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meganbmooreNote: I'm not considering what Summer Glau's character is to be a spoiler. If you don't know that, then you've probably never seen an ad or promo picture. Or, for that matter, heard anyone talk about the series, and they also made it clear what role she would at least claim to take. Also, the only thing beyond that that I'm going in spoiled for is the identity of a mid-season character. And all I know is their identity. No spoilers, please. (It's 9 eps, you won't have to hold it in for long.)
Uhm, I'm going to assume everyone is at least passingly familiar with the first two Terminator movies (we and the show both ignore the third.) If not, here's what happens.
Sarah Connor Chronicles starts off in 1999. Sarah has put her mind back together as much as one can after Judgement Day, and, though she and John are still in hiding, has even found herself a fiance. She knows, however, that it still isn't safe, so she packs John up and moves on, ending up in New Mexico. No sooner are they settled in, though, than they're found by a terminator. Fortunately, John's cute new classmate, Cameron, is a terminator who (so she claims) was sent back by his future self to save him, saying that someone else eventually creates the machines.
You know, John Connor has to be the only guy in the world for whom a slim young woman as the badass protector makes much more sense than the muscular male. I mean, let's face it, according to his parentage and childhood, men who go into battle die. Women who go into battle walk away when it's over. Also, for him, yelling "Mommy!" when in trouble isn't cowardice, it's common sense.
While Judgement Day (and the original Terminator itself) focused on what it's like to know your child will grow up hunted because he'll eventually save humanity from before he was born, neither really has the time to show what that's like when people aren't trying to kill you at the moment. Even before people are trying to kill them in Judgement Day, Sarah's mental state then is at least partly due to six months of people telling her she's insane while she knows that he's out there with no one protecting him, and I don't think there's a lot of difference. (This is why Sarah's together-ness here doesn't really bother me, though I suspect it might others: a lot of the extremes in her behavior struck me as being a result of her current situation.) As this aspect is the part of the movies that was always the most interesting to me (they become rather generic once you remove their being about the hero's mother who has to prepare him) I highly approve of it's being one of the main focuses of the series.
Uhm, I'm going to assume everyone is at least passingly familiar with the first two Terminator movies (we and the show both ignore the third.) If not, here's what happens.
In the future, a company called Skynet creates robots that eventually rebel and take over the world, but they are eventually brought down by a resistance led by John Connor. In a last ditch effort to stop this, the robots send one of their own, a Terminator, back in time to kill John's mother, Sarah, before John can be born. John, however, sends one of his own people, Kyle Reese, back in time to save Sarah. Through a picture John gave him and John's stories about how his mother was the most awesome thing ever and made him able to be a leader, Kyle has already fallen in love with Sarah, and things happen. Eventually, Kyle is killed by the Terminator, but Sarah manages to destroy it by (IIRC) crushing it in a trash compactor. Pregnant, alone, and knowing what's coming, Sarah drops completely off the grid and spends the next dozen of so years in hiding, training herself every combat tactic she can, knowing what's coming.
When John is 12-13, however, they're caught and Sarah is locked up in an institution for blowing things up that she's worried could lead to robots taking over the world. It happens. While she's locked up, another Terminator, a more advanced one, is sent back in time to kill John before his voice finishes cracking. Future!John, however, knows about this, too, and reprograms a Terminator of the old design to go back in time and save is floppy haired little self. While it's doing so, the two break Sarah out of the institution and the three attempt to stop Skynet from ever creating the machines with the help of Myles Dyson, the man whose research would eventually lead to the creation of the machines. Myles and both Terminators die, and Sarah and John hit the road again. (WAIT! Is it Miles or Myles? i'm too lazy to check and I always get confused thanks to my mother's thinking that, if she speled my brother's name "Myles," no one would ever think of the town "Miles" less than an hour away. (He's actually named after Miles Standish, as much as he is after anyone.)
When John is 12-13, however, they're caught and Sarah is locked up in an institution for blowing things up that she's worried could lead to robots taking over the world. It happens. While she's locked up, another Terminator, a more advanced one, is sent back in time to kill John before his voice finishes cracking. Future!John, however, knows about this, too, and reprograms a Terminator of the old design to go back in time and save is floppy haired little self. While it's doing so, the two break Sarah out of the institution and the three attempt to stop Skynet from ever creating the machines with the help of Myles Dyson, the man whose research would eventually lead to the creation of the machines. Myles and both Terminators die, and Sarah and John hit the road again. (WAIT! Is it Miles or Myles? i'm too lazy to check and I always get confused thanks to my mother's thinking that, if she speled my brother's name "Myles," no one would ever think of the town "Miles" less than an hour away. (He's actually named after Miles Standish, as much as he is after anyone.)
