Big Crunch Bites – Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

With the upcoming release of Terminator Genisys, I decided to go back and immerse myself in what was my first true introduction to the Terminator franchise, the short-lived TV series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  I watched Rise of the Machines way back when, and since it didn’t do the franchise justice, when I heard a series was coming to TV back in ’07, I decided to give it a shot.  And I loved it.  I know the show (like many of the recent movies) got a lot of flack from the fans.  The second movie, Judgement Day, wrapped everything up in a nice bow.  And what actress could top Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor?  Why, the same actress who would go on to play Queen Cersei of Westeros, of course.  Lena Headey delivered my first experience of Sarah Connor, with Thomas Dekker delivering a great performance as the angsty teenaged John Connor.  The show diverged from the usual Terminator formula, show Terminators doing other tasks other than hunting down John.  From stockpiling materials to sabotage, the machines did what the movies didn’t and explore the idea that the future war depicted in the franchise was fought in the present, too, with resistance fighters and Terminators going head to head while Sarah, John and John’s protector Cameron (played by the lovely Summer Glau) were caught in the crossfire while trying to stop the birth of Skynet.  The series truly showed the scope of things to come and addressed the idea of multiple timelines.  With the recent Gensisys trailer having divided the fanbase yet again, I would like to take this moment to state that Terminator exists across a multiverse.  What happenes in the TV show will not, and never will, affect the movies, nor will what happens in Terminator Genisys undo the original movies or alter the John Connor we all know and idolize (watch the trailer and you’ll understand).  Each entry in the franchise is a telling of the same story, just told differently.  It’s okay not like to like one movie or book.  To be honest, I liked Salvation.  Didn’t care for Rise of the Machines.  But before I say anything about Genisys, I would like to see it first, and I hope the rest of the fans out there do the same.  Give it a shot.