Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season

The Sarah Connor Chronicles is an amazing show, one of the best on television. The show starts off slowly building the foundation for a complex, and satisfying storyline. When Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green), brother of Kyle Reese, is added to the cast in episode five, the show is taken to another level, becoming even more engrossing, as you can't help but be intrigued by this new shadowy character. The mysterious past between Derek and Cameron (Summer Glau), a terminator sent back by John to protect him, is so fascinating, it could have been the plot for the next terminator movie. This DVD is a must have if you plan on watching Season 2. Do not give up on this show to early, and you will be rewarded by some of the best scenes ever written for television. Unfortunately, this show was victimized by the writers strike, cutting the season short, leaving storylines and sub-plots un-answered. Fear not though, season 2 airs September 8th 8 p.m. on Fox, and it begins the exact moment the season finale ends.

Could someone with the Region 1 (USA) be kind enough to tell me how the Series is boxed. Are the 3 dvds in a plastic cover (like Dynasty and most movies) or in little covers and then slipped into a cardboard case (like Charmed and 90210) ... Thanks

I've been a huge fan of the Terminators (even the 3rd one) but still had my doubts about the quality of a weekly television show.

Well I have to say that after seeing the pilot I was immediately sold. The action scenes are definately there but not over done and don't stretch past what their effects can do.

The three main actors are perfect for their roles. The balance between Sarah Connor as mother and tough fighter has been perfected (some would argue that it's a very difficult balance to hold).

John, though not quite there, is starting to learn his leadership role and beginning to feel like someone who might actually save the human race.

And Cameron is....well perfect. She plays the tough yet curious robot that keeps a couple of secrets to herself about the future.

I can see a lot of time and effort has been made to try and keep the original histories in tact. There is a shot of the first terminators models that have rubber skin (referenced from the first movie).

It is a rather short season and the plot's focus starts to loose touch towards the end, so I'm hoping that the second season can keep the writing focused and tight.

I'm hopeful though because I've been nothing but impressed so far!

More than six hours of film in nine episodes. The attempt is admirable. To link up the three Terminator films by telling us more or less the story of John Connor and his mother from the moment she gets out of her hospital and the final apocalypse. It can give some depth to John himself It can build around him some family or connections. He gets an uncle from the future. It can play on time and that uncle can look at himself in 2007 when he was still a kid playing baseball. It also gives some density to the mother who was pretty shallow in the films. It can show more about these cyborgs, a good one who protects John and the bad ones. The list would be long of all the good points of this series. It has a shortcoming though. In a story that relies a lot on believing in the vast ellipses it uses, if you want to get down to gritty details you may run into some contradictions. And we do. We need the FBI agent, for some still unknown reason. So he is saved twice. Once by Sarah Connor herself and the other time by a hostile cyborg. Why? We do not know. It does not though bring anything new to the story. It just brings some pleasure by discovering the deeper personalities of characters we liked and we could not explore enough, like John Connor for one. In this first series they avoided the absence of Schwarzenegger by sending a cyborg who was supposed to be the sister of the very young John Connor, hence his age and the other sex for it to be less suspicious, especially when they are not all the time together. I am expecting the second series some day to see the next stage in that slow travel towards Terminator 3, especially since we left them with a car exploding with John's cyborg sister in it. Is that cliffhanging or something?

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season

This was one of, if not THE best new series of last season. Despite the writer's strike shortening this series' first season down to only nine episodes, it was action packed! Forget the few negative reviews out there saying that it ignores T3, because that's a good thing. This is supposed to take place after T2, therefore T3 does not exist in this story line. The writing is clever and sticks to the Terminator canon. If you liked T1 and T2 and are willing to accept that this series uses them as its basis and goes in a slightly different direction, you'll love this series. If you're not willing to accept that and enjoy the deeper character development, then don't watch this. In my opinion, as a die hard Terminator fan, this series is an excellent, excellent compliment to the first two movies, and ignores the dreadful T3.

5 Stars!