Sarah Connor Chronicles starts off in 1999. Sarah has put her mind back together as much as one can after Judgement Day, and, though she and John are still in hiding, has even found herself a fiance. She knows, however, that it still isn't safe, so she packs John up and moves on, ending up in New Mexico. No sooner are they settled in, though, than they're found by a terminator. Fortunately, John's cute new classmate, Cameron, is a terminator who (so she claims) was sent back by his future self to save him, saying that someone else eventually creates the machines.
You know, John Connor has to be the only guy in the world for whom a slim young woman as the badass protector makes much more sense than the muscular male. I mean, let's face it, according to his parentage and childhood, men who go into battle die. Women who go into battle walk away when it's over. Also, for him, yelling "Mommy!" when in trouble isn't cowardice, it's common sense.
While Judgement Day (and the original Terminator itself) focused on what it's like to know your child will grow up hunted because he'll eventually save humanity from before he was born, neither really has the time to show what that's like when people aren't trying to kill you at the moment. Even before people are trying to kill them in Judgement Day, Sarah's mental state then is at least partly due to six months of people telling her she's insane while she knows that he's out there with no one protecting him, and I don't think there's a lot of difference. (This is why Sarah's together-ness here doesn't really bother me, though I suspect it might others: a lot of the extremes in her behavior struck me as being a result of her current situation.) As this aspect is the part of the movies that was always the most interesting to me (they become rather generic once you remove their being about the hero's mother who has to prepare him) I highly approve of it's being one of the main focuses of the series.
Ok, my 2 nitpicks:
1. JOHN REESE?!?!?!?! WTF?!?!?! Ok, I know it's meant to remind us of his origins, and show that Sarah is trying to keep Kyle as a part of John's life and all, but that is just stupid for people who are trying to stay completely off the grid. Sure, John, Sarah and Reese are all pretty common names (let's face it, it's probably why his name is John) but they're on the run and Kyle was arrested, so a combination of the names is more likely to be watched for. TPTB! Nods to fans are only good if they don't reek of bad decisions!
2. Ok, I really don't want "John Connor, Savior of Mankind" on my screen, but really, how is it possible that he does not appear to have any combat or weapons training at all? Sarah is keeping him alive and preparing him to save humanity, shouldn't she be making him learn some of this stuff, too? I'm sure it's to make sure the show doesn't have any chances of turning into "John Connor, Savior of Mankind," but I think it was taken a little too far.
Not really a nitpck, but: Did the computer screen say Sarah was 33? That would put her at about 17 when she got pregnant, which seems to be younger than the impression the movies gave. Or maybe it was meant to be 33 during Judgement Day, which makes more sense.
Nitpicks over.
EVERYTHING ELSE WAS GOOD!
I like that, even though what Cameron claims to be what's going on makes perfect sense, it's ambiguous as to whether or not that's what's really going on. After all, as much as it makes sense for John's choice of a protector to be female, doesn't it also make sense for the other side to realize that he'd naturally be drawn to a female warrior, and more trusting. (I don't mind John being naive and wanting someone to trust. He's 15 and has been raised by a conspiracy theorist who can back it up.) And I really like Sarah's reaction to Cameron, which is very clearly "I'm going along with you while you're keeping him alive, but I'll cheerfully blow your head off if I suspect you're really a bad guy."
Dwelling on John, for a moment, while, as mentioned before, I have no interest in "John Connor, Savior of Mankind," I hope the show does address knowing that, not only will you eventually meet your father as a man younger than you, but you'll also train him and condition him to love your mother, then send him back in time to get her pregnant and die. And then you will reprogram your surrogate father to go back in time and die, thus causing your younger self some serious heartbreak. (John Connor: He Who Understands the Need for Heroic Angst.) This? Is the kind of issue I'd like to see from him.
So far, I really like the track they're taking with Ellison. At first I was worried that he'd be Evil, but it seems they're going the route of his realizing he could be wrong about Sarah, and he seems interested in getting to the bottom of things, not just tracking her down. And can someone please tell me where I've seen him before?
I'm glad Sarah's fiance moved on, instead of mooning over her for 8 years. I just hope it's handled well (read: no making new girlfriend miserable while he obsesses over the old one.)
And the Terminator had a gun in its leg, under the skin! Thank you! That bugged me about the movies. It obviously wasn't an option for Kyle, but why didn't the Terminators have guns implanted under the skin, so they'd already have them when they got back?
The jury is kind of out on the time travel bit. I suspect the real reason for that was so it could be set now while still having John be a teenager. It does nicely puts things in a position for things starting now to result in Skynet going live in 2011. And, I think, supports "Cameron is keeping Secrets" theories.
Last note: from their conversation before Sarah decided to stop Skynet (again) when John essentially told her he couldn't be strong, he relied on her for that, I'm assuming that John won't be able to step up and do what he needs to until she dies. That said, as long as her death is part of the story(current theory is that it's all a plot resulting in Cameron helping Skynet go live in 2011, and that Sarah will die in the final battle before it goes live) and not "Sarah died of cancer between movies because the boss dumped the actress-aka, his wife-for another one of his actresses," I'm good.
1. JOHN REESE?!?!?!?! WTF?!?!?! Ok, I know it's meant to remind us of his origins, and show that Sarah is trying to keep Kyle as a part of John's life and all, but that is just stupid for people who are trying to stay completely off the grid. Sure, John, Sarah and Reese are all pretty common names (let's face it, it's probably why his name is John) but they're on the run and Kyle was arrested, so a combination of the names is more likely to be watched for. TPTB! Nods to fans are only good if they don't reek of bad decisions!
2. Ok, I really don't want "John Connor, Savior of Mankind" on my screen, but really, how is it possible that he does not appear to have any combat or weapons training at all? Sarah is keeping him alive and preparing him to save humanity, shouldn't she be making him learn some of this stuff, too? I'm sure it's to make sure the show doesn't have any chances of turning into "John Connor, Savior of Mankind," but I think it was taken a little too far.
Not really a nitpck, but: Did the computer screen say Sarah was 33? That would put her at about 17 when she got pregnant, which seems to be younger than the impression the movies gave. Or maybe it was meant to be 33 during Judgement Day, which makes more sense.
Nitpicks over.
EVERYTHING ELSE WAS GOOD!
I like that, even though what Cameron claims to be what's going on makes perfect sense, it's ambiguous as to whether or not that's what's really going on. After all, as much as it makes sense for John's choice of a protector to be female, doesn't it also make sense for the other side to realize that he'd naturally be drawn to a female warrior, and more trusting. (I don't mind John being naive and wanting someone to trust. He's 15 and has been raised by a conspiracy theorist who can back it up.) And I really like Sarah's reaction to Cameron, which is very clearly "I'm going along with you while you're keeping him alive, but I'll cheerfully blow your head off if I suspect you're really a bad guy."
Dwelling on John, for a moment, while, as mentioned before, I have no interest in "John Connor, Savior of Mankind," I hope the show does address knowing that, not only will you eventually meet your father as a man younger than you, but you'll also train him and condition him to love your mother, then send him back in time to get her pregnant and die. And then you will reprogram your surrogate father to go back in time and die, thus causing your younger self some serious heartbreak. (John Connor: He Who Understands the Need for Heroic Angst.) This? Is the kind of issue I'd like to see from him.
So far, I really like the track they're taking with Ellison. At first I was worried that he'd be Evil, but it seems they're going the route of his realizing he could be wrong about Sarah, and he seems interested in getting to the bottom of things, not just tracking her down. And can someone please tell me where I've seen him before?
I'm glad Sarah's fiance moved on, instead of mooning over her for 8 years. I just hope it's handled well (read: no making new girlfriend miserable while he obsesses over the old one.)
And the Terminator had a gun in its leg, under the skin! Thank you! That bugged me about the movies. It obviously wasn't an option for Kyle, but why didn't the Terminators have guns implanted under the skin, so they'd already have them when they got back?
The jury is kind of out on the time travel bit. I suspect the real reason for that was so it could be set now while still having John be a teenager. It does nicely puts things in a position for things starting now to result in Skynet going live in 2011. And, I think, supports "Cameron is keeping Secrets" theories.
Last note: from their conversation before Sarah decided to stop Skynet (again) when John essentially told her he couldn't be strong, he relied on her for that, I'm assuming that John won't be able to step up and do what he needs to until she dies. That said, as long as her death is part of the story(current theory is that it's all a plot resulting in Cameron helping Skynet go live in 2011, and that Sarah will die in the final battle before it goes live) and not "Sarah died of cancer between movies because the boss dumped the actress-aka, his wife-for another one of his actresses," I'm good.