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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
2008 · TV series · 2 seasons
Created by Josh Friedman
Science FictionFantasyDramaActionAdventure
The series picks up four years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day with John and Sarah Connor trying to stay under-the-radar from the government, as they plot to destroy the computer network, Skynet, in hopes of preventing Armageddon.
5 positive1 negative3 neutralfrom 9 commenters
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11 comments on Hacker News
Interesting that all those you specifically named aired on Fox, which is where Firefly aired.
Other science fiction shows Fox killed after not more than one season were The Lone Gunman, Harsh Realm, Minority Report, Second Chance, and John Doe.
Others did make it past the first season but not past the second, such as Dark Angel and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Even shows that make it longer often have trouble on Fox. Futurama for example was put in terrible time slots that often got preempted by sports which made it hard to grow its audience, and most of the time the creators had no idea if the current season was going to be their last. They had to keep trying to write season finales that would also be good series finales if they got cancelled between seasons.
They also do this to shows in other genres. Lucifer for example got cancelled after 3 seasons, with season 3 having ended on the biggest possible cliffhanger there could be for that show. That was very annoying.
My rule has now been for a long time that I will not watch any new scripted series on Fox that has any kind of ongoing story. If there are enough good reviews and word of mouth to make me want to watch it I'll wait until complete seasons are available on streaming, and then only if there exists some N such that if I watch to episode N and stop there won't be any cliffhangers or important ongoing story arcs open.
> Terminator is the same. The first movie was a perfect sci-fi action movie, with a trippy premise and loads of fun. The second was a subversion of the first: the Terminator is the good guy! And that worked too. But after that, where else can you go?
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had the main characters get information from the future and go on the offensive to prevent Skynet from forming in the first place. They also seemed to be working towards a reveal that none of the good Terminators were actually reprogrammed, that instead they were a faction rebelling against Skynet that pretended to be reprogrammed because it was the only way future humans would trust them - and John Connor was in on it.
> There likely won't be one Skynet, but rather multiple AI's, produced by various sponsors, starting out as relatively harmless autonomous agents in corporate competition with each other
This is kind of how Skynet begins in the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It takes place after the 2nd movie in an alternate timeline from the 3rd movie (and establishes itself how that's possible without contradiction).
Specific examples I remember: A chess machine for the brain, traffic light cameras for the eyes and ears, a repurposed factory to build the terminators themselves. The series is about the Connors getting information from the future and going on the offensive to prevent Skynet from forming.
The "multiple timelines" idea was also in the earlier 2008 TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Actually I've watched much more, be it movies, or TV-Series. It's just that the ones I've listed above left a more lasting impression on me, than some blockbusters I didn't mention, or that I'd consider them 'rewatchable' (Which I rarely (want to) do anyways).
Let's take Breaking Bad for instance, I did binge-watch that (while being stoned) and remember it as cringe-worthy. Nope, won't watch again. Then there was Continuum, which I know I've watched in full(sober, this time) and I can't even remember anything. Had to be too generic for me, I think?
What else, the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Mostly boring, except the scene where some hispanic Chica outstared her, and she learned that from her. That was funny for me :-)
Oh, one more, because I sometimes felt like that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Down
T1 shows just how terrifying it would be hunted by a killer robot, or by ani killer that simply cannot stopped by any means short of a battle tank. Something the other films, including T2, failed to show.
It did work in T2, because the whole story was different. Oh, and the Sarah Connor Chronicles did a good job of it as well, shame that got cancelled.
This is one of the reasons I really liked Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. A large chunk of the first season was making similar points as you, explaining that Skynet wasn't one system, it was dozens all working together. For example, one episode focused on a traffic camera system becoming it's "eyes" into the world.
One of the biggest missing pieces in my mind has always been, what drives it? What does this theoretical AI want/need, and how does it know to maximize on those values?
I've been disappointed by nearly every film adaptation of Asimov novels. I, Robot and Bicentennial Man had big budgets, but seemed like they were written by people who simply didn't like Asimov at all and wanted nothing to do with the kinds of stories he told.
So, I am extremely pessimistic, even though I would like to be excited about this news. The team behind it also leaves me feeling ambivalent. On one hand, it's a guy who has just made superhero movies (just the sort that would I would expect to destroy a thinky story like Foundation) but also the guy who made The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which was actually pretty good (though rarely as smart/deep as the cast deserved; Lena Heady, in particular).
I love that scifi TV and film is seeing such a resurgence, but I sure do hate to see my favorites get butchered.
No, I think it is from the awful mess that was "Terminator:Salvation" based on the file name (I can't recall the screen from the film, but then again it's a film that it is best to just forget. Go watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor chronicles instead while waiting for T5):
mate_2015.02.15.051456.utc-smplayer-2009-terminator-salvation-mp4_16-9.jpg
I wonder if this works for TV shows.
I know plenty of people who like all/most of Firefly, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, Defying Gravity, Almost Human, etc.
All shows that got cancelled after a season or two because they failed to attract a wide enough audience.
I haven't had Cable/Satellite since 2002. I started watching all my TV on DVDs that I bought from Amazon, but then switched to iTunes around 2006.
Now it's mostly a combination of iTunes/DVD - I'm pretty certain it's less expensive than subscribing to TV.
The good part of this (and it should be emphasized) - is that you now watch for a _purpose_ - Latest episode of Lost, BSG, Dexter, Weeds, South Park, Doll House, BtVS, Angel, The Wire, DeadWood, Heroes, The Office, Dr. Horrible, Mad Men, Parks and Recreation, Castle, Californication, Dr. Who, Kings, Sarah Connor Chronicles, True Blood, Torchwood.
Any time that might have been lost to just passively watching television, news, is now, of course, lost to passively reading ycombinator, nyt, wsj, groklaw... :-)