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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008 - 2009)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 11:33 am    Post subject: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008 - 2009) Reply with quote




The cast of this series plays a large part in making the ambitious premise work.

Lena Headey is a powerful actress, and she manages to give the role of Sarah Connor the same impact which Linda Hamilton did, even though she rarely had to perform the kind of strenuous action scenes as Miss Hamilton did.

Thomas Dekker (as John Connor) doesn't quite measure up to the standards of Edward Furlong, but Dekker does a fair job of playing a teenage John Connor who wishes he could live a normal life, go to school, and have a girl friend.

With that in mind, Dekker's living arrangements with his mother and an attractive young lady who looks like this —



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— must have put a strain on the young man. Add to that the strain caused by the fact that she could also look like this!


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Summer Glau has just the right "cold detachment" that a Terminator should have. Not every young lady could look as attractive as she does and still seem plausible as an inhuman machine.




_Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles series Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:41 pm; edited 4 times in total
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 1:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

She looks unfriendly.

For that matter, they all do.

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Custer
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not as friendly as in Firefly, true - Summer Glau does seem to have been working on her stare...

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I found an interesting seven-minute documentary / promo for the series.

Come vith me (and push da button) if you vant to vatch! Cool
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____Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - BTS


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I'm re-watching the series from Netflix DVDs, and it feels so much like the logical sequel to T2: Judgement Day!

I must admit, however, that the show cheats a bit in the pilot episode when it introduces Summer Glau's character as the high school girl which John Connor meets shortly before a Terminator walks into his chemistry class and introduces himself as a substitute teacher.

They both act far too human to be Terminators. Sad

Especially Summer, who smiles and flirts and talks like a normal young girl. This flagrantly violates what we see in T2, when John Connor attempts to teach the Terminator how to "fit in" with human beings. Schwarzenegger does a great job of demonstrating that Terminators are completely incapable of imitating human expressions!

But the pilot episode wanted to spring the big surprise on the audience concerning the fact the Summer Glau was a Terminator. So, they allowed her to briefly act like a young high school girl . . . right up to the point where the "substituent teacher" cut open his thigh, pulled out a gun, and start blasting at poor John Conner!

I understand the reason for this unfortunate disregard of the established rules of the franchise.

But as an amateur sci-fi writer, I can't help thinking that the same effect could have been achieved if Summer's character had presented herself as a somber, troubled, enigmatic girl who seemed to want John to like her, but who didn't know how to make this happen.

Teenage angst, and all that stuff. Right?
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Teenage angst is the feeling of the “ugh-I'm-so-misunderstood-what-is-life?” part of adolescence.
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Frankly, Summer Glau would be better at portraying that kind of character than a pretty teenager who flirts with boys.

As to her appearance, frankly she could used more eye makeup, Sometimes she looks too much like Betty Davis in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex! Sad








Frankly the image above is a hi-fashion glamour shot compared to the way Miss Glau looks in the early episodes. And many of the pictures I found on line were less flattering.

Most women miraculously transform themselves each day into more attractive ladies using the magic of Madeline and Max Factor before they show their faces to the public.

My ex-wife was a good lookin' gal, but she took quite a while to fix herself up before posing for the photos I used to paint this portrait.



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My point is that if Summer's robotic character was capable of chatting, smiling, and flirting in the pilot episode, she should have been able to slap on a little make up to sweeten the deal. Very Happy

And yet, later in the series she expresses an interest in being more attractive. By the time the series gets to episode six, Summer looks great, with perfect eye makeup and plenty of lip gloss.

So, the early scenes in the pilot seem inconsistent with both the Terminator franchise and the later development of Summer's character.

On a similar note, the male Terminator tends to show too much emotion when he's fighting.

It doesn't always happen — but we never saw a smidgen of anger on Schwarzenegger's face in any of the movies. It was an important aspect of the character.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 5:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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The scene in the pilot where John, Sarah, and Cameron Phillips (the girl Terminator) break into a bank vault and assemble a time machine from pieces which were hidden in various safety deposit boxes left there in the past . . . is awesome!

They escape just as the pursuing Terminator rips apart the vault door and almost kills the trio!

These scenes did NOT look like a TV show. This was "movie quality" special effects, not mention the way it presented brilliant concepts and top-notch film making.

The Blu-ray of season 1 and 2 is available on Amazon for just $29.98.

I tempted. Very tempted . . . Cool


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The show also changed how time travel worked. In the movies, you can't travel wearing clothing or carrying physical items (no guns), just living tissue. Makes you wonder why Skynet didn't implant weapons in a large animal and send them back with a Terminator. Just imagine what you could pack into an elephant. Laughing But in the show they time traveled wearing cloths and a weapon.

My favorite scene in the series was the group of time travelers discussing the various dates of their Judgement Day.

David.
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

In the pilot, the first Terminator we see pretended to be a substitute teacher and tried to kill John at school. He cut open his thigh to pull out a hidden pistol.

Strangely enough, it wasn't a fancy "future weapon", just a modern handgun!

