T:SCC Season 2x02: "Automatic for the people" (spo

[Shroom Man 777]

So, Weaver is basically the one creating dopplegangers? From Vick to Fake Greenway? Damn.

Maybe she's like Serena Burns, with her own Terminator laboratory somewhere.


I like the episode. The tension between Sarah and the nuclear radiation was well done, I didn't really care about John right now, and I wonder what's up with Cameron. She's not at peak combat effectiveness (though she is walking properly).

[Thanas]

So, Weaver is basically the one creating dopplegangers? From Vick to Fake Greenway? Damn.

At this point, we do not know that yet.

[Faqa]

I demand to know where this high school is that you can sulk in the corner and have hot chicks walk up and hit on you.

On a more serious note, the whole subplot with John and Riley seemed way too weird for my taste. The way John was acting, any real person would have backed off in five seconds. But hey, it's intriguing, nontheless. I get the feeling the subplot is mainly designed to give John a reason to rebel against his mother, as one of the themes of this season seems to be "John Conner grows a pair".

The main plot was... meh, but well-executed meh. A bog standard T:SCC plot. But at least they managed to tie it to the T-1000 chick. I love the way Skynet planned that incident - regardless of what happens, Skynet wins. Either the plant is taken out of commission, or Skynet cements control over it.

The fanservice-esque attempt to pretend that Summer Glau has a rack was vaguely amusing. Can we have her do something again that isn't either a comic sidenote, fighting, or glaring at people? This is getting tiresome. And really, the T&A does very little for me as well.

Not a bad episode, but this show has had better ones.

[Anguirus]

I demand to know where this high school is that you can sulk in the corner and have hot chicks walk up and hit on you.

That, too, struck me as very odd.

[Anguirus]

Dammit, fucked up the formatting again. Could someone fix that?

(Why can't we edit in OSF? I understand N&P but...)

[Thanas]

Dammit, fucked up the formatting again. Could someone fix that?

(Why can't we edit in OSF? I understand N&P but...)

To prevent dishonest people from going back on their word. There is a lot of (scientific) debate happening here, so I understand they want to limit that. Especially since there are quite some versus debates happening here.

[Anarchist Bunny]

I demand to know where this high school is that you can sulk in the corner and have hot chicks walk up and hit on you.

On a more serious note, the whole subplot with John and Riley seemed way too weird for my taste. The way John was acting, any real person would have backed off in five seconds. But hey, it's intriguing, nontheless. I get the feeling the subplot is mainly designed to give John a reason to rebel against his mother, as one of the themes of this season seems to be "John Conner grows a pair".

The main plot was... meh, but well-executed meh. A bog standard T:SCC plot. But at least they managed to tie it to the T-1000 chick. I love the way Skynet planned that incident - regardless of what happens, Skynet wins. Either the plant is taken out of commission, or Skynet cements control over it.

The fanservice-esque attempt to pretend that Summer Glau has a rack was vaguely amusing. Can we have her do something again that isn't either a comic sidenote, fighting, or glaring at people? This is getting tiresome. And really, the T&A does very little for me as well.

Not a bad episode, but this show has had better ones.

This episode probably embodies the best I could of expected out of this show. Now I'll remind everyone I have a long record of stating that this show is way god damn better than it should be, and blew the shit out of my expectations.

But from before I saw last season, this is really as good as I would of expected it to be. A Mediocre plot, a terminator of the week, subpar action(minus Sarah taking that guard the fuck out), and most of the continuity tacked on at the end.

Its an okay episode. But seeing as how the worst this show as put out is okay, I'm more than willing to let it slide, and hope that the threads it started pay off.

[Faqa]

I demand to know where this high school is that you can sulk in the corner and have hot chicks walk up and hit on you.

On a more serious note, the whole subplot with John and Riley seemed way too weird for my taste. The way John was acting, any real person would have backed off in five seconds. But hey, it's intriguing, nontheless. I get the feeling the subplot is mainly designed to give John a reason to rebel against his mother, as one of the themes of this season seems to be "John Conner grows a pair".

The main plot was... meh, but well-executed meh. A bog standard T:SCC plot. But at least they managed to tie it to the T-1000 chick. I love the way Skynet planned that incident - regardless of what happens, Skynet wins. Either the plant is taken out of commission, or Skynet cements control over it.

