Sarah Connor Chronicles 1x01-1x02
Tue, Jan. 15th, 2008 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterJust to let people know, Terminator 2 was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. Well, that and Beauty and the Beast. I've never seen T3, and while I saw T1, it was after I'd watched T2 several times, and T1 sort of bored me because Sarah Connor was not an escaped mental patient wearing fatigues and wielding giant guns.
Spoilers for eps. and for T2
First of all, I realized that I was apparently still wired to love anything Terminator when I saw the font and heard the first beats of the Terminator theme and immediately started squeeing. I figured the first bit was a dream sequence just because of how T2 opens, and was happy to see apocalyptic flames of DOOM! All it was missing was the giant metal Terminator foot crushing a human skull as an anvillicious symbol of DOOM!
And just to get it out of the way: I miss Linda Hamilton.
But it's also been years since I've seen the movies, so it took less time to readjust than I had anticipated. The voiceovers sound different to me, but there are some shots that focus on Lena Headey's wide jaw, and she looks like Sarah Connor from the movies.
I was also incredibly amused by the return of the voiceover about fate while driving in the middle of the road (I have never understood why they put the yellow line in the middle. Yeah, it looks more dramatic but... middle of the road!).
Other callouts to the movies: the chainlink fence and the playground (this time, not in flames). "Come with me if you want to live" (dorky, but I still squeed). The giant-ass guns. Probably other stuff I missed or forgot.
I like Sarah so far, although I am slightly annoyed that she feels softer from the T2 version. That said, I am handwaving it as her having lived in the real world for two years, as opposed to being a just-escaped mental patient who was locked up for three years. I roll my eyes at the obligatory fiance, and I hope he does not come back too often.
I also like the paranoia and the feeling of being fenced in, of dark rooms and warehouses and constantly being on the run. I love Sarah's tenseness, the way she balances between fight-or-flight, the way she's always looking for an exit, for a weapon, for an edge. Sarah Connor of T2 was my heroine because she was badass and did chin-ups and could outfight almost anyone, and also because she was terrified out of her mind and covered it with paramilitary training. This Sarah Connor is a little more human, a little more maternal, and I will pretend it was a decision made so there was more room for characterization, as opposed to wanting to make Sarah Connor of T2 more acceptable for audiences.
So far, while some of Summer Glau's expression feel too much like River for me (the headtilt followed by her saying something strange), I love how off she is. I just wish we had more of her and Sarah Connor wielding giant guns and kicking a lot of ass.
I like that we revisit John's desire for a father figure; I wonder if he still dreams of the days when he had a dysfunctional yet strangely functional family composed of his just-escaped mom, himself, and a deadly machine sent back to protect him. That said, John leaving the house was stupid but not unexpected (I love that Sarah knows right away). On the other hand, John surfing the web while his actions were projected on a giant screen in the mall? STUPID! Also, rather implausible, given that I am pretty sure a hacker for 1995 would have know about the internet and things like browser histories.
And even if he didn't -- I find it completely unbelievable that someone who's been trained to be as paranoid as John could have missed that his every click was being projected on a wall right behind him.
I like the way the series inverts tropes by having the male character be the youngest one who needs to be protected. I also like that he's the brainy computer one while both of the women are the ones with guns and muscles (not that they aren't brainy, because they obviously are pretty smart).
I was happy that they included Enrique (continuity!), but sad that they killed him and that he was a snitch. I was doubly sad by the stereotypical portrayal of a Latino gang. For a second, I thought the woman was going to be Carlos, which would have been awesome, but sadly, no. So far, I'm overlooking the death of a POC since it brought in POC detective. I am also rooting for the return of Mrs. Dyson, especially as a sometimes-ally. I think it would be awesome seeing her and Sarah interact, particularly since she first met Sarah when Sarah laser-sighted her husband and attempted to assassinate him at home.
Random thoughts:
So: not a complete fan yet, but the series shows promise. Also... female protagonist! As an action hero! Who interacts with another woman (ok, machine, but whatever).
Spoilers for eps. and for T2
First of all, I realized that I was apparently still wired to love anything Terminator when I saw the font and heard the first beats of the Terminator theme and immediately started squeeing. I figured the first bit was a dream sequence just because of how T2 opens, and was happy to see apocalyptic flames of DOOM! All it was missing was the giant metal Terminator foot crushing a human skull as an anvillicious symbol of DOOM!
And just to get it out of the way: I miss Linda Hamilton.
But it's also been years since I've seen the movies, so it took less time to readjust than I had anticipated. The voiceovers sound different to me, but there are some shots that focus on Lena Headey's wide jaw, and she looks like Sarah Connor from the movies.