Why did he have a modern handgun implanted in this thigh? He could have just bought one in the present and stuck in under his belt! Rolling Eyes

And if he wanted to bring a weapon from the future, why wouldn't it be one of the energy weapons we see in the scenes in the movies which take place after Judgement Day? Shocked

Hollywood screenwriters often make so rookie mistakes like that. It's frustrating for intelligent science fiction fans like us.

You'd think the producers would always start out by creating a "Bible" which contained all the established elements of the franchise so that the series wouldn't end up looking stupid to people who knew the premise well and spotted bullshit the minute they saw it!

The key to creating good science fiction is to take what's "known" (both the science and the established facts of prior movies or series) and build on it in intelligent ways without violating the foundation.

When filmmakers just toss out the science and ignore the established foundation, they diminish the quality of the finished production.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2021 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I need to amend the critical remarks I made earlier about Summer Glau's physical appearance in this series.

The transition was gradual, and her "look"has beeb enhanced by performances when she shows her impressive feminine charms. Very Happy

By the time the series reached the middle of season 2 there were scenes in which Summer was decked out in full "fashion model" mode. For example, she's absolutely gorgeous when she stands up in a Japanese restaurant and gives a toast to a group of scientists.


_________________ Summer Glau's Japanese?


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2021 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I think the reason this series was eventually cancelled was because the brilliant production staff presented us with complex movie-quality stories, four times a month.

But the stories were just too complex for the general public to follow on a weekly basis.

After all, it was like watching one-half of an intelligent movie each week and then having to wait until the following week to see the second half! Shocked

Heck, I’ve been “binge watching” this series for the last two weeks — and even though I’ve enjoyed three or four episodes a day, I’m STILL having trouble keeping up with the story arcs! Sad

Here’s my point . . .

This show proves that the average viewer can’t follow a brilliant science fiction series like this one (and several others) on a regular bases when they have to wait an entire week for each new episode.

Perhaps the solution might for the producers to air two episodes — back-to-back — twice a month so that the audience can become familiar with large chunks of the story before the story-arc moves into new areas.

As a matter of fact, current shows like The Good Doctor and others are now spacing out their new episodes on a bi-monthly basis.

But this is frustrating for loyal fans who might prefer the episodes to be grouped so that several shows aired on a single night, even if we only got a few per month.

What I've been doing with the Netflix DVDs of The Sara Connors Chronicles is waiting until I received three new discs and then "binge watching" nine-or-more episodes in a row!
Very Happy
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~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2021 4:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Update on why this series was cancelled.

Today I started watching the The Good Wound, episode 14 of season 2.

I was troubled by the way the series was getting more and metaphysical — which means poor Sarah Conners was having wacky visions which neither she (nor WE) understood!

My reaction to this was to wonder why a story as hellishly complex as the Terminator franchise needed to wander off into la-la land? Confused

For Pete's sake, don't we have enough to concern ourselves with in this series without adding hallucinations and visions? Shocked

Obviously the producers wanted to keep things interesting for the audience — but they chose to do this by mixing reality with fantasy . . . and obviously the viewing audience didn't like it.

Consider this: The Time Tunnel failed because the stories were too simple and the premise was predictable. For the record, I was just a dumb teenager when that series aired, but it just didn't measure up to my adolescent standards for good science fiction.

Unfortunately, The Sarah Conners Chronicles erred in the opposite direction when it made the stories so complex the viewing public wandered away one-by-one and left the series with such low ratings that series got the axed. Sad

Yes, I know . . . we've all seen great shows fail because the network execs didn't realize what a good thing they had. Rolling Eyes

But in this case I think the series failed because the producers got carried away with their efforts to keep the series complex and unpredictable. They ended up making it so complex that none of us on the other side of the TV screens could figure out what was going on! Shocked

All these various efforts by movie and television studios milk the Terminator "cash cow" for more money each year has convinced me that this concept is in trouble. Sad

I mean, dammit . . . how long can we keep on watching stories about an unending war in which the Skynet keeps beating us, no matter what we do? Shocked

As much as I love this franchise, I'd love to see a "final chapter" in which mankind crushes Skynet and lives happily ever after! Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I'm now on the episode called "Ourselves Alone", number 17 of season 2 — the first of the last five episodes in this short-lived series. Sad

"Terminator" Cameron (Summer Glau) is suffering from malfunctions after being blown up by a car bomb.

John Conners is suffering from teenage "blood lust" caused by the blond and busty Riley (Leven Rambin) — who is actually a resistance fighter sent back from the future.

Derek Reese is equally duped by the sexy Jesse Flores (played by Stephany Jacobsen) who was also sent back from the future . . . but not as a Good Guy She used to be Derek Reese's "main squeeze" in the future — but she has a new agenda now! Shocked

I wonder how far this series would have gone if it hadn't been cancelled . . . and how well it would have been done?

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Morbius
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 18, 2022 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As I recall the Drones where in there for some reason.

The Drones where controversial as to whether they were a hoax or real.


http://www.mrgodzilla.com/drone/Drone.jpg
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