Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, and Summer Glau in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a new fox series based on the Terminator franchise. The premier airs tonight at 8:pm EST.
The premise of the series seems to be Sarah Connor’s continuing struggle to protect her son John from robotic executioners from the future. The new series is produced by Josh Friedman, David Nutter, and C2 Pictures.
Directed by David Nutter and produced by Warner Bros. Television and C-2 Pictures, THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES represents an exciting reinvention of the “Terminator” franchise, in which the strong and intrepid Sarah discovers that protecting her son and stopping the rise of the machines is more difficult than she had ever imagined.
Excerpt from Fox Fall Preview
The Sarah Connor Chronicles is set after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment day, which should suit fans of the franchise as the third Terminator film was widely regarded as a failure. As much as I enjoyed the first two Terminator films, I was sorely disappointed by “Rise of the Machines”. I was interested in this series from the moment it was announced. Maybe this chapter of the Terminator story isn’t over.
The cast features Lena Headey and Summer Glau
The cast features Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, Thomas Dekker as John Connor, and Summer Glau as Cameron (John’s protector). Lena Heady would seem to be a fine choice to play Sarah Connor after her short but powerful role as Queen Gorgo in the film 300. Unfortunately, the new Sarah Connor looks more like a soccer mom than a woman who fights unstoppable killing machines. I think Fox softened her appearance a bit too much.
Linda Hamilton’s portrayal of Sarah Connor was incredible. Stripped bare to the essentials, Ripped and driven with only one priority: prevent the future from happening by any means necessary. So okay, maybe she wasn’t delusional, there really were machines from the future sent to kill her and later he son. However, her sanity has definitely been affected by some of the events she has witnessed. Sarah Connor should be jaded, cold, hard, and bitter.
Summer Glau is an interesting choice as the “good” terminator, but this plot device has been done to death already. It was a great plot concept to suggest that John Connor (in the future) re-purposed a terminator and sent it back in time to defend his younger self. It was such a great concept that it had already been done … Schwarzenegger played this role twice already (and only succeeded once).
I reserve my opinion about Summer Glau until I see more of her in the series. After seeing the combat sequences in Serenity I suppose I can accept that she is a killing machine. Interestingly enough, I think she would make a great Ellen Ripley in a new generation of “Aliens” films. Yeah, that’s another great franchise that was ruined but that’s another story.
What about John Connor?
John Connor seems shallow and cliché, as if he had not matured or learned anything in the years following T2. If you recall from the film, John had been in and out of foster care for years. He was finally placed with a white trash family who essentially used him for the government benefits check.
His attitude reflected his childhood: rotten. His mother was locked up in a mental institution and he had no stability in his life. This was a statement about Dis-functional families as much as it was about killer robots. Years later we are to believe that John is still the same wise-cracking and rebellious personality? I find it difficult to accept that, even after learning that his mother was not delusional and accepting the reality of the future John has not demonstrated any of the leadership traits which eventually make him the savior of humanity.
