TV: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

[masamuneehs]

you guys liked this?

i thought it was about as craptacular as you could get. The Terminator chick shows too much emotion, John Connor not enough, and his mother, while steadfastly delivering dramatic and foreboding lines to try to orient you to the bleakness of it all, seems to have really lost a step, especially with how she tried to be more of a 'mother' to John.

Yeah, there's action. Music and SFX were excellent.

But, yeah, I actually was laughing while watching the premiere episode more than anything else. And it wasn't funny laughing with them laughter.

Further proof that I should just give up on any post 1991 additions to this franchise. Wholly unsatisfying.

[Abdula]

Yes, Yes, Yes. We've all noticed the changes in the characters while completely unnecessary they are not uncommon when there is an adaptation of a movie into a series. Mostly due to the fact that writers like to have malleable characters to work with rather than the rigid ones that were used in the movies. I was endlessly complaining while watching the episode but like I said before I'm not going to bitch, well atleast not much.

But as you said there are other very good things about the series so I'll continue to watch it, actually I probably won't because of the time its going to be airing but I'll try to. In any case yes I like the series the music and the SFX were great, some of the action scenes were alright but there is alot to complain about there especially in the fight scene and already there are alot of plot problems but its the first episode so I'll wait and see.

So atleast for now its still worth watching cause there is alot of potential, although I remember saying the same thing about god awful Moonlight but this is Terminator, its good even when its bad.

[Yukimura]

Second ep answered a lot of questions. They did hint at T3 and a pretty clearly explained that this show's time line is divergent from the original movies due to the time skipping. The fembot is definitely more than just a protector, she was most likely altered to try and make her more human. She is very much like a child, learning by mimicry and then attempting to improvise along the lines of what she's experienced (like Arnold in T2 but to a much greater degree).

One glaring inconsistency that bothered me was that Sarah and John were able to pick her up, she has to weigh a good deal more than she looks like she should.

Anyway, I like Sarah, I like fembot (couldn't make out her alias) and John doesn't seem central to the stoy anyway so his lameness doesn't bother me much. The Hobominater was another big plot hole...if it came back fully functional but headless why the hell didn't the gun or pieces of the vault come back... still I'll watch for the fembot's growth and Sarah's ass kicking, I only made it 3 eps on Bionic Woman before I had to give it up doe to boredom, hopefully this won't have that effect.

[Munsu]

Well she's certainly heavier than she looks, but how much heavy? This is some sort of new model, so she can surely be much lighter than what we would think. Still, she was carried by two people and placed on a chair with wheels to move her around. Nothing really wrong with it to really take issues with it.

As for the head thing, the "big plot hole" is not that gun or pieces of the vault didn't make it back... the plot hole is how did the head go through without being surrounded by living tissue. In the first movie, Reese said "nothing dead would go through", and the important portion of what he said that could go through is the "field" that is generated by a living organism that make time travel possible. So the question is, did the time travel thing already accept the head as "acceptable to travel" BEFORE his skin was removed? Everything was happening at pretty much the same time, so anything is possible.

The important thing is that the machine felt that the head generated some field that was either the same or similar to a living organism... why was that is the question. The head was certainly functional, so that might factor in it especially when the head had some living tissue still on it. The other explanation is that it was simply an error in production, not really a big plot hole as made out to be, just a small error that is not easily fixable once you have the episode ready for airing. It's costly to fix, so it's an error they'll have to live with... but an error that they could easily explain with some bullshit that really wouldn't contradict what little we have previously learned from the movies, just as I did here. Also, keep in mind that what wen through time travelling was the head, not the full body.

That aside, I really enjoyed this episode, the action was good... even though I hate the actor who plays John, he showed he can kick a bit of ass if given the chance... if the show goes for a couple of season, I'm pretty sure, at least I hope, he won't look as such a dweeb as the actor grows older and hopefully build a bit of muscle. He's certainly a bit better than what I originally gave him credit for. He won't keep me from watching, and hopefully will grow on me a bit as the show progresses. The scene when Summer Glau gets run over by the car was nice, and the scene when she kills "El Finito" was quite good too.

