The Terminator Series from the past to the Future

Hey again, with the second season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles going strong and the 4th Installment of the Terminator series being released next year, I felt that I should take a look at the what the Terminator series has given us so far.

What is the Terminator series? Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, you know the basic premise of the Terminator series: A Terminator, a highly advanced cyborg which has a covering on it which makes it look human, is sent back in time to kill a certain person or do a specific mission. These terminators are created by Skynet, an advanced computer system which wipes out the human race through nuclear war, ouch. John Connor, the leader of the remaining humans sends a protector or someone else from the future in order to prevent Skynet from completing its goals.

The Terminator Series

The Terminator (1984)
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn
Terminator: T-800 M101 (Schwarzenegger), humanoid robot which is covered in synthetic skin which makes it appear/smell/feel human.
Protector: Kyle Reese (Biehn), John Connor’s right-hand man
Plot: Kyle Reese is sent back in time to stop a Terminator from killing Sarah Connor (Hamilton), whose child will lead the resistance against Skynet.
My Reaction: An excellent movie, full of suspense, action and plenty of good acting. This film works well as a single entity not just as a series. I have no complaints about this movie at all.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong
Terminator: T-1000 (Patrick), made from an unknown liquid metal, the T-1000 can assume almost any shape and disguise as any person.
Protector: T-800 M101 (Schwarzenegger), identical to the terminator in the first movie, this one was captured and reprogrammed by John Connor (Furlong) in order to protect him.
Plot: Sarah Connor (Hamilton) has been sent to a mental institution and John Connor is living with his foster parents. A T-1000 is sent back to kill him and his only protector is a reprogrammed terminator. John frees Sarah from the hospital and the two of them attempt to find and destroy Skynet while it’s still being created.
My Reaction: One of the best movies I’ve ever seen, great plot, visuals, acting, etc. This is one of the few times a movie has placed a ton of special effects in a movie without sacrificing the actual quality of the movie. Also, it is one of the few times when a sequel is as good or surpasses the quality of the original.

Terminator 3 (2003)
Directed by: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken
Terminator: T-X (Kristanna Loken), a hybrid of the T-1000 and T-800, metal “skeleton” with liquid metal skin, able to turn arm into plasma cannon, disguise as almost anyone, control machines with nanomachines and a whole lot of other shit
Protector: T-850 M101 (Schwarzenegger), identical to the other Terminators in the last two movies, but heavier and more durable
Plot: John Connor (Stahl) is on the run from the police and other Terminators. Meanwhile, a T-X arrives to kill him and all of his officers in the future. A T-850 is sent back to protect John and his future wife, Kate Brewster (Danes). But this time, the T-850 says that Judgment Day is coming in only a few hours.
My Reaction: A lot of people hated this movie, but I didn’t mind it that much. It was a fun action flick you could watch with some of your friends. However, without James Cameron, the directing seemed a bit bland and special effects had taken over the plot. I saw it once in theaters and once on DVD and frankly, I don’t think I want to watch it again.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 (2008)
Created by: Josh Friedman
Starring: Lena Heady, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Richard T. Jones, Brian Austin Green, Garret Dillahunt, Dean Winters
Terminators: *T-888 ‘Cromartie’ (Garret Dillahunt, Owain Yeoman) skills and abilities similar to the T-800 in the first three movies, trying to kill John Connor *T-888 ‘Vick’ (Matt McColm), mission: to protect one of Skynet’s creators and assassinate several Resistance fighters sent back in time to destroy Skynet *T-888 ‘Carter’, mission: to gather materials Skynet can use in the future to build Terminators
Protectors: *[Unknown model] ‘Cameron’ (Summer Glau) protect John and Sarah Connor *Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green) Kyle Reese’s brother
Plot: John and Sarah Connor are sent through time from 1995 to 2007 to destroy Skynet. Their only helpers are a terminator, Cameron, and Derek Reese. Meanwhile, another Terminator, Cromartie, tracks the Connors and their allies. In 2007, an FBI agent is investigating several murders done by Cromartie.
My Reaction: I have a mixed reaction to this series. On the one hand, it has better acting and several good plot twists, but some of the writing seems a bit poor and several of the episodes appear unnecessary. The pilot was excellent but the later episodes seemed to lack any significance to the plot. However, the season finale was excellent and satisfying.

The Future

Terminator 4: I am really looking forward to this. I loved those scenes in the Terminator series when it showed soldiers running through a destroyed city fighting bigass robots, I've always wanted to see an entire movie just based off of those scenes. Plus, Christian Bale is starring as John Connor, that is just awesome. Hopefully, he won't do his "Batman" voice while he's Connor.

Terminator: TSCC Season 2: I really hope this season will be good. The pilot was excellent, but the second episode...well it was simply just boring. With a new episode coming out tonight, I hope it will be great. I like the fact they're adding new villains and allies in the story, plus adding more to the relationships between the four principle characters.

Poster for T4

Christian Bale as John Connor

Promo for Season 2 of Terminator: TSCC