Hotties with shotties

by MATT QUARTERMAINE

SOME people don't like Sci-Fi. Some people prefer to have more 'reality' in their drama; this from folks watching a big box emitting pixilated light.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Channel 9 Tuesday 8.30pm, an action sci-fi series, is the continuation of the Terminator story as a mother and son try to prevent the annihilation of the human race, which ironically is an excuse for wholesale slaughter and mayhem. It's the story of a family that has rules; don't let people know who you really are, try to look like everyone else and keep the safety off on your firearm.

Lena Headley plays the diamond-jawed Sarah Connor who must protect her son, the saviour of the human race. She's no Chuckles the Clown, full of scowls and a tendency to shake her son's shoulders to get an important point across, but looks hot toting a shotgun. What humour the character possesses is delivered po-faced; "John, get the guns and I'll make pancakes."

Thomas Dekker plays the emo-haired son John as a teenager dealing with a disturbing puberty; when he looks at a woman's breast it's to check out the gunshot wound and he's hot for a chick robot.

Summer Glau plays the Arnie role of the good cyborg, with a body more beautiful than Schwarzenegger, without having to look like she sat on a bike pump. Summer, memorable in Firefly ( a far superior sc-fi show that was axed), is a stunning former ballerina who brings some impressively sexy leg extensions to the show resulting in pulverising kicks. She handles the difficulty of a character that has no emotions with well timed dashes of naive humour.

You can tell the bad robot, because he is so big and beefy he can keep a pistol in his thigh; and do I mean inside his thigh. Sure he's no Arnie, but now the TV show has what the movies didn't, the novelty of robots that can act. These terminators can imitate voices better than Rich Little and give good plot explanation. When they fight each other they demolish walls and hit harder than a government's apology. It's impressive action for a television show. The robots do have weaknesses, though; they have incredible computer weaponry skills, but can't hit a running 15-year-old boy. The robot inventors also forgot to give them peripheral vision, as they keep getting hit by cars. In the first episode there were more hit and runs than a kids' computer game.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a visually impressive action series with a earnestness that in time may become exasperating. It's slick, glossy television with big production values that speaks the big screen language of twisted metal, fiery mushroom explosions and sputtering machine guns. If you prefer more 'reality' in your drama, you can always watch the life-threatening stutter on Neighbours. Give me gun-toting stunning mums and robots saving the world and travelling naked through time.

Here's hoping there's more time travel to come.

Matt's TV stories appear in Big Issue. Anyone wanting to check his TV credentials can try: YouTube.

20 February 2008

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