Tonight saw the premiere of the - OK, I'll say it! - "highly anticipated" new TV series that spins out from the events of the first 2 Terminator movies. Nowhere to be seen are the Governator or Linda "the former Mrs James Cameron" Hamilton in the roles of the cyborg from the future and the titular Sarah Connor, having been replaced by a no-namer and Lena Headey, respectively. That's no surprise to anyone who knew anything about this series coming in, but it probably still bears mentioning, given the popularity of the movie series.
In fact, that legacy from the movies is one of the stranger aspects of tonight's series premiere. At several points, I wondered what sense a viewer could make of the proceedings if they'd never seen a Terminator movie before. As we all know, time travel is the cause of headaches for many, and while the premise of the Terminator film franchise is standard fare for science fiction fans the world over, what about someone raised on reality TV and sitcoms? Would they simply give up in frustration or stick with it in the hope that all would be made clear eventually? A little more backstory might not have been a bad thing for the first episode, beyond what squeaked out in a few lines of dialogue. In general, the beats of the 2nd movie are simply repeated here more or less, at least for the first two-thirds of the episode.
In addition to those gripes, I was mildly bothered by the way in which Sarah and John Connor were repeatedly tracked down as they moved around from location to location, with little in the way of explanation given. One of the many outstanding aspects of Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the way in which the plot moved along very tightly, with no leaps of faith or contrived events needed. Every getaway in that movie was clean, and then something would happen to explain how the pesky T-1000 would catch up with them once again. I hope that what we saw tonight isn't indicative that the series will play fast and loose with such things, as it'll surely get very tired, very quickly.
Putting those complaints aside, I liked what I saw. Summer Glau is an interesting choice in the "good Terminator" role, and it's great to see her again after the ill-fated Firefly series (and Serenity movie). I fear that we're going to end up with human-Terminator romance between Connor and the shapely cyborg, but I'll reserve judgment for now. The writers still need to work harder to make us believe that she's super-strong, which should be all the more shocking if and when it happens, considering her slight frame and doe-like eyes!
The rather significant twist near the end of this episode was quite impressive, and unexpected by me. Most of the episode takes place in 1999, two short years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but then the three main characters jump forward in time to 2007! Besides moving the action to current day - and thereby sparing people like me from spending the episode looking for anachronisms in the 1999 scenes - this development opens up all kinds of possibilities. By skipping ahead 8 years, the character of John Connor can stay a teenager while pushing the "rise of the machines" date into our future, which of course is important to the current set of viewers (we already know that Skynet didn't come online in the past, for example). It's unclear whether the show will deal with it or not, but the leap into the future also provides some potential for paradoxes, as we can assume that "future history" has been changed by that action. Lots of food for thought there!
Fortunately, if the pilot is any indication, the worst aspect of the second Terminator movie has been avoided, as this version of teenage John Connor is fairly easy to take. Similarly, his mother Sarah is still desperate, driven and full of piss and vinegar, but not all-out mental like her earlier incarnation had tended to be. I had wondered, when I first heard about this series, just how that level of intensity could ever be sustained in a weekly TV drama, and it looks like they're dealing with that problem by dialing it down just a bit. I consider that a wise choice, personally.
While I wouldn't call the premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles a rousing success, it entertained me thoroughly for an hour, and put more effort into it than, say, Bionic Woman, ever did. I expect to stick with this series for the foreseeable future, or until Fox cancels it and then refuses to air the last several episodes...
Rating: ***
3 comments:
I was actually quite surprised by the show. I had expected the worst--and I thought what we saw was far above average. I see your points about backstory, but I do applaud the choice to just *blast* away, keep the narrative moving, and barely stop for breath. Perhaps things will slow down a bit tonight.
Yeah, re-reading it now I realize that I kind of buried the lead: "I liked what I saw."
It was a good debut but it's still hard to see how they're going to sustain what they've put in motion. I remain cautiously optimistic.
I watched the second episode on last night (missed the premiere) and it was good. Who is this Charlie guy though?
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