Sarah (Lena Heady) and John (Thomas Dekker) watch their protector Cameron (Summer Glau) build a weapon in TERMINATOR:THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES(2008).
© Fox

Mania Grade: B
Maniac Grade: B
Episode: Pilot
Starring: Lena Heady, Summer Glau, Thomas Dekker
Produced By: Mario Kassar

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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Pilot

I didn’t watch the early broadcast of this pilot so I saw it Sunday night for the first time. I’ve been excited for it because I believe there is potential for a great series within this mythology. My reaction to this series is mixed but hopeful. First things first, this series appears to contradict the mythology set up by the first two films quite a bit. That ticked me off but I had to let it go and try to enjoy the series on its own. There were plenty of nods at those films though, such as the fake last name “Reese” (John’s father’s name) and Glau’s character name of Cameron (director James Cameron).

So, the show is set between T2 and T3 and it picks up with Sarah and her son John settled in a small town with fake identities. A man that Sarah has been with over the last two years proposes to her right after she ahs a nightmare about a Terminator tracking them down. She waits for the man to head to work and she packs John up and they move to another small town where John starts school. At school he meets Cameron (Glau) who ends up protecting him from a Terminator attack. As if we didn’t already know from all the press, Cameron is a Terminator herself sent back John to protect his mother and his younger self. When John, Cameron, and Sarah go on the run John demands that they find out who has restarted the SkyNet program and stop them rather than just keep running. Cameron, who doesn’t seem nearly as determined to just protect John as she should be, agrees to help them and builds a time machine so they can move ahead from 1999 to 2007 and begin the investigation as well as run from the law and the Terminators. There’s also an FBI agent chasing Sarah and her boyfriend too. It seems like we’ll see these characters re-occurring as they chase Sarah and crew from small town to small town.

Right off the saving grace of this series is Lena Heady and Summer Glau. They both have great charisma and they do good jobs with their parts. I’m conflicted about Heady though. When I think of Sarah Connor, especially post T2, I think of an extremely muscular “tough as nails” Mom who cares nothing for her looks, who is focused on her job. Lena is a great actress but she’s extremely thin and not tough looking at all. Plus, she’s mostly dressed like a soccer mom with a messy hip hair cut. Now, you could make the argument that her soccer mom appearance is a cover, an attempt to become invisible and I can go with that and say that’s why I still liked her in the episode. Her extremely thin appearance doesn’t mesh with a woman who could do a one handed pull up though. Glau is the go to girl for a cute girl in sci-fi and she shows why in this episode. I’m not excited about where it feels like her character may be going though. I expected an upgraded Terminator model and she is an upgrade but in a less than interesting way. Her upgrade appears to be that she is the most human of all the Terminators even able to eat potato chips. What I don’t like is what feels like the potential for a formulaic and predictable romantic relationship with John. Didn’t we already get a robot that tries to be human with Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation? She does a great job with the action scenes so I really hope I’m wrong with her character arc. John and the evil Terminator are completely uninteresting on screen though. Arnold is well Arnold but he has way more charisma than this guy. I’d love to see him get destroyed and replaced with a better actor. Dekker, well we’re stuck with him so I have to just hope he gets better. Finally, I have to register a complaint about the special effects. They were pretty low budget for a series from a major network. If the series takes off maybe they’ll get more money for future episodes. 

It wasn’t the A+ kick off of a new series that I was hoping for, but it’s solid enough that I’m happy to stick with it. It is the pilot and they creators have a chance to feel their way around and improve the series and I hope it does just improve. Hell, it’s better than Bionic Woman and we actually are getting episodes! Terminator purists beware….