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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (sometimes abbreviated as Terminator: TSCC or simply TSCC) is an American science fiction drama television series.[1] It aired on Fox from January 13, 2008 to April 10, 2009, spanning 31 episodes across two seasons. It is a spin-off from the Terminator film series, disregarding the events of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and picking up shortly after Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The series revolves around the lives of Sarah Connor (portrayed by Lena Headey) and her son John (Thomas Dekker), who work to prevent the creation of Skynet, an artificially intelligent computer system that will eventually launch a nuclear war on humans.

Terminator:
The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Josh Friedman

Characters
by James Cameron
Gale Anne Hurd

Lena Headey

Brad Fiedel

"The Terminator Theme"

Bear McCreary

United States

English

2

31 (list of episodes)

Albuquerque, New Mexico (pilot)
Los Angeles, California

43 minutes

Fox

January 13, 2008 (2008-01-13) –
April 10, 2009 (2009-04-10)

The Sarah Connor Chronicles was created by writer and executive producer Josh Friedman, marking his television debut. Production companies included Warner Bros. Television and C2 Pictures, the latter replaced by The Halcyon Company in season two. The series was produced by C2 founders Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, who also produced Terminator 3. Other producers included C2 executive James Middleton and television director David Nutter, who helmed the pilot episode. The show's soundtrack was composed by Bear McCreary.


The Sarah Connor Chronicles was greenlit in 2007 for a thirteen-episode season, which was reduced to nine episodes because of the Writers Guild of America strike. The series premiered mid-season and would go on to receive generally positive reviews, but it also saw low viewership ratings as it progressed through its second season. The Sarah Connor Chronicles was cancelled on May 18, 2009, despite a fan campaign urging Fox to renew it.

as Sarah Connor:
Sarah Connor is a major character in the Terminator series. She is the mother of John Connor, who will one day become the leader of the human resistance. The authorities, however, see her as a deranged fugitive.

Lena Headey

Thomas Dekker

as Cameron / Allison Young:
Cameron is a Terminator whom John Connor sent back from 2027 to protect his earlier self. Her model and exact capabilities are not known, but she can mimic human mannerisms better than any previous Terminator and can also consume small amounts of food, a first for Terminators.[4][5] Later in the series it is revealed that Cameron assumed the identity of a resistance fighter, Allison Young, before being reprogrammed.

Summer Glau

as James Ellison:
James Ellison is an FBI Special Agent pursuing Sarah Connor. At first puzzled by what he initially thinks is Sarah's outlandish story, he later collects irrefutable evidence of the existence of Terminators (including the body of Cromartie) and gradually realizes the truth. In the second season, Ellison pursues employment with ZeiraCorp, allying himself with Catherine Weaver (whom he does not know is a Terminator until the series finale).

Richard T. Jones

as Derek Reese:
Derek Reese is a Resistance fighter sent to the past by the future John Connor. He is the older brother of Kyle Reese (John Connor's father) and paternal uncle of John. He knows Cameron in the future, but still does not trust her. He is recurring in the first season but becomes a regular in the second season. Derek has a romantic relationship with Jesse Flores, a resistance fighter who arrives from the future. He is killed by a Terminator while attempting to save Savannah Weaver. Another Derek from an alternate timeline is introduced in the series finale.

Brian Austin Green

as Riley Dawson (season 2):
Riley Dawson is John's new love interest that he meets at school, much to the consternation of Sarah. John does not reveal the story of his life to her, but as they get closer, he realizes he is endangering her life. Unknown to John, a resistance fighter, Jesse, has brought Riley back from the future to prevent John from getting too close to Cameron, and to get close to John. She appears to develop genuine romantic feelings for John. Jesse later kills Riley after a struggle.

Leven Rambin

as Cromartie / John Henry:
Cromartie is a T-888[6] sent back in time to kill John Connor in the pilot episode, in which he was portrayed by Owain Yeoman.[7] He takes damage to his biological covering, revealing his metal endoskeleton. In the episode "The Turk", he finds a new biological covering in the shape of fictional actor George Laszlo, then continues his search for John. After chasing John and Riley into Mexico, Cromartie's chip is destroyed and John buries his body in the desert. When John returns later to destroy Cromartie's body, it has been moved. Ellison has recovered the body for Catherine Weaver, who connects Cromartie's body to the Babylon A.I. named John Henry. Dillahunt was a recurring character in the first season, but becomes a regular character in the last season, portraying Laszlo, Cromartie and John Henry.

Garret Dillahunt

as Catherine Weaver (season 2):
Catherine Weaver is a shape-shifting Terminator disguised as the CEO of a high-tech corporation called ZeiraCorp. She is a model T-1001 made of a liquid metal that is capable of shapeshifting, like the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.[8] She is focused on developing artificial intelligence using The Turk, the intuitive computer at first believed to be a precursor to Skynet (but later shown to be a separate entity). She targets other Terminators to reverse-engineer Skynet technology in the present, and to prepare for the future war. She plans on using this research to fight Skynet. Despite the revelation that Weaver is an enemy of Skynet, it is still unknown where her allegiance lies.[9] Weaver hints at her motives in the episode "Born to Run" when she asks Cameron, "Will you join us?" through messenger James Ellison. During the episode "Today Is the Day Part 2" Cameron explains to Jesse Flores that John Connor asked the same question of the T-1001 in an attempt to forge an alliance against Skynet.[8]

