I’m a big fan of the Cameron movies. I though the third movie (which did not involve Cameron) was ok. I was hoping this show might be watchable, but ouch, this thing is a dog. Trite plotting, terrible acting, lame action predictable “twists.” I think they’re already out of ideas after the first episode. The chick that plays the title character is especially annoying. One of those hot actresses who tries to play a badass but just comes off like a hot chick trying to act tough. Totally unconvincing. The Terminator chick isn’t much better. Instead of coming off as stony, she comes off as wooden.
The bad terminator almost approached watchability. The actor did a better job of selling himself as a robot.
John Connor is a pussy amd does not seem at all like a young hero in the making.
If not for the strike, I would predict this turkey would get yanked after about two more episodes. Since there’s nothing to replace it with, though, it will robably hang around for a while. I can’t imagine how they’re going to keep contriving new ways to keep this one note story alive.
Yep. Kinda makes me wish we could travel back in time and terminate the FOX executives who greenlit this (or at least, the parties responsible for casting it).
The local TV critic (Alan Sepinwall, Newark Star-Ledger) noted an unfortunately Oedipal closeness between mother and son (IRL, the actors are only 14 years apart), when realistically, the son would probably find himself feeling attracted to the good terminator – eventually, anyway. Must conserve those future character arc development points, after all.
I agree that James Cameron was the key to the Terminator franchise. Without him, it’s a mess.
I was impressed, though, because it was much better than T3 and did a decent job of ignoring T3. I hope Hollywood makes more of a habit of ignoring bad sequels.
The pilot set the foundation for what could become a decent series. There were a few “too human” performances in the machines, but they were subtle, not nearly as insulting as those of T3 (“I’m a genderless machine, but shaped like a girl, so I will act like a girl for no reason, even when my machinehood is obvious to everyone around”). I was perplexed seeing the machine eat. I wonder if there is an explanation for it, like using fusion to convert matter to energy or something. Good possibilities for seeing it ingest weird crap in future episodes. I wonder if it poops.
Not too impressed with the casting of John. I though Sarah was decent, but she should be blonde. Their protector terminator is also well cast, but needs a James Cameron on the set to tell the actress what not to do (stop blinking so fast, move more fluidly, stop emoting, etc.). The actress naturally looks “not quite human.” But the machines need to stop using contractions in speech. Another T3 flaw I was hoping they would fix.
I don’t think you should expect too much from a TV show about killer robots from the future. And I also think one episode is not enough to give it a fair shake.
For consistency’s sake, from the first two movies. Plus, it’s a convenient storyteller way to make them more “machiney.” It was very effective in the first two films. I noticed it immediately in T3 when Schwarzenegger uttered “Don’t do dat.”
Also:
"I’m a friend of Sarah Connor. I was told she was here. "
“It’s in your nature to destroy yourselves.”
“It cant form complex machines, guns and explosives have chemicals, moving parts, it doesn’t work that way, but it can form solid metal shapes.”
“He’ll live”
“Of course. I’m a terminator”
There are many, many more examples. The T1000 used contractions, too. I honestly have no idea where Charger got that idea.
I found it enjoyable enough. I thought the way they shoehorned it into the existing mythology was acceptable, though I’m not a fanboy so I could have missed some issues. I think the storyline could develop pretty well between the constant need to run from the Terminators in the modern, connected world and the investigation of who picked up on Dyson’s work with Skynet. There’s also a pretty good storyline which could develop between the FBI who’s perusing her and a likely conspiracy theory plot as the powers-that-be try to conceal when the Terminators make themselves seen.
There certainly were a few serious issues with the production values. With luck this can be addressed if the show gains popularity, pilots have a way of looking pretty hokey afterall. I hated the casting pretty much across the board. The worst was the Terminators. The first guy in the dream made me laugh out loud, coming from Schwarzenegger to this guy is about a jarring a change as is possible. You telling me that there aren’t enough ex-athletes and body builders out there who could play a more physically imposing machine than that turd? The second guy was no better. The cliched jerky neck movements did not come off well at all.
I hated the casting choices for the main characters too. Sarah Connor was the least bad, but she still lacks that hard-ass edge that Linda Hamilton managed to convey and the not-blonde part was maddening. I laughed out loud at the “get the guns, I’ll make pancakes” line, not in a good way.
John Connor was kinda whiney and annoying, but I hated Edward Furlong’s characterization with the heat of a thousand suns so perhaps this is just consistency. The Good Terminator was really irritating, but I thought that actress sucked as River Tam too. I realize that she’s supposed to be wooden and emotionless in both roles, but instead of coming across and inhuman and menacing it just comes across as plastic and flat. From the sounds of things they are going to try and write more emotion into the role via a “new” Terminator version which could go either way. I’m hoping for the best.
I do give props for them giving the good Terminator the name “Cameron” though. Nice.
I liked it, too. And I guess I can watch it if they’re ignoring T3, and setting it in the Cameron universe. I liked T3, but having them time-jump to 2007 really blows continuity with that film right out of the water. I was pleasantly surprised to see Dean Winters in it. He was one of my favorite characters in OZ, Ryan O’Reily.