I read the interview a while back that this show won't be a "Terminator of the Day" show, hopefully they'll keep their promise. So far I think they've done a fairly good job in limiting the Terminator chase scenes, I'd say.

Bionic Woman was simply a piece of shit... awfully written and boring. It had no direction, this series does have direction so at least it won't suffer from that.

[Abdula]

I don't know Munsu, continuity and plot holes are a big problem for me. John is dweeb and a complete idiot too why oh why did they change his character so much. In T2 when he was a kid he was much smarter than he is now, he even had the makings of a badass. Looking for the guy was dumb enough, going to his house was even dumber then getting caught, at that point I just wrote him off. Looks more like T3 John to me. Anyway since fembot, I guess thats what we're calling her, said that this John is not her John then I hoping he will have some major changes and she is not just referring to the fact that her John was essentially the leader of the human race after Judgment Day.

So none of you had a problem with a headless robot walking around I mean who writes this crap.

I loved, just loved how she just put an end to "El Finito" its what Sarah should have done and the T2 Sarah would have done it without hesitation. I mean it doesn't take a robot to understand that if you are trying to save the entire human race that you can't afford to spare the lives of a few people regardless of whether they are friends or not. Especially if they would hinder you from accomplishing that goal.

Bionic Woman was simply a piece of shit... awfully written and boring. It had no direction, this series does have direction so at least it won't suffer from that.

I concur.

[Munsu]

I don't know Munsu, continuity and plot holes are a big problem for me.

In order for there to be a plot hole, there has to be some sort of "hole" in the first place. What we currently have are unexplained events, not necessarily plot holes. All we know about time travel is information gathered in about 10 seconds of talking from Kyle Reese in the first movie... a Kyle Reese that admited to really not knowing how the whole thing works in the first place.

John is dweeb and a complete idiot too why oh why did they change his character so much. In T2 when he was a kid he was much smarter than he is now, he even had the makings of a badass. Looking for the guy was dumb enough, going to his house was even dumber then getting caught, at that point I just wrote him off. Looks more like T3 John to me.

Yeah, it was dumb... but come on, that guy was like a father to him... pretty much the only father figure he's had in his whole life aside from the Arnie Terminator. Can you really blame him for searching him out? As for him being a dweeb, well you know not many people can measure up to Edward Furlong, and him being currently a dweeb gives the writers plenty of space to develop the character... so I don't mind him being currently being a dumb fuck right now, as long as he develops throughout the series and doesn't stay a dumb fuck for the whole time. He has an over-protective mom, so of course he's going to become a dweeb mama's boy. I don't like him, but he's not going to keep me from enjoying the series.

So none of you had a problem with a headless robot walking around I mean who writes this crap.

Didn't really like it, but what's the problem with it? These are machines you know, is it so hard to believe that the head can control the body without being attached to it; kinda like a remote control? I think it brings a new side to the Terminators, making them that much harder to kill.

[Abdula]

Granted that the show is just beginning and we don't know much, going against what was already established doesn't make sense. I don't think its going to be explained but I hope it is.

Actually yeah I sure as hell can blame him for it. Father figure or not means nothing to me. He is not going to keep me fromm watching the show either and other than the fact that machines are trying to kill him there isn't much focus on him. I mean it is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The only characters of importance are Sarah, Fembot and the other machines. I don't think they really wanted to add John to the mix put the plot and the timeline dictated it.


Its not that its hard to accept its just that they could be capable of such a thing. It just the fact that it was a headless robot that apparently could see even though the only eyes we know of are in the head. You can't say that you didn't have a problem with it walking around with a human head in a motorcycle helmet on top of it. Where is the originality.

If they wanted the robot to be in the future they could have simply said that the entire thing was transported to the future. I could even have said that the head was transported but when it got there, the body was activated and it then found and reattached the head. Since Fembot did say that they were in the same location just a different time and then all that would be necessary is some lame explanation why the body was not found.

