Once Upon a Bookshelf

So, after two months on the air, and after the season finale, I finally have some thoughts on Terminator: The Sarah Connoer Chronicles. Yes, it’s taken me this long to figure out what I thought about it. And basically what it comes down to is this: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had two really good things going for it, and that outweighed all the bad, boring and cheesy.

Firstly, there was Summer Glau. Oh, Summer Glau how talented and graceful you are. I could seriously sit around and watch her fight bad Terminators all day.

Secondly, John Enbom. Anyone involved with Veronica Mars gets brownie points with me - VM was one of my favourites. So the fact that John Enbom, who wrote numerous VM episodes also wrote one and produced a number of episodes of Terminator, WELL.

Of course, I suppose Brian Austin Green joining the cast half way through the season could be counted towards my enjoyment of the show as well. I had the biggest crush on him when he was in 90210, so I will always have a bit of a soft spot for him.

I didn’t particularly like the people playing Sarah or John Connor; or any of the rest of the cast for that matter. John was too emo for my liking, and Sarah was . . . I don’t know how to describe it. I mean, I know I would be paranoid of all sorts of stuff if I was in her shoes, but she just seemed to go over the top with being over-protective and everything. Then there was the subplot with Agent Ellison - it was too much like the whole Roswell Season One Valenti thing where Valenti was hunting down Max and co. and then ended up on their side.

Plus, the show never really goes into how the whole traveling through time thing works, which I heard from a friend is one of the problems with the movies as well.* This was also one of my problems with the second season of Heroes too. If you don’t at least give me some boundaries, I’m going to think you didn’t put any thought into it while throwing time travel into your TV show. Seriously, how can you have a character meet or see themselves at different points in their lives and not have the universe implode on itself? Even Doctor Who had a time crash and said that the it’s “totally wrong, big emergency, universe goes bang in five minutes.” (And I realize that’s because two time zones are “at war in the heart of the TARDIS,” and not because the same person met themselves at different periods in their life, but it can still be applied here, imo.) So yes, that’s a pet peeve of mine.

I’m not a big TV watcher, so the fact that it brought me back week after week has got to say something good for the show though. If it’s renewed, will I watch it again next season? Not 100% positive yet, but most likely. Especially if Summer Glau, John Enbom and Brian Austin Green continue to be involved in it.

I never watched Heroes when it was on TV. For the first third of the season I didn’t know it was on. For the second third, I kept forgetting what night/time/channel it was on. For the last third, I just didn’t want to start because I would have missed on so much of the plot already. Even though I knew I would love it. So, on my brother’s recommendation, I went out and picked up a copy for myself when it was released on DVD.

(TV on DVD is one of the worlds greatest inventions, just so you know.)

I hadn’t been this hooked this soon into a pilot since Veronica Mars. Seriously, it took me maybe 5 minutes at most to realize the genius and wonderfulness of this show. I totally loved this. Ah! I loved the casting - I really enjoyed Hayden Panettiere in Remember the Titans, and a few other roles she’s had since then and it was awesome to see her as Claire Bennet; she’s such a fabulous actress.

The best and worst thing about owning the whole series on DVD is that I don’t have to wait a whole week to see the next installment (something that drives me completely batty at the best of times). While it means less suspense, it also means that what happened on Thursday night happens often. I ended up staying up way past when I should’ve in order to finish the whole series. There were only 5 episodes left, I reasoned with myself. I could just watch ONE MORE before turning it off and going to bed. Next thing I knew, I was done the season and completely exhausted. Hrm.

I cannot wait for season two to start. I hope it’s as good as the first. It’s weird, though - I usually go into the fall with one television show that I plan to watch. I’m not a big TV person normally… this fall, there’s six shows - Doctor Who, Heroes, Torchwood, The Tudors, Numb3rs and Little Mosque On The Prairie. And thankfully there are no conflicting show times (the good thing about watching primarily shows on CBC).