5 things that TSCC could really improve upon
POSTED BY: somaholiday
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 01:10
VIEWED: 6328
PAGE 2 of 4
I disagree with 3. I thought theym were working around the paradoxes well, and interestingly. Saw pilot first half on tv, then rest on dvd.
I don't expect much from tv, so my level of disappointment is not high.
Much of killing a swat team would not be akllowed on network tv, I'm thinking.
I've seen Lena Headly in otherm works, enjoy seeing her. editors/writers/creators have messed up the continuity,I agree.
Love watching Summer, and terminaqtors.
Is Shirley Manso the same as Garbage singer?
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Yes, Shirley Manson is the lead singer from Garbage.
Multiple timelines are lots of fun. String theory currently (and Sci-Fi writers for decades) hold that at every decision point in our universe the decision goes both ways, and a new universe (or plane of existence) is created that conforms to that decision. We all currently exist in our universe where decisions have been made the way they have. Immediately adjoining us is one where this post was typed with one less error than I've made. Reaching through time would involve navigating an essentially infinite number of decision branches. Going backward, you can easily get folks from very different, yet familiar, futures ending up together.
In fact, in 50% - 1 (the 1 being the ONLY matching universe) of the potential universes you end up with someone coming back in time that is from a different future than the path you would otherwise end up on. In fully 50% of the potential universes the traveler decided not to come back at all.
With this in mind, we should expect each entity that travels back to be from a different future. It is entirely possible that the terminators that are being sent back are from timelines where the resistance efforts to capture the travel facility were unsuccesful. This would help explain why they are not acting in a coordinated fashion: They simply are unaware of each other and/or do not consider John Connor to be as big a threat because his forces have been defeated/crippled in the future. Sure, he's a priority one target if you come across him, but your mission is to make things run smoother for us in the future by...
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But the problem with the end of that theory is that if you assume that the terminators are from different futures (where the time travel facility was not captured) then it would be impossible for one of the terminators to have the destruction of derek's team as his mission, because they would not have been sent back in the future he was from.
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Maybe the machines from their universe have retaken the travel facility and sent units after Derek's team to prevent them from altering the timeline. Or maybe they all haz 2 much cheezburger...
We could go on like this for a while, methinks. Infinite universes mean infinite possibilities, right? 
I enjoy the show. I like robots, I like convoluted time travel plots, I like Summer, I like Shirley Manson (like Garbage, too ^.^)
SOLD!
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BigWolf18 "Way i remember it, you said you was leavin', dare say that saved us a whole peck o' trouble. now i gotta wonder what could spur on a fine disreputable man like yourself to show your fine disreputable face here again."
...Dust monkeys...
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There have been time travel paradoxes in the story since the first movie. John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect Sarah Connor, and with her conceive John Connor. But if Kyle never went back in time, how could there be a John Connor to send him back in the first place??
These sorts of infinite loops are throughout the Terminator myth. You can either accept that it's the one major flaw in the story and move on, or you can accept that the story fiction is that paradoxical loops like Kyle Reese have always and will always exist.
Or you can accept the alternate universes theory -- ie, perhaps at one point there was a universe in which John Connor never existed, and someone else was the leader of the resistance. Kyle Reese was sent back in time for some other mission, happened to meet Sarah and conceive John, who then, because of Kyle's knowledge of the future, went on to become the leader of the resistance. The point of the time travel in all of the Terminator stories is to either preserve the way the future unfolded, or change the way it unfolded.
In terms of multiple universes, they're trying to make sure that the important choices are still the same choices in the future. For instance, in the third Terminator movie, John points out that if the Terminators hadn't come back and disrupted his life during the second movie, he would have gotten together with Katherine Bruster then, thus preserving the future where she is his wife and second in command. Because he didn't hook up with her then, it was necessary that they be thrown together in the third movie, so they could end up together and preserve the future in which she succeeds John in commanding the resistance. (Obviously the show doesn't use any of the third movie elements, but it's a good example of changing things so that the outcome is eventually the same. The whole idea of Judgement Day just being delayed in the third movie is another good example.)
Anyway, the entire Terminator myth is full of paradoxes and alternate futures. At least the show is living up to it and facing it head on. Most stories with time travel have infinite loops, or other wonkiness. The only truly tight time travel story I've ever encountered is "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers.
And you should totally watch season 2. I think Hulu or Fox.com might have all the S2 episodes. So far I'm liking it better than season 1. My husband was not quite so into the show after the end of season 1, but now it's one of his favorites, because of the last few weeks.
~CK
You can't take the sky from me...
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It is possible the John Connor who sent Kyle back to protect Sarah in T1 was fathered by someone else later in Sarah's life. When she became pregnant, and considering everything Kyle had told her, she assumed that child was John and thus named him that. If that was the case, then the John played by Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl and now Thomas Dekker, is not the John who was the resistance leader in the future. Besides, none of them resemble Christian Bale that much. 
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I have to disagree with the OP regarding the acting on TSCC. It's really superb. I love "Chuck" (which I think has one of the best ensemble casts in tv history), but I choose to watch TSCC over "Chuck" on monday nights because TSCC is a slow burn.
Summer has really thrown her heart into the role of Cameron, and it's amazing to see what a gifted actress summer is.
Lena Headey is also great as Sarah Connor. She can say so much without saying a word.
Brian Austin Green has found the role that will make people forget 90210. He is forever Derek Reese in my mind.
If you aren't watching this show, please give it a chance. It's Joss Whedon's favorite show on television right now, and there's a reason for that.
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Are some people missing the point about time travel storylines, and paradoxes?
Haven't checked that one story mentioned above, but can anybody name one film or TV story that didn't involve paradoxes?
Time Rider was his own greatgrandfather.
In Final Countdown, the Chief Engineer of the Nimitz was the prinicle designer 20 years before when they returned to port (his dog came out to meet the ship at dock).
Kyle Reese WAS John Connor's father (the same photo Sarah had was given to Kyle from John).
Even in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, they talk about planting a gun in the past so they can find it behind a bush now.
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Ok, so now I've seen all of season 2 so far (except the one that came out today, its not on hulu yet)... I will say this, I like the show ALOT better now than I did when I started watching it. Cameron is still the best character in my opinion, but some other people have really picked up the pace (Derek is my second favorite character, although that's nothing new)... the one complaint I have with season 2 is that I hate Riley, I think she was a terrible addition to the show... although this is more of a personal thing, I don't think her acting is particularly bad or anything.
Anywho, I just thought I'd follow up.
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Reviewing some posts in this thread, I'm finding it a bit humorous when people complain about the terminators not being good actors.
They're TERMINATORS - ROBOTS, CYBORGNETIC ORGANISMS! Everybody hailed Terminator as the perfect vehicle for Arnold specifically because he seemed a bit robotic, not a good actor.
Now people are no longer complimenting actors who attempt to act robotic as achieveing a believable terminator/terminatrix.
Just gets me in the funny.
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