By Mark O’Neill
Arnold may have moved onto California to “lead, not to read” as Governor but the Terminator story continues nevertheless in the form of the Sarah Connor Chronicles. As geek fans wait with baited breath to see if a season 2 is about to be commissioned (the signs are good), the debate rages online – is the series a worthy addition to the Terminator series? Or is it nothing more than an embarrassing joke which should be consigned to TV hell?
As a big Terminator fan (my PC is called “Skynet”), I found the series very enjoyable. True, Lena Headey isn’t Linda Hamilton and Summer Glau sure isn’t anyone’s idea of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But oddly I found the series compelling and it filled in a lot of blanks in the timeline. The show’s creator says that the writers strike even helped to bring SCC’s season one to its cliff-hanging ending.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles is set between Terminator 2 Judgment Day and Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines. It follows Sarah Connor and her son John as they try to stay one step ahead of the Terminator robots who are being sent back in time to kill John and stop him from taking over the human resistance when Judgment Day finally arrives. Meanwhile, Sarah and John realise that Skynet will still become operational and they are assisted by another Terminator-turned-guardian angel (played by Summer Glau). But not only are the Terminator robots hot on their heels, but also a FBI agent (played by Richard T Jones).
Criticism of the show includes the absence of James Cameron, the absence of Schwarzenegger, Glau trying to act like a Terminator (I personally thought she was really good in the role) and the slow way in which the show started. Oh and I’m sure picky people found fault with a lot of other things including the way the eyes glowed in the Terminator, the power voltage in the CPU chip and lots of other geeky things.
Do you agree? Do you think the Sarah Connor Chronicles is a non-starter? Or do people not appreciate a good show when it’s staring them in the face?
Oh and on a related note, Terminator 4 will be out in May next year with Christian Bale as John Connor. It’s supposed to be the start of a new trilogy. And no, Arnie will not be back. He’s too busy leading. And maybe reading.