For The Love of The Terminator

You may or may not know...on my list of top-five-movies-to-be-forced-to-watch-in-an-endless-loop-on-a-desert-island-while-handsome-man-(who desires and chooses to stay with me on this island because he thinks I am the alpha and omega of his heart) and-feeds-me shrimp-engages-with-me-in-lively-stimulating-conversation/debate/discussions-reads-books-laughs-and-advocates/practices-achieving-sublime-physical-bliss-with-me-hourly, The Terminator is instantly a movie on that list. No. Matter of fact it tops my list. Terminator is my favorite movie ever. The concept of an apocalyptic world sending a Protector and Destroyer to help an innocent hero make her own fate and in doing so affect the future - loved it. Progressive in it's presentation at the time, it was not a new premise, though the interpretation made it fresh. The script writing - good, but perhaps not Shakespeare. The performances were solid, though perhaps not Oscar caliber. And Arnold was arguably in his most convincing role ever. So why does this movie make my heart swell?

In part I'm sure it's because I saw it at an impressionable age and fell in love. I fell in love with the themes in Terminator because in my heart of hearts they echoed all of my greatest hopes. Growth of an individual from something ordinary to extraordinary. A world that seemed doomed and by all accounts runs to fall into a chasm self destruction, yet still manages to send out hope and determination to survive. An enemy full of driven purpose - and motive - survival. A soul-shaking, lifetime love that survives in spite of time and circumstances. Explosions. Humor. Fear. Humanity. Purpose. Death. Life. BFGs. Cyborgs. Time Travel. Here was a movie that showed evolutions: Sarah Connor from typical girl to focused woman and mother who draws on her potential to rise to the challenges beset upon her. Kyle Reese an excellent emotionally restrained soldier and protector who becomes elevated by love and his humanity restored. Even the punkish Terminator Arnold goes through a transformation and de-evolves from cyborg to mission driven homicidal robot. Even now these themes resonate deep within me. I'm a defiant optimist in my heart. I want to believe. I want things to get better. I don't mind working to get it or being tempered through challenges to become one who can bring it. Sarah Connor embodied much of this with a healthy dose of innocence and fear too. Instead of the bitter part of her destiny breaking her, she let it make her stronger. She let herself grow.

As for the other two movies - I remember enjoying the effects in T2: Judgment Day and Linda Hamilton's reprized role convinced me she could be the mother of the future. She was all muscles, intensity, bitter edges and dark driven purpose. I always thought she resembled Reese when they first met. The story itself was entertaining. The effects were outstanding. Edward Furlong made me a little crazy as John Connors - he was a very wooden child actor in that role. The Terminator(s), who were now created in Beverly Hills by plastic surgeon bots apparently, had some nifty new tricks. And the old Terminator, Arnold pulling on the sunglasses and leather but with more lines was better...than I had anticipated. T3: The Rise of the Machines had a few good moments but largely left me feeling like it was a cash cow. And happy that after the sad devolution of a story I really cherished there had never been a TV show. I had visions of a Knight Rider ttype of format and that just made me feel queasy.

So with this type of love for the first movie and the fate of the following sequels, I had very low expectations for the TV adaptation called Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. "Why must they rape my joy?!" I railed to the universe. "They're gonna screw it up and it doesn't deserve that!" I figured they would stay on the surface with the story or worse, make Terminator ala Gossip Girl, eschewing the deeper themes. I reasoned if the person making it doesn't respect the film, how can they cast actors in the main roles who could capture the spirit of the original? Are they going to update it with inappropriate music? (I mean I love rap as much as any bass girl but...no!) Oh I had fears. So I just didn't really talk about it. Didn't really think of the show until it popped up on Tivo last year.

I watched all of season one and am watching the current season too. It's not perfect. The explanation for some of the time travel stuff is a little "Mmmm yeah ok..," but ultimately it moved the plot along. Lena Heady our blue-eyed, raven-haired Sarah nails the role. Nails it so well I was shocked. She is an evolved Sarah, the dark bitterness is infecting her now as is her mortality which trheatens to compromise her goal to teach and keep John alive. All while combating her own demons it just drives her into a rabbit hole that is fascinating to watch. Summer Glau as our new protector-Terminator is quirky enough for Firefly/Serenity fans to cheer (I am one too), yet she is playing someone new and bringing intensity and humor to the role in a really nifty way. Summer can give straight face VERY well, and must be a hell of a poker player. Thomas Dekker, our John Connor (who was the best friend of Claire on Heroes before this) has been the weakest point. Though not 90210ish and though I know he was playing the sulky John "I don't have to be the future hope," through the first season I can see the character is not old enough to be General John yet too. I had been waiting for Dekker to connect with the character on a deeper level and bring something ...true to the role. As it stands now, he's good, looks great and is doing some fine acting but until this season he didn't make me believe he wasn't just acting. As the character seems to be growing to accept the truth of all his impossible circumstances, the actor seems to have embraced it too.

Richard T. Jones as Agent Ellison has been an absolute pleasure to watch and serves as our insight into the enemy-Terminators, though I confess my bias for his deep voice and penetrating stare when I say that man can be riveting to watch. Shirley Manson (Garbage!) as Catherine Weaver brings a cold purpose to her role as a Terminator learning to pass for human while hunting the Connor clan. She makes Summer's Terminator seem very soft and slightly malfunctioning, in comparison. Shirley has that heavy Terminator walk down so well now and the cold calculting look as she smiles and has conversation but is really just dissecting the words and the speaker. I really look forward to the times she is featured and particularly the sadly disturbing and poignant relationship between her and her young "daughter." Next to Sarah's character, she is the most fascinating. Brian Austin Green....I was able to tentatively accept him as Derek Reese (Kyle's brother) once I figured out his character's purpose - to help balance Sarah when she makes "soft" decisions, remind us Terminator' are bad and be the male influence for JC. I confess, initially all I thought when he first appeared was "NO! No 90210 here..dammit!." While I still think his acting can be hit or miss, he has finally become part of the crew, for me. The rest of the supportive cast has been pretty interesting thus far. The music is by Bear McCreary of the new Battlestar Galactica music fame and happily he pays homage to the dated synth-heavy music of the original movie while completely updating the sound to be relevant for now. He really makes great music. And his version of Sarah's theme is haunting.

My story themes, the real heart to me of the movie seem to be holding up though pared a bit for TV. They are developing and trying to expand the story so far while trying not to consistently  short change for sex appeal or explosions (ratings are ratings) so I'm hopeful. Time will tell but my ending thought?

The series is worth watching as they try to balance story and character development with explosions, mayhem and Terminators kicking the chrome out of each other. I'm happy to watch it grow and evolve.

Agree? Disagree? Is this post way too long and boring for you? Have a better movie to watch on a desert island? Think the new "re-imaging" movie will be awesome or crap? Let me know.

Thanks for looking!