Speaking of the body, how did it end up where it was. They broke into the bank and they blasted it but after they went to the future the body should have been deactivated until it caught up to the heads timeline. Not only that but I thought the FBI guy was heading to the bank and after a crime like breaking into the bank he would have done a thorough investigation and would have undoubtedly found the body. Unless both the head and the body were transported to the future but they didn't immediately come online because of the damage from the attack.

[Munsu]

Speaking of the body, how did it end up where it was. They broke into the bank and they blasted it but after they went to the future the body should have been deactivated until it caught up to the heads timeline. Not only that but I thought the FBI guy was heading to the bank and after a crime like breaking into the bank they would have done a thorough investigation and would have undoubtedly found the body. Unless both the head and the body were transported to the future but they didn't immediately come online because of the damage from the attack.

I very much doubt that the body time travelled, for the simple fact that the body was under a pile of rubble... I doubt that's how this shit is supposed to work lol. We don't know what happened in the bank after the time device was used right? Maybe the whole vault got destroyed and all that was left was a pile of junk. Yeah, I don't like the body going undiscovered, but whatever, shit happens. The body could've easily been burried under a ton of shit and left undiscovered for whatever reason... In the newspaper it said that there was a huge explosion in the vault that killed them, how can they make that statement without having found the bodies? Either they weren't thorough enough, or simply the place was a huge mess... a wreck.

Its not that its hard to accept its just that they could be capable of such a thing. It just the fact that it was a headless that apparently could not only see even though the only eyes we know of are in the head. You can't say that you didn't have a problem with it walking around with a human head in a motorcycle helmet on top of it.

Yeah, sure... but nothing prevents the Terminator from having an advanced GPS device on inside its head which would enable him to know specifically where the body is and to manuver him accordingly. Sure much is a stretch, but whatever. How does Skynet control all its robots without being intouch with them? The technology is there... we just don't know how it works. The good thing is that that the Terminator lost all it's flesh, so we won't see that lame actor from the first episode playing this particular Terminator. I do have a problem with it, but not to the point that I'm going to bunch up my panties worrying about it. It's dumb and executed poorly, I'd say... but it's a bit intriguing and interesting at the same time.

I like how the Summer Glau Terminator is called or was called Cameron... probably a tribute to James Cameron. I also wonder if John will fall in love with it, which I think has a high possibility of happening... I bet she was modeled after someone John cared about or even loved. The other thing I find interesting is that the Terminators don't recognize the model and she has been reluctant to give her model number. Which begs the question... who built her, since she probably isn't simply a remodification as the Arnie Terminators.

[Yukimura]

I'm thinking she was built or at least completely programmed by humans. Her core personality is so different from any of the other Terminators. When she rubbed John's neck for instance, she did it in the casual manner someone who was playfully touching someone might have done it. T2 Arnold would have simply walked up to him, touched him, and continued on.

[Assassin]

Arnie would've choked him actually, picked him up in the air, and turn him around to examine him lol. That model number thing is pretty interesting...i never really thought about it, but you're rite it could be foreshadowing the fact that she wasn't built by skynet....or atleast not programmed by skynet.

[Munsu]

One thing to think about is that her eyes glow blue right? When usually the Terminator's eyes glow red... so that's something else that hints at her having a mysterious origin.

I think it showed a bit of guts killing off "El Finito"... if I remember correctly, he was a cool character in T2; so to kill him off shows that the series has a bit of balls.

And here's small trivia I just figured out... the next paragraph may contain small spoilers for Prison Break, but nothing really big:









The person who originally played Salceda on T2, Castulo Guerra, was just on an episode of Prison Break last night... kinda curious the sort of development that goes on Prison Break with his character and the developments of Salceda on the tv series.











End of Spoiler

[TwisT]

This show is awesome. It's like Terminator 2 that just goes on and on and on. Every week a it just continues. And great actors. I like both John and Sarah. And the terminator is hot. It will probably be 2008 best new show. Can't see any concept that could beat this.

[Munsu]

Any thoughts on last night's episode?

