Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

[GreasyDogMeat]

I must admit, I paid very little attention to the idea of a Terminator show, thinking it would be crap, but after watching all 9 episodes I've found them rather enjoyable. I think it is a shame that they couldn't bring back some of the actors from the movie, the psychiatrist is a prime example.

 

I'm not really sure how many shows they'll be able to maintain this with though. How many incarnations of the start of Skynet can they go through, as well as terminators from the future?

 

There are also a few awkward moments in the show. One involves a terminator aiming at one of his targets and taking painfully long to take the shot. Its a machine people! Its reaction time should be pretty darn quick I'd think... target aquired... millisecond later bang. I'm also having a really hard time accepting the plot of a terminator skull flying through a time warp, and then reassembling itself in the future... huh? Though watching the terminator go on a mission to 'remake' it's skin was pretty cool.

[Humodour]

Yeah

 

me and bloggy express some random thoughts about it here:

 

http://www.mistresslair.net/forum/showthre...10511#post10511

[Hurlshort]

Huh, I had a thread on this when it started, but it's gone. I also seem to only be able to go back a few pages in the forum. Odd, maybe they are trashing old topics earlier.

 

I think the show could go either way. I'd love to see more forward flashbacks to the post-apocalyptic future. I'm a bit turned off by all the time travel though.

[Walsingham]

I think we only archive a limited amount of past material. It's a shame in my opinion, but I assumed only I was bothered.

 

 

I was obviously happy to see Summer Glau again, but as you say, the biggest problem is in how human the bloody machines are. I 've said it before, and I'll say it again. Schwarznegger is the only really good terminator I've seen.

[GreasyDogMeat]

I see the terminators being 'too human' in both a positive and negative light. On the one hand that is exactly what they are created to do... be as human as possible to infiltrate and... well... terminate. I also liked how the show has sort of poked at how humans deal with it. On the one hand we have John who has become very emotionally attached to terminators, Arnie from T2 & now Cameron. I liked the touch where he is stroking her hair when she was deactivated. She is nothing more than a toaster oven, but it shows how people could become emotionally attached to a piece of machinery that emulated human looks & behavior. I can certainly imagine some computer geeks who do the same thing to their computer towers when a motherboard blew out.

 

On the other hand, we have Derek Reece who absolutely despises them, which is understandable coming from an apocalyptic robo-future and all. However, his emotions for them are just as irrational as John Connors, just at the opposite end of the spectrum. It makes as little sense to distrust a machine to the point he does as it does to practically be in love with it as John seems to be.

 

The point I think you are getting at, is certain oddities in the show. Like how Cameron seems so well adjusted in the first episode. She behaves like a high school girl, obviously to lull the audience into thinking she is just that. However, in all following episodes she is extremly socially awkward like, well, a machine. What happened to that perfect high school girl act? Did she fry a circuit or something in that openning battle?

 

I've always enjoyed the idea of machines gaining a human like consciousness and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing the show explore that idea. I'm betting, for better or worse, they plan on doing a 'fried chip' comedy episode to make her act oddly along the lines of Robocop 2.

 

"Thank you for not smoking."

Edited March 6, 2008 by GreasyDogMeat

[Amentep]

I think...for whatever reason it seems like very few actors (or perhaps its the writers problem?) seem to be able to pull off emotionless anymore (this used to kill me all the time on Star Trek shows with the Vulcans going around and emoting all over the place).

 

As far as T:tSCC is concerned, I got to say while I liked some of the concepts in the show, and I liked some of the cast, I just couldn't get into it. A lot of it just seemed...silly to me. A bunch of running around and gun pointing and posturing and not a lot of plot or character development. Mind you I didn't watch every episode, but nothing in the episodes I saw really wowed me.

[Humodour]

I think we only archive a limited amount of past material. It's a shame in my opinion, but I assumed only I was bothered.

 

I'm bothered by it to.

[Deraldin]

Schwarznegger is the only really good terminator I've seen.

 

What about the guy that played the T-1000 in Terminator 2? Come to think of it though. He didn't pull off emotionless either. He seemed to smile a fair bit.

[Pidesco]

I thought the guy who played T-1000 was great.

[jaguars4ever]

Agreed.

 

Still, he's no Mulder replacement.

[Humodour]

T-888 is an infiltration model. So except for the T-600 in the future 'flashback' episode (which was emotionless), the models are designed to replicate human facial expressions/emotions somewhat, I guess.

[jaguars4ever]

T-1000000 > All.

 

End of discussion.

[Pidesco]

The pool scene in the last episode was great.