Review: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

So.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles = not total crap.

Let’s be clear though. This is not Terminator. This more Terminator lite. (In fact, while watching the pilot last night I was reminded just how much I enjoy the first two Terminator movies.)

But now I’m just splitting hairs.

(For the purposes of this post, we’re going to ignore the existence of the third Terminator movie. Besides making me want to weep uncontrollably the third movie is a travesty and captures none of the original feeling of the first two films.)

Question. How do you take a ground breaking franchise based primarily around large (expensive) action pieces, with a little bit of alarmist futureshock and dysfunctional relationships thrown in and turn it into a weekly television series?

Answer. With great difficulty.

The problem with this series is that it can’t duplicate the aura of the original films. This isn’t James Cameron, this isn’t Linda Hamilton and this isn’t Arnold Schwarzenegger. As we’ve already painfully learned it’s very hard to create a successful Terminator franchise without these pieces.

But what the Sarah Connor Chronicles does is work hard to incorporate the major plot points and visual motifs of the series and build a story around that.

Killer Robot? Check.

Protector Robot? Check.

Overbearing and militant mother? Check.

Emo son? Check.

Essentially the series picks up two years after the end of the second movie. Sarah and John Connor are still on the run despite having destroyed any chance of Skynet ever being built. However, it appears that all they’ve done is push back the date and the killer computer will still come online sometime in the next 10 years or so.

So mother and son are still having to fend off repeated Terminator attacks. However, true to form, a protector has once again been sent back in time to protect John Connor. However instead of Arnie’s bulging muscles we’re treated to Summer Glau’s (Serenity, Firefly) more shapely curves.

In order to prevent Skynet from being built, Summer catapults the trio eight years into the future (2007) which is presumably when the computer is being constructed.

So the general thrust of the series is to answer the question “Who Built Skynet,” punctuated by bouts of random robot violence and relationship building.

Two additions to the series will be…

Former Sarah love interest, cruelly left behind during her jump through time

And

Government agent in pursuit, remember this group is wanted by the government, not just the killer robots.

This is the ONLY new series I’ll be picking up this year (besides J-Pod…which I’ll probably drop due to extreme dullness). I have mixed feelings about it though. If the series succeeds it’ll become just another franchise to be milked by Hollywood and it will contribute to the further dilution of a really excellent concept. If it does succeed I think it will be because of the reduced competition at the moment due to the Writer’s strike.

But on the other hand, it’s killer robots from the future, kicking ass and taking names.

And I’m okay with that.