Television thread

[Triforcer]

Quick question (as someone who has had all 3 terminator movies explained to me, but I haven't seen them):  I know Skynet itself is sentient, but are the individual terminators?  I only ask to evaluate the possibility of the writers going with some shitty Angel-style conversion.

[Trippy]

The terminators are certainly "self-aware" if that's what you mean by "sentient". However it gets more complicated depending on which version of T2 you consider "canon". In the theatrical T2 Arnold's terminator is able to learn and adapt while in the field (learning to become more human-like) however in the original script and in the "special edition" that's on DVD the terminators are sent into the field with "read-only" memories -- i.e. they can't "learn" on their own -- unless a special switch on the CPU is manually flipped which the terminator can't do by itself which is what they do to Arnold's CPU but not before Sarah Connor tries to smash the CPU after removing it but is stopped by John.

[Zetleft]

^^^^^
What he said

Quick question (as someone who has had all 3 terminator movies explained to me, but I haven't seen them):  I know Skynet itself is sentient, but are the individual terminators?  I only ask to evaluate the possibility of the writers going with some shitty Angel-style conversion.

There was a scene that was cut and then re-added to T2 that said all terminators have the same learning CPU but they have them basically locked down so they don't think too much on their own.  Open up the head casing flip a switch and you basically can have EMO-BOT. 

[Margalis]

They don't appear to have emotions though.

Also Trippy, congrats on that run-on sentence. It's a doozy.

[Zetleft]

They don't appear to have emotions though.

Also Trippy, congrats on that run-on sentence. It's a doozy.

Not in the movie, but then he wasn't 'learning' for that long before he was deactivated, plus it seemed to pick up on sacrifice well enough.  Ultimately we have no idea what kinda crap they will shovel into this at any moment though so I wouldn't be surprised if they threw emotions in there too at some point.... unless it gets canceled before then. 

[Triforcer]

Ah, I see.  Thanks. 

And my actual verdict on the show: I am intrigued enough to keep watching for the time being.  Having Cameron do what she did to Enrique was either really shitty writing or very revolutionary for a prime time "good" guy. 

[Trippy]

They don't appear to have emotions though.

They can certainly simulate emotions and Arnold's terminator developed a sense of humor by the end of the movie ("I need a vacation").

[Trippy]

I recall that Linda Hamilton was considered hot in her day too, especially T2.

She was in "Beauty and the Beast" (the TV show not the Disney movie) so yes some people think so though I never found her that attractive. In T2 it was because of how buff she got (though that wasn't her doing the pullups in her ward cell).

[tazelbain]

I don't care about it being in the vault.  I like that it because it was cool looking and because it seems a plausable cold-fussion weapon.

[Trippy]

And my actual verdict on the show: I am intrigued enough to keep watching for the time being.  Having Cameron do what she did to Enrique was either really shitty writing or very revolutionary for a prime time "good" guy. 

I think the writing has been pretty good so far. They've kept the storyline established in the movies and they've done a good job with the way they've answered some of the obvious questions though they are still keeping Cameron's future/past mysterious. There's obviously something special about her relationship with the future John -- i.e. she's not just some random terminator unit they sent back to the past.

[Ironwood]

 Though I suspect she'll eventually slice his throat too one day.

You're funny.  You're going to look back at this quote soon and laugh.

Ouch! Didn't see that coming.

^^

[Tebonas]

Since those American bastards deny me my Television I try out some of the more obscure UK stuff.

Not expecting much I downloaded the pilot of Honest. That was unexpectedly funny.

[MrHat]

Since those American bastards deny me my Television I try out some of the more obscure UK stuff.

Not expecting much I downloaded the pilot of Honest. That was unexpectedly funny.

I was overseas this Christmas and caught some British Spy show.  It was very very good.  Completely 100% believable.  But I have no idea what it was called.  Revolved around MI-6 I think.

[Tebonas]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooks

?

[schild]

Was about to say that he could just go rent the show at Blockbuster or buy it at Best Buy. But BBC shows are way overpriced considering their crap production value. Anyway, yea, definitely Spooks/MI-5.

Also, Primeval starts a new "season" soon. Season is in quotes since BBC can't count either.

[HaemishM]

I recall that Linda Hamilton was considered hot in her day too, especially T2.

I never thought so myself, just saying.

Linda Hamilton was goddamn hot as hell in the T2/Beauty and the Beast days. It was a strange hot, but it was still hot.