I was also incredibly amused by the return of the voiceover about fate while driving in the middle of the road (I have never understood why they put the yellow line in the middle. Yeah, it looks more dramatic but... middle of the road!).
Other callouts to the movies: the chainlink fence and the playground (this time, not in flames). "Come with me if you want to live" (dorky, but I still squeed). The giant-ass guns. Probably other stuff I missed or forgot.
I like Sarah so far, although I am slightly annoyed that she feels softer from the T2 version. That said, I am handwaving it as her having lived in the real world for two years, as opposed to being a just-escaped mental patient who was locked up for three years. I roll my eyes at the obligatory fiance, and I hope he does not come back too often.
I also like the paranoia and the feeling of being fenced in, of dark rooms and warehouses and constantly being on the run. I love Sarah's tenseness, the way she balances between fight-or-flight, the way she's always looking for an exit, for a weapon, for an edge. Sarah Connor of T2 was my heroine because she was badass and did chin-ups and could outfight almost anyone, and also because she was terrified out of her mind and covered it with paramilitary training. This Sarah Connor is a little more human, a little more maternal, and I will pretend it was a decision made so there was more room for characterization, as opposed to wanting to make Sarah Connor of T2 more acceptable for audiences.
So far, while some of Summer Glau's expression feel too much like River for me (the headtilt followed by her saying something strange), I love how off she is. I just wish we had more of her and Sarah Connor wielding giant guns and kicking a lot of ass.
I like that we revisit John's desire for a father figure; I wonder if he still dreams of the days when he had a dysfunctional yet strangely functional family composed of his just-escaped mom, himself, and a deadly machine sent back to protect him. That said, John leaving the house was stupid but not unexpected (I love that Sarah knows right away). On the other hand, John surfing the web while his actions were projected on a giant screen in the mall? STUPID! Also, rather implausible, given that I am pretty sure a hacker for 1995 would have know about the internet and things like browser histories.
And even if he didn't -- I find it completely unbelievable that someone who's been trained to be as paranoid as John could have missed that his every click was being projected on a wall right behind him.
I like the way the series inverts tropes by having the male character be the youngest one who needs to be protected. I also like that he's the brainy computer one while both of the women are the ones with guns and muscles (not that they aren't brainy, because they obviously are pretty smart).
I was happy that they included Enrique (continuity!), but sad that they killed him and that he was a snitch. I was doubly sad by the stereotypical portrayal of a Latino gang. For a second, I thought the woman was going to be Carlos, which would have been awesome, but sadly, no. So far, I'm overlooking the death of a POC since it brought in POC detective. I am also rooting for the return of Mrs. Dyson, especially as a sometimes-ally. I think it would be awesome seeing her and Sarah interact, particularly since she first met Sarah when Sarah laser-sighted her husband and attempted to assassinate him at home.
Random thoughts:
- Why no liquid-metal terminators? Aside from the whole budget constraint, of course.
- Bank vault sequence = awesomesauce
- Cameron's touch seeming like intimacy, but actually being utilitarian
- John generally isn't stupid and his whininess is fairly minimum, given the usual amounts of angst and whininess teen messiah figures tend to have (*cough*Kamui*cough*)
- The 9/11 metaphor was really dumb and anvilly
- John knowing from the "I love you" and the "come meet me" that it wasn't his mom (at least, that's what I think)
- Sarah just throwing Cameron out the window
- Apocalyptic barcode tattoos!
- Apocalyptic resistance fighters! Please let there be more women
- The absolute creepiness of a metal endoskeleton with a decapitated head on top
- I am assuming that the cyborg terminators and Cameron heal flesh wounds; otherwise Cameron's going to look really funny after a while. Or maybe Cameron is a different model.
- Am interested to see how Cameron differs from the other terminators
- Cameron and Sarah sort of bonding and sort of bristling over Cameron's knowledge of future!John
- Sarah as the best fighter John Connor could think of
- I know this is from the movies, but I still love that John Connor has taken Sarah's name, not Reese's. I'm sure it's because Sarah doesn't want to tip off future!Reese or something complicated like that, but it fits, given how all John's skills and military expertise are coming from Sarah, that Sarah's the one who makes him fight, that she's the one who ends up driving the plot and the beginnings of the resistance.
- They need to get rid of the voiceovers. For the pilot, it was ok as a callout to the movies, but now they are annoying and boring and redundant.
- Sarah in the hospital reminds me of Laura Roslin
So: not a complete fan yet, but the series shows promise. Also... female protagonist! As an action hero! Who interacts with another woman (ok, machine, but whatever).
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Wed, Jan. 16th, 2008 06:45 pm (UTC)