Topic: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon

[Achim]

Shamelessly copied from Tom (I do mean it as a sincere form of flattery ):



Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season Marathon

This starts the "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season" marathon.

Our timetable:

Monday Jan. 12 - Sunday Jan. 18:
Disc 1
1. Pilot
2. Gnothi Seauton
3. The Turk

Monday Jan. 19 - Sunday Jan. 25:
Disc 2
4. Heavy Metal
5. Queen's Gambit
6. Dungeons and Dragons

Monday Jan. 26 - Sunday Feb. 1:
Disc 3
7. The Demon Hand
8. Vick's Chip
9. What He Beheld


I hope for numerous comments on each episode. Rating shall be considered optional.


Judgement Day is upon us!!!  

[Tom]

Is it deliberate, that we are starting in a week from now? I don't mind, but I just thought we'll start this Monday. I do not mind either way.

[addicted2dvd]

I was thinking the same thing... thought we would start this coming week. But I am cool with waiting another week if you prefer.

[Achim]

No, not deliberate, just random act of madness.

Corrected. Apologies for the confusion.

[DJ Doena]

And I thought it was because of the different timezone, that your next week is actually the 19th.  

[Tom]

I don't know, if this only happens here in Bavaria, or if it is a German thing, but you have to watch out a little with the term "next week".

Often something like this happens:
Me: So see you next Monday
Other: Ok, on Jan 19th
Me: No, on Jan 12th
Other: Oh, you meant upcoming Monday and not next Monday

 

[DJ Doena]

Time is relative. If someone tells me on a sunday that we are going to meet next week I don't assume that he means tomorrow, but at least 8 days from now. If he tells me the same thing on a thursday I will assume he actually means the upcoming week.

Do you know the german Zwiebelfisch?

[Tom]

Do you know the german Zwiebelfisch?

I did know of it, but I don't read it regularly. But I have read the first "Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod".

[Achim]

Well, I am German and where I come from "next" is usually one after the "coming". So, next Monday could have been the 19th while "this coming Monday" would be clearly the 12th. There are exceptions of course, which I guess would go along with what Karsten was saying.

Having said that, speaking and writing English most of the time now, this difference has somewhat washed away (although even there it still requires clarification sometimes) for me and I did indeed mean for the marathon to start on the 12th.

[Achim]

Pilot (Terminator 2.5)

As indicated above, I found the story line of the pilot to be rather similar to the first two movies. Nonetheless we are off to a great start! The episode starts with some quick action and then keeps a good speed throughout, only stopping occasionally to take a small breath and explain a few more things; for those few viewers who may not have seen the films and then some. The conclusion comes as a great surprise and consequently creates interest to watch more of the same. I for one am looking forward to the next episodes, hoping they can keep it up.

(click to show/hide)

Summer Glau gets to kick ass!

Acting was solid. I had a little trouble to believe Thomas Dekker to be 15 years old and thought Lena Headey looked a bit two young. Summer Glau, being used to play weird outsiders, does a good job in her role as Cameron.

Favorite quote (although I am paraphrasing):
"You might want to put those back in the holster."

[addicted2dvd]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 Marathon
The mother of all destiny. Her son, the future leader of mankind. Their protector, a Terminator from the future. Together they must take back the future as Sarah Connor (300's Lena Headey) prepares her son to fight the war against machines determined to annihilate the human race. The Clock is ticking. Can they stop Judgement Day?

Disc 1:

1. Pilot
No one is ever safe, least of all Sarah Connor and her son, John. Tired of running from the machines, Sarah decides to stand and fight.

My Thoughts:
This is a great start to the series. Yes, it is a lot like the first 2 movies. But I think this is a good thing... for anyone that might have never seen the movies (if that is possible). They really went all out for the pilot episode. Lots of great effects and a really enjoyable storyline.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

2. Gnothi Seauton
New future, new identity. Cromartie, the battered but relentless Terminator programmed to kill John Connor, resurfaces.

My Thoughts:
Another good episode... though it is not as good as the pilot episode. There was no real surprises in this episode... it pretty much went in the direction I was expecting throughout the episode. But definitely a good continuation from the pilot episode.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

3. The Turk
He's just a geek with a hobby. But is the computer chess program Andy Goode developed the beginning of the end?

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this episode as well. I got a kick out of John and Cameron going to school... only to find that at the entrance there is a metal detector and they have to explain how Cameron keeps setting off the metal detector. This one has another really interesting storyline that was well done.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[Tom]

1. Pilot (2008-01-13)
Writer: Josh Friedman (Created By), Josh Friedman (Writer), James Cameron (Original Characters By), Gale Anne Hurd (Original Characters By)
Director: David Nutter
Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah Connor), Thomas Dekker (John Connor), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Agent James Ellison), Owain Yeoman (Cromartie), Sonya Walger (Michelle Dixon), Nick Wechsler (Deputy Ridge), Charlayne Woodard (Terissa Dyson), Dean Winters (Charley Dixon), Aurora Antonio (Wiseass), Chad Brummett (F.B.I. Agent), Aaron Cash (Terminator), Jason Grutter (Police Officer), Gary Houston (Mr. Ferguson), Deborah Martinez (News Anchor), Genia Michaela (Bank Teller), Kenneth Miller (Boy), Brandon Molale (Big Cop), Shawn Prince (Danny Dyson)

An almost perfect introduction to a great series. Nice way to solve the problem, to have the characters hardly older than in the second movie, but having the series set in present time.
Nice to see Nick Wechsler following his father's footsteps (he played Kyle Valenti on Roswell, the son of Sheriff Valenti who's played by William Sadler. And now he plays the deputy sheriff here).
For the "Heroes" fans among us: Thomas Dekker played Claire's friend in the first half of season 1, but dropped out of "Heroes" to star here.
I forgot that Summer Glau already said her signature remark "Thank you for explaining" in this pilot before it is revealed that she is a Terminator. Nice

Rating:

[Achim]

An almost perfect introduction to a great series. Nice way to solve the problem, to have the characters hardly older than in the second movie, but having the series set in present time.

That problem didn't even quite occur to me And I must have missed how they solved it too. Can you explain?

(click to show/hide)

My impression, regardless of that actually being illogical, was, that it begins in current day and then they travel back to 1998 at the end of the show? The again, at the same time it appeared they travelled forward, as the bank had disappeared; the bank had been build in 1963, so it must have been after the bank was removed. Having painted myself in a corner here, I wonder why I thought they time travelled to 1998 I see now why you enjoyed it though

[DJ Doena]

An almost perfect introduction to a great series. Nice way to solve the problem, to have the characters hardly older than in the second movie, but having the series set in present time.

That problem didn't even quite occur to me And I must have missed how they solved it too. Can you explain?

(click to show/hide)

My impression, regardless of that actually being illogical, was, that it begins in current day and then they travel back to 1998 at the end of the show? The again, at the same time it appeared they travelled forward, as the bank had disappeared; the bank had been build in 1963, so it must have been after the bank was removed. Having painted myself in a corner here, I wonder why I thought they time travelled to 1998 I see now why you enjoyed it though

(click to show/hide)

At the end of the pilot they travel from 1999 to 2007

[Achim]

(click to show/hide)

At the end of the pilot they travel from 1999 to 2007

Thanks!

(click to show/hide)

I just finished watching episode 2 and it became pretty clear that they were ahead of episode 1 (as they were talking about events they avoided or "missed" (9/11).

But, a new mystery came up for me already (missed something again ). Whose (empty) apartment did they visit to pick up the money? It appeared as if they knew the person, but somehow I must have missed them mentioning the name .

Episode 2 slowed down the pace a bit, trying to deepen the characters a bit, which is just fine at this point. Dekker mostly does a good job to appear like I could be around 15 years old while it became more obvious to me that Headey was playing Sarah a bit different then Linda Hamilton in T2. Glau does her thing. It appears time travel became quite popular in the times of the resistance... Looking forward to episode 3 on either thursday or Friday!

"Please remain calm."


What becomes a little annoying about the Blu-ray is that, as typical for Warner, the "feature" starts to play immediately, forcing you to keep skipping forward to find the 2nd (or 3rd) episode on the disc; a episode selection menu is missing entirely