The fanservice-esque attempt to pretend that Summer Glau has a rack was vaguely amusing. Can we have her do something again that isn't either a comic sidenote, fighting, or glaring at people? This is getting tiresome. And really, the T&A does very little for me as well.

Not a bad episode, but this show has had better ones.

This episode probably embodies the best I could of expected out of this show. Now I'll remind everyone I have a long record of stating that this show is way god damn better than it should be, and blew the shit out of my expectations.

But from before I saw last season, this is really as good as I would of expected it to be. A Mediocre plot, a terminator of the week, subpar action(minus Sarah taking that guard the fuck out), and most of the continuity tacked on at the end.

Its an okay episode. But seeing as how the worst this show as put out is okay, I'm more than willing to let it slide, and hope that the threads it started pay off.

If I were to sum up T:SCC in two words, they would be: "Exceeds Expectations". EVERYBODY pretty much expected the show to be a generic milking of the cash cow. Summer Glau being cast did not help, since it gave off the impression of desperately trying to grab a few extra fanboys.

So yeah, it has been cut a lot of slack for bringing a soul back into the Terminator franchise after T3 destroyed it. But I have to say, if it doesn't bring up it's quality fast, it stands a good chance of dying. There's no writer's strike, and saying "fuck you" to T3 only buys you so many brownie points.

Fortunately, it seems to have a strong direction in place. And really, anyone who cares enough to make the pair of music video action scenes we've seen thus far obviously cares too much about the quality to let it die.

[Thanas]

So yeah, it has been cut a lot of slack for bringing a soul back into the Terminator franchise after T3 destroyed it. But I have to say, if it doesn't bring up it's quality fast, it stands a good chance of dying. There's no writer's strike, and saying "fuck you" to T3 only buys you so many brownie points.

Trust me, the biggest problem isn't the quality, it is the ratings. Tomorrow the show will go up against Heroes. Let's hope it does not take that much of a hit and that DVD sales continue to be strong.

As for quality, you are in for a treat. John Wirth has written tomorrows episode, and I expect an average episode from him. However, the episode after that deals with Cameron's past and after that the episode is written by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz. Those two have written the fantastic "Dungeons & Dragons" last season. They also stand out at being the two writers who consistently delivered quality scripts on Andromeda even after Sorbo turned the show into a parody of itself. So I wouldn't worry about the two episodes following the next one.

Fortunately, it seems to have a strong direction in place. And really, anyone who cares enough to make the pair of music video action scenes we've seen thus far obviously cares too much about the quality to let it die.

The problem isn't with the cast&crew, it is with the studio. Fox has been very unforgiving to Sci-Fi series in the past and I doubt they will make an exception. Although their general ratings drop (they lost about 25% of their audience, even House lost about a quarter of its viewership) might make them reconsider.

[Feil]

T:SCC continues to be logically idiotic... but Terminator has never made logical sense. The action bits are cool, and the drama works. At some point, I expect the plot holes to get so large that the show falls through them and dies, but until then I'm enjoying it. 4.

[weemadando]

To be quite fair, Summer Glau is the absolute worst thing about the show. The character isn't that great, which suits her talents as an actor and to be fair, the whole thing reeks of fan-service at the highest level. Truly disappointing on that part.

That said, Lena Heady has been awesome and whoever it is that's playing John is good. 90210 boy as Derek has also been in good form.

The whole thing is brought down by Summer Glau just not meshing with the rest of the show.

And the risk of it going into "Terminator of the Week" given the new stuff.

[Thanas]

To be quite fair, Summer Glau is the absolute worst thing about the show. The character isn't that great, which suits her talents as an actor and to be fair, the whole thing reeks of fan-service at the highest level. Truly disappointing on that part.

The whole thing is brought down by Summer Glau just not meshing with the rest of the show.

Eh? I can't wait for you to explain why you think that a) Glau sucks as an actress, b) her character sucks and c) she has no chemistry with the rest of the show.

Please explain.

[Peptuck]

I think the problem with Summer Glau in this show is that Cameron isn't playing to all of her strengths as an actress, which are a strong affinity for being very creepy, and exhibiting extreme, often negative emotions. I don't think anyone's going to deny she fucking sold the chip removal last episode, and her run on Firefly and Serenity really did show what she could do. Cameron is a complete 180 to what she usually portrays.

