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Some lucky Dark Knight goers got a glimpse of the new, Christian Bale Terminator. While the third installment in the film franchise was utter crap, fans can be content in the knowledge that all looks good for the future. In the meantime, kick back, relax, and forget the third film ever happened with Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles.

The show watches like a who’s who of television acting. Starring Lena Headey (Queen Gorgo, 300), Thomas Dekker (Zach, Heroes), the utterly effervescent Summer Glau (River Tam, Firefly), a surprisingly non-toolish Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills 90210), Richard T. Jones (Bruce, Judging Amy), Garret Dillahunt (the brilliantly twisted Wolcott from Deadwood), Dean Winters (Law and Order: SVU and Oz), and Sonya Walger (Penny Widmore, Lost).

It can be summed up like this: among the main cast members (according to IMDB, that is), there are two Heroes appearances, two Lost appearances, two Firefly, three Angel and House, twenty-three CSI appearances, three 4400, four Numb3rs, and the grand prize winner, twenty-four Law and Order guest appearances. That’s a pretty decent listing.

I want to start with saying that I did not expect to like this show. Thinking it would be mediocre at best, I found myself, with each episode, more impressed, more interested, and more involved in the story. Picking up immediately after T2, John and Sarah Connor, still on the run from law enforcement and enemies unknown, ditch their latest town after growing too close to a man named Charlie Dixon (Dean Winters). They start over in a rural, boondocks kind of town. John (Thomas Dekker) befriends a cute girl (Summer Glau) and then all hell breaks loose – a terminator finds them.

Little do the Connor’s know, that cute girl is also a machine, and, like Arnold in T2, sent to protect them. John, frustrated with the status quo, urges Sarah to fight the future, and the machines. Glau takes them to a bank, where the pieces of a time portal are hidden, and the threesome make a jump to 2007 Los Angeles – which happens to be where Skynet’s birth has been reallocated in time after the events of T2. They take on new identities. John and his girl-bot (now dubbed Cameron – you guess why) enroll in school. They bring the fight to Skynet.

Confused? You should be. The show’s main pitfall is the time contradictions, the holes and mis-matches given as fact. In fairness, these could be questions that will be answered in upcoming episodes, ala Lost. And lucky for us, there will be episodes to come. The Sarah Connor Chronicles survived the FOX jinx and landed itself another season, despite the writer’s strike wackiness.

Here’s the good stuff: the relationship between John and Cameron is fantastic. They play off each other poignantly, often humorously. Whenever John takes Cameron out into society (say, to school), her machine quirks and lack of emotion provide for excellent fun. She wanders through social structures not understanding yet adapting, even picking up slang (the way she uses the word ‘tight’ is brilliant, almost mocking). Glau is wonderful in this part, though not as good as the creey, bad-ass River Tam from Firefly. Dekker has a look of innocence and intensity that sells his role as John and his ability to grow fond of an uncaring machine (and here, there are lovely echoes of Edward Furlong and Arnold Schwartzenegger).

Sarah’s part is not nearly as interesting as John. The keeper of her band of outlaws, she is hard, violent, yet frought with a delicate humanity that manifests itself in her relationships with the satellite characters (most notably Dean Winters and Brian Austin Green).

The plot (and many subplots) is fantastic, despite only being nine episodes long. I sat down to idly watch one episode and didn’t stop until I’d seen the whole thing (my husband, separately, did the same). The fighting weaves back and forth between graceful and blunt. The violence (especially in the last episode), is powerful without being over the top. 

You want bonuses? They gave us plenty of bonuses. Almost every episode has either cut scenes, commentary, or both. Every disc is a bearer of bonus features, from blooper reels (I’ve seen better) to audition tapes, animatics to Summer Glau’s ballet rehearsal. A three part featurette, “Creating the Chronicles”, rounds out the set beautifully. But those of you who dislike spoilers should wait until you’ve watched the whole series before cracking the bonus features, even those on the first disc.

Good plot. Great bonuses. A well-rounded cast and subterfuge for all. This is a show that deserves to be bought, deserves to be watched, and above all, deserves to be tivo’ed when it returns in the fall. Terminator fans, not to worry. The franchise is back on it’s feet.

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