Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

[MikeVic]

Have you watched? There's still all the computers thinking for themselves stuff in it. It's just that both sides in the future are sending back resources to help give advantages to the future... at least that's how I see it.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by gottimd

So apparently they have sent back more people, to do what?

Protect John and destroy Skynet.

Originally Posted by gottimd

If they aren't protecting John, why send back resistance fighters to fight something that hasn't even started?

See above.

Originally Posted by gottimd

I could see if their mission was to destroy Skynet, but then why wouldn't the Female terminator tell them "Don't worry about Skynet now, John has sent back some resistance fighters to uncover and destroy it already."

Because Sarah Connor is the best fighter John has ever known. If someone can take down Skynet, it'll be her (and her hottness ).

Originally Posted by gottimd

And if they can send back all of these people, why the hell not send back a ton of terminators to protect John instead of just one? I guess the more terminators sent back into the past, it creates a better chance of a piece of them being left behind and someone using it to develop Skynet, like a never ending circle or paradox.

Yes. And Terminators are expensive! Sure, Skynet can keep pumping them out, but maybe it's hard to capture one in good enough shape for re-programing and maybe the re-programing is incredibly difficult.


Any show that involves time travel is going to suffer from a lot of "If they can do X, why don't they just do Y?" A lot of things just wont make sense. At some point you have to make your mind and say "Well, yeah, a lot of this doesn't make sense, but it's a TV show, and for the sake of making things interesting something may seem a bit odd. I'll just sit back and enjoy it."

It's sort of like the whole thing with the eagles in LOTR. If Gandalf could summon the eagles whenever he was in a bit of a jam, why not just bring them in early, throw the Fellowship on a few of their backs, fly 'em to Mount Doom, toss the ring in, and be done with it. Probably make for a better plan, but a lot less interesting of a story.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

A shadow war?

The original had the nice plotline of a defense computer gone mad. Perfect. Wrecking a perfectly good story with a background shadow war and a resistance and junk is just as egregious as making a sequel (of any type or quality) to Highlander...

Uh, no.

The plotline of "a defense computer gone mad" is still firmly entrenched.

It's not like changing immortals to aliens from the planet Zeist or something like that....

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Have you watched? There's still all the computers thinking for themselves stuff in it. It's just that both sides in the future are sending back resources to help give advantages to the future... at least that's how I see it.

Correct.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Protect John and destroy Skynet.



See above.



Because Sarah Connor is the best fighter John has ever known. If someone can take down Skynet, it'll be her (and her hottness ).



Yes. And Terminators are expensive! Sure, Skynet can keep pumping them out, but maybe it's hard to capture one in good enough shape for re-programing and maybe the re-programing is incredibly difficult.


Any show that involves time travel is going to suffer from a lot of "If they can do X, why don't they just do Y?" A lot of things just wont make sense. At some point you have to make your mind and say "Well, yeah, a lot of this doesn't make sense, but it's a TV show, and for the sake of making things interesting something may seem a bit odd. I'll just sit back and enjoy it."

It's sort of like the whole thing with the eagles in LOTR. If Gandalf could summon the eagles whenever he was in a bit of a jam, why not just bring them in early, throw the Fellowship on a few of their backs, fly 'em to Mount Doom, toss the ring in, and be done with it. Probably make for a better plan, but a lot less interesting of a story.

Gotcha, but I still gotta raise the questions just because as I am watching the show, I can't help but think exactly the way you state above: "If they can do X, why don't they just do Y?" I'll have to make a mental note to ease up on the logic when watching a time travel show.

About LOTR, didn't Sauron have dragons? They would've dispatched of the Eagles, wouldn't they? Maybe you are referring to the Philadelphia Eagles?
Anyways, now I am going way off topic....

One last question, why is the best fighter tagged with bringing down skynet? Its not even a fully operational (aka death star) yet. It would take a meddling 5 year old to destroy it, not the best fighter. Man, for the leader of man kind in the future, he sure as hell needs a lesson in using his resources more efficiently.

[gottimd]

Anyone else find it ironic in these Man vs. Machine movies in the future where we are at war with some sort of AI (Matrix, Terminator, etc), humans are still seen and shown as being heavily reliant on computers, even though that is essentially who they are fighting?

I guess we still need them even though we are waging war against them.

[MikeVic]

Yeah, but same can be said for machines in Matrix at least. They need us as batteries, but are fighting a war against us.

