Sunday, March 22, 2009

summer glau/winter babe

I've never watched Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles aside from seeing the last few minutes of it the last few Fridays, i.e., what airs just before Joss Whedon's latest TV venture, Dollhouse, takes over the Fox Network airwaves.

But if I were to watch the small-screen Terminator, it would probably be because of another Joss Whedon connection: Summer Glau is in it. Preternaturally smart / crazy / beguiling / scary as River in Whedon's Firefly, and absolutely owning Serenity (the Firefly movie), the idea of Ms. Glau as a terminatrix is pretty darn appealing.

However, Summer Glau alone does not a TV series make. For those o' you who might be watching Terminator: is the show worth adding to my TiVo season passes? I have an iffy record with James Cameron creations; it's probably easiest to sum it up by saying that I liked the first two Terminator movies just fine, and everything else seems pretty half-baked and not nearly as smart/cutting-edge as Cameron thinks he's being (The Abyss, Titanic, Dark Angel, etc., etc.).

By the way, I'm still reserving judgment on Dollhouse, but I hate that I'm this far into a Whedon joint and not totally crazy about it yet. After I watch this past Friday's episode, maybe I'll blog on My Dollhouse Impressions Thus Far.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my usual half-assed manner, I'm waiting until the DVD issue to watch any of Dollhouse...but I did read an interview with Eliza Dushku wherein she noted that it wasn't really until the 6th or 7th episode that the show started taking off, for her - something to do w/the way the network structured things, and things becoming more, well, Whedonesque from that point forward. So I'm thinking perhaps the series isn't quite there yet (it feels as if it's been about a month, right?)...

Unknown said...

Jeff: Yeah, I know that Eliza and Joss have been clear that the show starts slow, in part due to Fox interference (and apparently a semi-repeat of the "hey, you have a week to rewrite the pilot!" fiasco o' Firefly). Last Friday's episode was the 6th, and I haven't watched it yet... Hopefully Reed Diamond, whose slow burn on Homicide was maybe the best acting performance in a series full of great acting, will get more to do than glower...

Anonymous said...

Sarah Connor Chronicles was pretty interesting, but has been deathly dull (aside from some shenanigans aboard a submarine) and way too talky since moving to Fridays. I guess the budget for action scenes and special effects ran out. I doubt it will make it to a third season, so just rent the DVDs.

Still making up my mind about Dollhouse also, but I have yet to see last week's episode either, which is supposed to be more interesting. The almost total lack of humor (aside from the stereotypical annoying tech guy) is a major turnoff. It certainly is not very Whedonesque so far.

My gf and I really wish Eliza Dushku and Shia LaBeouf would get together and have kids and name them something cool.