Terminator-202 "Automatic For the People" - Discuss/Grade <SPO>

[Nociod]

The episode was ok... Could have been better though.

It looked to me like futureguy was hit by something before he time traveled, and that his injuries were not due to the time traveling. Could be wrong though. They did a bad editing job though, and in one scene you can see that he's wearing boxers, even though clothes can't time travel.

I'm curious to see what's wrong with Cameron. It's obvious that somethings wrong, and she's acting even stranger than normal. If I were the Connors, I wouldn't sleep tight when she's around... (something they aren't doing either, I liked how Sara and BAG couldn't sleep around her).

Hated the Riley character though, and just how stupid is John? I read somewhere that his new haircut was a way for him to grow out of a whiny character and into a "man", but he's still a whiny bitch. And why would they still send him to school? Doesn't make sense, it's stupid, and it takes away the fun from the series.

I thought it was stupid to have the terminator impersonate Greenway at the end... Ok, they have files on people, they infiltrate.. Ok, but they send him to infiltrate the day before the big test? The other guy was sent how many years ahead?, even got married, now that's an infiltrator, but this guy was sent a day ahead.. ugh, I hope this is the last "last minute" infiltrator we see. I can take a terminator that has been sent to do an important task, and been doing his job for a long time.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I agree about "last-minute infiltrations" with normal Terminators. I was expecting Greenway to be T-1001, that would have made more a lot more sense.

 

[Worf2DS9]

I enjoyed the episode. Though I'm not sure what Riley's deal is yet, I kinda liked her. She had a bit of an Emilie de Ravin vibe to her, which doesn't hurt. And I don't think anyone mentioned this yet, but the "Don Davis clone" at the nuke plant was played by Dean Norris, who was the SWAT Team Leader in T2.

 

[Trekker4747]

Spoiler: Episodic vs Storyarc

Fox Executives have told the writers that they are required to start making the show more episodic than arc based so that you can miss episodes and still understand the story.

Ahhh Fox. Brilliant as always, with all the creative smarts of Rick Berman.

 

[Samurai8472]

Then Fox Executives told the writers to add Riley earlier than what the writers wanted.


http://community.tvguide.com/blog-e...Todays-News/Terminator-Sarah-Connor/800043244

John's new love interest, Riley (played by soap vet Leven Rambin) came at the behest of Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly, hence her soundalike name. Recalls Friedman of his conversation with da boss: "I said, 'Yeah, maybe we could have a girl come in around Episode 8 or 9.' ... We compromised at Episode 2."

• Rambin's innocent high-school cutie serves a particular function for the producers. "Sci-fi shows get a little insular at times," says Wirth. "It's nice to see [our characters] interact with real people." As such, Riley will not be privy to John's special burden. "I was just as clueless as my character is," Rambin says about joining the in-progress series.

• But how about some hot man-on-machine action, guys? We can't be the only ones who have noticed the tension between John and metal-maid Cameron (Summer Glau). Wirth teased: "Every interesting relationship I've been in has been a triangle." Oh, reeeallly? Is this the Swingtown panel?

• And why was Cameron so good at hanging with the teens at first, but later seemed more awkward about human behavior? "Summer's character had been prepped for that particular situation, so it was almost like she had a script," explains Friedman. "Once they jumped forward in time, though, she was as adrift as everyone else."

 

[nx1701g]

I thought it was stupid to have the terminator impersonate Greenway at the end... Ok, they have files on people, they infiltrate.. Ok, but they send him to infiltrate the day before the big test? I hope this is the last "last minute" infiltrator we see. I can take a terminator that has been sent to do an important task, and been doing his job for a long time.

I do agree that it did seem unusual, but it was possible that they didn't send a Triple8 back to replace him. Maybe the Terminator wasn't outfitted with the infiltration software? Maybe they were worried about the Terminator being detected. These are just possibilities.

Spoiler: Terminator Types

The producers have said they're going to use different model terminators during this season some of which will be modifications to the T-800 series.

It's also possible that he was specifically sent back because of a timeline change (in some storylines Skynet does have the ability to maintain records between timeline changes through some technobabble process) caused by the Resistance. Maybe the soldier at the beginning had a different task originally?

