Despite the strike, two new genre shows premiered this week, with one coming from the UK and not being affected by the strike. Torchwood began its second season on the BBC. The show also premiers in the US on BBC America on January 26, and I’ll avoid spoilers for those planning to watch but who haven’t seen it in the UK or downloaded it elsewhere. The second season starts soon after the first season ended, with Jack returning in the nick of time after being off with The Doctor. Another time agent, who will be a recurring character, comes to Cardiff which reveals a little more of Jack’s past (future?).
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles premiered with two episodes. The show starts shortly after Terminator II and, as we were warned, takes of on a different time line from Terminator III and the planed movie sequels. Desiring to have the series take place in the present, they had a creative means of moving from the end of Terminator II to present using time travel. I do hope that they don’t fall back too often on getting out of trouble by using methods sent back from the future. I’ll have to see more episodes to determine how worthwhile the show is. Hopefully the show won’t continually come down to repeated chase scenes along with Cameron fighting another cyborg, but they have provided the groundwork for additional plot ideas. Besides, with the strike on there’s not very much competition so I’ll continue watching for now. I am curious as to who is stronger, Cameron or Jamie Sommers, as well as whose show can last longer.
Jericho returns next month with plans to tell a complete story. All of a sudden, a seven episode season isn’t looking that unusual considering how many shows have been cut short. SciFi Wire obtained some information from executive producer Carol Barbee:
“We get into Jericho and reconstruction has begun,” Barbee said. “The Cheyenne government is in town. They’re rebuilding. People are getting jobs, people are getting cell phones, life is coming back to Jericho. But it’s changed, because now there’s this government, Cheyenne, and they have contractors who are working for them named Jennings & Rall, and … this company … [has] set up a storefront on Main Street. And they’re going to be a big presence in our lives for the next season.”
Barbee said that the new season will take the show into new territory thematically. “The headline is [that] the first season was about surviving the nuclear attack and saving the town,” she said. “The second season is about saving the country and our way of life, our system of government. And then the natural progression is to have that be save the world for the third season.”
Two different endings for the second season have been filmed, with one written to lead into the third season if the show is renewed.
The initial reviews of Cloverfield have not been very good but the movie does include the first trailer for J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek movie. Here is a picture of the USS Enterprise under construction:
