By Max Kath
Staff Writer
Whether we want to admit it or not, we all watch television. We’ve all heard that television “rots out our brains,” which is true to an extent, but television is one of the most underappreciated art forms. Shows like the “Sopranos,” “Six Feet Under,” “the Office” and “Monty Pythons Flying Circus” are just some examples of what can be done on TV when smart people are put in charge of creating quality entertainment. However the key-word here is “entertainment”-what television was created for. Entertainment for entertainment’s sake is something that the Fox network is notorious for, i.e. “American Idol,” “24,” “Prison Break” and of course football. Now, however, there is a new show that people who enjoy pure mind candy will be fawning over, and that show is “Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles.”
This is a show that combines all the right things. The combination of “Terminator” movies, explosions and the actress Summer Glau create an experience that fanboys will be drooling over for at least one more season. Anyone who is familiar with the “Terminator” movies will be able to follow this story. Robotic killing machines are sent back in time to kill John Connor because he will eventually grow up to be the leader of a resistance movement that will kill all the machines in the future. His mother, Sarah Connor, is one of the women who protects him and Summer Glau plays the terminator who is sent back to protect him this time around. The show is a continuation of the events from the second movie (it disregards the third movie all together) and shows what happened to John and his mother after that ground breaking film. They are living life on the lam and have a different last name in order to evade the police and other possible threats, until one day when John goes to school only to be attacked by a new terminator. On that same day he finds out that a girl that he has a crush on is also a terminator by the name of Cameron and is there to protect John from his attacker. After the incident John, his mother and Cameron run away from their lives and jump ahead to the year 2007 (when the first season was shot) hoping to get away from the other terminator. That is the basic story of the show. To give away anymore would take away the fun of watching it. This show embodies everything that entertainment should be. It gives us attractive people carrying around big guns blowing things up and making sure that they do it in style. Summer Glau as Cameron is a sight to behold because she is the best possible person they could have gotten to fill Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoes. She is sensational as a terminator and she makes playing a robot look so stylish that it’s easy to forget that she has “the Govenator” to live up to.
Sure this show isn’t “The Sopranos” but it isn’t supposed to be. It’s supposed to be an action-packed hour of television that keeps people coming back for more. It has no deeper meaning other than what is projected on the screen, other than the fact that we as humans beings can’t keep on relying on technology to advance our lives. We have to start limiting how much we allow our computers to know about us. Other than that it is a thrill-ride that will hopefully not let up any time soon. In that regard this show succeeds where many fail-it is just plain fun.
