Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2855 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-08-11
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• 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 on 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.

One good thing, in the cannon of the terminator stories, this carries on straight after T2, T3 never happened in this time line, a great blessing.

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

5/5 - go get it now :)

"These are the men that created Skynet."
The Terminator saga is one of the longest running and well created predestination paradox stories in modern science fiction and it is with great care that they have created The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Set after the events of Terminator 2, the series centres around Sarah's efforts to keep John safe and 'off the radar' while keeping an ever watchful eye out for the Terminators themselves.
John has to deal with growing up, never staying in one pace too long and he feels the tremendous weight on his shoulders and the responsibilities that Sarah is reminding him of.
Help for them arrives in the form of Cameron, a new Terminator sent by John in the future to protect himself in the past.
As the show progresses we begin to see just how complex the paradox has become and the frightening levels which the machines are prepared to go to win.
Not content with sending the T-1000 back, the machines have sent others into the past and their missions are not all about John and the Resistance.
The Resistance themselves appear to have sent their own troops back, some as far as sixty years in order to prepare for the coming war.
Behind all the events in Sarah and John's lives are the investigations of FBI Agent Ellis, who is beginning to piece together the parts of Sarah's past and is coming to understand what she is running from. The best episode for him is in The Demon Hand where he catches up with Doctor Silberman, now played by Bruce Davison, to talk about Sarah's stay in the mental hospital.
The show runs along at a good pace, with carefully thought out scripts and a talent for twists and turns. The most shocking cliffhanger comes in at the end of Queen's Gambit when we discover the identity of one of the Resistance fighters. There are some flashes of the future which begin to explain certain events but while they answer some questions, they give you more to think about. That said, the final ten seconds of the final epsiode 'What he Beheld' are also shocking in their suddenness.
The series is intended as a continuation of Terminator 2 but the writers have already specified that the events from the pilot episode will place the series in a parallel timeline to those events established by Terminator 3 so the remainder of the movie franchise will not have any direct baring on the show.
The three main stars of the show do very well indeed. There was some debate that Lena Headey was not suitable for the role but after a couple of episodes there is no doubt at all that she is Sarah Connor. Thomas Dekker (Zach in Heroes) is well cast as a young John Connor. His interplay with Cameron is excellent and you can see the beginnings of the man that will one day lead the Resistance. Summer Glau is okay as Cameron but sometimes she seems to play the part as either River (from Firefly) or Tess (from The 4400) which is a shame as it almost makes it seem like she cannot bring anything else to her performance. That said, she has a Terminator stare that just makes you want to run a mile.
Due to the writer's strike season 1 only ran for 9 episodes with Pilot, Gnothi Seauton (it means know thyself), The Turk, Heavy Metal, Queen's Gambit, Dungeons And Dragons, The Demon Hand, Vick's Chip and ends with What he Beheld.
So, for fans of the Terminator saga or some good science fiction, The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a must.

A fantastic addition to the Terminator mythos
Obviously I can't comment on the DVD itself, as I am writing this 2 months before release. But having seen the entire series on Virgin 1, I would urge any Terminator fan who missed it to grab a copy as soon as you can.

This could have been some awful cash-in, or could have missed the point completely (like the ill-fated 'Flash Gordon' series). But it is actually superb. It is really obvious that the people behind it are fans themselves, respectful of the source material, and yet simply wanting to continue the story in a new direction.

All 3 of the main actors are excellent in their roles - I had absolutely no problem accepting Lana Headey as Sarah Connor - she does a great job of portraying someone with the weight of the world on her shoulders, who nevertheless knows that she can't afford to give up. Thomas Dekker is totally believable as John - trying to come to terms with his 'future hero' persona, whilst still a confused teenager at heart.

And Summer Glau - what can I say? She was fantastic in 'Firefly/Serenity', memorable in 'The 4400', and here she just excels herself. As the protector from the future, she makes a totally believable android - a bit like Arnie in T2, she is basically ruthless, with John having to teach her about compassion and what is acceptable. But better than that, you are never entirely sure whether you should trust her - apart from anything else, she DOESN'T always do what John asks her. And the writers keep on giving little hints that she may have been compromised in some way, which adds a real edge to the whole series.

The series is very exciting, with great action scenes, and the plot neatly intertwines an overall 'arc' with individual stories. Add to this occasional glimpses of the 'future' that they are trying to avoid, and you have something that you really can't afford to miss. The only real down-side is that they only made 9 episodes, because of the US writers' strike, and so it ends without actually resolving anything. But on the strength of what has been made so far, I would hope that a 2nd series would be a no-brainer. And if that is true, you'll want to have boned up on the first series well in advance!