Television Series, FOX, 9 PM Mondays
Rating (after six episodes): 4 out of 5 Stars
This series continues the
Terminator film franchise which had become moribund after 2003’s disappointing
Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines (though a fourth big screen entry is currently in the works).
The Sarah Connor Chronicles focuses on the crusade Sarah and her fifteen year old son, John, to stop the rise of Skynet which will eventually subjugate humanity to slavery under machine rule. Along for the ride is a terminator from the future sent back to help Sarah and John (Cameron Phillips played by
Firefly’s Summer Glau) and an F.B.I agent (Richard T. Jones) trying to bring in Sarah for murder. In the premiere episode, Sarah and John must flee from a terminator sent to kill them and they end up jumping seven years into the future to 2008 with Cameron’s help. Here, they begin to track down people with future links to Skynet in an attempt to keep it from coming into existence.
At first glance, the premise seems like it could quickly succumb to a formulaic approach. It has a little bit of the
Fugitive going on with Sarah and John on the run from the terminators and the F.B.I. Then we have John trying to live a normal life by going to school and potentially dealing with the standard teen-angst situations. However, through the first six episodes,
The Sarah Connor Chronicles has bucked the formulas and presented some truly engaging television. The action is fast-paced, and at times relentless (underscored by its pounding Heavy Metal meets Industrial soundtrack), but the writer’s take time to focus on the human element as the characters must deal with the inner conflicts of their mission. Sarah and John are faced with a bleak existence as they must make the right choices to keep Skynet from eventually destroying humanity. This may mean killing someone who has, as of yet, done harm to no one. These are grave moral conflicts they must face, and the series does not shy away from challenging the viewers when they arise.
Lena Headey does an excellent job of carrying the torch of the Sarah Connor character, matching if not outdistancing Linda Hamilton’s performance is the first two films. Thomas Dekker plays John Connor as a grim, brooding teenager, who is reluctant yet well prepared to face the challenges relegated to him. The stunning Summer Glau brings some of the same ambiguity and eeriness that she instilled into River Tam on
Firefly along with a touch of tragic melancholy, and she shows that she can truly kick some butt as the “good” terminator in this installment of the franchise.
The series is very intense, perhaps too much so for its own good. The unrelenting pace of the show could lead to quick viewer burnout (and its ratings have dropped since its premiere). On the other hand, if it can keep up its current level of quality, it could truly shine as a standout in the Science Fiction genre.
The ratings for the series started strong, but have since trended downward. However, the early word is that FOX (notorious for its impatience with Science Fiction and Fantasy shows) plans on bringing it back for the 2008 – 09 season.
The word is spreading around the entertainment industry that the axe has fallen on David Eick’s Bionic Woman redux. While NBC has not made an official announcement, word is that the cast and crew of the show have been told that they should start looking for other opportunities. The series premiered with strong ratings, but saw a sharp drop in ratings as subsequent episodes declined in quality.
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