Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

[llywela]

Finally got around to watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles this week. Now, I wasn't really sure what to expect, since I've never watched a single one of the Terminator films. But obviously, the TV show would have to be completely standalone, in order to draw in a wider audience, so that I could follow what was going on right from the start. And I really liked it. The show has a big enough budget to be slick - lucky them - and is fast-paced and intriguing throughout, with engaging characters and fluid character dynamics.

I did wonder at times if it might help to watch the various Terminator films - there are three, right? - to get the background. But that would mean Arnie, obviously. And although backstory is always good, I don't think it is necessary here, because the show provides all the background needed to understand the story, and from what I can tell the mythology is in constant flux anyway. It is a story all about time travel - people and robots coming back from the future in order to change it. So, for example, you get Derek coming from the future and killing Andy Goode in the present. Now, Andy was alive and well in the future that Derek came from. But now he is dead and unable to play any part in that future - he will never take his place in the resistance, and never confess his part in the creation of Skynet to Derek, thus never providing the motivation for Derek to track him down and assassinate him in the past.... It sets up one hell of a paradox, really. But as I understand it, the whole mythology is founded on such temporal paradoxes, and the trick is not to think about them too hard!

Also? I know a guy called Andy Goode! He bears no resemblance to the one in the show, though.

Call me obsessed, but where young John is concerned, I couldn't help but feel at times that - if you exchange robots for monsters - his life bears strong parallels to what life must have been like for the Winchester boys growing up, in SN. Paranoid, obsessive parent, trained as a soldier and yet still a kid, moving constantly, regularly exposed to danger....

I like Sarah. She's completely paranoid, but rightly so. Hard as nails and has all the right moves, yet struggles at times to make the hard choices. She's reluctant to kill. I like that about her. I also like Derek. Because, honestly - this guy witnessed the apocalypse when he was 15, and raised his little brother underground only to have him disappear, never to be seen again. He's been imprisoned and tortured, and spent more than half his life fighting in the resistance. So it's hardly surprising that he isn't exactly a ray of sunshine! He is very, very damaged, a soldier to the core, and his harsh pragmatism makes a good counterbalance to Sarah's conscience, while his absolute pessimism sits perfectly alongside her paranoia.

Cameron, it has to be said, bears strong resemblance to Summer Glau's last major role, River in Firefly. She wants to watch she isn't typecast! The cyborg's journey through the strike-shortened season has been intriguing, as there is clearly more to her than meets the eye.

Also intriguing, and very well worked through the plot, is the way the various supporting characters such as Ellison, Charley and Cromartie are each developed in isolation from one another and the main cast, each following their own path, only for their circumstances to inexorably draw them all together over the course of time, their lives overlapping and interlinking. All those character arcs and subplots came together for an engrossing and at times truly nerve-jangling season finale, and I'm really looking forward to finding out how the story develops in season two.

Comments

[mr-lavigne.livejournal.com]

I liked this show. I watched the 1st two Terminators just before it started, cos I had never seen them either!

You should try and make the effort to watch at least T2, it's really good.

Looking forward to S2 which starts soon!

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Maybe one day I will get around to watching the films. I do find Arnie something of a turn off, though. But the background to this show might convince me to watch eventually!

Season two should be good. All the shows were so disrupted by the strike last season - it'll be good to (hopefully) get an uninterrupted run.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I found this show rather boring (I don't find Summer Glau all that appealing, to be honest) - until Derek appeared. I think that he spiced the show pretty nicely and Brian Austin Green does a great job there. They chose him perfectly for that role :)

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

It always fascinates me the way everyone reacts to shows so differently, no matter how many shows two people have in common, or how alike their taste might be. I really enjoyed watching this one - it might have helped that I saw all nine episodes in less than a week, rather than spaced out.

I enjoyed Summer Glau in Firefly - that kind of crazy isn't easy to pull off effectively - and she's done a good job here with a character that has plenty of similarities to that one. The cyborg with touches of humanity is old hat in sci fi, of course, so I'm interested to see where they are going with Cameron - so many hints that there is more to her than cold metal, but is that just a mislead? I'm curious to find out.

The pace definitely intensifies once Derek shows up - he really does add something to the mix that was needed. Sarah and John both accepted Cameron so completely, and the three of them made such a harmonious team; Derek adds an element of tension that is needed to spice things up. And I'm very impressed with Brian Austin Green - he's come a long way since 90210!

[babelmira.livejournal.com]

I agree. I'd got bored with the series and not liking LH in the role hadn't helped. but when the brother turned up there's all kinds of angst etc that can be explored. And I like how all the characters interact now there's a human cuckoo in the nest.

[babelmira.livejournal.com]

The creators have said it takes off from the end of T2, so ignoring the third movie. It wouldn't hurt to see both of them as it will explain the backstory.

You can take or leave the third and potential fourth film as ways it could have gone.

Personally, the T3 film is not canon in our house. Never happened.

I liked SCC, not enough to dl, but enough to hire. Wouldn't buy it though. I don't like Lena Headey.

You're not the only one to have drawn parallels between the Connors and the Winchesters, even before SCC was done. There's even some xo stuff around. Not much, but as the SCC becomes more well known I expect we'll see more of it

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Heh. See, me, I dl'd - which is free - rather than hire, which I'd have to pay for and it was an unknown quantity! I'm thinking it is the kind of show where I will eventually end up with the DVDs, when I see them reduced someplace (and have an income again).

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

I love this show. It has great dynamics and I really like the fact that it has two really strong women. The addition of Derek definitely added to the story, he is such a complex and ambiguous character. He reminds me a great deal of John Winchester.

Call me obsessed, but where young John is concerned, I couldn't help but feel at times that - if you exchange robots for monsters - his life bears strong parallels to what life must have been like for the Winchester boys growing up, in SN. Paranoid, obsessive parent, trained as a soldier and yet still a kid, moving constantly, regularly exposed to danger....


Although there are a lot of parallels, the one difference I see is that John NEVER has any reason to think that anything is more important to Sarah than he is. She has made it clear that keeping him safe is her priority. Stopping the machines is important to her mostly because it is the only way that she can keep him safe. In that way she is a more supportive parent than John was to the boys. But I agree, Winchesters and the Connors do live under very similar circumstances.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

one difference I see is that John NEVER has any reason to think that anything is more important to Sarah than he is
Hell yes. There are many parallels - Derek practically raising his little brother is another - but also many crucial differences. And there of course are parallels and contrasts to be drawn with other shows, but SN tends to be the one that owns my brain most of the time...

I think I missed your birthday the other day. \o/ If I don't check the right page in time, they disappear leaving me wondering if there was one coming up or did I imagine it. Did you have a good day?

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

Yes, It was a good day, which is good, because my next few weeks are going to be very hectic.