User reviews

This must be the lowest of low budget shows. It has an independent film quality and a cast of nickel and dime scrubs. It's a ghost town set. Always empty and lifeless. The ambiance of a ghost town or spaghetti western.

The plot jumps all over the place as if they keep reinventing the plot every other episode. Most episodes are just junk. Just contract content, by this I mean they exist solely for the purpose of filling a network time slot. It's not about quality, it's about production requirements.

Overall It's the four poor. Poor direction, poor cast, poor plot and poor budget.

1. on hiatus too often

2. too few episodes per season

3. moved around from Sunday to Monday to suicide Friday

4. writing inconsistent and illogical

5. no understanding of artificial intelligence

6. the sado-masochistic Krafft-Ebing poster art for the show

7. Sarah Connor is mean to Cameron Connor (& therefore to James Cameron

8. modeled on "The Fugitive" and "Twin Peaks"

9. TTSCC producers do NOT listen to fans of the show

10. neglects important (to advertisers) demographics like teen males, adult males, teen females, and adult females to instead concentrate on attracting sexual predators and sociopathic serial killers of women wanted by the FBI (no more than a hundred of these in the USA) -- see #6 if you doubt the target audience of the show.

Am I the only one who thinks women should not be cast as terminators? I find it difficult.

I think casting the protector as a younger women is an attempt to bring some kind of twisted love interest into the show for John Conner. Human on she-bot lovin' could be the big payoff for the series. I'm predicting a weird sexual tension between the protector and John Conner which culminates in a line something like "I have all the same functions as a human John, even sexual" Maybe the series will devolve into John ordering his protector to perform various sexual favor's for him while his mum is out buying him his cuddly Pooh bear.

Sarah Conner isn't tough enough. Shes neither bitch nor butch. She is however the best of the cast.

The new John Conner is a momma's boy who's character is average in all aspects. I want John Conner to die, so someone interesting can replace him.

For a kid who's apparently some kind of ace hacker and has been brought up on the street learning to survive he has NO EDGE.

Can we goto the friggen future already and shoot some friggen laser beams.

Please cast Peter Petrelli from Heroes as the future John Conner and make him a sick motherf**ker with an eye patch who chain smokes.

Thank you for your time.

I didn't have high hopes for this TV series, but I will watch it faithfully because it is my job as a Terminator fan to do so (at least in my opinion). Anyways, the show isn't THAT great. As far as quality in comparison to the first two goes, I would place this on the same level as T3. This show really feels like just a watered-down, changed only slightly version of T2. And quite frankly I'd take T2 over it any day. That being said, as with T3, this show is a lot of fun. Explosions, crashes, shootouts, robot fights, they're all here. And if they're all you're looking for than I urge you to check this show out. And it is nice to visit a little more with our friends John and Sarah. This show is not a train-wreck by any means, but it falls short of its predecessors by enough that die-hard fans will be disappointed.

I'm a big fan of the Terminator franchise. I like Lena Headey. I like Summer Glau. I want this show to work. But I'm starting to NOT be a fan of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. Each episode seems worse then the next. The writers still having issues from the strike? My biggest irritation, the Terminator is spending way to much time with emotions. What the hell was with the ballet dancing. Can a 1/2 ton machine do ballet? I guess so since the resistance has to steal a time machine and from that, they sent people back in time to build a time machine to send John Connor forward in time, huh? Does that mean John will be younger when he leads the resistance. Does that mean T3 no longer happened? Does that mean his bride to be, his 2nd in command is a way older woman. Will John still be interested in her? Does Sarah beat her cancer since she's checking up on it early. Will John still be the leader if Sarah survives her cancer? Will Sarah be the leader? Isn't there some theory that two of the same bodies can't occupy the same space? Can two Derrick Reese's exist at the same time in space? That's why I normally hate movies that have time travel. It's such a cop out (terminator was the exception since there was so much action, it was entertaining). Time travel is the easy way out for writers to not have to follow any reasoning.

What the hell was with the crying? CRYING!!!! They cry now. She doesn't steal/download the original Cameron's memories, but she has her memories. HUH? Is this turning into "I,Robot"? She can override her programming? She's not infected with a virus, and her "reprogramming" was erased so now she chooses not to kill John Connor, HUH? I like to be entertained and usually ignore all these trivial things but the show is running out of control from poor story telling. I've gotten to the point I'm picking it apart.

The pilot is very poorly directed and acted. The story is as superficial as one can expect from a long running series which have lost the initial spark... it is absolutely not something one would expect to be the pilot for a new TV show. To watch it was a waste of time, but I'm sure people have wasted, and continue to waste their time on shows even worse than what this gave the impression of being. It was my choice to remain watching until the end, so I can only blame myself. Will I check out the next episodes when they come? Yes, I think I just might do that... that is not based on the storyline, acting, directing, cutting, background music, special effects or other issues found in this pilot. It is based purely on my interest in the sci-fi genre. I sincerely hope the production team will put in the needed capital and guidelines NEEDED to keep this from ruining the whole concept.

This is supposed to air sometime next year, but is already on several streaming net sites, which I would deem as very positive for the producers... now they can read people's opinions BEFORE this is aired, and hopefully discard the extremely bad parts, fix the fixable and come up with a new pilot for when it is supposed to air the first time.

My vote on this first view of the pilot goes for neutral 5 stars. Having seen only one episode is not reason enough to reward it with the 2 stars it truly deserves (maybe even one), cause future episodes might become worth wasting time on.

I enjoy this show story and action, it's better than what I expected, I thought it's going to make more damage to the story than the damage Terminator 3 did.

But It's good, my only complaint is that it's story is like a Terminator 2 repeat.

The similarities between this show and Termiantor 2 are huge.

In both titles There's a Terminator protector for John In both titles John Sarah and the protector tries to destroy Skynet before it becomes self aware.

In both titles there's a Terminator chasing John.

In both titles the police is after Sarah and John.

In both titles there are scenes where the Terminator helps make stitches for Sarah.

This series is what Terminator 2 would be like if it was made for a TV series.

i liked, the series of terminator it was good entertainment, but i think i will follow on with the movies because i don't like it when they bring a series out then change time or something, don't get me wrong i enjoyed it for the entertainment but was disappointed when they jumped to 2007, i know people say terminator 3 was bad but i enjoyed it, and i am going to stay a fan of the films, the series is great in it's own way, but the films are more better story wise, i got confused with the series, i would have been good if there was no terminators in the series and it just was John and Sarah conner on the run from the cops up until her death, because to be honest i think that they, well in away spoiled it with that series, they should have made it loyal to the film series.

I liked the 'Terminator' movies from a distance. They were always exciting, action-overloaded, (not that cruddy mindless action like say, 'Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen) and Schwarzenneger was simply amazing. There was always a 'Goonies' feel to it, but with killing machines. What more could a person ask? So, naturally not really watching the Terminator movies over and over again like the rest of the fanatics who actually seem to find this T.V adaption rather entertaining, I was actually looking forward to how they would deal with it. Sadly, they just crushed my expectations, and spat on them.

Firstly, I simply cannot stand Thomas Dekker. The right face for John Conner, the male protagonist yes, but boy he can't act. I found him annoying, repulsive... He was your typical two-dimensional teenager. One would think that with all this experience over the last move (Terminator 2: Judgement day) that he would've built an internal strength, which is always so exciting to watch, but whenever he could, he would revert to bothersome, and irritatingly infuriating.

Lena Heady was a fine addition, a great highlight, but not the right look for Sarah Connor. They've terminated the original look of Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor completely, (no pun intended there, folks) but she is definitely a right fit for the role. She may be no Ripley, but she's definitely a rememborable Sarah Connor.

Terminator went from awesome, to teen skanks with guns in mini skirts. Of course, you have to keep in mind that this is what you would normally find in the average American high school. Terminator, TSCC also finds chinks in our armor, a perfected modern twist on the hit 90's classic. However, there are far too many down-lows, that it's not even funny, let alone enjoyable to watch. It does take it's time getting interesting, and sadly it can't even do that.

It's no underrated T.V show, in fact it has nearly every right to be underrated. There's one thing they do not loose, however, besides the integrity of the high-level performance (or presentation) of the Machines, (perfected, if you ask me) but in fact the 80's-90's action that the first two failed to miss.

Although, you don't necessarily have to watch this to understand the two sequels that follow, (Rise of the Machines, and Salvation) which is great, because they don't go to anal in ruining a great movie franchise in an attempt to keep the T.V series interesting.

This show, i agree isn't the best show on TV at the moment.

There a lot of people are casting strong negative criticism upon the show about how even after the first episode, it was branded as jumping the shark or that the casting was poor, obviously the casting is going to be slated because of the cast from the movies mainly T1 and T2.