The other guy was sent how many years ahead?, even got married, now that's an infiltrator...

Actually we don't know, specifically, how long the Terminator was back there and even if he was the one who started the relationship. There is a scene in the episode where the wife (Barbara) talks to him about his car accident and how he'd changed since he was in it. It was possible that Vick killed the husband and replaced him.

Spoiler: Time Travel in T:TSCC

Think Annorax in Star Trek: Voyager and you'll better be able to understand the time travel in this series.

 

[kes7]

Why I think Riley = metal:

1. Didn't sleep, spent all night building a robot protector out of legos. Huh?
2. Doesn't blink once the whole episode, just like Cameron (who can also smile and whatnot).
3. Zeroes in on dopey John Baum and won't take no for an answer.
4. Cameron says "I don't know, girls are complicated" when asked if she was a threat. I know of two "girl" terminators on this show, Cameron and Catherine. Both are more complicated than their more common male counterparts. I think she means "female" terminators are more specialized, harder to figure out.
4. Carrots and Apples. Again, huh?
5. Never calls her parents to let them know where she is, after telling John they are "intense."
6. Her little "just practicing" phone call at the end. Weird.

I think she's metal and I think Cameron knows she's metal. I also think Cameron is in wait-and-see mode while she "thinks what to do" about it.

 

[Tom]

The biggest problem here is all this uncontrolled time travel. From a writing POV it leaves the story unbound with no sense of rules or consequence. Anyone can come from the future and alter anything it seems, WTF, it is the perfect deus ex machina. John and Sarah in big trouble? no problem, a solution from the future will come and save the day! In some ways im reminded of the early days of Smallville when it was 'meteor rock monster' of the week, now its terminator of the week, for everyone they destroy , boom there is another new on the following week. The first Terminator movie got it right by just having in Kyle vs. the Terminator IMO. Time to limit the time Travel I think and concentrate more on characters etc.. Want to really mess with the timeline , have Skynet find out (through DNA maybe from prison kyle in the future?) that young Kyle Reece (in 2007/08) is Johns dad and have a terminater go after him..

@nx1701g, haha, i was thinking also of Annorax and the threads of time earlier in comparison to this show.

 

[nx1701g]

^ I was just thinking about something. Did the Connors really beat Skynet by preventing the meltdown? In the original timeline the power plant didn't have the automated systems designed by Skynet. Now it would. By having it fully automated the Resistance can't use it in the future any longer and those people still lost their jobs and screwed with our economy (what I'm a Democrat). I think, in this case, the Connors played right into Skynet's hands.

 

[nx1701g]

I just watched the episode online: It was a bullet in the temporal transport.

 

[Samurai8472]

Eventually John is going to mess up the timeline so much that humans from the far future will be coming back for his head as well.

I was actually thinking how awesome that would be if they did that during last night's episode.

They need to kick some sense into the little crybaby.

I dub thee Clark Connor

 

[nx1701g]

Speculate away:

 

[Samurai8472]

looks like the set up for resistence members when they were kids. Although greenway might destroy that idea

Greenway Palo Alto

jay Lopez

stark 2007

Alpine Field

The rambaldi device

Having the time portal under fire is interesting.

 

[Samurai8472]

^ I was just thinking about something. Did the Connors really beat Skynet by preventing the meltdown? In the original timeline the power plant didn't have the automated systems designed by Skynet. Now it would. By having it fully automated the Resistance can't use it in the future any longer and those people still lost their jobs and screwed with our economy (what I'm a Democrat). I think, in this case, the Connors played right into Skynet's hands.

They were damned if they do, damned if they don't when Derek, Cameron and Sarah were in the bar.

 

[nx1701g]

^ I was just thinking about something. Did the Connors really beat Skynet by preventing the meltdown? In the original timeline the power plant didn't have the automated systems designed by Skynet. Now it would. By having it fully automated the Resistance can't use it in the future any longer and those people still lost their jobs and screwed with our economy (what I'm a Democrat). I think, in this case, the Connors played right into Skynet's hands.

