By Aaron 1/23/2008

Fox’s new show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, got off to a great start two weekends ago with an episode on Sunday and Monday. It’s taken me a long time write this, because I have been really busy, and I wanted to do a good job. So. The two hour premier shows Sarah Connor (Lena Heady) and her son John (Thomas Dekker) about to settle down with Sarah’s new fiancé. But Sarah freaks out about the commitment she made and has John pack up ship and hit the road. Unfortunately Sarah’s fiancé can’t swallow that Sarah bailed on him and goes to the police, who call in an FBI officer (Richard T. Jones) hot on Sarah’s trail, now armed with the alias she was using. And just like Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor beat into John in the first three movies, once the name is in the grid, “they” can find you. When Sarah foolishly fails to change aliases when they set up a new life, both the police and the terminator close in. John starts school and is pleased when a beautiful classmate, Cameron (Summer Glau), takes a sudden interest in him. But when the substitute teacher from hell – a terminator – takes some literal shots at John, Cameron saves his life, revealing herself to be a “good terminator” when she utters the classic, “come with me if you want to live.” Aided by a new friend and chased by a new foe, Sarah and John flee once more, prompting John to snap, exclaiming, we have to end this now. So with help from Summer, Sarah and John set out to shut down SkyNet before it’s even born.

I’ve been a big fan of Lena Heady since I saw Imagine Me & You and she was one of the big reasons I was excited to catch the show. Not quite sure what I expected, but Lena Heady was great. She makes a great Sarah Connor. The intensity that soaks permeates her character is much more, I’m-doing-this-for-John, than it is, I’m-really-crazy. Which although Linda Hamilton certainly tried to exude the former, it seemed like she was more often in the latter. It also helps that Lena Heady is significantly more attractive. Just like T2, the show uses narration throughout the episode to let the viewers inside Sarah’s head. Unlike the movie though, the show avoids inefficient, overly artistic abstract flourishes in favor of concise, yet powerful, monologues.

I really liked Edward Furlong’s John Connor. Sure, he came off as a prick sometimes, but I liked that. Maybe I liked him a lot more after I saw American History X, but I liked him in the role – a lot more than I liked Nick Stahl. But this John Connor comes off as a whiny b**ch. What drives their quest to end SkyNet now is basically just John’s complaint that he doesn’t think he can take the pressure or be a great leader. Sure, he’s still a kid, he’s nervous, etcetera. But come on, you’re JOHN CONNOR. As a teenage boy you’ve had more weapons and combat training than most soldiers. At least you know to hide behind cars until another terminator comes to save you from the one that’s trying to kill you.

So I was excited to see Lena Heady assume the role of Sarah Connor, but after seeing Serenity this summer, I was a lot more excited to see Summer Glau in ANYTHING. I wasn’t sure at first if I was going to like Summer as a terminator because she seemed too personable for a terminator. I loved the humanization of her because it offers so much potential, but the pilot seemed inconsistent here, and you have to remember that she is literally a killing machine. I definitely like her a lot more than Kristanna Loken because of her facial expressions. While Loken was simply boring, nothing more than a hot body executing a weak script, Summer’s routine that she learned as Serenity’s killing machine work perfectly here as John’s killing machine. Her potential backstory is also extremely interesting. For one a quick look online reveals Cameron to be a T888 model while Arnold was a T800 model in T2. The reveal a few of Cameron’s new features, but leave open the possibility of things like emotions and feelings that frankly, do not seem to be such a stretch. Also, Cameron was clearly high up in the resistance with John before she was sent back because she exhibits in-depth knowledge of John then (the future) and now (the “present”). I think it is more likely she got this knowledge from being close to John then from programming because questions about information not germane to her mission were answered with, “I wasn’t programmed for that.”

Generally the show does a lot of things right. The music was a mix of music in the vein of the first three terminator movies with a twist of the sort of music made popular by the Bourne movies. The action is pretty good for a TV show, but doesn’t really rise to the movie-level quality that will be hard for some fans to expect considering they were treated to cutting-edge effects over the course of three movies. The supporting acting is good too with the FBI character offering a lot of potential.

I have some general thoughts about the concept of the show. First, does it make sense story-wise? After watching the third episode I kind of realized that you have to take the whole thing with a grain of salt. I mean, it deals with time travel, robots, and an overarching antagonist that is a faceless computer system/virus. Sure, there are going to be some time-travel inconsistencies throughout the show, but you have to love it for what it is. Second, the thread on the possibility of a relationship between Cameron and John has been going crazy. Can a terminator and a human have sex? I mean, do the mechanics make sense? I think it is. I mean, she’s a newer model than the classic T800 that Arnold was. I know it’s a stretch, but it is possible. Can they have an emotional relationship? Definitely. They clearly have a close bond that was established even before Cameron met him, kind of implying that Cameron had an emotional attachment to John in 2029 (or whenever). Third, can the franchise continue without Arnold? He was the perfect terminator because he was so stiff and emotionless in real life, so it all came naturally. The franchise survived departures of Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong by consistently keeping Arnold in the picture. I think it is possible, quite frankly, because I love Summer Glau. Chalk up some other strong actors, namely Lena Heady, and you have a pretty good show going on. Fourth, and finally, will the show have a revolving door of villains with merely new ways to finish off the robots? I don’t think so. The show seems like it will be keeping the same robot villain for a few episodes, and they even somehow know his name – Cromartie.

The first two episodes raised a few questions. First and foremost, the concept that there were good amounts of humans and terminators sent back in time, sprinkled over the years, on both sides. If that was the case why did it never come up with the movies? The series also implies that Sarah Connor was the sometimes leader of a large resistance movement. Again, if that was true, why did Sarah never get help in any of the movies? Most of the rest of what actually happened in the episodes is already covered, but there were a few weird blips. Like the cheesy 9/11 reference, Sarah calling the terminators tin men, and the headless horseman antics of Cromartie. If I haven’t made this clear yet – I loved Glau. She was a bajillion times better than Kristanna Loken.

The third episode made me really happy. It showed a lot of strength. For one, it featured some good humor, not cheesy humor, but right on – like how Summer Glau was hilarious trying to be a high school student. There were also really good monologues where Sarah compares the creation of SkyNet to the creation of the nuclear bomb. The connections are not tenuous, but seem strikingly real. There is also great suspense that isn’t found in many TV shows today, especially with 24 not coming back. Luckily I have a new show to watch on Mondays.  Most importantly, John shows some real edge in episode three – showing some fire and confidence that seemed impossible in the first two episodes. This episode also brought up a few questions. First, how does Cameron gain info? I mean, she can obviously learn things, but she seems like a slow learner at times. Yet she tells John “she doesn’t sleep” when he asks how she knows something obscure, implying that she reads??? Yet to be resolved. Also, how will both sides speed up judgment day with the knowledge they share? With Cromartie essentially inventing a formula for rapid skin regeneration and Sarah asking lots of questions, can they actually facilitate a faster SkyNet? And there was one great line by a character who will never be in the show again when he tells Sarah, “don’t drive yourself chasing the future – you can’t predict.”

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.