This episode, the first of the 'Terminator' TV series opens four years after the events portrayed in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' in 1999 with Sarah Connor having a nightmare about a Terminator catching up with her and her son and killing him. She awakes alongside a man who turns out to be her fiancé. This is enough for her to decide that it is time to move on. She and John move to a small town in New Mexico while her fiancé reports her missing and learns the shocking truth about her past; at least the official version about her being very dangerous. It isn't long before a Terminator does catch up with John; luckily for him 'Future John' has sent a reprogrammed Terminator to save him
none other than his new classmate Cameron Phillips. She helps them get away but now they have both a Terminator and FBI agent James Ellison on their trail. They end up in a bank vault in Los Angeles; luckily Cameron has a plan that will help them to escape to 2007.
This episode is a fine introduction to the series although if you have never seen the first two 'Terminator' films you might want a bit more exposition. The opening dream sequence was perhaps a little too cliché but when the story proper got underway things quickly got interesting. There is plenty of impressive action, obviously the violence has been toned down but not too much. We are quickly introduced to characters who are likely to be important in future episodes. Obviously Sarah and John Connor will be major characters; it also looks as though Cameron, Agent Ellison and possibly Sarah's fiancé Charley Dixon will be key players in the series to come. Lena Headey is rather good as Sarah Connor, it can't have been easy stepping into Linda Hamilton's shoes. Thomas Dekker makes a decent John Connor although as he is the most normal of the protagonists he doesn't yet have the depth of character of his mother. Summer Glau is great as Cameron making her almost human but still slightly robotic. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of the Terminator franchise.
This episode is a fine introduction to the series although if you have never seen the first two 'Terminator' films you might want a bit more exposition. The opening dream sequence was perhaps a little too cliché but when the story proper got underway things quickly got interesting. There is plenty of impressive action, obviously the violence has been toned down but not too much. We are quickly introduced to characters who are likely to be important in future episodes. Obviously Sarah and John Connor will be major characters; it also looks as though Cameron, Agent Ellison and possibly Sarah's fiancé Charley Dixon will be key players in the series to come. Lena Headey is rather good as Sarah Connor, it can't have been easy stepping into Linda Hamilton's shoes. Thomas Dekker makes a decent John Connor although as he is the most normal of the protagonists he doesn't yet have the depth of character of his mother. Summer Glau is great as Cameron making her almost human but still slightly robotic. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of the Terminator franchise.