They were damned if they do, damned if they don't when Derek, Cameron and Sarah were in the bar.

True. But this was a third possibility not previously explored. The power plant was shut down, like theorized, but it was being reactivated under automatic control (which is most likely under the control of the T-1001 directly). I think that Skynet had somehow known that the Connors would stop the meltdown and they - essentially - played into Skynet's hands.

 

[nx1701g]

Why I think Riley = metal:

1. Didn't sleep, spent all night building a robot protector out of legos. Huh?
2. Doesn't blink once the whole episode, just like Cameron (who can also smile and whatnot).
3. Zeroes in on dopey John Baum and won't take no for an answer.
4. Cameron says "I don't know, girls are complicated" when asked if she was a threat. I know of two "girl" terminators on this show, Cameron and Catherine. Both are more complicated than their more common male counterparts. I think she means "female" terminators are more specialized, harder to figure out.
4. Carrots and Apples. Again, huh?
5. Never calls her parents to let them know where she is, after telling John they are "intense."
6. Her little "just practicing" phone call at the end. Weird.

I think she's metal and I think Cameron knows she's metal. I also think Cameron is in wait-and-see mode while she "thinks what to do" about it.

Spoiler: Riley

The producers said in an interview that she's human and won't become a part of John's terminator world... then again they said too that we wouldn't see any form of a T-1000...

I noticed a little continuity error in the dates. They say it's 2007 when Sarah and Derek are talking. Though this could have been written before the writer's strike and polished.

 

[Tim]

^ During phone tag, dates in November are mentioned. So I'm guessing that as far as the show's internal timeline is concerned, it's still 2007.

It's interesting that the things about this season that give me pause (a seeming excess of spare characters and time travel) are all things decreed from on high by Fox. TPTB are all very pleased. That said, I'm willing to give this season more than two episodes before I let fly with prophecies of doom as others have done.

I've noticed that Cameron has yet to have her eyes flash blue as in last season. I wonder if this is another subtle hint that she's still in "holodeck safeties disengaged" mode or just an FX gaffe.

Incidentally, the episode podcast is now available on the Fox Terminator website, though the last few minutes seem to be missing.


EDIT: As for the issue of Sarah and Cameron getting hired at the plant so easily, I noticed on a second viewing that when the two are watching the training cartoon, the forewoman that offers them jobs mentions that two janitors had called in "personal emergencies." Just after delivery of that line, we see Sarah look at Cameron and Cameron crack the slightest of smiles. So, it is strongly suggested that the whole situation was engineered ahead of time to create vacancies for Sarah and Cameron to conveniently fill. The writers were really not that slipshod here.

 

[Sephiroth]

is the room with the stuff written in blood at the new connor villa? Riley is metal,(could that teaser image of the face with the liquid metal tear be hers?) them saying she isin't is just disinformation, no way is she human, when the execs told them to bring her in earlier, they probably told them to make her a terminator, too

 

[3D Master]

^ I was just thinking about something. Did the Connors really beat Skynet by preventing the meltdown? In the original timeline the power plant didn't have the automated systems designed by Skynet. Now it would. By having it fully automated the Resistance can't use it in the future any longer and those people still lost their jobs and screwed with our economy (what I'm a Democrat). I think, in this case, the Connors played right into Skynet's hands.

Uh, those automated systems have nothing to tell about where the power goes to; cut power lines to Skynet and lead them to where only you want them to, and those automated systems matter not. Also, systems can be shut down, taken out, replaced, etc. I don't see it as doing much. Indeed, I don't think the T-1000 is even on Skynet's side. It seems to me it's got its own agenda.

 

[Ryan8bit]

Spoiler: Episodic vs Storyarc

Fox Executives have told the writers that they are required to start making the show more episodic than arc based so that you can miss episodes and still understand the story.

Ahhh Fox. Brilliant as always, with all the creative smarts of Rick Berman.

Agreed. But at least Star Trek could pull off being episodic. For this series, it's going to be too lame because it's not the kind of show where you just go off and explore at random. They've already set up tons of plots that need to be resolved, and if it's more episodic, that probably won't happen.