In recent years there has been a lot more exchange between television and film. It used to be more common for a poplar movie to get a network television series such as ‘Lassie’ of ‘M*A*S*H’. Lately the exchange has been a lot more bilateral with older television shows getting the big screen treatment. It is not uncommon for some of the plot points to change when moving from one format to another. One of the latest big screen blockbusters to make it to the television screens across the country is ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’. After three extremely successful films this franchise is finding a new life on TV. Since the third film was not as popular as the first two the producers figured this would be a great chance to re-write history, reboot the franchise and just forget all about the lackluster third flick. The first questions most Terminator fans had were a natural one; would this series be able to maintain the non-stop excitement that was the core of the films? This is a different medium with vastly different criteria imposed by the Standards and Practices department of the network. Changes were necessary but the writers, producers, directors and most importantly the cast where more than up to the challenge and succeeded. It became on of the best series to start the January 2008 season. Unfortunately the impending Writers Guild of America strike cut this season down to a mere nine episodes. There are two pieces of good news for the fans; Fox has picked the show up for a thirteen episode second season and the first season is out of DVD. Just in case you were in a coma or hiding in a cave during the first months of 2008 now is your chance to catch some quality television. If you have seen the show than now

One of the most particular fans in the world is those in the science fiction genre. More than almost any other fan base they demand continuity in what they read and watch. While the network knew they had a pre-made fan base for ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ they also realized that they could not disappoint or insult them by changing too much of the canon of the franchise. One statement made in the films gave them a way out; ‘The Future is Not Set’. Since this overall story was concerned with time travel and altering the time line the writers had a means to introduce the required format changes in a natural and believable fashion. In T3 the main character John Conner was in his early twenties and the war between man and machine had started. This type of warfare would be expensive to produce on a weekly basis and the fans were less attached to that film so in this series those events never occurred. They went back to a teenaged John (Thomas Dekker) now running from the law with his mother Sarah (Lena Headey). They were wanted for the climatic destruction of Cyberdyne Systems which would create Skynet and lead to the near complete destruction of humanity. On their heels is an overly persistent FBI agent, James Ellison (Richard T. Jones). While John was in school under an assumed name he notices a pretty new girl in his class, Cameron Phillips (Summer Glau). During a class a substitute teacher, Cromartie (Owain Yeoman) turns out to be a terminator from the future sent back to kill John. Fortunately, Cameron is also a terminator but her mission is to protect John. She gets him out and brings him back to his mother.

While Sarah is used to being on the run with John this time is different. She is romantically involved with a paramedic, Charley Dixon (Dean Winters) who is about to propose marriage when Sarah has to disappear. Although dubious of the pretty young female terminator Sarah decides to trust her. Cameron takes the mother and son to a bank and break into the safety deposit box area. There Cameron shows them a hidden time travel device. Cromartie has tracked them and a gun fight breaks out but Sarah, John and Cameron use the device to skip over years to travel to 2007. Although blown apart the head of the evil terminator is also transported to the future. Sarah is now wanted for an attempted bank robbery which comes to agent Ellison’s attention. He seems to loose track of her for years, the ones they jumped over, but they wind up back on a post 911 watch list and he once again is on their trail. Cromartie, even as little more than a head, still manages to make trouble. He winds up getting a new body and eventually a new organic covering and identity. This resulted in switching the actor to Garret Dillahunt. Just a little trivia here both Dillahunt and Glau were on another time travel TV series together, ‘The 4400’. As if having a perfect killing machine and a determined FBI agent after you is not enough Sarah discovers that in the original time line they skipped over she died of cancer. Being a single mother is difficult enough but for Sarah Conner her plate is more than a little overflowing.

This story line introduces the concept that teams of humans were sent back to try to derail the creation of Skynet. This answers a question that often came up with the die hard fans of the franchise. It also provides some possibility of assistance for Sarah in her fight to survive and keep her son alive. There is some humor in each episode just to offer a change of pace; mostly concerning Cameron trying to fit in as a normal teenaged girl. Since she is a machine and devoid of modesty Sarah has to remind her to put clothes on especially when around John. Let’s see, a teenage boy with a beautiful teen girl robot who is programmed to follow is slightest order; now why would a mother have a problem with that? Cameron may be slight in build but she is every bit as powerful as the regular extra large terminators. The actress Summer Glau is a trained ballerina so the producers had an episode where she got to show off those skills. This dichotomy of grace and strength makes this the most interesting terminator ever. Glau does seem to have made a niche for herself with roles of an innocent little girl with incredible powers; just look at her parts in ‘Firefly’ and’4400’.

There are elements of several popular television formats present here. The unrelenting pursuit is straight from the ‘Fugitive’, for example. Also to be found is the teen rebellion theme. For all of his life John has been trained in military tactics and combat by his mother. Now, as a teen he craves some form of stability. He wants to be able to engage in normal socialization but his only real friend is a machine. He understands that his mother is right and he has to save the human race but that is a heavy burden for a fifteen year old boy. Most boys have the pressure to live up to their fathers. John never met his but has the arduous task of having to live up to some future version of himself. Things are no easier for Sarah. She is a vibrant and intelligent woman with, shall we say, needs. The one real relationship after John’s father was ruined when she had to travel in time. She filled her life with any man who might contribute to John’s military education; she has never placed herself first. Now there is this pretty machine there to help but Sarah is doubtful as to her real mission. All of this puts a more psychological spin on the stories than usually found in a science fiction series.

The first season is released to DVD and Blu-ray by Warner Brothers. The set is extremely well produced. This is not only excellent Sci-Fi it is a great story that everyone in the family will enjoy.