Fox TERMINATOR series: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (1 Viewer)

[Robert Ringwald]

I think it COULD work. You basically have to just assume a different angle in the Terminator Universe. The series could be a 5 year storyline as Sarah battles various things sent from the future as well as attempts to take down Skynet. Obviously some different ideas would have to come into play, and they'd have to take some liberties, but I can see it working if it was well written.

Then again, it'll probably just be a poorly done series. Here's hoping not though.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yeah, but IMO all of this "what if she fought other machines from the future" talk is just reaching and adding padding.

Now, if we use John's story instead, that's very fertile ground for new and cool ideas, is far more interesting and we get the added bonus of seeing cool sci-fi battles each week with dramatic storylines being played out against that back-drop.

I envision a sort of Band of Brothers type of thing, but set in the future war with Skynet. In short, that extended future scene in the original where Kyle looks at Sarah's picture...but in series form.

It's just more fun to follow that instead of Sarah.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I like the character of Sarah too but a whole series based on her life in between movies where you know her outcome is rediculous and just more proof that Hollywood is out of ideas.
Leave it alone!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Having just finished watching the original on Spike, I think it's rather marvellous. Much of what John will become is based on who she becomes in the past. The only thing it requires is a little imagination.
Personally, I don't watch for the conclusion, I watch for all of the juicy character moments in between.

 

[StephenA]

The only way I think the show would work is if her story was part of an anthology series based on the Terminator movies.

 

[MishaLauenstein]

Doomed to be the #2 Show On TELEVISION!

Last Week's #1 Show, CSI, got 27% of the viewers.
#2, Desperate Housewives, got 23%

Therefore, the Conner Chronicles, with it's guaranteed 25% share of the audience will take over from DH as the #2 show.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Keep in mind just because they've optioned a Pilot does'nt mean it will sell and get made, several Years back Fox filmed a Pilot Based On Buckaroo Banzai and it did not sell. This may be another Pilot like it and the Failed JLA Series that never gets seen

 

[Chris Roberts]

Sarah Conner was right, you do make your own fate. She was however wrong that Cyberdyne = Skynet. Cyberdyne was doing research & development on the recovered terminator pieces from the first movie, but the government were always the ones actually building Skynet. Thus, Sarah never stopped Judgement Day she only delayed it.

For me its really the timeframe that hurts this show. Personally I rarely watch the first movie because of the 80's factor (the hair, music, clothes, and everything else I hated about that decade). Will we have jokes about Y2K in the tv show? Or people talking about how great bands are that haven't been popular for over 10 years. And other stuff to remind us its in the 80s/90s instead of current, because that would be lame.

Now, if in the future John Connor and his wife have a daughter named Sarah and the show is her adventures after the war is over that could be cool.

Just my immediate thoughts.

 

[Diallo B]

wow. terminator purists are gonna flip out on this one.

i recently saw this screener and let me just say that i was immensely entertained. however, there is no way that this show is going to stick to the consistency set forth is the movies. it is not even close.

i think the acting, direction and special effects are on par with or top what is seen on contemporary television for a sci fi series. the new actress for sarah is pretty convincing but does not have the grit of her predecessor. john is well.... let's just say john. not much to go on there from the young actor in t2.

great show. but should it have been called something else. it does not fit in the terminator mythos based on what we have already seen by any stretch of the imagination. prepare yourselves.

so all you terminator purists and fanboys out there get ready to cry foul. this is gonna be a loooooong thread.

 

[TravisR]

It still can't be as bad as Terminator 3. I hope.

 

[Diallo B]

it is not bad at all.

just not going to fit timewise, story wise or anything wise into the time period that they are attempting to put it.

it will probably turn off its primary fan base and outside of that i don't know if any additional demographic will actually like it.

i like the terminator franchise and i am not all caught up in the consistency issue like some folks are. i am open to interpretation. but if previous re interpretations that have been discussed here on htf are any indication then it doesn't bode well for this show on this forum or on the airwaves.

 

[Diallo B]

but with all that said. i would still watch it.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

If T3 is the continuity problem:
The producers/writers are approaching the series as a new post-T2 continuity. After the T3 continuity failed to save humanity, they sent back Cameron to protect the Connors, and she sets them down a completely new timeline.

 

[Diallo B]

adam. weeeelllllll, maybe. it is still a pretty big stretch.

i am trying to remember some things. this is gonna force me to catch t2 again........

 

[paul_v]

I just watched the pilot and I am very impressed. Fans should be satisfied with the way they are handling the timeline...at least I am. I read that they are going to alter a scene in the pilot probably for political correctness (ugh!) which would suck because it was a really good action scene.

 

[Chris]

I agree with someone else, though.. if Summer Glau were my terminator who had to do what I said, and I was a 17 year old boy.....

(Admin note - please spoilerize plot/character stuff from the pilot)

 

[TravisR]

is just a way to avoid unintended parallels to real life events. 24 re-edited its pilot where an airplane blew up because it was going to air less than two months after September 11 and they knew that the scene would just bring up negative vibes among the viewers.

 

[Stephen Orr]

TravisR, I thought the same thing while I was watching.

 

[Will_B]

I did not find the scene in question to have any significant resemblance to any of the several real life school shootings that happened either before or after the show was made.

The scene is important because it is meant to show that even places in which we feel safe may not be safe. It also introduces the level of sophistication the Terminators in the series are capable of, and some info about weaponry, and associated info about how the public reconciles seemingly impossible things that they've witnessed. It may be difficult to recapture all these different elements if they have to remake the scene somewhere else.

Hopefully when the series hits DVD, it will be the episode as intended.

I want to amend my earlier comments that the male Terminator can't act, having seem the whole episode now. He remains one of the weak links but is not horrible. He's passable. Fortunately the rest of the cast is uniformly great. And anyway we may see different Terminators in the series anyway.

As a fan of Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor character, I can say without reservation that I liked Lena Headey's version of Sarah just fine. It wasn't a caricature of Linda Hamilton, it felt natural. She evoked Linda in her occasional forceful statements (directed at her son, mostly), and from there, she made Sarah a bit more loving.

The character of John is solid; he's not a doofus like he was in T3.

And Summer Glau, though obviously way older than a teenager, is really lovely. I'd have watched the show just for her, but as it turns out everyone else is worth watching too.

 

[Diallo B]

i agree with will. too bad they will be editing that scene out.