EDIT: Also, Spooks (played as MI-5 in the US) was a damn good show the first 3 seasons. I haven't seen it since then, though. I need to Netflix it.

[Slyfeind]

I wouldn't say Linda Hamilton was hot. She was pretty, but not as far as hot. In T2, she wasn't attractive at all to me. She looked like she stank of motor oil and sweat, and could kill you with a bubble gum wrapper...which I thought was cool. She was all borderline psycho and drank tequila straight from the bottle rawr etc.

But yeah, hot is preferable to a scary butch woman, although in the second part she seemed more motherly, which is something she was missing from the first part.

I'm still liking it, and hoping it keeps its stride.

[Yegolev]

Hmmm... motherly like a midwife from System Shock 2.

[Trippy]

But yeah, hot is preferable to a scary butch woman, although in the second part she seemed more motherly, which is something she was missing from the first part.

She made pancakes for John in part 1

[Reg]

Well, I downloaded and watched the first episode of season 2 Torchwood the other day.  In this episode James Marsters proves that there is indeed no career for him at all outside of the Buffyverse.

Next week's episode has Martha Jones from last season's Doctor Who in it. I'm not convinced that she'll be enough to save it. I mean... even Spike failed for crying out loud.

Ah well. New episode of Flash Gordon is on tonight. That will make everything better!

[Zetleft]

I caught the premiere of Torchwood on BBC America and it seems like a decent enough show.  Gonna have to Tivo it sometime, hopefully they run repeats alot.

[rattran]

Torchwood was okay in season 1, season 2 looks to be more of the same. Nothing special.

[voodoolily]

[stray]

Angel: Damn, what a bummer. That's no way to end a series. It had at least one season left in it.

Terminator: So am I misunderstanding something, or are they remaining mostly stationary in LA? Is that the premise: to fight off SkyNet in one location?

[Jain Zar]

I wouldn't say Linda Hamilton was hot. She was pretty, but not as far as hot. In T2, she wasn't attractive at all to me. She looked like she stank of motor oil and sweat, and could kill you with a bubble gum wrapper...which I thought was cool. She was all borderline psycho and drank tequila straight from the bottle rawr etc.

See, I find that rather hot myself...

[HaemishM]

Having watched the second episode of Terminator, I'm finding myself enjoying the show. They've gone some places I never expected, especially the time travel forward bit and the sending freedom fighters back thing. Logical choices, but something the movies seemed to shy away from. I have been extremely surprised, because I really expected to hate it.

[Trippy]

In the movies it was implied that sending someone/thing back in time was a difficult thing to do. That's one thing they've changed in the TV show from the movies.

[Zetleft]

I don't remember that they said it was difficult in the movies.  Only that they blew up the facility after they sent Reese through so no one could follow. 

[Trippy]

It's implied because otherwise the robots would've sent more than one terminator into the past to kill Sarah and John (and Katherine Brewster) in the movies since that's the logical thing for Skynet to do (more terminators means greater chance of success).

[Zetleft]

In the first movie they didn't send any more because the Humans had just stormed the base they were using.  They just got there too late before they sent one through.  I'm guessing they didn't have many time machines laying around to replace it easily. 

[Trippy]

Yes you keep repeating that but all that does is reinforce my point.

[Johny Cee]

The film version was always inconsistent.  Why the hell didn't Skynet send back Robert Patrick to kill Sarah Connor the first time, instead of a model that a lone human actually had a chance of beating?

Time travel stories never hold up to any sort of logic without massive amounts of hand-waving.

[NowhereMan]

Yeah, after all if any of the operatives sent back in time actually succeed (whether killing John Connor or ensuring that humanity defeats SkyNet) then it only makes sense that they would then swamp the past with other operatives to make sure they won, thus removing the need for them to send anyone back and creating a paradox.

Basically once you take into account that there are points farther into the future than when the terminator (or freedom fighter) gets sent back, the whole idea falls apart.

[Evil Elvis]

Breaking Bad was just on AMC, and I thought it was really good.  I can't really think of any show off the top of my head like it.

[stray]

It's a good show though. Stop it, you guys!

I'm just a little wait-and-see on the Sarah Conner being stationary in LA idea though. I mean, that might be a better idea storywise... You can start building a "world" that way, with lots of recurring side characters and villains, etc.. I would like that.

But then, that's not exactly the type of story I've seen from anything Terminator. Even though T1 and T2 were mostly filled with scenes in LA, they were very "mobile" stories. A lot of action done on the move. This TV series sounds like something completely different.