TV's Terminator Review

I was all set to hate this show. I didn’t think it was going to work in any way, shape, or form.

I was surprised. And, most importantly, I was entertained. There was some surprisingly good writing in the show (as well as some really stupid plot holes).

The story takes place after the second movie and before the third. In fact, the creators have wisely decided that T3 didn’t happen. This is great because T3 sucked huge amounts of decrepit ass. The creators have taken a “branched timeline” approach to time travel, in that a myriad of different timelines can be created that all co-exist at the same time based on events in the relative past. This nicely sidesteps a lot of time travel paradoxes.

The first episode sets up the initial state of the world. It’s been about five years since the events in Terminator 2 (it’s now 1999) and both Sarah Connor and her son believe they have saved the world from nuclear apocalypse. Unfortunately, they now have more mundane problems in that they are both still wanted for the destruction of the main Cyberdyne research laboratory, the murder of the scientist Dyson (either the government is unaware he went willingly to destroy his research or they’re covering it up), and for Sarah being an escaped mental patient. Being responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment destruction (not to mention the priceless research Cyberdyne was doing) and murdering one of the nations top computer scientists, they are now on the FBI Most Wanted list and being persued by an Agent named Ellison.

Those familiar with the stories surrounding the Terminator franchise should find the FBI Agent’s name amusing. For those not in the know, James Cameron made an off-hand comment about Terminator being loosely based on two stories written by Harlan Ellison. As the colossal jackass Ellison is, he sued (and won!) so the Terminator franchise now has to claim Ellison as the creator.

So mother and son still have to be careful and paranoid, but this time for different reasons than machines from the future coming to kill them. Even so, they manage a semblance of a normal life, being able to live continuously for two years in one place. Sarah even has a fiancee! But then she has a bad dream, becomes incredibly paranoid, and flees with John to some New Mexico hick town. Meanwhile, her fiancee goes to the police for help in tracking down Sarah and is then told about Sarah Connor’s crazy-ass fantasy involving a nuclear holocaust and machines from the future. With the fiancee’s help, the FBI gets last-known information on Sarah Connor and — wouldn’t you know it! — someone with red glowing eyes is watching the database! Hmm…

I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll stop the recap there except to say that Sarah, John, and a Friendly Terminator all end up going forward in time 8 years to September 10th, 2007 with the intent of stopping Skynet from being born (again.) Overall, the series is quite well done. It’s amazing what kind of special effects can be provided in a TV show now adays (with, ironically, computers); they’re quite up to the series standard, if in much smaller bits. But special effects are useless without a good story, and here the series also does well. While it might seem that its basically a rehash of the first two movies, there are some indications (especially in the second episode) that there will be more interesting events going on. For one thing, its revealed that there is a clandestine war in time going on throughout history between the human Resistance and Skynet’s forces; both sides have sent agents into the past to fight, setup information networks and supplies, and so on. There are actually hundreds, perhaps thousands of time travelers — both machine and men — wandering around battling each other. An interesting premise! In addition, there’s also Sarah and John having to deal with more mundane issues in addition to being #1 on Skynet’s temporal hit list; her former fiancee is still holding a flame for her (as is evident when the trio appear naked in the street after time travelling and he sees it on television), and Ellison is still trying to track her down (though he has some evidence now that Sarah Connor is not insane, so it remains to see if the FBI Agent will ultimately be friend or foe.) On top of all of this, they have no idea how the new Skynet is built or who builds it (though not specifically stated, it is implied that Cyberdyne went bankrupt after its main research facility was destroyed in T2.) All they have is the date in 2011 when it becomes active and nukes the planet. There is also a bit of an intriguing left over from T3 in that Sarah Connor still dies of cancer before the apocalypse, according to Terminator records (the second episodes ends with her getting a biopsy, but the viewer is not given the results.)

That’s the good parts. The bad parts are mostly small niggling things. First, the premise, despite the new wrinkles, is basically a longer-term rehash of T2. Whether it stays that way is to be seen. Secondly, the actress who plays Sarah Connor is… well… not the best in the role. She seems… far too emotional to be Sarah Connor. That said, the actress may grow into the role. John Connor is a whiny emo-kid. I can buy that, really, it’s just annoying. There is also a really stupid plot hole with a Terminator that loses its head being suddenly and inexplicably reactivated years later. Why didn’t it reactivate immediately? Why did it wait until a beefy construction worker found it, brought it home, and his cat sniffed it?

Other than those sort of things, though, the series is entertaining. It’s no Eureka or Chuck, but if you like action and the Terminator series, it’s definitely one to watch.