2008 Woodie Awards
The New Trend of Movies to TV
By Colin McGlinchey
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: Entertainment
Turning successful films into television shows is nothing new for Hollywood. Classic films such as "Casablanca," "Indiana Jones" and "Star Wars" have all been adapted into TV shows. Star Wars alone has seen six separate incarnations on the small screen counting its holiday special. The latest is Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" which was, at best, a mixed bag.
The show, which premiered in January, completely ignored 2003's highly underrated "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" and instead focuses on the events following 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."
It is debatable whether this was a good idea but one thing is for sure: "Terminator" without Arnold Schwarzenegger is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without peanut butter. Watching the show it is easy to tell that something is missing. The show centers around Sarah, played by "300's" Lena Headey and Cameron, played by Summer Glau as they try to protect a teenaged John Connor from the evil supercomputer Skynet.
John, who is portrayed here by Thomas Dekker, is destined to save humanity from certain destruction by Skynet in the not so distant future. In an effort to prevent him from making it to the future, Skynet sends a handful of robotic terminators back through time to kill him. The cast is decent enough, the standout being Glau who manages to balance the fish out of water humor with coming off as a force to be reckoned with. John is constantly finding himself in dangerous situations and getting saved by his mom and his robotic protector, making humanity's savior come across as sort of a baby.
The show had floundered along since its premiere, but hit its stride recently with the introduction of Jonathan Jackson and Brian Austin Green as the Reese brothers: Kyle and Derek. Kyle is of course destined to be John's father as seen in the first "Terminator" movie and is only seen when the show cuts ahead to the future war with the machines.
It seems problematic though that the show is most effective when focusing on side characters as opposed to John and Sarah. Overall, "Terminator" never quite managed to escape the shadow of the movies it followed. This is of course true of most movies that get adapted into TV shows. Action movies are especially susceptible as the violence and language get edited down for TV audiences. This automatically puts them at a disadvantage to their film counterparts.
The show, which premiered in January, completely ignored 2003's highly underrated "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" and instead focuses on the events following 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."
It is debatable whether this was a good idea but one thing is for sure: "Terminator" without Arnold Schwarzenegger is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without peanut butter. Watching the show it is easy to tell that something is missing. The show centers around Sarah, played by "300's" Lena Headey and Cameron, played by Summer Glau as they try to protect a teenaged John Connor from the evil supercomputer Skynet.
John, who is portrayed here by Thomas Dekker, is destined to save humanity from certain destruction by Skynet in the not so distant future. In an effort to prevent him from making it to the future, Skynet sends a handful of robotic terminators back through time to kill him. The cast is decent enough, the standout being Glau who manages to balance the fish out of water humor with coming off as a force to be reckoned with. John is constantly finding himself in dangerous situations and getting saved by his mom and his robotic protector, making humanity's savior come across as sort of a baby.
The show had floundered along since its premiere, but hit its stride recently with the introduction of Jonathan Jackson and Brian Austin Green as the Reese brothers: Kyle and Derek. Kyle is of course destined to be John's father as seen in the first "Terminator" movie and is only seen when the show cuts ahead to the future war with the machines.
It seems problematic though that the show is most effective when focusing on side characters as opposed to John and Sarah. Overall, "Terminator" never quite managed to escape the shadow of the movies it followed. This is of course true of most movies that get adapted into TV shows. Action movies are especially susceptible as the violence and language get edited down for TV audiences. This automatically puts them at a disadvantage to their film counterparts.
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