[SirFozzie]

Not good, without football as a lead in it dropped to a 4.2 rating. I'd be really nervous if the ratings dropped any further (if there was any other shows to take their place)

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Gotcha, but I still gotta raise the questions just because as I am watching the show, I can't help but think exactly the way you state above: "If they can do X, why don't they just do Y?" I'll have to make a mental note to ease up on the logic when watching a time travel show.

I agree. I much prefer shows, especially sci-fi and fantasy ones, that remain internally. Once the "rules" of the world are set, I think everything should be within those rules. I try to give creators/writers the benefit of the doubt, but it doesn't always work.

For Time Travel stuff I think it's insanely hard. Just too many loopholes.

Originally Posted by gottimd

Gotcha, but I still gotta raise the questions just because as I am watching the show, I can't help but think exactly the way you state above: "If they can do X, why don't they just do Y?" I'll have to make a mental note to ease up on the logic when watching a time travel show.

About LOTR, didn't Sauron have dragons? They would've dispatched of the Eagles, wouldn't they? Maybe you are referring to the Philadelphia Eagles?
Anyways, now I am going way off topic....

Sauron didn't get dragons until after the whole Rivendell thing. Besides, the eagles completely pwned those dragons when they fought. It wasn't even close.

That said, the Philadelphia Eagles might have been a huge asset, especially if we're talking the Reggie White, Randal Cunningham, Buddy Ryan Eagles.

Originally Posted by gottimd

One last question, why is the best fighter tagged with bringing down skynet? Its not even a fully operational (aka death star) yet. It would take a meddling 5 year old to destroy it, not the best fighter. Man, for the leader of man kind in the future, he sure as hell needs a lesson in using his resources more efficiently.

You saw how hard it was to take out that "not even fully operational" Death Star! (It's a trap!!!) Clearly, John learned from Admiral Akbar's mistake and decided to take no chances with his assault on the "not even fully operational skynet."

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Sauron didn't get dragons until after the whole Rivendell thing. Besides, the eagles completely pwned those dragons when they fought. It wasn't even close.

Yes, but wasn't the point to have one of the hobbits on their back as they flew. I'm sure the dragon could've knocked them off the Eagles back pretty easily.

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

You saw how hard it was to take out that "not even fully operational" Death Star! (It's a trap!!!) Clearly, John learned from Admiral Akbar's mistake and decided to take no chances with his assault on the "not even fully operational skynet."

Maybe since John is in the future, at that point he knows the power of the darkside and thus is planning around it. Maybe its Johns apprentice making all of the decisions?

Speaking of Admiral Akbar, I was a bit disappointed they didn't decide to spawn off a sitcom featuring the Family Akbar.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Yes, but wasn't the point to have one of the hobbits on their back as they flew. I'm sure the dragon could've knocked them off the Eagles back pretty easily.

That's why you have an advance group of eagles fly in first to take care of the dragons, while your passenger eagles slip by and land safely and soundly on Mount Doom.

Originally Posted by gottimd

Maybe since John is in the future, at that point he knows the power of the darkside and thus is planning around it. Maybe its Johns apprentice making all of the decisions?

Originally Posted by gottimd

Speaking of Admiral Akbar, I was a bit disappointed they didn't decide to spawn off a sitcom featuring the Family Akbar.

That would have been sweet. At one point in every episode someone in the family would yell "It's a trap!" It'd be as classic as Arnold Drummond's "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Not good, without football as a lead in it dropped to a 4.2 rating. I'd be really nervous if the ratings dropped any further (if there was any other shows to take their place)

Disappointing, but not at all surprising.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

That's why you have an advance group of eagles fly in first to take care of the dragons, while your passenger eagles slip by and land safely and soundly on Mount Doom.

And thats why you anticipate that move and send in the first wave to handle the decoy wave. Then when they think all is clear and they send in the Hobbit riding Eagles (not led by Randal Cunningham), you send in the second wave of dragons.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by gottimd

And thats why you anticipate that move and send in the first wave to handle the decoy wave. Then when they think all is clear and they send in the Hobbit riding Eagles (not led by Randal Cunningham), you send in the second wave of dragons.

The dude only had nine dragons... Everyone knows that.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

The dude only had nine dragons... Everyone knows that.

Decoys.....like catapult a bunch of Dragons built out of clay into the sky.

