We’re pretty much screwed in the future. A computer has taken over and created robotic terminators to kill the resistance. When it looks like the microprocessor powered militant is going to lose, he sends robotic assassins back in time to kill our teenaged savior.
Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) is he mother of John Connor (Thomas Dekker). John is a teenager now, but in 2027 he leads the human resistance to the rise of the humanity destroying machines. When the future looks lost to those same machines they send back an assassin to kill John.
The future John sends back a protector of his own in the form of a Terminator named Cameron (Summer Glau). She’s not the only one from the future as Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green), Kyle Reese’s brother and John’s uncle, was sent to the past by the elder John, but he has a paranoia about Cameron.
He may have some reason to as Cameron malfunctions from an explosion and reverts back to her original programming – the kill John Connor. The four of them have to try and stop the computer system that destroys humanity from coming into being.
They face pursuit by FBI agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones), but Ellison gradually comes to realize that Sarah Connor’s outlandish tales of militant robots is closer to the truth than he first imagines.
Ellison ends up working for ZeiraCorp, run by Catherine Weaver (Shirley Manson), to spy on the company that is working to develop an artificial intelligence.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles builds on the success of the James Cameron films and weaves a tapestry concerning the Connors. The films had Sarah changing from a meek character to a gung-ho survivalist willing to kill in the present to protect the future.
John too was a reluctant savior of humanity that grew in the film. He wants to be a normal teenager, but his future burdens always rear their heads. The television series offers a broader canvas to explore the motivations of both characters.
Throw in the sexy and genre factors in casting Summer Glau, of Firefly fame, and you’ve got an interesting mix. The show actually turns out to be much better than the films that followed Cameron’s classics. It’s somewhat sad that the fate of the show was tied to Terminator: Salvation since the film failed to live up to expectations.
The second season would be the last of this creative show, after showing so much promise. The fans tried to rescue it, but it appears that Skynet finally succeeded in taking the Connors down.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.78:1). Special features are presented in high definition. Disc one features a commentary on “Samson and Delilah” from creator/executive producer Josh Friedman, Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, and Shirley Manson.
“Allison from Palmdale” has a commentary from producers Friedman, James Middleton, and John Wirth, as well as Dekker and Glau.
The disc also contains a storyboard comparison of the scene where Cameron reverts back to her original programming. Disc two has two minutes of “Terminated Scenes” and the 5 minute “Cameron versus Rosie: Fight Rehearsal.” Disc three has 2 minutes of “Terminated Scenes.”
Disc four has 4 minutes of “Terminated Scenes.” Disc five has a commentary on “Adam Raised a Cain” and “Born to Run” with Friedman, Middleton, Wirth, Dekker, and Glau. “Collision with the Future” is an interactive tour of the finale’s climatic sequence, also with a commentary from Friedman.
“The Continuing Chronicles” is a series of featurettes about the show and totals 73 minutes of material. Finally you get 3 minutes of “Terminated Scenes” and a 6 minute gag reel.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles seemed to just be getting its footing this season when the axe came down. The season finale features many loose ends that won’t get tied up due to the cancellation. We do get a fine show done up with some grand special features. Sarah, we hardly knew ye.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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