I’m apprehensive, worried, and stressed. It appears I like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (T:TSCC).
No, this is not a review, although I could harp about the inconsistencies, how they broke canon, and ask some embarrassing questions about the plot. But none of that stuff matters. I like the series. I am hooked.
And hence why I am stressed. You’re probably thinking, “Because it’s on Fox!” Well, I’d be foolish to deny that is a factor, but it’s not the main reason.
The main reason is that it’s good, and that it’s a weekly series, and that its plots span multiple episodes. It seems every week it sets up, or gives subtle hints, to more layers of story, more subplots, nuances, and tantalizing tidbits. No, it’s not a review. OK, maybe a little.
My stress is borne out of previous disappointments that made me gun-shy about liking stories with long plot arches. Take Firefly. I, along with a still growing (!) fan base, were/are left with lots of questions, hints, subplots, nuances, and tantalizing bits that will never see the light of day.
I’ve also realized, and it surprised me quite a bit, I’ve become impatient. Out of that previous disappointment has arisen a fan who does not want to wait a whole season to get answers. I want to know!…now! Mind you, I keep watching, but for every question T:TSCC almost answers, it piles on a couple of new ones. The episode ends, and I look around in panic. “Is there one on next week?” “What is it about?” “Oh, man!!”
Then the panic attack really settles in . . . what if I’ll never know? What if they cancel the show? Worse yet, what if they go on for 10 seasons, and I have to wait ten years for all the answers? I might not even live that long!! And even if I do, will they be able to keep up the quality they have shown to date?
All this drama is to point out that I’ve been avoiding shows with long story arches. I’ve not watched Lost, Heroes, or Battlestar Galactica; I’ve not even watched Journeyman. I’ve been a bad SciFi fan.
It turns out I prefer to sit down with a movie, even a mediocre one, and know that sometimes in the next few hours all sorts of things will come to a conclusion. Unless it happens to be one of those annoying movies that leaves the audience hanging; then I curse. But at least I still know it is over. Finito. Kaput! And it only took a few hours.
Not so television series; there is always a promise of one more hour… maybe. It demands emotional commitment, and it takes a toll when it turns out that commitment is one-sided. Perhaps then, it’s not that I’ve lost interest… perhaps it’s that I don’t want to get hurt, be betrayed, be left sitting, with my outstretched hand trying to hold onto a picture slowly fading to black. I see fans trying to “save”, or “revive”, or at least force a series to a reasonable semblance of a conclusion. Most campaigns will fail. Even successful campaigns will have fans see a less than optimal continuation of their beloved show. Often, it’s just a short delay to the inevitable. I don’t want to be one of those fans. I want to be happy and carefree.
Intellectually I know it’s a vicious cycle. The less I watch, the fewer shows will make it; the fewer shows make it, the less I want to watch. But I have been trained, through scarring ordeals, not to invest my time, my emotion, my peace of mind on the slim possibility one of these series will deliver on a long-term commitment. And yet here I am, sweating out each day as I wait for another Monday to roll around.
All I can do is yell: “Summer Glau!!” . . . for it’s her fault I started watching.
Robert says
I love the Sarah Conner Chronicles!! Unfortunately I heard that FOX has already canceled it! I hope my info is incorrect.
Sam says
Not yet canceled, but on Fox’s short list for cancelation.
Michael in Nashville says
It’s an OK show. Not in the same league as Lost or BSG, but better than Heroes. And way better than Jericho!
Jon says
Summer Glau… why can’t all terminators look like her. But if they did there would have been no human resistance. We would have all submitted Skynet rule.
ejdalise says
Perhaps we should start a preemptive campaign to keep the show going.
Everyone should mail in a bag of synthetic blood.
ejd
Bronzethumb (from Australia) says
I don’t think its the best show out there – not as good as Heroes, Lost, BSG, Journeyman, etc. – but after this most recent episode I’m hooked.
ejdalise says
The piece was more about the reluctance to commit to a show (due to prior disappointments) than about the show itself.
I was fully intending to let the show run, and catch it on DVD . . . then I worried it would be canceled before enough shows were in the can, and no DVD would be forthcoming.
In this case, mostly because of the cast, I figure I will take whatever I get . . . but I’m not happy about the prospect of being left hanging by yet another show I like.
Contrast that to “House”, or “Bones”, or even “Chuck”. I would miss them if they were dropped, but there would be no big unanswered questions swirling around my head as unwanted artifacts of a decent, but unfinished, plot.
ejd
perry broxson says
I feel your pain, brother. I waited years for Gilligan to get rescued. Waited for Marsha and Greg Brady to declare their forbidden love. Waited for Scully to sprout antennae and incinerate Mulder with a ray-gun. Alas, a steaming pile of disappointment was the payoff for my loyalty.
Hey – weren’t you the guy that wrote about Imagination last week? Didn’t you rail against Hollywood for stagnating imagination by providing TOO MUCH information?
And now you’re grousing about too little information . . . or, at a minimum, the slow evolution of story. Why not view these truncated narratives as an opportunity to deploy the ripcord of imagination?
ejdalise says
If the show is canceled, I could certainly use any unanswered questions as the sparks to fuel my considerable creative engine, and come up with my own interpretation of where the plot was headed. However, that would be as satisfying as buying a book, reading a few pages, throwing it away, and then make up my own character and plot development.
I’m sure it would be fun, but it would not sate my curiosity as to where the original writer was going with the story.
The imagination article specifically referenced computer generated graphics as outperforming our own ability to visualize specific events described in books and scripts.
In this case the plot itself is the focus of attention, and while I’ve made an investment to the vision of the writers and producers of the show, I don’t think this diminishes my own ability to imagine scenarios, should I choose to do so, or to compare them to theirs.
By the way, I’m pretty sure Gilligan was rescued. I cannot speak to your other dark desires.
perry broxson says
I’m torn. I do not want to invest too much time in this dialogue. What if, heaven forbid, there is no satisfactory resolution? I couldn’t bare the emotional estrangement. (
Sorry, as much as I’m loathe to admit it on VD, I have commitment issues.
Gilligan’s “rescue” was ad hoc, contrived, and relegated to a Wednesday Movie of the Week. Certainly worthy of your theme of disappointment.
ejdalise says
Where’s the fun in resolution? The fun is in the discussion, and the collateral thinking process. But I’m with you on this. It’s a personal view, and different people take to different shows with varying degrees of investment.
Happy Valentine Day.
ejd
p.s. Personally, had I been on Gilligan Island, I would not have been in too much of a hurry to get rescued. It seemed like a near idyllic life. The only change I might have wanted was for Gilligan to eventually suffer an unfortunate fatal “accident”.
perry broxson says
Don’t be so bloody nice. I was mocking your reluctance to commit to a sustained narrative for fear that you would not receive satisfactory closure. I was being a jerk.
I know posting is a gentleman’s sport, but somebody’s gotta call a jerk a jerk when the jerk is jerkin’ ya.
Sam says
Perry…stop being a jerk…how’s that? 😉
perry broxson says
Thanks for pulling the trigger. I deserved that.
ejdalise says
Perry, I don’t believe you are a jerk. I know life sometimes shortchanges some people, and they have a tendency to lash out to anyone in their reach.
But I see through the poor prose, the forced vernacular of a writer wannabe, and the mock hostility . . . I see a person frustrated with what he considers a universe conspiring against him.
But it’s frustration based on unreasonable expectations. It’s like a mediocre tennis player trying to become a minimally skilled racquetball player . . . there is no use getting mad at your opponents. The basic skill set is just not there. Still, that does not make you a jerk.
I suggest you learn from Fox executives. They have the titles, they have the responsibility, but they lack the talent. It does not keep them from enjoying the trappings of their position . . . wait!! . . . I guess they are jerks at that!
Never mind.
ejdalise says
Please note . . .
For those who might be wondering about the Perry/Emilio exchanges, be aware Perry is a friend who takes delight in trying to get me to react to his barbs.
Our good-natured ribbing aside, it is normally in poor taste to purposefully go out of one’s way to bait other posters, and it is not something that is tolerated.
. . . even when done as poorly as Perry’s attempts.
ejd
perry broxson says
Wow, what a skillful reprimand. I think I’m going to enjoy this forum.
Thanks for the free psychoanalysis.