Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles became my favorite show on Fox in 2008. I was incredibly dedicated to this show and supported the show in every way that I could, from being involved in the online fandom to attending promotional appearances and events the show held. Needless to say, I was very upset when this show was canceled. So when I received Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 on DVD, as excited as I was, it also made me realize all over again that this was the final season…and what an extraordinary season this was.
Release Date: September 22, 2009
Run time: 6 Discs/22 Episodes/976 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
The time: today. The stakes: all our tomorrows. A nascent AI, assisted by droids, continues to edge toward world domination and the ruin of humankind. It accepts no limits. It fears no one. Except John Connor. The machines know John, now 16, is the future head of the resistance. They know he is growing in abilities. They must find and terminate him. But Sarah Connor is there, protecting and instructing her son as he becomes the man he’s destined to be.
Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 was just as amazing, if not better than Season 1. The character development and story arcs for this season were phenomenal. The introduction to new characters was welcomed more easily than I thought and the emotional connection to all of the characters grew stronger than ever. The action sequences were outstanding, just as us Terminator fans want them. This season answered many questions from Season 1 while creating so many more and yet ended the season, the series on the best way it ever could. Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 was the best season of television from 2008 – 2009 and when you buy your copy on DVD, you will always be reminded why.
Special Features:
The Storyboard Process: Cameron Goes Bad – Visual Effects Supervisor, Jim Lima, Special Effects Supervisor, Steve Galich, and Stunt Coordinator/2nd Unit Director, Joel Kramer talk about what a storyboard is and how it illustrates and maps out key sequences as images of storyboards are shown. There is a split screen where viewers see the storyboard and the final shots for various scenes, and then this feature closes out with the split screen of the “Samson and Delilah” car scene when John saves Cameron. This feature is so important to see because so much happens in production between drawing the storyboard and filming, so it is nice to see the storyboards come to life and see how well the scenes follow the storyboards.
Cameron vs. Rosie: Fight Rehearsal – This feature starts out with images of the storyboard as Executive Producer, James Middleton and the stunt coordinator, Joel Kramer discuss the sequence, as we see the girls’ final rehearsal footage. I thought that it couldn’t get any better when next comes the best part! There is a split screen comparison of the final rehearsal footage and the final footage that was shot for the episode. This feature couldn’t have been more thrilling to watch!
Gag Reel – This was a fun gag reel to watch! It starts out with planes interrupting multiples scenes, and then branches out to the funnier moments including my favorites…when at the morgue Thomas trying to pull Leven out so he could see if her character Riley was dead and when Thomas is running with his pants down randomly. There weren’t too many parts where characters forgot their lines, but there were a few stunt issues which was funny to see.
The Continuing Chronicles: Terminator 8 Part Featurette Gallery:
Write the Future – Josh Friedman, John Wirth, James Middleton, Natalie Chaidez, Jon Enbom, Ian Goldberg, Toni Graphia, Zack Stentz, Daniel T. Thomsen, and Denise The are all interviewed for this special feature, as they all discuss what happen in the writer’s room, the process from coming up with ideas to the final draft, and certain intentions for this season. All throughout, close ups of the writer’ room white board are shown, which we see notes for Acts 1 – 6 on various episodes, action and character notes. Some discussions that took place in the writer’s room are shown, including the discussion about when to kill off Sherman. Josh explains how he really wanted more serialized elements as opposed to stand alone episodes, get more into the family dynamic this season, and more of what the writers were looking to explore in season 2. This was an excellent inside look that all Terminator fans will enjoy and I consider to be my favorite of this 8 part featurette.
Conceptualization – Shirley Manson starts out talking about when she first found out about her character coming out of a urinal, as we see the VFX rough draft on screen. Josh Friedman briefly talks about the biggest challenge for special effects and then Jim Lima talks about what his job entails as visual effects supervisor. James Middleton and many others praise Jim’s work as storyboards and notes as well as the crew on set is shown on screen. Robert Hall, the special effects creator briefly talks about creating the terminator heart based on Jim’s vision. John Wirth mentions that time and money determine the special effects the show is able to have which is quite fascinating when you think about the short amount of time the crew has to create all of these special effects each week on a budget. The crew talks about creating the T1000, which many fans will enjoy and that is the overall recap of this extra. I wish Robert Hall had more screen time, as it would have been interesting to hear more from him and see more of these effects from the beginning stages to the final stage. Overall, this was an insightful extra.
Blood & Metal – Anyone who wants a career in the special effects department, this is the special feature for you. Robert Hall talks about what his job entails and certain makeup effects for a few scenes. James Middleton points out that this show aims for the most practical special effects instead of so much CG. John Wirth has a few words to say as well as cast members, Summer Glau and Garret Dillahunt. My favorite part of this extra was seeing the actors in the makeup chairs and seeing how the makeup and effects were applied for the fight scene between Cameron and Rosie. What an incredible feature!
Deigning Destruction – One of my favorite features is seeing the cast and crew discuss working with the incredible production designer, Marek Dobrowolski who created such complex, versatile sets for the show. We see how the set for Catherine Weaver’s office, the nuclear submarine, and the Tirk room came together. Stephanie Jacobsen points out that on set for the submarine, there was one corridor that was used for as many as seven different corridors, which is just one of the many fun facts that you will take out of this extra. Thomas Dekker, Shirley Manson, Brian Austin Green, and Summer Glau as well as Josh Friedman, James Middleton, John Wirth, and Director of Photography, Stephen Collins discuss all of the work put into this show. This is an incredible inside look into the show that really makes you appreciate the worlds that this show has created all the more.
Choreographing Chaos – This feature takes a look at the “Samson & Delilah” car chase, flip, and when Cameron is pinned between 2 trucks. The car flip took hours to rehearse! It was very interesting to see what Summer Glau did for the pinup. That scene is a very emotional scene so to take that out and get technical was very interesting. Then, Garrett Dillahunt talks about working underwater, which he had a wonderful time doing, scary as it may be. Josh Friedman, Joel Kramer, James Middleton, Steve Galich, and John Wirth all had something to say in this extra, although I was more interested in this footage that was shown which was incredible!
War Stories – James Middleton, Josh Friedman, Lena Headey, Brian Austin Green, Leven Rambin, Stephanie Jacobsen, Shirley Manson, Garret Dillahunt, and others talk about filming certain scenes. Summer Glau talked about the difficulty shooting the fight with Bonnie who play Rosie and everyone discusses the positives and negatives of shooting a major action scene on Santa Monica Pier. During shooting, Thomas Dekker had a bit of a panic in the water tank – but all was well of course as we can all see from the final cut. What I found to be most interesting was talk about the research done regarding the kind of gun that would kill a terminator. This talk may create lots for the hardcore Terminator fans to discuss. What a fun feature!
Setting the Tempo – This extra is dedicated to sharing how the music came together for this show. Bear Mccreary, the music composer of the show, Josh Friedman, James Middleton, and John Wirth all spoke about the important elements involved in creating the music for the show. Note that 99% of the music is score, which I find to make this show that much more of an emotional connection with every character and storyline. There are different musical themes for each character and Sarah’s theme is put in the forefront for this feature. Viewers get to see how the percussion instruments are recorded in the studio and are told how the string instruments are recorded. Josh Friedman talks about the choice of “Samson and Delilah” which brings us to the best part of this feature. Shirley Manson talks about “Samson and Delilah” and then TSCC fans are treated to a full uncut, unmixed, and unedited acapella in studio performance of Shirley Manson singing the song! If that’s not TSCC love, I don’t know what is. What a treat!
Motivation – Josh Friedman, James Middleton, and John Wirth all talk about the motivation behind the character development in this season. Leven Rambin and Stephanie Jacobsen also talk about their characters in this extra. As new characters come in, a few current characters head out, so there is a bit of the San Diego Comic Con panel shown where the announcement is made that a main character will die this season. Which brings Garret Dillahunt on screen to discuss how he found out that his character of Cromartie was going to die. Richard T. Jones also appears in this extra, as he and the executive producers talk about the importance of his character being a man of religion. Summer Glau, Lena Headey, and Thomas Dekker also talk about their characters in this extra. My favorite part of this extra was acknowledging the fandom by showing a bit of the Comic Con panel (and not just because I can see my head in the first row). I highly recommend that those who want to get a better idea about what the actors think about their characters and how the executive producers made certain decisions about the character development, watch this extra.
Terminated Scenes – I love deleted scenes because I get a look at where the show could have been headed and possibly get more insight into certain events. In these deleted scenes, there was not much more insight given to certain situations and in some scenes I was even a bit confused. However, one scene I wish could have made it in the final cut was the terminated scene from the episode, “The Tower is Tall But the Fall is Short” which involves John, Cameron, and death. There are about 12 deleted scenes in total, 4 of them including Stephanie Jacobsen, 1 including Dean Winters, and of course let’s not forget Shirley Manson.
Commentaries:
I enjoyed the commentaries, although wished Brian Austin Green and Richard T. Jones had been part of at least one of these. Aside from that, I was very pleased with the commentaries.
Samson & Delilah – Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Shirley Manson, and Josh Friedman all participated in this commentary. This starts out with 90210 jokes, so right away the comedy tone is set. What an amazingly fun group of actors! While this commentary is very entertaining, it is also very insightful. Josh Friedman mentions the first five minutes of this episode are the cliff notes version of what would have been the 10th episode of Season 1 if the writer’s strike had not happened. Interesting fun facts are shared all throughout this commentary. For instance, this opening montage was shot on various days – when Cameron finally gets upstairs and finds Sarah & John…different days. Thomas mentions that he had a wig on for this entire episode since he was shooting a film where he cut his hair. Josh explained how the first scene that we see with Cromartie and Ellison came together, which many will find to be interesting. Lena and Thomas talk about the paparazzi, Josh talks about writing the episode, Summer doesn’t talk all that much in the commentary but fans find out that she has a thing for firemen! Shirley Manson discusses her wardrobe and hair which I find to be quite fun to hear since she doesn’t like to see herself on screen. The best part about this commentary was Josh explaining that Cameron overriding the termination of John is what caused Cameron’s odd behavior all throughout the season. That cleared so much up! Thanks Josh!
Alison From Palmdale – Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Josh Friedman, James Middleton, ans John Wirth all participated in this commentary. This episode shows Cameron’s origin story and tells part of Sarah’s back story, so this is heavily talked about throughout the commentary. Perhaps the most hilarious moment of this commentary was when Thomas Dekker confessed that he did not know that Guest Star, Busy Phillips was indeed pregnant during filming. A reference that I found while watching this show air live that I was not sure about was brought up in this episode, The Wizard of Oz. It was reassuring to know that my original note that this was indeed a reference was correct! What many will find to be thought provoking and will pay attention to when they watch the season over again is how throughout the season, Sarah is faced with different versions of the way her life could have been (example, Busy Phillip’s character) as Josh mentions and also there are different voices for present day Cameron, Cameron when she was first born, and Alison. This commentary was very informative and really gave so much insight into the characters Cameron and Sarah, making it such a delight to watch!
Adam Raised A Cain – Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Josh Friedman, James Middleton, ans John Wirth all participated in this commentary. The first fun fact shared is that Catherine Weaver’s house is actually the house that was in Iron Man and many other films. Speaking of Weaver, the actress who plays Savannah, Mackenzie Smith was highly praised by Thomas Dekker and if you weren’t already, you will be looking forward to seeing more of Mackenzie’s work. While working on this commentary, Summer Glau had not yet seen this episode as this episode had not even aired yet. Summer did not have much to say in the first half of the commentary but viewers will actually be more interested in what Josh has to say. Josh talks about music spotting, visual storytelling vs. dialogue, the reasoning for titling this episode “Adam Raised A Cain,” the arguments in the writers room regarding whether or not Sarah would be arrested, and much more! You will walk away from this commentary learning so much, I loved it.
Born To Run – Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Josh Friedman, James Middleton, ans John Wirth all participated in this commentary. What I found to be a very sweet fun fact was that there is a scene in this episode that is an ode to Josh Friedman’s father. A know his father is smiling where ever he is. Another fun fact shared is that the prison that the show used for this episode is actually a closed down East LA prison that is only used for movies/TV. More importantly though, Summer & Thomas talked about blocking and their creative ideas vs. the crew’s creative ideas. Thomas also shared that it s incredible how much things have changed and how much he has grown since the beginning of this TSCC journey. Once the episode gets towards the end, everyone begins to talk about everyone’s emotions which were running high filming these last few scenes and it really was quite emotional to watch and hear. What a ride this has been. Thank you everyone involved in the commentary and everyone involved in creating such an incredible show.
Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 – Own it on DVD Today.
Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 is also available on DVD.
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