. I'm working on the second season now and will review that one upon completion as well.
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Can't wait for the second season!
Added 11/6/2009
I am about half way through this season so far, having just bought it. I was curious as to how this series was, since I never heard anything about it other than they had made one. It was on sale so I purchased it...
Boy, am I glad I bought it! It is a load of fun and action and the drama's pretty good too! The actors and actresses all fit their roles well (while she is a good actress, the Lena Headey playing Sarah Connor is too skinny - Sarah, especially in the 2nd movie was way buff because she was preparing for war - this lady just looks like all the other way too skinny hollywood women trying to look tough. I find it really hard to believe that being so thin she could be as physically strong as she is portrayed to be, but eh, that's Hollywood/America these days). Oh, and like someone else mentioned in their review: some of the filming quality/cuts were very shaky/jumpy and abrupt which is distracting but not so bad that it ruins the show. Hopefully they fix this problem in the second season.
I AM disappointed the season is so short - but they have done such a good job on it. I am just hoping the second season will be as good. If you like sci-fi and the Terminator movies you should definitely enjoy this. It is a blast! It expands on the Terminator world too, which I always enjoy - things they don't go into detail on in the movies they can explore here. Definitely worth the price of the sale price, however for it being such a short season (only 3 discs, totalling 9 "hour" long episodes)I wouldn't pay over $20 for this. $15 would be ideal, but I paid $18.99 which wasn't bad - less than the price of most 2 hour movies (and this is about 6.5 hours long total).
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A short but otherwise credible effort (without the liquid metal)
Added 10/29/2009
This season comprises only nine episodes, so it might seem as though it's over before it really gets started. But, after having watched many shows with 26 episodes per season and wishing some of those episodes hadn't been made (Star Trek: The Next Generation, for example), this show comes across as tightly written and focused. A shorter season forces the writer(s) to make every episode great. When you've got to bang out 26 episodes, you're bound to get some clunkers, which isn't the case here.
The show starts with Sarah and John Connor hiding in middle America, where they live with Sarah's unsuspecting boyfriend, a nice guy who knows nothing about Sarah and John's past. Pretty soon, a "bad" Terminator rolls into town and attempts to take John out at his high school, where he's helped by a "good" Terminator, played by Summer Glau. That pretty much sets up the start of the show, with the Connors and the "good" Terminator taking flight. I won't spoil the story for you, but only say that the pace picks up from there.
Screenwriter Josh Friedman has done a good job fleshing out the gap between Terminators 2 and 3 here. Lena Headey (Sarah), Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Good Terminator), Richard T. Jones (FBI agent), Garrett Dillahunt (Bad Terminator), and Dean Winters (the boyfriend) all do a fantastic job. Glau is especially convincing in one episode where she contemplates killing one of John's high-school friends. Most surprising is Brian Austin Green of "90210" fame. He plays Kyle Reese's older brother and appears to have matured from his younger days into a solid actor.
I didn't see any cool liquid-metal action in the first season. Maybe in season two.
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Consider me gobsmacked
Added 10/11/2009
This is sheerly astounding television. I can barely believed they fit as much as they did into a nine episode season. At this price, you shouldn't even think twice. A great show with a great DVD box set.
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we enjoyed this so much and can't wait to get the next season. it can in good condition and a good price thank.
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I was wrong.
Added 11/8/2009
As this series neared its premier, I was absolutely positively certain that the show would be unspeakably bad. And perhaps this is why it was canceled after its second season. I feel that so many people (especially Terminator fans) had already made up their mind before hand and never really gave the show a chance. I gave it a chance and watched the premier; then promptly abandoned the entire show. As it turns out, the premier episode was the weakest of the season. In fact, at episode three, the show suddenly goes from just 'decent' to 'awesome'. And it was these stories about how the plot develops that I was constantly hearing from those that stuck with the show that convinced me that I needed to give it a second chance; and I'm so glad I did.
First of all, this isn't entirely a reboot. It follows the continuity of the first two movies quite nicely, but exists outside the story line developed by T3 and Terminator Salvation. It's an 'alternate version of events', so to speak.
{John Conner} The character was done perfectly. Gone is the 'most annoying kid in the world' attitude. Here it's obvious that he's grown up watching his back at every turn. He's sick of running; and with the arrival of a Terminator protector, he feels it's time to start fighting back. His technical skills are also more impressive and a little more believable than previous interpretations.
{Sarah Conner} She is, after all, the star of the show and often narrates each episode. She's motherly but never forgets her mission to protect her son and stop Skynet before it's built. Her days of paranoia and erratic behavior are over. What's great about her portrayal here is she rarely ever seems to be afraid. She's calm, cool, collected, and just plain awesome.
{Cameron} John's Terminator protector and was initially the hardest part of the show for me to like. I groaned during her scenes in the premier. However, as the show developed, her character quickly grew on me. Her scene as she looks on in fascination at the robot at the chess tournament, in particular, was remarkably directed.
{Terminators} The rest of them are also well done. We really get the feeling that just one of these guys is nearly unstoppable. The initial Terminator from the pilot, Cromartie, appears to have been 'terminated' at the end of the premier. However, the majority of this season he is seen as constantly rebuilding himself in order to complete his mission, suggesting that no matter what kind of damage a Terminator sustains, it will...never...stop. Another example of this is when John attempts to hack an extracted Terminator CPU in which John see glimpses of the world through it's visual memory bank giving a fascinating yet disturbing look into their behavior. At one point the CPU comes back online attempts to complete his mission despite not having a body.
Trust me, I was one of the hardest people to convince that this would ever be good. But it is. It's incredible. Give it a chance to develop and grow on you and there's a good chance you'll gain as much appreciation for it as I have.
~nico~
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The best reboot I've ever experienced
Added 10/11/2009
I went into the first episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles with crossed arms. I loved the first two Terminator movies so much that any tinkering with the series made me nervous. Thankfully, Sarah Connor delivers the goods. This first season takes the story to new and wonderful places. This is very much worth your money.
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Amazing series! Can't wait to get Season 2.
Added 9/13/2009
I can't say enough good things about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC). It's not a "Terminator of the Week" show. It's a drama with excellent writing, acting, character development and stories that happens to have some action. It's an intelligent show - I've seen the entire first season multiple times and each time, I pick up on something new. It makes me think. The writers often leave things open to interpretation, which has fueled my imagination and left me wanting more. Bear McCreary's soundtrack is fantastic and adds another layer of brilliance to the series. This is a series you'll want to watch over and over again.
TSCC is a story about a mother struggling with her son growing up, while literally having the survival of humanity on both their shoulders. It is a story about a boy becoming a man learning how to become the future leader of the human resistance. It's a story about how to deal with knowing what the future holds. It's a story about hope. It's a story about technological progress. It's a story about war and the human effects of being a soldier. It's a story about perseverence.
You won't find a simple story with clear lines between good an evil. Characters do what they think is best given their missions and the information they have and that may or may not be the right thing or ultimately best thing. They make mistakes. They do the wrong thing.
TSCC has trumped HBO's Rome (also an excellent series) as my favorite series ever and that is saying a lot. I've enjoyed some other sci-fi movies and shows mostly on a casual level, but TSCC has completely tipped the scales and turned me into a full-fledged geek. No series has even remotely come close to engaging me like TSCC has.
If you enjoy this series, be sure to also purchase the second season, which is released on Sept. 22, 2009. The second season adds firey Scottish singer Shirley Manson (Garbage) and Battlestar Galactica's Stephanie Jacobsen to the amazing cast. I absolutely cannot wait to crack open my copy.
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