I thought it was quite good, and a bit graphic for tv which is good. I especially liked the girl's busted head, and the final scene of the episode was great... some may even find it a bit disturbing.

With all its flaws, this is a really cool show...

http://www.bt-chat.com/download.php?...cd3f5e38f8d9d8

[Abdula]

Really was a nice episode don't have any complaints other than hormonal John who can't make up his damn mind about who he is. One minute he wants his mommy to save him, next minute he wants to be a hero, then he's sad, then he's angry, then he wants his mommy to save him again.

Some nice developments though. I liked the Andy character alot, I have no idea why she thinks destroying his work would stop anything. At this point Sarah should be ready and willing to kill although I'm sure she already knows it would all be for naught.

I think Agent Ellison is going to become my favorite character in this show.

[Assassin]

who else thinks andy's computer is the origins of the fembot? Its been hinted that she's different, and that fact that she's learning/making jokes is further proof that she's not from the same assembly line as the other terminators.

I think someone suggested that the fembot is a human creation as opposed to a skynet creation....i wonder if this moody chess playing computer is how it all started. Maybe 10 years down the line, andy recreates his computer with future tech, and the result is fembot.

.............just a crazy theory.

ps: what was the deal with those drawings. i mean its obvious the girl had fucked someone and whatever, but drawing it on the wall?

[Abdula]

Maybe if it did turned out that Andy was the one that built her or was responsible for her creation I doubt she would want him killed. I'm guessing we will find out more about her next week.

Yeah its looks like Yuki may be right and she may have been built by humans.

ps: what was the deal with those drawings. i mean its obvious the girl had fucked someone and whatever, but drawing it on the wall?

Seriously that was just stupid, there could have done many different things with those scenes and still get the same effect and they didn't even execute it properly. The high school girl acting up and saying her parents are going to kill her is played out. When she just burst out and started crying I was like what the hell is she talking about, when she walked out I thought it would be over and done with but no.

Then she jumps off the building and commits suicide and no one knew why the hell she did it which was funny atleast John didn't get to save her.

[Munsu]

Actually, some people knew... in those scenes you could hear the people murmuring "she's a whore, she's a skank..." and what not. I'm sure this is not the last of it, and I liked how they just let her die. I thought that the tactic was a bit clever and made some of the viewers actually think a little bit, which is always good. Which is what I usually find funny, when the plot is laid out for you and is simple many critic it as being dumb, then they try something new and get a subplot that actually makes some viewers think then they say it's just too complicated and poorly written. They can't win no matter what. I thought it was quite obvious what was going on, it just needed you to pay a little bit of extra attention to details, that's it. Sure, they may have been better ways to go about it... but I thought this version was quite clever in some ways.

Just as parallel, if you go around you'll hear a ton of people complaining about how horrible the show is because they had a girl kill herself, etc. But if John had actually gone up and saved her, then the same people would be calling the show cheesy. I find that hilarious.

And yeah, I think Agent Ellison is great.

[Abdula]

I liked that they let her die, I'm all for the blood, gore and death. Really I didn't notice all of that going on in the background I was attempting to do too many things at the same time much like I am now.

[Munsu]

Indeed, I loved that the way she died and showing the head splattered on the floor was nice.

That aside, what about the painting spelling out "Guidance" as in "guidance cancellor"? Going further on Agent Ellison, I thought his conversation with Salceda Jr. was good... especially when they started talking about Kobe and shit, I think he did really well on this episode. I like how they've been trying to give him some development and focus... especially when they infer that he has been treated like "Spooky Mulder" from X-files, and he's just been handed down shitty assignments after shitty assignments.

[Assassin]

hmm...i just saw DAN and IDAN....never realized it could've been 'guidance'. Atleast that clarifies who the man was.

ok, crazy theory #2. Could fembots appearence be based someone john knew/knows in the future? Im thinking wife/girlfriend. When they went to meet the future soldiers, sarah asked if they'd know who she (fembot) was, and she said "they've seen me before", instead of a simple yes or "ya, they reprogammed me".