Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Streaming Free

Just in time for the latest rendition of Terminator 3 (Dark Fate), one of the non-canon attempts at a Terminator 3 is streaming for free on IMDB. It's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0851851/?ref_=pe_24416200_449485690_fdvTP_eml

I've not watched hardly any of the show. I part of an episode when I went to a friend's house once, but I don't remember anything from it. He really liked the show, so I'm guessing he was bummed when it was canceled.

What I do know about the show is that it has Summer Glau from Firefly in it, as well as the lead singer of the 90's band Garbage. Also,

Spoiler:

So how do you watch it? Went to an episode page. Managed to add it to my "watch list" but can't find anything to click on to actually stream the episode. Probably a geo-blocked feature.

AdamCollings wrote:So how do you watch it? Went to an episode page. Managed to add it to my "watch list" but can't find anything to click on to actually stream the episode. Probably a geo-blocked feature.

It could be. It's blocked me for using a VPN before. I have to be tricky to get it to work.

When you go to the episode page, it should take a moment or two before a "Watch free on IMDB TV" link pops up under each episode.

Sweet!

This show was more satisfying than at least one or two of the movies! Such a bummer it was cancelled, but that's on Fox, not on the quality of the show. The cliffhanger sucks, but I still think it's at least worth checking out and possibly even watching all the way through.

At the time, I hated seeing this show end on a cliffhanger like that. And I don't think that's too much of a spoiler this many years later.

From my perspective now, I think the cliffhanger works as a perfect resolution for the show. It's a nihilistic horror-story ending that reinforces the encroaching terror of Judgement Day and the inevitability of Skynet and the Terminators. Easily one of my favorite shows of all time.

Near the end of the series.... and this is spoiler free....

Catherine Weaver is speaking to one of the heroes, I forget who, and makes the comment that "her John Henry" is more than just a program. That the metal and wiring and chassis are as much a part of who he is as his personality. I don't remember specifically if she says that transplanting the chip will not recreate John Henry, but I seem to recall that is the case.

This struck me at the time as an argument for the personhood of the machine, as one of the definable characteristics of the machine as an antagonist is that it lacks individuality. As anyone in IT can tell you, the more complex a machine gets the less interchangeable the parts become. While I don't believe we have actually reached that kind of manufacturing threshold at any large scale, manufacture of printed circuits at the atomic scale is absolutely subject to these kind of variations.

This piece of the show has stayed with me, stuck in my head. It echoes the marriage of body and soul that is part of humanity's fundamental design and it makes me want to chase the rabbit trail of machine personhood, unlike movies like Tomorrowland.

The other piece of the show that sticks with me is from the season two episode "Goodbye to All That". John and Derek protect a future war hero from a Terminator. At the end of the show, John asks Derek, "What finally happens to him, in the future?" Derek looks at him for a beat and replies, "He dies for you, John." Derek turns to walk away from the camera, "We all die for you."

Chills.

mindspike wrote: "He dies for you, John." Derek turns to walk away from the camera, "We all die for you."

Chills.

Oh my gosh, yes! Thanks for reminding me of that! I had the same reaction!

Appreciate your take on the cliffhanger, too. You've motivated me to put this show back on my re-watch list and even try to incorporate it into my crazy "singular continuity head canon" project for the franchise.

mindspike wrote:At the time, I hated seeing this show end on a cliffhanger like that. And I don't think that's too much of a spoiler this many years later.

From my perspective now, I think the cliffhanger works as a perfect resolution for the show. It's a nihilistic horror-story ending that reinforces the encroaching terror of Judgement Day and the inevitability of Skynet and the Terminators.

That's always been the source of my love/hate relationship with the Terminator films. On one hand, I want a happy ending. I want the heroes to save humanity and defeat the evil machines. On the other hand, as I realized after watching [SPOILER] recently, a Terminator film ending that wraps everything up nicely doesn't feel genuine.

As much as people disliked Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, it definitely ended in a proper Terminator way, featuring the inevitability of Judgement Day mixed with the still-real hope of John Connor being the ultimate savior of humanity.

I think the only Terminator film that could conceivably end happily and leave me feeling comfortable about it would be one about the resistance defeating the machines for good in the future. Did Terminator Salvation do that? I can't remember that film very well.

SPOILER:

AGoodReed wrote:
I think the only Terminator film that could conceivably end happily and leave me feeling comfortable about it would be one about the resistance defeating the machines for good in the future. Did Terminator Salvation do that? I can't remember that film very well.

Not sure if you knew this, but the movie you referenced has a post credits sequence that keeps things from being all wrapped up.
And no, Salvation was supposed to be part 1 of a three-part John Connor/future war trilogy that I think would have ended the series.

Paeter wrote:
Not sure if you knew this, but the movie you referenced has a post credits sequence that keeps things from being all wrapped up.

I did see that, but it came across as such an afterthought that it was about as effective as Deadpool's eyes opening after the credits of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It felt like they just stuck it there because they had to. It didn't have near the impact on me that the ending of Terminator 3 had.