Chimpomatic

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Series 2, ep1

Virgin 1

Was pretty sceptical about this Terminator franchise when it was first mooted - especially after the T3 debacle (a film so bad I forgot i was watching it after wandering off to get a snack and then getting sidetracked by something more interesting. Like the washing up). Ended up enjoying the first series, which seemed to work as a kind of update of 80s TV series. It's nowhere near the depth of a reboot like Battlestar Galactica (but then what is?) - but miles better than the Blahonic Woman.

Ep1 of the second series launches straight in where we left off, with friendly Terminatrix Summer Glau being blown up in a booby-trapped van, the agent who's been on the Connor tail finally confronting the fact that all that nonsense about killer robots from the future is in fact true, and John and Sarah C still trying to do the mom and son thing while also dealing with the impending apocalypse. 

This time round, they're also going to have to contend with Shirley "Garbage" Manson, as the hard-assed boss of some super-tech corp who are no doubt up to good and getting ready to meddle with Skynet's evil plans for tomorrow. Hilarious bit where she morphs out of a loo to attack someone... Next week, in true 80s fashion, Sarah and Cameron wangle their way into a nuclear reactor as janitors... minimum security checks or what? No wonder the human race is screwed...

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22nd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Pilot

Fox/Virgin 1

"Half an hour. One bag, plus the guns. I'll make pancakes."

Entertaining attempt to string out the Terminator franchise into a Littlest Hobo/Hulk style TV show - they're on the run, they've got to solve some mystery, help some local fools down a well, move on again at the end of the episode etc etc.

Summer Glau- who played the kooky mystic River in Serenity and Firefly gets the T:2.5 upgrade here delivering the "come with me if you want to live" line as the good Terminator, which is no doubt going to be a bit confusing for young John Connor (Thomas Dekker- the geek who hung out with the cheerleader in Heroes until he had his mind wiped). She's the same "age" (well, built to look like she is), his uptight mum keeps making him swap schools - surely she's the only candidate he's going to be allowed to hang out with?

Lena Heady - who was tough Queen Gorgo in 300 does a good job of taking over from Linda Hamilton as the tooled-up Sarah Connor, keeping family life running at a fairly paranoid pace, no doubt checking in with some of her survivalist pals as the series goes on. No Arnie or even Robert Patrick obviously, but the other bad Terminator (Skynet has obviously got its future factories busy churning out some new models) is OK, chasing after them, pulling guns out of his legs etc; and there's also a human cop chasing them (just like the Hulk) who's figured out that something weird might be going on with these pesky Connors who keep getting into explosive trouble.

It's set sometime after T:2, and ignores T:3 (wise move), with the Connors and "Cameron" (the friendly Terminator) trying to track down Skynet and figure out how to take control of the future. Again.

Would have liked them to keep it as a period piece in the 1980s (where we start out) - not to spoil things too much, but there is some (budget-friendly) time-travelling to get things into the noughties (where sets are easier to build I guess). Much better than the Bionic Woman reboot, the other new cyborg-babe show vying for your attention in 2008.

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#chimp71

30th Dec 2007 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet