“Come with me if you want to live”
Eight little words that, just shy of twenty-five years ago, began what is, to this day, the greatest action film series of all time. But the story of the Terminator series is not simply one of films. This is not a review of those films. However, the various aspects are pretty intertwined, so perhaps a little explanation is in order.
In 1984, a small independent film was produced. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn, The Terminator was the story of a young woman named Sarah Connor and her flight from a deadly, unstoppable cyborg.
In the future, Skynet, a global defense grid, has become sentient. When humanity attempts to rein it in, Skynet attacks the USSR, provoking a nuclear holocaust known as Judgment Day. But the few remnants of humanity band together, eventually destroying Skynet and its machines under the leadership of one man: John Connor.
Sensing immanent doom, Skynet uses the newly-developed Time Displacement Equipment to send one of its infiltration units – a Terminator – back in time to kill Sarah Connor, preventing her unborn child from ever becoming leader of the Resistance. Humanity, however, has sent Kyle Reese back to protect Sarah, and he, it turns out, is actually to be John’s father.
Well balanced between action and exposition, The Terminator became a monster of a sleeper hit, eventually making more than twelve times its initial budget.
This spawned a sequel in 1991. Even more well-received, Terminator 2: Judgment Day would go on to become one of the most popular films of the decade, and is still widely considered the greatest action film of all time. Introducing the “liquid metal” T-1000, this film saw a major reversal from the first film – rather than hunting Sarah, Schwarzenegger’s Terminator was actually sent from the future to protect her and her son John.
T2 was less wordy and more action-driven than its parent film, but at the same time kept the original’s feel. Both films carried heavy sci-fi undercurrents (other than the basic premise) and, though clearly action films, were actually about something. T1 was about the dangers of computers, and how, in all-too-short order, they might very well be able to compete with us as a species. Likewise, T2 was about the nature of the machine, and what you do with an entity so intelligent, yet unfeeling. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to feel?
At the same time, the films explored the issues of time-travel. The duology straddled the lines between free-will and predestination quite well, never really picking a side. T2 ends with Sarah Connor speculating on the nature of destiny, that there “is no fate but what we make for ourselves.” At the same time, her son, John, was in and of himself a predestination paradox. It’s never declared what elements have to happen, and which ones can be altered.
These elements were largely dropped in 2003 for the next piece of the trilogy, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Much lighter-toned than the first two, the film suffered from an un-compelling villain and mediocre actors. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good movie, but it didn’t live up to the other two.
Though T3 contained some minor character ideas (John Connor wanting no part of his destiny, the Terminator losing control of himself, declaring himself to be a machine) the soul was lost.
And that’s where we come in. In 2007, the Terminator series took a turn for the episodic with the launch of the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Blatantly ignoring the sub-par additions of T3, TSCC picked up where T2 left off. Sarah, and her now teenaged son John, have been living a fairly good life, roaming from location to location, finally settling down. Sarah has a boyfriend, John likes him, hooray!
But all is not well. Sarah leaves in the dead of night, vanishing with John and beginning anew in a different town. But when John goes to his first day at his new school, he learns that no, the future is not set. Skynet is still gunning for the boy-who-would-be-leader-of-humanity, and has sent the new T-888 model to finish what the T-800 and T-1000 couldn’t.
Enter Cameron Phillips – advanced-model Terminator, protector, and super-hot lady. Straight, male readers may use this time to drool over Summer Glau. I advise the women to do something productive, like cure AIDS, or write a letter to your senator. We’ll be here when you get back.
…
…
…
Ahem. Yes. Cameron, attempting to buy them all some time, uses an emergency set of Time Displacement Equipment to sent the Connors forward to the year 2007, hiding them from the eyes of Skynet, but moving them that much closer to a 2011 Judgment Day.
Since the plot is so central to what makes this series great, I won’t spoil much more of it for you. Eventually, Sarah, Cameron, and John are joined by Derek Reese, Kyle Reese’s brother. Together, they begin to seek out and attack Skynet in one last prolonged attempt to stop Judgment Day completely.
But what makes this series so good?
Everything.
No. Seriously. This is great stuff.
Though one might suspect a special-effect riddled ‘spolsion-a-thon for a franchise like Terminator, TSCC is actually extremely well balanced. Based more on the first film as far as tone goes, the series is incredibly smart, asking deep, relevant, philosophical questions while still managing to blow stuff up a lot. For every episode spent shooting at robots, there is another one spent mostly in dialogue. Cameron is the most advanced Terminator model yet, capable of far more emotional development than previous models. This raises even more questions than T2 did: can a machine love? Can one (sanely) love a machine? At what point does humanity begin, and what, if any, responsibilities do we have toward such synthetic life-forms?
Other questions abound as well, and are explored with wonderful performances by the cast. Thomas Dekker captures the evolution of John Connor from boy to hero perfectly, really conveying the inner struggle of a young man “destined” for greatness, but still unsure of himself. Brian Austin Green’s Derek Reese shows the inner conflict of a man who saw the world burn, and must learn just how much of his humanity he may be willing to give up to prevent it.
But best of all is Lena Heady (*sigh*) as Sarah Connor. Heady gets that, while Sarah is sane, she is not perfectly sane. There was a reason she was in an asylum for so long in T2. That little touch of paranoia adds a beautiful underscore to her depiction of a woman torn by war and fear, yet willing to do anything to protect her son. A woman who truly cares for her boy, but doesn’t know quite how to deal with their changing relationship as he matures.
The cast is rounded out by other wonderful supporting actors such as Richard T. Jones as James Ellison, Leven Rambin as Riley Dawson, Shirley Manson as Catherine Weaver, and, best of all, Garret Dillahunt as Cromartie. Though perfectly suited to playing a Terminator, Dillahunt proved himself a wonderful actor in Season 2, where he took on the role of John Henry, a child-like computer the size of a room. His scenes with Jones were nothing shy of amazing, showing an alternate side to the possibility of computer intelligence.
Amazing plot twists, brilliant characters, and deep themes all make TSCC great. But what about the action? You know, the special effects – robots, explosions, guns and lasers?
Well yes. That’s all there too. This is not a second-rate show in any way – the SEs are stellar, and the photography is nothing shy of gorgeous. Each episode renders the world with life-like precision – hell, this show looks a lot better than Terminator Salvation did. Rarely do you notice any issues with the CGI – it’s one of those rare cases these days where you really don’t notice the boundary between computer imagery and live-action (appropriate, no?)
Visually stunning, character-driven, story-based, philosophy-coated artistic genius, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a breath of fresh air in the world of television, bringing a faint flicker of greatness to a world of mediocrity and cheap thrills. It was a thinker’s show that could be enjoyed by anyone, an action show with deep ideas. Once in a while things could get a bit wordy, but it was a rare issue, usually balanced by a prolonged gun-battle later on.
So where did Sarah go?
Sadly, TSCC didn’t have particularly strong viewership. Like many other shows before it (such as Firefly) TSCC’s nature as a sci-fi series alienated enough of the population to prevent it from gaining a real foot-hold. This issue was compounded in Season 2, when the series was moved to Friday night in order to lead in to the Joss Whedon show Dollhouse. With Friday night prime-time a much harder fight than on Mondays, Sarah fell by the wayside. Things were aggravated by the fact that a large number of Terminator fans are, well, geeks. Translation? We know how to use Hulu. Although the official site at Fox counted hits towards ratings, Hulu, though far more popular, did not.
I watched more than half of the season on Hulu. My viewership, and those of countless others, went unrecorded, hastening the downfall of a truly stellar show.
Earlier this year, it was announced that The Sarah Connor Chronicles would not receive a third season. Some cite the waning numbers, others say they didn’t want the show competing with Terminator Salvation’s theatrical run. Whatever the reason, the show lost out. Though praised by reviewers and adored by fans, Terminator was done.
Or was it?
Even before the official announcement of TSCC’s cancelation, a website devoted to keeping Sarah on the air was made. http://www.savetscc.com/ was created to raise company awareness and organize fan support for the show.
Now a turning point has come. Rumors has leaked from within Warner Bros. that TSCC is being considered for direct-to-DVD films, and one can never rule out the possibility of a full Season 3.
To that end, SaveTSCC has launched a massive fan push to both celebrate the release of Season 2 on DVD, and to beg for TSCC’s continuation in some shape or form. Dozens of different fan activities are going on, with letter writing, priced-at-production sticker distribution, phone calls, billboards, and even ads in movie theaters.
I’m here to ask for your help. This fall could very well be the endgame for TSCC, and we must not let that happen.
How many of you wished for that 14th episode of Firefly? How many of you craved a 6th season of Angel? How many of you uttered “hasta la vista, baby” while wearing those new sunglasses, or quipped “I’ll be back” with the pseudo-Austrian accent?
If you are one of those people, or even just a person who wants to see more artistic effort on television, stand with us now. If you are someone who is sick of the mistreatment of intelligent programs, who likes to occasionally think while viewing, stand with us now. If you are someone who admires the talent, effort, and love it takes to tell a good story, to take fiction and make it so very, very human, stand with us now.
Get involved.
For the future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.
Save The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Save The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Facebook
The Terminator Wiki
The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Amazon
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment