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Post by Deep Art Frummy on Oct 7, 2008 12:12:36 GMT -5
Maybe he needs therapy from what happened in the attic?
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k8ie
Corporal
Posts: 1,482
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Post by k8ie on Oct 7, 2008 12:28:15 GMT -5
There's needing therapy and the idea that anyone in that family would a) actually admit it or b) that Derek would be the one to point it out. Although I'm genuinely starting to love the puppy-killing SOB, Derek's so far demonstrated the empathy of a brick.
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Post by richardstevenhack on Oct 7, 2008 12:52:02 GMT -5
I wouldn't go so far as to say Derek has no empathy, it's clear he feels for every single comrade he's lost in the war. That was made abundantly clear in this last episode.
They also managed to make clear that he's seriously stressed b y it, as the constant flashbacks in his mind make clear.
The only problem I have with Derek is his limited ability to think strategically about the war. Everything is tactics with him, as this episode pretty well demonstrated. If Connor is going to win the war, he's going to have to go well past that sort of thinking.
I liked that John had a preplanned escape route from the school, which he didn't even let Derek know about until Derek ragged him about exposing himself.
I think this new girl Jesse is coming in because the first thing a show with dipping ratings needs is more babes and more sex. This is not a show that can compete with "Dancing With the Stars" for one simple reason - the dancing show has tons of hot women in hot outfits with legs dancing - which is the next best thing to showing sex, which they can't show on broadcast TV. It's that simple.
So the producers do what every producer does in that situation - bring in more women. They can dress it up as all sorts of rationalizations about "female empowerment", or "all these women are protecting one guy", but the bottom line is - they need that 18-49 male nerd audience and the best way to get it is women. They didn't put Jeri Ryan and Jolene Blaylock into Star Trek and Tricia Helfer into Battlestar for nothing, you know.
I got no problem with that - unless it does nothing for the story line.
What they NEED to do is ramp up the story line - accelerate it, slam more shocks into every episode like they did with Episode one, or the last episode of last season. Expand the whole war and the whole conspiracy to create Skynet.
I just watched the first four episodes of "Fringe" last night on Hulu (I don't have actual TV so I have to watch Hulu and do downloads of Terminator). That show is pretty good - it's nonstop weirdness and action. Terminator has a somewhat slower, more deliberate pace - and that's not going to help the ratings.
This last episode probably will boost ratings somewhat because it contained a bit more action than usual. But other than Ellison catching on to the power plant situation - it being owned by Weaver - which I mentioned in an earlier post was something the Connors needed to follow up on - the story line didn't really get advanced much.
I think Josh's idea to have less "episodic" and more "stand alone" episodes actually was a bad idea and that's being reflected in the ratings.
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Post by aceplace57 on Oct 7, 2008 12:54:12 GMT -5
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k8ie
Corporal
Posts: 1,482
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Post by k8ie on Oct 7, 2008 12:55:42 GMT -5
Sympathy and empathy are two different things.
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roseredscare
Private
Castiel, your local kickass angel
Posts: 120
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Post by roseredscare on Oct 7, 2008 13:49:59 GMT -5
From the look of the trailer for next episode, it seems she pretty much jumps him as soon as he recognizes her. She's definitely from the future.
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Post by Deep Art Frummy on Oct 7, 2008 16:05:18 GMT -5
^^^
Actually, this episode doesn't air until October 20th.
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Kendra Shaw
Refugee
Just trying to take the edge off.
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Post by Kendra Shaw on Oct 7, 2008 23:05:31 GMT -5
I think the last thing that Derek wants the Connors to hear someone call him is "baby."
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roseredscare
Private
Castiel, your local kickass angel
Posts: 120
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Post by roseredscare on Oct 8, 2008 19:56:37 GMT -5
So John says in the trailer that everything on the blood list is connected to someone who needs protecting. So... this means they're right back to where they were in T1. They aren't stopping Skynet, they're just trying to preserve the future in favor of the resistance? Have they given up destroying Skynet already?
