I tried to watch the new Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles last night. SF geeks are starved for good TV these days. And unfortunately it was pretty lame.

Starters: Don't ever open your show/movie with a dream sequence. Dream sequences are usually lame. Use them sparingly.

The special effects and action were decent for a TV show, and the acting was very good. I liked Summer Glau in Firefly and Serenity, and Lena Headey was great in 300. The supporting actors are all good too. But the writing just sucks. It's exactly the same plot as Terminator 2.

John and Sarah are on the run, a good terminator is sent to protect him, while a bad one is sent to kill him. They had tried to stop Skynet from being built in T2, but apparently killing the person most responsible and blowing up the lab didn't quite do the job. So they plan on trying that again.

It's a TV show, so they'll have more opportunity to develop the back story, but so far it hasn't displayed a single drop of novelty or originality. The plot is completely cookie cutter and the terminators are almost exactly the same. Oh wait, no...the girl terminator's eyes glow blue. Whoopee!

It's a shame with so much acting talent involved that they went for a tame retread instead of introducing any interesting plot elements or new technology. They might do that in future episodes, but if the pilot is this lame, why would I want to watch any more?