Sarah Conner Chronicles

[Krafus]

I thought it was kind of meh. Nothing exceptional, but not a total disaster either. My biggest complaints are not changing aliases (you'd think people on the run from near-unstoppable robot killers would change identities like other people change socks) and the time jump to 2007 (likely so they wouldn't have to keep rigidly faithful to 1999 tech). Still, it was a bit fun to see Miss We-Must-Always-Hide have a picture of her taken by cell phone first thing when she arrived in 2007.

Anyway, I'll be watching the second ep tonight.

[Tempra]

Wow, horrible.

Bad sarah connor, bad john connor, bad bad terminator, bad good terminator.

At least summer glau is hot, it is about the only reason to watch that show.

[Mexal]

Wow, horrible.

Bad sarah connor, bad john connor, bad bad terminator, bad good terminator.

At least summer glau is hot, it is about the only reason to watch that show.

It's just the first episode. It might get better.

I haven't seen it yet though so I can't really comment. I just know a lot of shows out there start off slow then buckle down and become somewhat decent. Most people aren't saying it's all that bad so I have faith it'll get better.

[Robert's Last Bastard]

Well, I enjoyed the show. Fortunately for me, I don't think I have seen T1 and T2 since they were in the theatres, so other than recalling the overall premise, I have very little frame of reference to spoil the experience. Sure, there were some improbabilities, but they weren't that far-fetched. It's Sci-fi afterall. Why wouldn't a killer robot from the future that is familiar with the Terminator programming wire her truck with C4? Makes sense to me- she knows he's coming, why not prepare?

My take: Not a bad stab at programming when you're trying to appeal to a broad, non-fanboy target audience. I think they hit their mark. Not everyone is a geek (like us)-

[Mazrick]

I liked it. Some bad acting but, an overall enjoyable ride.

[Tempra]

It's just the first episode. It might get better.

I haven't seen it yet though so I can't really comment. I just know a lot of shows out there start off slow then buckle down and become somewhat decent. Most people aren't saying it's all that bad so I have faith it'll get better.

Perhaps. I didn't find the story to be terrible. I found every role they casted terrible. The black fbi(?) agent and the dude from Oz may be alright. I don't think i can see my mind changing about any of the other ones though.

[Analu]

Have you watched any horror movie in the last ten years?

Um, yeah I have. So what's your point?

The girl in The Ring was freaky because the movie took the time to develop her character, so by the time she appeared, she was scary as hell. I'll bet whatever else horror movie you're referring to does the same. Which is my whole point. If you take the time to set it up, it can be very effective. Case in point: what Whedon did with River Tam. But if network television didn't want to, I could understand why they'd use big, brawny male types for their Terminators. That's all.

The episode last night was pretty bad. The Connors didn't strike any sort of chord with me. At one point, I was rooting for the evil Terminator. But I'll probably watch tonight's episode and give it another chance.

[Zulofritter]

Um, yeah I have. So what's your point?

The girl in The Ring was freaky because the movie took the time to develop her character, so by the time she appeared, she was scary as hell. I'll bet whatever else horror movie you're referring to does the same. Which is my whole point. If you take the time to set it up, it can be very effective. Case in point: what Whedon did with River Tam. But if network television didn't want to, I could understand why they'd use big, brawny male types for their Terminators. That's all.

It's still a bad choice. I'll go ahead and spell it out.

Creating a fictional situation where gender roles don't matter, then falling back on these roles, is a missed chance for innovative storytelling.

More importantly, this is a story about technological horror. A wrong image, such as an incredibly strong young woman or child, is a scarier image in this setting. (I should say that I think Schwartzendegger was a lazy choice to cast in the first movie, and that the 3rd terminator didn't work because there was no character development, and the stakes weren't raised the way they were in T2.)

[SquireThomas]

Lets see, Hamilton's Conner was smart, resourceful, tough as nails, and more than a little bit unhinged. This one is none of that. John is a pussy. And I never thought I'd go out of my way to defend an Arnie performance, but I never had to pretend that he was an unstoppable robotic killing machine. He fucking was Terminator. With the new girl and random guy...kinda got to pretend they're intimidating.

Seriously. I think playing a Terminator is actually harder than it might appear at first blush: you can't look too angry, which I think was the problem with Loken from T-3 and this new guy. Take Robert Patrick from T-2: he just looks implacable, which I think is much scarier. The expression on his face when he's chasing John down the canal with his semi is just chilling.

[CelticBrennus]

I think the power of the terminator image was not that its a form of technological horror, and attempting to build off that, but rather build off the image of the terminator as a unstoppable force of nature. They were not quick, like in martial arts movies, they didnt possess supernatural aim and accuracy, but they were unstoppable.

The fear was that they simply kept coming, and coming and coming, over and over, and no matter what you did, you couldnt stop them. The emotionless quality of the character is a key factor, that is also simply lacking here.