Then again, if the plot is developing in the direction I'm suspecting it will, it will begin playing more to her strengths. I'm really wanting to see that one where she gets her chip damaged and we learn more about her past.

[weemadando]

To be quite fair, Summer Glau is the absolute worst thing about the show. The character isn't that great, which suits her talents as an actor and to be fair, the whole thing reeks of fan-service at the highest level. Truly disappointing on that part.

The whole thing is brought down by Summer Glau just not meshing with the rest of the show.

Eh? I can't wait for you to explain why you think that a) Glau sucks as an actress, b) her character sucks and c) she has no chemistry with the rest of the show.

Please explain.

She just doesn't seem to fit in my opinion, either as a character or as an actress.

Cameron the fem-bot is an interesting concept but the way she's being written is stupid. At least until that chip removal part. It's just a fish out of water character which we've seen many many times before. Oh, and she also acts as a convenient plot device whenever the writers get lazy.

Summer Glau I don't think has ever been a good actress and it's only the Whedon-whores who have argued otherwise. She pulls off a few inspired moments, but it's just not much overall.

I just think the show could have been so much better without Cameron - having to see Sarah and John (and maybe Derek too) having to do all of this without the writers-fiat-in-a-fanboy-pleasing-form character of Cameron would be much more interesting.

[Thanas]

Cameron the fem-bot is an interesting concept but the way she's being written is stupid. At least until that chip removal part. It's just a fish out of water character which we've seen many many times before. Oh, and she also acts as a convenient plot device whenever the writers get lazy.

You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of her role - she is not a fembot in the austin powers sense. The show needed a Terminator as a steady presence, otherwise you would just have even more Terminators of the week. Using a male terminator would have meant that there would be only one female cast member, plus it would have caused an incredible mountain of comparisons with Uncle Bob. And there was no way they would win those comparisons.

Summer Glau I don't think has ever been a good actress and it's only the Whedon-whores who have argued otherwise. She pulls off a few inspired moments, but it's just not much overall.

I am not a Whedon-whore, I can't stand Buffy or Angel, yet I flatout say you are wrong. She is an extremely talented actress who has extremely good posture and enormous physical talents. Seriously, just watch the premiere of the first season. She plays the character in a very nuanced and very competent way.

I just think the show could have been so much better without Cameron - having to see Sarah and John (and maybe Derek too) having to do all of this without the writers-fiat-in-a-fanboy-pleasing-form character of Cameron would be much more interesting.

I doubt that. The non-cameron centric episodes of last season have all been very dull. What makes you think removing her would have created a great jump in creativity?

[Braedley]

I'm in total agreement with Thanas here. I challenge you, weemadando, to find a truly horrible actress and think how Cameron would be portrayed then. Sure, most people who've played a Vulcan could be convincing, but we keep coming back to that scene where she's begging for her life, and not everyone would be able to pull that off. And even though it doesn't take much to play a soulless character, it takes a hell of an actor to play someone who is best described as an unstable schizophrenic. Or in more in-universe terms, someone who has absolutely no control over her emotions.

[weemadando]

Perhaps it's just more to do with my dislike for Cameron as a character. She always just seems to be the convenient solution to their problems.

[Thanas]

Perhaps it's just more to do with my dislike for Cameron as a character. She always just seems to be the convenient solution to their problems.

That's not really a dislike of the character, more of a dislike for lazy writing IMO. And I agree with that - she is kinda the megatool of the week, I give you that. The better episodes do not use her like that - however I kinda wonder how else they would do some stuff - like getting the security key etc.

[weemadando]

I'd like to see a lot more tradecraft from Sarah, John and Derek. I mean, remember the first episode with them having the entire house set up to let them hold-off a terminator long enough to escape? The rat-runs and planned escape routes?

More of that kind of thing, where they use their heads instead of just reverting to blunt force.

[Thanas]

I'd like to see a lot more tradecraft from Sarah, John and Derek. I mean, remember the first episode with them having the entire house set up to let them hold-off a terminator long enough to escape? The rat-runs and planned escape routes? More of that kind of thing, where they use their heads instead of just reverting to blunt force.

That's all very well, but all that stuff wouldn't have saved them if Cameron hadn't gone hand-to-hand with Cromartie. And they did use their heads in the last episode, as well as in the premier where they outmaneuvered Cameron twice.