Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

This show was the best addition to the Terminator franchise since James Cameron's own Terminator 2. Set two years after the events of T2, it portrayed some absolutely gripping situations as Sarah and John are in hiding in preparation for Judgement day.

Lena Heady is fantastic as Sarah Connor, and Thomas Dekker bears a striking resemblance to Edward Furlong which really adds some visual connective tissue to the proceedings. Even the "Teeninator" Cameron (Summer Glau), who I thought would be mega-annoying and drag everything down into Smallville pap territory is brilliant.

The series makes a great change in that not every Terminator looks like Arnie, which makes perfect sense, becasue it'd be a crap infiltration unit if they could be identified by facial features alone.

The downside is that there is a noticeable and pretty significant drop in quality between both seasons with the show suffering from some very poor writing in Season 2. This was most likely due to the writer's strike at the time and so with that in mind I think Fox were far too fast to cancel it. It does has other issues like some ropy VFX and some unexplained behavioural changes in the characters, but I'm certain that a third season would have ironed out all those problems. Fox probably threw away a big money maker and a potential classic.

It's sad that the show was perhaps made about ten years too early. If it had been a Netflix funded show made today then the advancements in TV VFX and a (probably) larger budget would have really beefed up the show's appeal. Having James Cameron himself as a producer would maybe have kept the writing in line too. The rights revert back to him next year so it's not too late ;)

It's a crying shame that such a great show ended so early, but regardless, there's plenty here for any rabid Terminator fan to sink their teeth into - and it's FAR more appetising than any of the post James Cameron feature films.