io9
Thomas Dekker, who plays the future rebel leader John Connor on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has been working out so he can kick some more ass in the show's second season (if any.) John has been somewhat kittenish up till now, because the producers want to give him an arc on his way to future hero-dom, and because it's hard to write a show with "three alphas," including John's mom and Summer Glau's Terminator, said Executive Producer Josh Friedman. More Sarah Connor secrets after the jump.
- The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the story of Sarah Connor trying to protect her future-leader son and avert the end of the world, is "funnier than i thought it would be," Friedman said. "I think it's hysterical." Dekker clowns around, like, all the time on the set, Glau said. (This was easy to believe, judging from Dekker's antics on stage.)
- Friedman wanted to bring back Kyle Reese, the time traveler who fathered John Connor and then died in the first Terminator movie. But his fellow producers convinced him this would never fly with the fans. So instead he finally agreed to introduce Reese's brother, Derek, played by 90210's Brian Austin Green.
- Austin Green has a sense of humor about the fact that he's an unlikely (and unpopular, in some quarters) action hero. "When I think action, I think Brian Austin Green," he joked. "He DJs, he shoots guns, it'll be awesome." He takes comfort in the fact that even the most hostile fans have started referring to him in online forums by his character's name instead of the actor's, which means they're starting to accept him. "I'm going to come away from this show really honestly feeling like science fiction kicks ass," he added. "It's the first chance I've had to do it, and really, fucking praise the Terminator, it's been a great experience."
- The producers of the Terminator TV show haven't given next year's big-screen Terminator 4, starring Christian Bale, a second thought. The existence of multiple contradictory Terminator narratives is fine, because even without the TV show you couldn't make everything hold together as one canon, insisted Executive Producer John Wirth.
- The show's first season was shortened due to the writers' strike, but luckily next week's two-hour finale ends with a decent cliffhanger. And Friedman is lumping together his plans for the original end of season one with the planned second season to create a new second season.
- Several people asked Glau why she always plays somewhat robotic killing machines, and she didn't really have much of an answer. She said her Terminator was similar to River, her character on Firefly, because both are "isolated in the way they relate to the world." But a key difference is that River uses martial arts, whereas her Terminator just uses brute force. So she's having to un-learn some stuff.
- We'll see more of Teresa Dyson, the widow of potential Skynet creator Miles Dyson, again on the show. But not this season.
- Glau is still hoping to create a ballet with composer/writer Joss Whedon, but she's not sure when it'll happen. "It was going to work out better when we were on strike. We wanted to do the ballet for years because Joss writes his own music and I do my own dancing, so i thought it was an amazing idea. But now he's been thrown into an amazing project [the Dollhouse TV show] and i have to go back to work. But we're hoping to do it this season. We're nailing down concepts," Glau said.
Comments
summer glau rocks!
"The existence of multiple contradictory Terminator narratives is fine, because even without the TV show you couldn't make everything hold together as one canon, insisted Executive Producer John Wirth."
They just haven't tried hard enough. Outsource it to the fans, and they will make Power Rangers hold together as one canon.
I hope the Ballet is titled "River Tam Beats Up Everyone". That would be awesome!
[xkcd.com]
Dekker IS kittenish, isn't he? Aw, kawaii!
@Discrete-Daniel: I thought they made that, it was called "Last scene in Serenity"
Also, GET YOUR HAIR OUT OF YOUR FACE KID!
Maybe I haven't been watching the same Terminator as you... but so far, Sarah Connor hasn't been very Alpha.
They're ok with multiple contradictory Terminator narratives? Well, that explains a lot.
I would just like to say that Summer looks hella hot up there.
The existence of multiple contradictory Terminator narratives is fine, because even without the TV show you couldn't make everything hold together as one canon, insisted Executive Producer John Wirth.
It sounds like the people in charge of this franchise now are taking an approach similar to that of the Highlander franchise, which has about half a dozen separate continuities at this point. The only event each canon has in common is the first movie, and the Terminator timelines seem to have arrived at similar territory...
@TheAlmanac: Any excuse to excise Terminator III from the timeline is OK in my book.
What are the chances of a series 2? I'm enjoying the show but I was under the impression I'm in the minority.
The canon doesn't actually hold up in a single movie. Take terminator 1 for instance.
Movie Scenario:
Future: Skynet sends back Arnie then Resistance sends back Kyle. These are seperate events happening at slightly different times.
Past: Arnie arrives and Kyle arrives next. Terminator 1 happens.
Real Scenario (assuming time travle and robot war...):
Future:Skynet sends back Arnie before resistance gets too send back Kyle.
Past: Arnie arrives kills Sarah. Future has no leader. Skynet wins.
Explanation: As soon as the terminator is sent back the future changes, Kyle no longer exists to be sent back.
AKA. Any time-travel necessarily revokes the validity of a canon system so I agree with the Producer
in other words time travel is a different kind of weapon. Its not who wins in the past. Its the first person to change the past that wins.
@theOmegaMan: I disagree, but only barely.
Kyle had to be sent back even if Arnie was not, because John in the future knows Kyle is his dad, and also knows Arnie gets sent back to kill him.
Kyle could have been sent back first, but sent to a later date.
@theOmegaMan: Okay, but the trick with fantastic stories is that they have to make sense within their own pre-supposed "suspension of disbelief" rules, and (ideally) once those rules are in place, you stick with them. This show hasn't really done that yet because I don't think they've really thought the rules through, so they're just doing what they need to do to get from scene A to scene B and maintain momentum for the next episode. Which irritates me mostly because world-building is what makes sci-fi so much fun.
@ElijahDProphet
Well my whole point is, they can both go back to different times, but only if they both leave at the exact same time. Otherwise the first one back breaks reality in the future preventing the second from ever going back. Still, you're right I guess since the whole Kyle scenario requires a terminator in the past.
@hageesheart
I know. I'm just saying that its impossible to have a truly strict canon once causality goes out the window. I can come up with lots of ways that the series works out fine into the story. Its just a matter of understanding that the future is actually breaking the past, and changing the original canon.
@Annalee Newitz: So, Rise of the Machines is your Highlander 2 for this franchise? ;)
Rest assured, Terminator 3 is already inconsistent with the first two movies, so feel free to exile it to a timeline cul-de-sac at your leisure...
Wow, cool reportage. So Charlie - there are several statements in this that really make it sound like the cast/crew is assuming there will be a second season. Was that your impression in the room? I hope it's true because I'm enjoying the show, most especially the Glaubot. *g*
@njudahchronicles:
Preach it brother!
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