Terminator - catchin up part I

Yikes, got a lot to catch up on. So here we go. (Don't I have three more Fireflies to do?)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Heavy Metal (Feb 4)

I continue to enjoy the heck out of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. One thing I'm really loving that the movies never got to do (because they were movies) is the time they can take. We're told that the Terminators are these inexorable machines that will NEVER EVER STOP. But we've never seen them have to go after something for more than a few days. We can finally see one of these things biding it's time waiting for it's prey to make a mistake.

My favorite thing continues to be the interplay between Sarah and Cameron. (Heh, that ended in divorce at the 1998 Oscars, didn't it? Oh, wrong Sarah and Cameron.) It's like Spock and McCoy with BIG GUNS and no Kirk to moderate. Maybe John will grow into that role. I think this might be an intentional gamble, holding John back like this, making him less interesting than he might be. I really hope it pays off. I think it just might. It will be really cool if they really manage to make John the leader of the gang.

My second favorite plot is the FBI. I don't know why. But it's a needed element to mix up the kinds of stories you can tell with Sarah's gang. I like that he's really not stupid. Smart people are a welcome addition to any show. Especially smart cops.

Nice touch not showing the fight between security guy and Cameron, just showing his reaction afterwards. If she can't be River then this part is just fine for Summer Glau.

Still wondering what they intend to do if the show runs for four seasons (the new Judgement Day). I'm not sure Smallville ever thought that far ahead.

Of course we continue to see that Kyle Reese couldn't have been more wrong when he said that "no one else gets through". There's armies from both sides flying through time on this show!

Not sure I really followed the "hijacking supplies for Skynet" plot. Maybe Skynet had the time displacement equipment set up early enough that it didn't see the resistance as a threat and was more concerned with shopping runs. I am curious what Cameron will do with her stash. Also, about trapping the terminator inside the bomb shelter: It's a terminator. Won't it be trying to get out? Even if it takes years?

I watched The Terminator this weekend. I had the year of the end of the war totally screwed up. 2029. Not 2017. So Kyle will be a baby or a little kid, if he's even born yet. And in the original timeline he would have been born well after Judgement day. Oh, and we have a date for when Terminator happens. May 12th, 1984. So John has to be born in early 1985. So there's no way he can be 15 in 1999. Close. I guess Sarah was rounding off.

BTW, Linda Hamilton was 27 when she made Terminator (born 1956 - same as Michael Biehn - so I guess Reese would be 6 or 7 in 2008). So she was 43 in 1999. Lena Headey is 34. Dialing back the seven years they skipped, she would have been born in 1965. So her Sarah would be 19 in 1984. Just in case y'all were wondering. While we're at it, Thomas Dekker is 20 and Summer Glau is 26. So neither of them have seen 15 for a while. (Not that it matters, but The Governator is 60.)

Oh! Here we go - from Wikipedia (so it MUST be true!):

According to the script for The Terminator (1984)—available on the Special Edition DVD—Sarah was 19 years old. The film was set from May 12th through May 14th of 1984, placing her birth date between May 11, 1964 and May 15, 1965.

In Terminator 2 Sarah's psychologist states that she is 29. The film itself shows on screen that it takes place when John (born 1985-02-28) is age 10 (between 1995-02-28 and 1996-02-27). This places Sarah's birth date between 1965-03-01 and 1967-02-27, making her 17, 18, or 19 during The Terminator.

The alternate ending for Terminator 2 (1991)—available on the Ultimate Edition DVD—shows Sarah alive and well on August 29, 2029. She is by then a grandmother (and John is a Senator) in a world where Skynet was never able to start its war on humanity.

The tombstone shown in Terminator 3 (2003) reads 1959–1997. The birth year would make her 24 or 25 during The Terminator. Her death was described as from leukemia sometime after the original "Judgment Day" (August 29, 1997).

The "Pilot" episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, picks up Sarah and John on the run in 1999. Her FBI file lists her age as 33 on August 24, 1999, placing her birth date between August 25, 1965 and August 24, 1966. This would make her 17 or 18 during The Terminator.

In the "Gnothi Seauton" episode, Cameron Phillips mentions that Sarah would have died from cancer, had they not jumped forward in time. Cameron also mentions that John Connor sent Cameron back in time to help leap over Sarah's death. At the end of the episode Sarah is at a doctor's office, where her forged drivers license shows her birthday as February 4th.

Still might be my favorite show. (House is a close second.)