Yes the three main characters seem far to unreal a bit to Hollywood, for instance in the movie the characters of say Sarah and John were gritty whereas in the show the characters seem too Hollywood, i know i have just been hypocrite by slating the casting but cut the actors some slack because they all had extremely large shoes to fill but at some aspects they pulled it off, i mean what was everyone hoping for the original actors or some Oscar winning stars, but then you would of had people watching it just cause of the cast so really its a lose-lose situation.

The story itself yes, its filled with loop holes that could be seen as a paradox and cancel out the previous two films. I know this is a bit of a strange example but people accepted Superman Returns (to an extent) which itself eliminates some of Superman II and cuts out Superman 3 and 4.

Anyway back to the point, the point is that like a lot of films or other TV shows based on something quite superb, before they are released this show picked up some major hype and when it failed to deliver it was totally destroyed by critics. The Company behind the show must have read thousands upon thousands of reviews, and that must make people think if its that bad why is there another season.

In conclusion and in theory that this show has made T1 and T2 fans alike and newcomers to the Terminator franchise that Chronciles makes film fanatics appreciate the films on a whole new level, some people i know watched the show with no real insight into the films then after the show they became major T1 and especially T2 fan.

If i had a show that made people fall in love with films that are somewhat exceptional i'd be happy.

So people should watch the show for what it is and not what everyone wants it to be or expect it to be.

Some of the scenes were good. Some were awful, like the opening dream sequence. Others were ripped directly from the Terminator movies. Put together the show was OK with definite room for improvement. Now that its off the start line hopefully the writers/directors will move the show in its own direction.

Lena is HOTT as always. The actor playing John is finally someone I don't want to throw a hammer at (not that I found Furlong annoying or Nick Stahl totally miscast).

But Summer Glau is awesome. I loved her in Firefly and the movie installment Serenity. She's got a great look and she is so impossibly graceful in her fight scenes. Hopefully someday she gets a part where she doesn't have to be a quirky killing machine.

Plot: the first season remember the good olds Terminators and was quite interesting (even if there are some absurd things, like the original movies, though) but in the second season there is a drop. A lot of side episodes that are pointless for the main story, quite boring. in general I think that they played too much with the time travel, indeed, in my opinion, there are some inconsistencies with the beginning of the third movie. And I think that not everything is well explained. There are behaviour that leaved me puzzled.

Actress and Actors & Acting: well, no Schwartzy for me means a lot, it was like this one was a fake Terminator show. But Lena Headey and Summer Glau did a very great job. While Thomas Dekker at the beginning was not so convincing, but episode after episode he takes the pace.

Soundtrack: good but not perfect. There are some situations that it does not fit perfectly, in my humble opinion.

Conclusions: a good show, if you watch just the first season. The change of every actress and actor is a little disorienting but not so delusional. They just overuse time-travel, in my opinion.

I liked the Terminator films. Well, I liked the first three of them. I think that makes me a fan- maybe not the biggest fan-but a fan. I thought the films maybe made it possible to do a TV show based on them. They made a decent effort that included several younger actors. They work well together. I suppose I think that there wasn't enough meat on the bones of this show. They can't do that many new things because they would invalidate either their own show or some aspect of the movies. That is kind of a narrow bandwidth to work with from a creative point of view. Fair effort-but not really outstanding. That would make it average. I'm just waiting for them to turn Alien into a series. That will be interesting for sure. I think this show was probably much more of a hit with younger teens than older ones who would be a more demanding audience. From the perspective of adult SF it doesn't really cut the mustard. Not enough original SF concepts in it-its all borrowed stuff from the movies.

In case you don't know much about the whole "Terminator" thing and want a short description of this TV show, then let's say it isn't without merit, but it is, unfortunately, cheap, unrealistic, chaotic, stupid, boring and pretentious. If you are up to date and want some detail and analysis, however, things are as follows.

There isn't just one evil killer robot from the future hunting the heroes, there are many, and they have different missions. Many they may be, but barely any of them matter, because never has a terminator been as easy to deal with as here, and part of the reason why is, of course, how the killer robots here make bad decisions and hesitate because they are stupid. There is a film about killer robots entitled "The Class of 1999", and the killer robots from that film were scarier that the terminators on this show. One of them was portrayed by the actor Patrick Kilpatrick. Surprisingly, he portrays one of the terminators here, the only one that means business and is really scary, perhaps. But, unfortunately, his time on this show isn't long.