For that, Arnold was perfect. He was massive, imposing, methodical, and unstoppable. Plus, those are the roles that he does best at, the unstoppable killing machine, be it Conan or Terminator.

A little girl could work in a different style of movie, but not in this.

[Jon AS]

A little girl could work in a different style of movie, but not in this.

I think she couldn't work as the bad guy, in the role she's been given here she isn't too bad IMO. I didn't have high hopes for this show, so I wasn't disappointed with what I saw.

Better than Bionic Woman anyway.

[Analu]

It's still a bad choice. I'll go ahead and spell it out.

Creating a fictional situation where gender roles don't matter, then falling back on these roles, is a missed chance for innovative storytelling.

More importantly, this is a story about technological horror. A wrong image, such as an incredibly strong young woman or child, is a scarier image in this setting. (I should say that I think Schwartzendegger was a lazy choice to cast in the first movie, and that the 3rd terminator didn't work because there was no character development, and the stakes weren't raised the way they were in T2.)

Well thanks for spelling it out for me. I disagree. I stand by my opinion that at first glance, a Terminator along the lines of Arnie or liquid-metal guy is more menacing than a female one, and that it would take a little more development for the the majority of the audience to be frightened by the latter. That's all I've been saying this whole time, not that it's a good or innovative idea. Obviously it's not an innovative concept.

And Arnie was perfect for the first Terminator given the era in which it came out, lazy choice or not.

[Shryke]

I think the power of the terminator image was not that its a form of technological horror, and attempting to build off that, but rather build off the image of the terminator as a unstoppable force of nature. They were not quick, like in martial arts movies, they didnt possess supernatural aim and accuracy, but they were unstoppable.

The fear was that they simply kept coming, and coming and coming, over and over, and no matter what you did, you couldnt stop them. The emotionless quality of the character is a key factor, that is also simply lacking here.

For that, Arnold was perfect. He was massive, imposing, methodical, and unstoppable. Plus, those are the roles that he does best at, the unstoppable killing machine, be it Conan or Terminator.

A little girl could work in a different style of movie, but not in this.

Agreed. This is exactly what made the Terminators so damn scary. They were completely emotionless. They simply kept coming, no matter what you did. Very Machine-like. They never get tired or hurt, but simply continue to pursue you singlemindedly till they kill you.

[Tempra]

i just realized that sarah connor was queen gorgo in 300. Wow. She was stunning in 300 and so omg blah in sarah connor chronicles. Why?? Linda Hamilton wasn't so homely in T2

[Tyria]

Mr. Tyr was really looking forward to it, but I went in with low expectations. I thought it was ok, but no reaction like "zomg!!!11! I can't wait for the next episode!!!"

It had some annoyances, which have been mentioned, but one part made us both laugh out loud. How the hell did they hear the bad guy breaking through the glass in the bank when they were locked in the vault? Pretty flimsy vault!

[Harlot]

OK, so you are a teenage boy and a naked River Tam and and a naked Queen Gorgo suddenly appear in the highway in front of you. Where do point your camera-phone? At their faces, of course!

I am planning to watch tonigt's ep, but so far I don't see myself tuning in every week. But I don't have cable and don't watch much television, so that's not such a terrible condemnation.

[HokieStone]

At least summer glau is hot, it is about the only reason to watch that show.

Am I the only one (well, male) who doesn't think she's "hot"? Don't get me wrong - she's not ugly by any stretch of the imagination. But she looks the same as she did in Firefly - roughly 13 - 15 years old. I have no idea how old she is in real life, but that's how old she looks like on screen - how long ago was Firefly on TV - 4 years? She doesn't look like she's aged a bit. Anyway, when people say she's hot, it kinda comes across creepy to me because she looks so young.

[Ser Greguh]

Am I the only one (well, male) who doesn't think she's "hot"? Don't get me wrong - she's not ugly by any stretch of the imagination. But she looks the same as she did in Firefly - roughly 13 - 15 years old. I have no idea how old she is in real life, but that's how old she looks like on screen - how long ago was Firefly on TV - 4 years? She doesn't look like she's aged a bit. Anyway, when people say she's hot, it kinda comes across creepy to me because she looks so young.

IMDB lists her birthday as 24 Jul 1981, which puts her at 26. She just looks young. She'll be carded until she's 40

[EHK for Darwin]

One minor inconsistency I've always had with the Terminator series. The whole 'transported naked, can't bring back machinery' bs. Now obviously Cameron put this in there so that he didn't have to have a bunch of laser guns in his sci-fi/thriller-horror. And I respect that choice. And honestly, this is probably nothing more than fanboy wankery. Usually you forgive minor lapses of logic if they exist to set up the premise.

That said, why the hell couldn't they transport back a whole fricken stash of futuristic super-guns covered in blood and tissue? If they can get robotic skeletons simply because its wearing a little skin, guns wouldn't be that hard. Or while we're at it, screw the terminators and just wrap a nuke in flesh and set it off. No real risk of failure there.

[Mexal]

I'm mildly entertained. I will watch it next week.