YOU'RE EITHER WITH US OR YOU'RE WITH THE TERMINATORS!

I've gotten completely hooked on the Terminator TV show.

Over vacation I was hanging out with my presumptive brother-in-law and T3 came on the tube. I didn't let loose my loads of bile for that film since he's a fan of it (except for the scene where Arnie actually says "talk to the hand". For fuck's sake man!) It's embarrassing how little T3 has going for it besides a special effects budget and a willingness to go for the dark ending. No atmosphere, no point of view, not an original idea in it's self-referential little head.

When the film was over I whipped out the laptop and played the first handful of episodes of the series off iTunes. It made a believer of him too. Holy fuck does the series blow away the third film. What's more, it continues the storyline from T2 and completely ignores the continuity of T3.

The series has a TV-size budget for special effects, but that's a good thing: it makes it a throwback to the first film, which after all had no budget either. They have to make do with the same things that Cameron did: suspense, good casting, creepy photography and a good script. I'm happy to say that Arnie's rapidly-aging ass is not missed; the casting of the Terminators is right on. (And mercifully, they wear regular street clothes. Here's an idea: the audience might be smart enough to understand that it's a Terminator even if it wears jeans. You don't have to contrive a reason for it to shake down some goddamn leather bar whenever it needs new pants.)

There's so many cool ideas floating around in the stories: A Terminator skeleton walking around LA in a hoodie to hide its face, figuring out how to re-grow it's skin using today's technology; a super-advanced chess computer as the possible ancestor of the Terminators; a human trapped in a bomb shelter with a Terminator whose mission is to hibernate through WW3; the revelation that the Terminators are smart enough to get what they want through commerce if it's more expediant than using force; a "good" Terminator who's that much scarier for the human qualities she's able to exhibit.

The fact that I like this show is a sure sign that it's headed for early cancellation, but what are you gonna do. It was good while it lasted.