Most of the actors cast as the terminators have regular human physique, but the metal skeletons are big and bulky. It is unclear how they can possibly fit inside your average Joe. One word, unrealistic, and again, because of what the script makes them do, they aren't scary. And the effects don't really help, neither practical nor visual. Some of it looks cartoonish. Of course, the many real locations are a positive thing to point out, but labeling the visuals here "good" may not be fair. The sound isn't anything to celebrate, either, long story short, the package of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" could have been better. If the budget was a problem, maybe there shouldn't have been so many terminators, then?

The heroes are Sarah Connor, her son John and Cameron, a terminator from the future reprogrammed and sent here to protect John, plus, a few other characters are added to this mix along the way, but here is an interesting thing, and in a bad way.

In the first film, there is only one evil robot chasing the heroes, and they, once together, try their best to stay together. In the second film, there is only one evil robot chasing the heroes, and they, once together, try to stay together. And that makes sense because together they are safer. But on this show, even though anyone could be a terminator around the corner, the heroes split up all the time, and this does not make sense because they are more vulnerable when separated, and again, there are many terminators all over the place. The heroes, especially after what they have already gone through, should know better than keep splitting up time and time again. And one of them is a robot that has a specific job to protect John Connor. Why do they all keep splitting up then? No "Terminator" film is this dumb, not even "Genisys" and "Dark Fate".

Long story short, terminators are disposable and the heroes are stupid.

With the whole "second chance" and "redemption" thing, "Terminator: Salvation" may have had some religious parallels, but nowhere near as preachy as this TV show. With the whole "time travel" thing used more than usual, "Terminator: Genisys" is a choir boy compared to this TV show.

And as for the plot in general, any story is three things, the beginning, the middle and the end. The beginning introduces things, sets things up, and then, when the main exposition is done, the story unfolds. That is where the middle comes into play, it develops things, takes the heroes and the villains places. Of course, there can be some new discoveries made along the way, but again, the majority of the material has been presented, the story now works with it, moving it forward. Once the beginning, the introduction, is done, things are going. But here, it takes a long time for the story to really get going. More and more new elements keep coming, and they get in the way of the story. Too many set ups, plain and simple, and the show barely has any time to move forward. Because it is too busy doing more and more exposition all over the place. All of that plus destiny, time travel and a submarine does sound like the TV show "Lost", and whether or not "Terminator" should be like that is a good question, the first two films dealt with time travel and complicated information, too, but they were also clear, step by step, careful, methodical, they had a way of telling a complicated story in a simple, engaging way. "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is not like that. It is clumsy and chaotic.

What's good about it, then?

The real filming locations are welcome and some of the effects, some of them, are fine, some of the main characters may be interesting. John Connor does not want any of these adventures, he does not want this "fate", he wants a normal life, and it takes time for him to accept this reality and become cold-blooded, someone who could, indeed, be a leader someday, perhaps. Cameron, the good robot, John's protector, gets shot, beaten up, blown up, damaged again and again, to the point of dangerously malfunctioning, the others don't really trust her, treat her like a thing, and with all she has to go through, can't help but feel for the poor thing. No matter what, she keeps doing her job. By the way, she may have been inspired, in part, at least, by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Seasons 5 and 6.

Anyway, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles", as a whole, and how it's organized, isn't good, and it isn't even all that original. It borrows things from the first two films, of course, and even though it "ignores" the third film, it also borrows from that, and some of the things it does bring to the table, the new things, would later mutate into "Genisys" and "Dark Fate", neither of which is great.

Terminator 1 and 2 are masterpieces. Top notch work, absolutely brilliant. Then we had an unnecessary 3rd one which is kinda okay, but nowhere near James Cameron's original work.

Thankfully the show ignores 3 completely and set after the events of 2. That is an exciting concept that is for sure. The series was faithful to the franchise but it was still just Terminator on TV. Less action scenes, less special effects, little budget. To be honest it never tried to be anything more. It aimed to be interesting for the modern, young adult viewers. The acting is decent, the story is alright. Sarah and John feels little bit different than usual but they are believable enough. Both well casted. Summer Glau shines as the Terminator, perfect for the role in every possible way. The highlight of the show. Her portray of the machine's human condition learning process is wonderful.

Beside that this is a mediocre show but it didn't kill the franchise, Salvation did.