"Good Lord, our intelligence officers were completely wrong, they don't have 9 Dragons, they have 900 of them!!!!"

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Decoys.....like catapult a bunch of Dragons built out of clay into the sky.

"Good Lord, our intelligence officers were completely wrong, they don't have 9 Dragons, they have 900 of them!!!!"

Clearly, you are not taking this discussion seriously.

I say good day to you, sir.

[gottimd]

Surely you can't be serious?

Was it the comment about the Clay? I'll edit it to be Paper mache.

[jeff061]

Summer Glau is extremely attractive. That is all.

[thealmighty]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Decoys.....like catapult a bunch of Dragons

Frodo, "Run away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Warhammer]

Uh... I really hope people were joking about the LotR and the dragons. Don't make me whip out my LotR hat of Geekiness +3 and quote from the good book!

[JPhillips]

The Heisenberg reference as a member of the Manhattan Project was a pretty big screw-up.

[MikeVic]

I like where the show is going so far. At least we know what the next few weeks will be doing...

[Honolulu_Blue]

I liked the episode well enough. I think the dialogue is pretty snappy actually. I liked the Sarah-Andy exchanges as well as the FBI guy/Cop girl exchanges. Pretty good stuff.

I am not thrilled with the whole skin regeneration thing, but, oh well...

It's also a bit inconsistent that Cameron all of a sudden has no idea how to "act" as a teenager, where she previously was apparently "undercover" as a teenager for some period of time waiting for John. She seemed very "normal" when she first met John in highschool, nothing like she's acting now. Maybe it was just part of a program or something. It's not horrible, just inconsistent.

[Cork]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I liked the episode well enough. I think the dialogue is pretty snappy actually. I liked the Sarah-Andy exchanges as well as the FBI guy/Cop girl exchanges. Pretty good stuff.

I am not thrilled with the whole skin regeneration thing, but, oh well...

It's also a bit inconsistent that Cameron all of a sudden has no idea how to "act" as a teenager, where she previously was apparently "undercover" as a teenager for some period of time waiting for John. She seemed very "normal" when she first met John in highschool, nothing like she's acting now. Maybe it was just part of a program or something. It's not horrible, just inconsistent.

I picked up on that as well while watching last nights episode. It's like she has regressed and doesn't know how to act very human.

-Cork

[Anthony]

orrrr, she's simply not a good actress

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

orrrr, she's simply not a good actress

Irrelevant.

[Tim Tellean]

But she's hot so all is forgiven

[MJ4H]

[ ] Exciting action
[ ] Great writing
[ ] Awesome special effects
[X] Hot chick
[X] Will watch regularly

[jeff061]

Sums up my feelings.

[MikeVic]

She looked nice in her quick bra-and-panties shot, and wearing that outfit to school.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

She looked nice in her quick bra-and-panties shot, and wearing that outfit to school.

Of course, the episode I miss

[rowech]

The robot girl is reminding me of....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukSvjqwJixw

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by rowech

The robot girl is reminding me of....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukSvjqwJixw

OH NO.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

orrrr, she's simply not a good actress

I have no idea how you would come to that conclusion when it's clearly the writing that is the problem with this specific issue. The character (not the actress) is expressing fundamentally less understanding about how to fit in at high school than she did in an episode just 1 week prior.

Summer Glau was good enough througout all of Firefly and is asked to do basically the same thing in this series.. if there is a weak link in this show, it's not going to be her acting.

When they screwed up the T2 to Sarah Conner Chronicles timeline within 10 minutes of the first episode, writing red flags were already up. To me this show is just looking completely unsustainable. I want to like it, I thought Terminator 3 was surprisingly entertaining, but more likely I see myself hitting the eject button on this one any week now.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Uh... I don't know. What makes a girl hot? Great body, attractive face, nice, delicate bone structure, great eyes, full lips, wonderful hair, great screen presence... Take your pick. She's hot.

Originally Posted by rowech

I guess at 32 I'm now middle-aged but I too think she's pretty hot.

I just don't see it. Great body Tall and lanky but ok. To me she looks like she is in her 40s.

[Mr. Wednesday]

I think the reason she's supposed to have trouble fitting in is because she's learned how to act in a rural HS, not an urban setting.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

When they screwed up the T2 to Sarah Conner Chronicles timeline within 10 minutes of the first episode, writing red flags were already up.

What did they screw up? I haven't noticed anything, and I watched T2 around the first episode.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Of course, the episode I miss

the episodes are online. foxnetworks.com

[stevew]

Is some of the talk about Glau's character changing from week to week related to the first episode vs the 2nd? If that's the case, it's merely the difference between a Pilot and a regular episode. The pilot was good enough to pick up, but they probably broke it down with some of the execs and they decided that she needed to be a little bit more out there. Pilots and regular episodes may be shot months apart. And I think that the pilot was originally 2 hours, but they may have broke it up for showing?


And I really really enjoy this show, despite it's flaws. Which, of course, means that it has no chance to see season two. I think it'll be too expensive for a cable network to pick up as well.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by stevew

Is some of the talk about Glau's character changing from week to week related to the first episode vs the 2nd? If that's the case, it's merely the difference between a Pilot and a regular episode. The pilot was good enough to pick up, but they probably broke it down with some of the execs and they decided that she needed to be a little bit more out there. Pilots and regular episodes may be shot months apart. And I think that the pilot was originally 2 hours, but they may have broke it up for showing?


And I really really enjoy this show, despite it's flaws. Which, of course, means that it has no chance to see season two. I think it'll be too expensive for a cable network to pick up as well.

I'd buy that. Show's often take a season to really find their groove and hone the characters. A little discrepancy between the pilot and regular episodes - which are typically shot much later and after some feedback from various sources - isn't much to fret over.

I continue to enjoy the show as well.

I have no idea how it's doing, but I agree a second season is seeming unlikely, which is a shame.

[rkmsuf]

Maybe someone answered this already but in the orginal Terminator movies, why did the machines only send back one machine to get the leader of the resistance? Wouldn't they send like 10 of them to make sure it goes right?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Maybe someone answered this already but in the orginal Terminator movies, why did the machines only send back one machine to get the leader of the resistance? Wouldn't they send like 10 of them to make sure it goes right?

There are multiple machines at the moment. I assume that sending things back in time is difficult to do and there are other limits. Or maybe they do send 10 machines back, but only one makes it and the rest are lost in time and space forever...

Oh, and, what this handsome fella said:

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Any show that involves time travel is going to suffer from a lot of "If they can do X, why don't they just do Y?" A lot of things just wont make sense. At some point you have to make your mind and say "Well, yeah, a lot of this doesn't make sense, but it's a TV show, and for the sake of making things interesting something may seem a bit odd. I'll just sit back and enjoy it."

[MikeVic]

I rally love how they tie it all in with the first two movies! That was the first "oh man!!" moment on TV for me in awhile (revealing who Brian Austin Green is).

[rkmsuf]

Brian Austin Green is in it?

Must watch TV!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I rally love how they tie it all in with the first two movies! That was the first "oh man!!" moment on TV for me in awhile (revealing who Brian Austin Green is).

Huh, I'd no idea this guy was in so much before. I just kept thinking of him as "that Sean Avery looking guy."

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Brian Austin Green is in it?

Must watch TV!

I thought he was running from the scene of a gunshot murder because it reminded him of Scotts death.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by gottimd

I thought he was running from the scene of a gunshot murder because it reminded him of Scotts death.

Please let him rap.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Please let him rap.

Obviously you didn't watch next weeks episode previews, he raps, kills a terminator that looks like Nat from the peach pit, and goes to Johns high school and starts protesting that Donna Martin graduates.

[Anthony]

maybe if they sent like 10 machiens back in time they'd run the risk of drastically altering the future. perhaps 1 machine - 1 virtually indestrucable machine - was best in order to complete the mission and leave with the future intact. maybe 10 machines would complete the mission, but by some other action then accidentally trigger a different timeline.

if you want to kill an ant, a magnifying glass will do. no need for a grenade. using a grenade will definitely kill the ant, but it might also have other unintended repurcussions.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

maybe if they sent like 10 machiens back in time they'd run the risk of drastically altering the future. perhaps 1 machine - 1 virtually indestrucable machine - was best in order to complete the mission and leave with the future intact. maybe 10 machines would complete the mission, but by some other action then accidentally trigger a different timeline.

if you want to kill an ant, a magnifying glass will do. no need for a grenade. using a grenade will definitely kill the ant, but it might also have other unintended repurcussions.

Well how'd that work out for the machines?

You'd think that say their 2nd attempt would feature more than one machine.