The second in this series is, of course, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This is, by far, the best of the whole series. It introduces us to a new liquid metal based terminator that can change its shape into knives and people. Arnold comes back, but as a terminator reprogrammed by John in the future, sent back to protect John from the new terminator. We find out how the machines rose to power, who invented it and the future gets turned up-side-down. A GREAT movie I could watch again and again.
Now we segue into the television arena and pick up John and his mother when John was a teenager. This is none other than Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. This is a tremendous movie and introduces us to yet another type of terminator: the hot, teen model terminator (go figure). It is a great series, though you need to really watch it like a movie or it gets kind of boring, especially near the end of the second season. It was yet another in a long line of TV shows that was cancelled too soon, and all because of money. Figures. Well, not to worry. A few fellas in the fan-fiction world took it upon themselves to finish out the series by writing season 3 and 4 scripts that you can download for free from their websites. There are also the Connors Chronicles, which takes off from where season 4 left off, but it appears to be unfinished and abandoned.
This leads us to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. I would say, by far, the worst of the bunch. Though it does co-star Claire Danes and that is enough to make it a worth-watching movie. It has John as an 20-something, fighting female terminators and, of course, Arnold is by his side the whole way. Remember, Claire Danes, so worth watching.
Lastly (so far), we come to Terminator Salvation. This is the latest installment of the series and pretty good. It is a post-JDay world where John (Christian Bale) has to wrestle with the idea that maybe machines can think for themselves and even possibly have a soul. This theme was also visited in The Connor Chronicles on tv as several machines were asked or asked to join sides with the resistance. So, apparently, not all robots are made equal in the future.
Now for the sad news. It appears as if there will not be any more Terminator movies, or, at least, none for a good long while. Lawsuits over copyrights, etc and a production company filing bankruptcy - all has flushed different ideas down the drain for Terminator 5. It's another Bourne situation all over again. Once there's a lot of money involved, I guess people stop thinking clearly. There are two new movies slated before 2018, but whether or not they get made is anyone's guess. I've read that if the rights go back to Cameron he will bury the story for good. But this is the internet after all - who knows what is real. Maybe a terminator came back from the future and wrote that on the blog I was reading so it just looks like there will be no more movies. Another Skynet plan, surely.
At least we have some closure (so I've been told anyway, haven't read the Connor Chronicles Season 3 and 4 yet) in the series scripts. But at this point there are an endless number of futures that can be written about, since they messed with time so much. God, I'm starting to get a headache!
Anyway, this is one of the 10 Best Movies [or Movie Series {and I guess tv and fanfiction scripts}] of my Lifetime. Enjoy watching if you haven't already!