Shirley Manson

Marketing[edit]

Prior to its broadcast, Fox undertook a large marketing effort to promote the show, which was described by Joe Earley, Fox Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications, as the "biggest campaign for a new mid-season show in years."[93] The advertising campaign began months prior to the premiere to make sure that the show would attract existing and new Terminator fans.[94] After 24 was postponed to the 2008-09 TV season, more time was devoted to the show by Fox's marketing team and more on-air promotional spots were available for the show that would otherwise have gone to 24.[94]


Fox began their advertising campaign for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on September 27, 2007, with a brief teaser which ran during primetime programs, consisting of an image of two red dots that lasted for a few seconds on screen before disappearing.[93] The two red dots were revealed to be the eyes of the Terminators from the show in the second phase of the advertising campaign, which began two weeks later. The final phase of the campaign commenced in November 2007 with more broadcast information being added to the advertisements.


In addition to on-air teasers, Fox heavily promoted the show during the World Series by broadcasting a 45-second preview on October 27, 2007. Other forms of advertisements used included: mobile tours on "Terminator" buses sponsored by Verizon Wireless; an interactive cell phone game based on the series offered by Verizon's V CAST, which rewarded the players with ring tones, wallpapers and behind-the-scenes footage; cable tie-ins; online outreach via the official website and wiki; online sneak peeks; and a poster design contest run by Fox.[95] Advance screenings of the pilot episode were also held at the 2007 Comic-Con International convention and at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles on January 4, 2008.[95][96][97]


In Super Bowl XLII, a Terminator was featured in a brief advertisement fighting Cleatus the Fox Sports Robot.[98]


Billboard advertisements, which were described by Variety to have "blanketed New York and L.A.", contained images of Summer Glau's Terminator in a "Lady Godiva-esque pose" used to target the young-male demographic, while the key art emphasized on Sarah Connor being at the core of the show to attract the "mom demo".[94] Fox originally planned for more outdoor marketing in other cities but the marketing budget was reduced because of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.[94]


A promotional partnership with automobile manufacturer Dodge began in the show's second season and featured placement of Dodge products in several episodes, Dodge's exclusive sponsorship of the extended, 52-minute episode "Goodbye to All That," and a four-week vehicle giveaway entitled "The Never Back Down Challenge."[99]

Release[edit]

Broadcast[edit]

Originally scheduled to premiere on Monday, January 14, 2008, the show's debut was rescheduled to commence a day earlier, after Fox reorganized their broadcast timetable due to the writers' strike.[100] Fox originally planned to premiere Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in the Monday 8:00 p.m. ET timeslot as a lead-in program for 24. However, the latter show's new season was delayed because of the strike, resulting in the changes. Following the Sunday premiere, subsequent episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles aired on Monday at 9:00 p.m. ET timeslot with Prison Break as its lead-in program.[100][101]


The second season premiered on September 8, 2008, in the Monday 8:00 p.m. ET timeslot. Due to schedule changes from Fox, the show had a two-month break starting in December 2008. Benjamin Svetkey of Entertainment Weekly was critical of the hiatus: "Just figuring out when new episodes would be on the air has been a time-travel paradox so perplexing it would drive John Connor crazy. At a certain point, I stopped trying." He further added that the show's "on-again-off-again scheduling has made it all but impossible to build any traction with its increasingly complex plotlines."[102] Green said that "for the people that don't watch it every week, there's no possible way they could follow it. Josh doesn't want to dumb the show down for the people that don't follow it, just so they can tune in whenever they want and sort of pick up wherever we are in the story."[103]


The season resumed on February 13, 2009, airing at 8:00 p.m. ET. on Fridays,[104][105] which is generally seen as a death slot for television. Glau said about the change: "I was not happy at first when I heard that we were moving. But, you know, we've been fighting for our audience on Mondays so I'm hoping this is going to be a positive thing. It's always good when they're trying to work with you and help you."[106]


The Syfy channel later acquired the rerun rights and began airing the series on April 7, 2011.[107]

Home media[edit]

The first season was released on August 11, 2008 in the United Kingdom,[108] on August 13, 2008 in Australia,[109] and on August 19, 2008 in North America.[110] The Region 1 DVD set contains all nine episodes aired from the first season, commentary on select episodes, audition tapes for select actors, video of Summer Glau practicing for her ballet scenes, making of features, and deleted scenes for certain episodes. The Region 2 and 4 versions have all nine episodes but have excluded all the special features apart from the deleted scenes. The season was also released on Blu-ray.[111] The three-disc sets released in North America and Europe contain the same bonus features offered by the Region 1 DVD set. On the Blu-ray disc set, each episode is encoded in 1080p, VC-1 compression with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and is presented with a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.


The second season was released on September 22, 2009 in North America,[112][113] and on November 16, 2009 in the United Kingdom on DVD and Blu-ray.


In Ireland the second season was released along with a boxset containing the first and second seasons of the show on November 16, 2009. The North American release date was originally planned to "coincide with the home video release of the summer blockbuster Terminator Salvation", but the release of Terminator Salvation was later postponed to December 1, 2009.[114][115] In New Zealand the second season DVD set was released on November 11, 2009[116] as was a boxed set containing both seasons.

Response[edit]

Ratings[edit]

Seasonal rankings (based on a weighted average total viewers per episode) for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in the United States:

at IMDb

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles