Terminator Blog

I’m sorry.  But I just don’t understand what people are seeing in this new Sci-Fi film by Peter Jackson.

I can sum the movie up in three short lines.

• Blah Blah Blah Blah
• Exploding humans, Exploding aliens
• Blah Blah Blah

This film has no story!  Nothing gets explained, nothing gets resolved.  The acting is not believable.  The casting is all wrong.  The shooting style is horrible.

Not even the super kick-ass mech-suit fight at the end can redeem this horrible steaming pile of dung.

I rate it 2/3 stars at best, and that’s only because of the mech-suit scene.

For the love of all sci-fi viewers, please God do not let Peter Jackson make a Disctrict-10 sequel.  I’ll have to vomit in my popcorn.

As many of you know.  I decided to go on strike and write no further blog entries about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles when it leaked that Fox was about to pull the plug on the show.  I love this show, but I felt this blog would pretty much be a waste of time if the show would not be returning.

Yesterday we all got to see the Season 2 Finale – Born to Run.  I want to make two points very clear before I go any further:

* The show, as a SEASON FINALE rocked.
* If this is actually the SERIES FINALE (and it’s looking more like it every day) then Josh Friedman is one serious asshole.

I hope that Josh knows something we don’t know, because he in his own words “blew up the barn with the finale”.  Josh, yes I am talking directly to you when I say this “How in the hell could you leave so many unanswered questions and create so many new ones for the series finale?  It shows that you obviously do not care about your fan base at all, but rather you are self centered putz.”  Let me quote your own blog and let’s discuss.

From Josh Friedman’s Producer’s Blog.  My words are in italic.
So here are my campaign promises. And because I’ve already shot the episodes, I know they’re promises I’ll be keeping… by the end of the season you will see/know:

–the resolution of the Riley story
This was done, and not a moment too soon.  Thank God and good riddens.  PASS.
–the resolution of the Jesse story
Oh really?  You purposely never showed her die.  So we don’t really know anything.  She’s no longer on the show, but is she dead?  We don’t know.  FAIL.
–a future story about Jesse’s Terminator–piloted nuclear submarine explaining how Jesse got to be how she got to be and how it relates to John Connor’s present and future
This was an excellent episode.  One of your top 6.  PASS.
–the return of Cameron’s glitch in new and deadly ways
Not really.  But I was glad to see you didn’t.  PASS.
–much more Jameron (for those of you who like it)
PASS.
–not too much Jameron (for those of you who don’t)
PASS.
–an explanation of the three-dots
Yes.  The three dots were the Turk.  But you never explained jack.  Why did she have dreams about three dots?  How did the three dots get on the Turk?  Oh yes.  We were clever enough to go back and watch the season 1 episodes.  The Turk did NOT have three dots in the those episodes.  You explained nothing.  MASSIVE FAIL.
–Catherine Weaver’s backstory/origin story
We got less than 1/10th of what we deserved.  We know nothing of her backstory or origin.  Maybe you think it’s obvious that she’s a good terminator of some kind and that she was in the sub.  But we have no way of really knowing anything, because you left it all up to viewer guesswork.  FAIL.
–Savannah in mortal danger
Well done and well thought out.  PASS.
–the revelation of Catherine Weaver’s exact mission
Partially succeeded.  We still don’t know her exact mission.  Just that she wants to stop SkyNET in some form.  But why?  For what reason?  We are still 98% in the dark about her.  FAIL.
–a fight between Catherine Weaver and another Terminator
You thought an 8 second fight scene was enough to hype us up for?  FAIL.
–a faceoff between Sarah Connor and Catherine Weaver
I wouldn’t call a shut up I’m not talking to you and calling each other a bitch a face off.  But it didn’t happen none the less.  PASS.  Barely.
–a deadly attack on the Connors by agents of Skynet
PASS.
–the death of a loved one
Who?  Derek?  If so then PASS.  Derek died like a soldier in exactly what would happen in the real world if a T888 was on your ass.
–the death of a loved one
Who?  Riley?  She was not loved by me.  But I wanted her dead. So PASS.
–the death of a loved one
Who?  Charlie?  Ugh.  FAIL.

And some big things I won’t reveal. Hate spoilers.
Yes Josh and we hate it when a show ends without finalizing the series and answering all the BS questions you made up back to season 1.  My guess is that you were making all this stuff up as you went and never had any idea how you were going to answer it all.  I hope they fire you, sell the show to SciFi and then hire an all new writing team.  FAIL on your part.

Ok.  Now I am passed all of my bitching about Josh Friedman.  Let’s talk about where we are now: With almost no hope left for a season 3 we will likely never know the end result of why or what this show was ever trying to accomplish.  Who or what was Cameron?  Who or what was John Henry.  What REALLY were the three dots about?  Who or what was Kaliba?  What is Catherine Weaver LMT really?  Why don’t they know who JC is in the future?  Why did JH/Cameron go to the future?  Why did John go to the future?  Why could JH not be moved or never be the same person/machine but so easily placed onto a chip and sent to the future?  Is Cameron still on her chip too or she in the Turk?  What was Cameron and Weaver’s relationship since they seemed to know each other?  Why did JH and Cameron say they knew each other?  What happened in the basement?  Why did Derek hate Cameron so much?  I could go on and on.

Well, I must say…  This episode was quite an improvement over what I had been expecting.  I was quite pleased to see some interaction between Cameron and Riley.  I’d been hoping for quite some time to see some kind of encounter.  While I was hoping to see Cameron out her, I am still pleased.

As usual with this series, more questions were created than were answered.  This is still quite a sore point with me.  I really feel like the writers need to open up and reveal some stuff.  Shocking stuff.  Over the top stuff.  As of yet, it has just been little hints here and there.  I will be most disappointed if the season ends with a dud.  I mean, if these writers are just going along and don’t really know how it ends (at least in their minds) then we are all screwed and the show will end on a sour note.  Which of course, equals cancellation.  If however, they know what they are doing, the last two or three episodes of the season will be blowouts and a season 3 is almost certain.  Damn, I hope the latter is true.

Some questions I have now are 1) Who was on the motorcycle, and does it even matter?  2) Is Riley dead? Hope so! 3) Does Derek know, and/or is he in on this with Jesse.  Remember, he is no Cameron fan.

My gut tells me Derek is at least partly in on it.  I think he probably doesn’t know everything but is helping with what little information he has been given not realizing the plan is more sinister.  Now the big shocker is, many people are speculating tha the “her” that Jesse continues to refer to is not Cameron but Sarah, or some other person as not yet revealed.  We are sure to find out early next year.  I’m not sure I can wait!

I don’t know about you guys, but I was disappointed in this episode.  So let’s get crackin’.

First, the ads made it look like there would be new or at least some explanations of the developments between John and Cameron.  What did we get? Zip. It was a three or four second exchange and and BAM to the end credits.

Next you thought there was going to be interaction between Riley and John to further complicate or explain why he’s actually attracted to her (I still don’t know why. I have no idea to this minute).  A few short blips of conversation, a quick smooch (she’s gross by the way, puke) and cut to commercial with no further scenes. I almost am happy about that, because I can’t stand her character, but come you writers can do better.

Next let’s show Cameron having some empathy for her “friend” making you think that finally she is progressing, and then COMPLETELY erase that good vibe at the end of the episode. BIG MISTAKE!! BIG BIG MISTAKE!! Instead have her act like she doesn’t really care, but then comes in to the library and sees his book grabbing tool laying on his desk, and she looks at it for a moment as if there IS a glimmer of sadness at his departure.

The fight between Cameron and the T-888 is again extremely quick and easily wrapped up. This whole terminator of the week thing gets old.  Based on the T1 movie, it is difficult to send people and terminators back.  So if the terminator of the week is to continue then the show should at least give us some insight as to why.

All this talk about a T-888 in the 1920’s and the only thing you get out of it was he’s making a building that needs to be there to kill the governor in 2010. Why not instead have the T-888 start to live his own life and as he goes about interacting with humans he starts to live among them and turn away from his mission objectives? The reason he’s so important to Cameron is because: HE HAS CROSSED AGAINST THE LIGHT. The first Terminator Cameron has come across that has moved BEYOND. She makes it a side mission to find this curiosity and when she does… learns something useful from him to help her in her own development. The T-888 IS a self made man. It could have been an interesting on-going project brought up in another episode for her and it shows what Terminators CAN become… instead, we got more of the same.

Once again, another brilliant episode from the writers of TSCC.  The last five minutes were simply incredible.  I predicted that Catherine would hook Cromartie up to The Turk. The look on Ellison’s face was priceless as he realized he was helping create SkyNet, rather than stopping it. “Hello Mr. Ellison, I’m John Henry.  How are you today?” Giving him the name John Henry was freaking awesome.

“Like other “Big Men” such as Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, John Henry also served as a mythical representation of a group within the melting pot of the 19th-century working class. In the most popular version of the story, Henry is born into the world big and strong. He grows to become the greatest “steel-driver” in the mid-century push to erect the railroads across the mountains to the West. When the owner of the railroad buys a steam-powered hammer to do the work of his mostly black driving crew, to save his job and the jobs of his men, John Henry challenges the owner to a contest: himself alone versus the steam hammer. John Henry beats the machine, but exhausted, collapses, and dies.”

The other thing I was quite happy to see is that Riley, the junk of a character that she is/was, actually has a use to the story and is not simply a diversion for the writers to fill some time.  While I was surprised that she actually turned out to be some sort of future resistance fighter gone bad sent back to help Jesse stop Cameron, I do actually like the story line.  John and Cameron are obviously quite the little couple in the future.  I am starting to think some of the chatter that Allison was John’s significant other might be true and Cameron replaces her.  I think John Connor has or is developing a soft spot in his heart for the machines.  I still don’t by the Jameron baby story though. Not going to happen.

Let me not forget to mention.  Cameron in the dress = Hotness Robotness.

A friend of mine at work is convinced that Cameron and John are going to have a love child.  Can you believe it?!?  He thinks that Cameron’s endo is fitted with a uterus and ovaries from the dead Allison Young (Cameron is a machine copy of Allison Young as shown in the TSCC episode ‘Allison from Palmdale’).

All I can say is “Wow!”  That is really out there.  And personally I hope it is not true.  I really don’t think it would be good for the show or overall series plot.  If however my co-worker is right, I will be eating quite a large helping of crow.  Josh, help me out here.  Don’t let the writers do this!

On another note, there seem to be a lot of Jameron Shippers out there in the TSCC forums all over the net.  For those of you who don’t get the lingo, Jameron Shipper stands for Pro John and Cameron Relationship Fans.  This I think is much more in line with what the series is going for long term.  I think we will likely see Cameron and John explore a human-machine relationship on some level.  Lovers might be going too far, and children I find pretty hilarious.  I would however like to see Cameron and John’s relationship blossom to the point that SkyNet could one day develop into an ally rather than a foe.  Where machines and humans co-exist.

Who knows!  Tell me what you think.

What can I say?  Another great episode from Josh and team!

By now I am sure the discussion boards all over the Internet are on fire with the usual banter about what happened or what didn’t happen on this episode.

One rumor I continue to hear over and over again is that Jesse is a terminator.  Sorry if I disappoint, but ladies and gents, I just don’t buy it.  We’ve seen what believe to be the most advanced terminator model ever.  Her name is Cameron Phillips.  Even Cameron can not mimic these emotions and “humanity” that Jesse is showing us.  Yes, I suppose she could be an I950 (human modified to be a cyborg), but I still don’t see it.

What we do know for sure is that Ellison can’t be trusted and is a damn good liar.  What I don’t understand are his intentions.  Why would he betray the Connor’s?  He knows that they save mankind.  Why wouldn’t he just be honest with them and tell his plan?