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Post by theturk on Oct 8, 2008 20:20:05 GMT -5
So John says in the trailer that everything on the blood list is connected to someone who needs protecting. So... this means they're right back to where they were in T1. They aren't stopping Skynet, they're just trying to preserve the future in favor of the resistance? Have they given up destroying Skynet already? No, they haven't. As in season one, sometimes you'll see the Connor gang trying to stop other Skynet plots, sometimes you'll see them proactively searching for Skynet (and no, we haven't forgotten the Turk) and sometimes, well, sometimes the outside world just comes crashing in on them. Fun trivia note: Bonnie Morgan, who plays the red-haired female terminator in the previews, is an actress, stuntwoman, and trained contortionist. And she'll put all three skills to use in the episode!
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Post by Deep Art Frummy on Oct 8, 2008 20:23:50 GMT -5
Well, that explains the photo where she looks like a pretzel.
Thanks for the info, mang.
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Post by richardstevenhack on Oct 8, 2008 20:31:21 GMT -5
What does concern me is that now we have yet another "Terminator of the week" episode. That's like three out of four (Gallway, this mook from this week, and now a female Terminator for Cameron to play with.).
I'd say that definitely is dragging this show into a "Terminator of the Week" slant.
How long is it going to take before one of these Terminators manages to kill one of the Connor team or some other important character? Our heroes may be good, but they aren't THAT good.
I agree that I would like to see a little more proactive action on the part of the Connors. The only reason we had this week's action is that Derek just HAPPENED to read in the paper that some guy whose name he recognized was murdered. What ever happened to Cameron's "I've been monitoring the media for possible threats"? Does John ever bother to run some Google searches on the nuke plant? Will they spot the dead manager before Ellison does? Will they catch on to Weaver before Weaver manages to find and dissect Cameron?
Why do you think Weaver wants Cameron? Precisely because she CAN "cross against the light" - something we have at this moment ZERO evidence that "The Turk" can do.
I'm now convinced that Weaver knew about Cameron all along, which is why she brought Ellison in. Why would Weaver give a damn about finding "another one" that is just as Skynet programmed as Cromartie or the rest of them? She wants one that ISN'T.
And the only Terminator that fits that description is Cameron.
I'm getting really concerned that either Weaver "kills" Cameron - or hopefully Weaver somehow gets killed. Other than Sarah Connor herself getting killed off, I suspect those are our options for the "Big Death" this season. And the only one I could see the fans tolerating is Weaver's. I suppose there's a reasonable chance Ellison could get killed off by Weaver once he's completed his mission for her - and I could tolerate that, although Jones is a really fine actor and he and his character would be sorely missed.
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Post by theturk on Oct 8, 2008 20:44:45 GMT -5
I won't lie. The first several episodes are loaded more than we'd like with "terminator of the week" stories. I'd like to think they're good stories, but yes, killing a T every week is ultimately unsatsifying and dilutes the Terminators as a threat.
HOWEVER, after episode six we way scale back on T of the week action in favor of our longer-running adversaries. So we recognize that it's not something we want to do too often and you'll see less of it after episode six.
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Post by Derek Reese on Oct 8, 2008 20:50:07 GMT -5
Glad to hear that the pace is going to be changing up again as we move further into the season. Eager to see the "longer-running adversaries" stepping back up to the plate.
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Post by Deep Art Frummy on Oct 8, 2008 21:33:33 GMT -5
I won't lie. The first several episodes are loaded more than we'd like with "terminator of the week" stories. I'd like to think they're good stories, but yes, killing a T every week is ultimately unsatsifying and dilutes the Terminators as a threat. HOWEVER, after episode six we way scale back on T of the week action in favor of our longer-running adversaries. So we recognize that it's not something we want to do too often and you'll see less of it after episode six. It's nice to know you all feel the same way as well. The only thing I find dissapointing about the "terminator of the week" thing is, it makes Cromartie look less credible as the main villian. Now, while I know it would be equally as weak to have him keep coming closer and closer to finding John, only to be outmatched again, I still feel like all these other terminators take so much away from him. I'd rather see what Cromartie does even when he's not specifically searching for John. Like, where does he get his artillery? How does he become more knowledgeable? Hell, how did his model come about in the future?
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