Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
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Thanks to DVR, I was able to drown out my ill feelings towards the early playoff departure of the Dallas Cowboys by catching the first two episodes of the new Fox series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."
The show not quite great, but I think that it's a pretty well done show.
What went right:
- Believe it or not, I think they actually nailed the "evil Terminator(s)." They obviously can't get Arnold for this type of thing, so I think the people they got are pretty decent. They're physically imposing. They don't say too much. And they do a pretty decent job attempting the "non-emotive" thing that Arnold perfected.
- The writers and show leaders obviously know their Terminator mythology fairly well. Their timeline is a bit off and you have to get past the whole notion of the time paradox that plagues the whole series, but the writers really made a great effort to acknowledge the already existing mythology without relying on it *too* much. For example, Sarah now goes by the name of Sarah Reese (after John's father). Enrique from the movie shows back up. The good Terminator is named Cameron after Terminator creator James Cameron.
- The action is pretty well done for a show. And with that, I think that the special effects are pretty alright. Special effects for shows like this have come a long way.
- I think Sarah was cast pretty well. She's no Linda Hamilton, sure, but she's not bad.
- Kind of a small detail, but I like the font carryover. They use the same font for the show that they used for the movies.
- I like that the show basically exists under the premise that T3 never happened. Reboot. That's a bold way to kick start a struggling franchise.
What's not so good:
- There are some things in the show that make absolutely NO sense. For example, a Terminator acting as a substitute teacher attempts to kill John from across the room instead of staying in character and doing it from point blank range. Also, the good Terminator was replicating teen behavior at the beginning of the show, but for the rest of the series, she's basically gone back to acting like a machine. Why?
- Some of the one-liners work (Class dismissed), but the vast majority of them don't. One-liners are tricky things. I'd prefer them leave out most of these one-liners.
- The good Terminator isn't imposing enough. I know that she probably has incredible strength, but I never once for a second find it believable that she'd be able to go toe-to-toe with the twice-her-size evil Terminators.
- John Connor is a bit of an idiot. I understand him being a bit of a rebel against the Messianic and apocalyptic future that awaits him, but he does a lot of stuff that seems to defy logic. I'm not buying that he's going to become the savior of mankind. Maybe Messiah's really are this annoying during their teen years. I guess there's a reason why they cut Jesus' teen years out of the Bible.
That's about it for now. So far so good. And with the WGA strike reducing tv to reality shows 24/7, I'll take what I can get.
- Matt
The show not quite great, but I think that it's a pretty well done show.
What went right:
- Believe it or not, I think they actually nailed the "evil Terminator(s)." They obviously can't get Arnold for this type of thing, so I think the people they got are pretty decent. They're physically imposing. They don't say too much. And they do a pretty decent job attempting the "non-emotive" thing that Arnold perfected.
- The writers and show leaders obviously know their Terminator mythology fairly well. Their timeline is a bit off and you have to get past the whole notion of the time paradox that plagues the whole series, but the writers really made a great effort to acknowledge the already existing mythology without relying on it *too* much. For example, Sarah now goes by the name of Sarah Reese (after John's father). Enrique from the movie shows back up. The good Terminator is named Cameron after Terminator creator James Cameron.
- The action is pretty well done for a show. And with that, I think that the special effects are pretty alright. Special effects for shows like this have come a long way.
- I think Sarah was cast pretty well. She's no Linda Hamilton, sure, but she's not bad.
- Kind of a small detail, but I like the font carryover. They use the same font for the show that they used for the movies.
- I like that the show basically exists under the premise that T3 never happened. Reboot. That's a bold way to kick start a struggling franchise.
What's not so good:
- There are some things in the show that make absolutely NO sense. For example, a Terminator acting as a substitute teacher attempts to kill John from across the room instead of staying in character and doing it from point blank range. Also, the good Terminator was replicating teen behavior at the beginning of the show, but for the rest of the series, she's basically gone back to acting like a machine. Why?
- Some of the one-liners work (Class dismissed), but the vast majority of them don't. One-liners are tricky things. I'd prefer them leave out most of these one-liners.
- The good Terminator isn't imposing enough. I know that she probably has incredible strength, but I never once for a second find it believable that she'd be able to go toe-to-toe with the twice-her-size evil Terminators.
- John Connor is a bit of an idiot. I understand him being a bit of a rebel against the Messianic and apocalyptic future that awaits him, but he does a lot of stuff that seems to defy logic. I'm not buying that he's going to become the savior of mankind. Maybe Messiah's really are this annoying during their teen years. I guess there's a reason why they cut Jesus' teen years out of the Bible.
That's about it for now. So far so good. And with the WGA strike reducing tv to reality shows 24/7, I'll take what I can get.
- Matt
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