Product Description

Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13217 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-08-11
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 389 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The pressure was really on The Sarah Connor Chronicles right from the start. The first spin-off from the extraordinary Terminator franchise, it picks up after the events of the second film, and finds Lena Headey in the title role, who--along with her 15-year old son, John--sets about trying to save the world from the impending threat of Skynet. Along the way too, they encounter Summer Glau (whom there’s a strong chance you’ll know from Firefly), who steps into the shoes of Cameron, a bodyguard Terminator who helps fight off the many threats they face. She’s some piece of work.

Very deliberately paced, and intricately woven to make sure it safely fits within the Terminator universe, The Sarah Connor Chronicles works a great deal better than you’d have any right to expect. Tightly scripted, and with a terrific performance by Headey in the central role, the show packs plenty of action and narrative into the nine episodes of its maiden season, and it certainly whets the appetite for more.

Perhaps the biggest compliment to be paid, though, is that The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a worthy companion and follow-up to the first two Terminator films, and one that genuinely expands and deepens the franchise. It’ll be fascinating to see where the show goes next. --Jon Foster

DVD Description
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles stars British actress Lena Headey (300) as Sarah Connor and picks up two years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, with Sarah and her 15 year old son John (Thomas Dekker, Heroes) on the run and preparing for a possible future war against the rise of the machines. Sarah and John find themselves alone in a very dangerous and complicated world. As fugitives from the law, they are confronted with the reality that more enemies from the future, and the present, including Skynet, could attack at any moment.

Now focusing all their efforts on stopping the birth of a technological enemy, Sarah and reluctant hero John try and track down the true source of Skynet’s activation and hopefully change the fate of humanity. Pursued by tough talking FBI agent James Ellison who believes Sarah and John are deranged, and aided by Cameron (Summer Glau, The 4400), a fearless new female Terminator who poses as a student at John’s school and whose sole mission is to protect mankind’s future leader. The trio make a time jump from 1998 to modern day Los Angeles 2007, in an effort to help fulfill John’s destiny and save the world from an unstoppable war.

Synopsis
Picking up where TERMINATOR 2 - JUDGEMENT DAY left off, THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES continues the epic battle of man against machine. Having successfully defeated one Terminator in the previous film, Sarah (Lena Headey, RIPLEY'S GAME) realises that the world is no longer a safe place for her or her teenage son John (Thomas Dekker, TV's HEROES). So she makes it their mission to bring down Skynet, the artificial intelligence system responsible for causing all this robo-mayhem. But how do you outmanoeuvre an ever-evolving technology that's hell-bent on wiping out the entire human race? With great difficulty, it turns out. Not only are they being hunted by a bunch of time-travelling, renegade cyborgs, but they're also on the run from the law. Salvation comes in the form of a human-friendly Terminator named Cameron (Summer Glau, SERENITY), who befriends John and serves as their protector. FBI Agent James Ellison, who is originally assigned to capture the Connors, ends up joining their resistance against Cyberdyne Corporation, the company behind Skynet. This release presents every episode from the first series of the sci-fi spinoff.

Customer Reviews

Genuinely surprising and fantastic TV SF
I've been a fan of Terminator for years, ever since it was first shown ok UK TV in fact, I put up with the T3 travesty and thought no more of it.

This series has taken me by as much surprise as the new Battleststar did however. The acting is brilliant and believable, the special effects are top notch, the camera work is emotive and moody - I can't say enough good things about this show.

There have been some genuinely chilling moments, just as you start to feel that Cameron is taking on human qualities, she walks away from an innocent being murdered, but then we see her trying to Ballet dance and being watched by a hiding human.

I really cannot express what a pleasant thrill it was to sit down and watch something so good.

5/5 - go get it now :)

Great Alternative to Terminator 3
This series is set in an alternative timeline to Terminator 3 and begins a couple of years after Terminator 2. If you enjoyed the story behind the Terminator movies and don't just like to sit and watch things being blown up, then this series is great and definitely worth watching. Not to say that it doesn't feature a fair bit of action, the action just isn't its main focus. The show is very much about the characters, if you normally just skip past all the story and look for the fires and the mini-guns, this series may seem dull to you.

This Blu-Ray is definitely worth the extra over the DVD version, not only is the quality much better but the extra content you get with it are worth the money themselves.

Surprisingly good
I expected this to be yet another weary exercise in squeezing money out of the Terminator franchise but it turned out to be engaging and very good as a show in its own right.

While using the basic premise from TI and II, it is not hamstrung by sticking slavishly to its predecessors. The acting is top notch and the occasionally subtle and not so subtle tension that develops over the humanity of a machine is light years away from how the viewer is slapped in the face by the same theme in the movies.

It's also refreshing to see some character development. The action is still there but there's less reliance on big bangs to keep any viewers with a gnat's attention span glued to the screen. While this is at least part down to the budgetary demands of the TV format, the show conveys the impression that this approach was what was wanted anyway.