{"id":2996,"date":"2008-07-28T10:28:02","date_gmt":"2008-07-28T14:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinemacrazed.wordpress.com\/?p=2996"},"modified":"2008-07-28T10:28:02","modified_gmt":"2008-07-28T14:28:02","slug":"terminator-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-the-complete-first-season-2008-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/28\/terminator-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-the-complete-first-season-2008-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – The Complete First Season (2008) (DVD)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Thank goodness for the writer\u2019s strike, because let\u2019s be honest here: Were it not for 80 percent of the series on primetime television going off the air thanks to a bunch of out of work writers, \u201cThe Sarah Connor Chronicles\u201d wouldn\u2019t have stood a chance in the ratings. I mean, come on, let\u2019s look at the ingredients: It\u2019s a serialized version of two very popular movies, the third of which has been lambasted by fans worldwide. It stars a barely memorable actor from \u201cHeroes\u201d as young John Connor, a cult actress from a cancelled television series as a cyborg sent to protect him, and an ad campaign that revolves around Lena Headey, a woman who is only popular with fan boys. Not to mention \u201cThe Sarah Connor Chronicles\u201d completely forgets the horrific third installment of \u201cThe Terminator\u201d series while also leaving a trail of continuity problems and plot holes in its wake.<\/p>\n

This series had a ninety-nine percent chance of bombing big time and barely make it past three episodes. Lo and behold, in spite of all of its problems \u201cThe Sarah Connor Chronicles\u201d is a big surprise as a dark, engaging, and entertaining series that follows Sarah Connor and John Connor as they try to beat the impending robot apocalypse and trace its roots to cut it off at Skynet. Meanwhile, it further induces that notion on television that all women have to be gun toting warriors while the men are nurtured babies who always get in to trouble. But who cares? \u201cThe Sarah Connor Chronicles\u201d is a rather good television series with a strong cast of actors who keep Terminator buffs watching in spite of the inherent problems. \u201cTerminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles\u201d follows Sarah and John on the run from their cyborg hunters who keep them coasting from town to town evading the law and immediate death with painfully close calls.<\/p>\n

Lena Headey is (in my minority opinion) the perfect replacement to the powerful Linda Hamilton as the strong and conflicted Sarah Connor who must do everything in her will to go in the future to stop Skynet before it becomes the powerful defense system whose robots eventually take control of the world. They\u2019re aided by the subservient Cyborg Cameron, a sexy and nearly invincible partner in their travels who takes on other Cyborg soldiers while learning to imitate human beings. Summer Glau doesn\u2019t lose a beat from \u201cFirefly\u201d obviously channeling River Tam with her own unique sex appeal providing a wonderful supporting performance to Headey\u2019s intensity. John Connor is watered down and emasculated to a degree as the almost useless counterpart to Sarah who can barely wield a gun and relies on the women to do his job.<\/p>\n

I was never sure if we\u2019re supposed to be convinced this John Connor becomes a war hero because while Thomas Dekker\u2019s performance is better than Eddie Furlong, the character is reduced to an often mumbling, whiny protagonist with no hint of that future soldier who is born from the apocalypse. Sadly, the series is never quite as excellent as it has the chance to be what with a softer version of Sarah Connor onscreen as well as drastic changes in characters that made no sense. Nevertheless, \u201cThe Sarah Connor Chronicles\u201d makes good on its epic potential in the first season with excellent action set pieces, and robot battles that are almost as exciting as what we witness in the films. I\u2019m glad it\u2019s coming back in spite of the flaws Terminator fans will surely groan at.<\/p>\n

As for the DVD<\/strong>, the packaging looks excellent. Among many extras, there\u2019s the episode recaps for reasons I\u2019m not yet aware of, as well as the options for \u201cTerminated Scenes\u201d and Commentary for key episodes which you can watch separately or integrate in to episode that apply. There\u2019s a three and a half minute Gag Reel that\u2019s really funny but why do they bleep out the swears? It\u2019s a DVD for Pete sake! There\u2019s also the sixteen minute featurettes \u201cCreating the Chronicles\u201d Reboot, Future War, and Demon Hand. The Three part look at the production and development of the series really pinpoints how difficult the task of bringing to life the \u201cTerminator\u201d mythos was. Wait until you see the interview with Thomas Dekker who literally looks like a cancer patient with shaved head and eyebrows (he doesn\u2019t have cancer, by the way). There are also a slew of deleted (or \u201cTerminated\u201d) scenes that attempt to bring more cogency to the pilot episode and \u201cThe Demon Hand\u201d episode with more emphasis on relationships and patching plot holes.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also commentary with Josh Friedman, Lena Headey, and Thomas Dekker respectively who have a blast with their time behind the scenes discussing their hectic shooting schedules, and Dekker admits he pouted too much in the early episodes of season one. Hilarious. Though the Making-Of three parter draws barely any notice to it, the four on mic do pay lip service to the writer\u2019s strike. Thomas Dekker has more fun than anyone in this feature talking a lot and cracking jokes adding a more relaxed atmosphere. There\u2019s also the \u201cCast Audition Tapes\u201d with Headey, Dekker, and Richard T. Jones. If you see the extras, you\u2019ll understand why Glau\u2019s audition isn\u2019t included. However, there is Glau\u2019s Dance Audition tape!<\/p>\n

Glau performs ballet for the camera and my, is she ever the elegant being to watch. There\u2019s also the three and a half minute \u201cStoryboard Animatic\u201d acting as a play by play of the key action scene in the pilot. Disc Three features Commentary on the episode \u201cWhat He Beheld\u201d with Josh Friedberg, Tim Goldberg, Brian Austin Green, and Summer Glau. There\u2019s also the Extended Cut of \u201cThe Demon Hand\u201d and more \u201cTerminated Scenes.\u201d Worth your buck? Oh yes. It’s a flawed series with continuity problems, mythos departures, and a restructured character mold that doesn’t always work on every episode, but “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is still an entertaining science fiction spin off of the film series and it’s given a great treatment on DVD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thank goodness for the writer\u2019s strike, because let\u2019s be honest here: Were it not for 80 percent of the series on primetime television going off the air thanks to a bunch of out of work writers, \u201cThe Sarah Connor Chronicles\u201d wouldn\u2019t have stood a chance in the ratings. I mean, come on, let\u2019s look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[58,302,865,906,922,1000,1037,1087,1132],"class_list":["post-2996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","tag-action","tag-drama","tag-robots","tag-science-fiction","tag-sequel","tag-summer-glau","tag-terminator","tag-thriller","tag-tv-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}