Skynet, Judgment Day, the history of things to come.

All I ever wanted from a Terminator movie was the chance to see more than 30 seconds of the war between the humans and the machines. Now, thanks to Warner Bros. it looks like I finally get my wish. Not only are we getting a fourth Terminator film, we’re getting a new trilogy.
Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Halcyon Company began principle photography on Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, May 5th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The film is scheduled for release on this exact date next year. McG will direct and Christian Bale will star as a grown up John Connor. Newly announced casting includes Australian born Sam Worthington, musician Common (rumored to be playing John Stewart in Justice League: Mortal) as Barnes and Moon Bloodgood (rumored to be playing Maya in the new Street Fighter movie) as Blaire Williams. Anton Yelchin who plays Chekov in Star Trek will be playing the role of John’s father, Kyle Reese.
According to the press release:

In the highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, set in post-apocolyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and it’s army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares it’s final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

I’ve known Christian Bale was going to be playing John for a while now but I’m surprised to hear that he has actually signed on for three films considering his current involvement with the Batman franchise. With that said, I’m shivering with anticipation of this one. It seems they are distancing themselves in a way from the previous three films, notice there’s no talk of Arnold Schwarzenegger making an appearance. All I want to see is all out war with the machines and Terminator skeletons walking around blowing things up.

There is one possible downside. According to Variety, they are looking to make it PG-13. The Terminator trilogy is one of the highest-grossing R rated franchises ever but Halcyon producers want to widen the fan base and don’t think the lowered rating with compromise the film. “The ratings have changed,” said Halcyon co-founder and co-CEO Victor Kubicek, “The PG-13 has increased in intensity.” I don’t know if they are exactly aiming at family-friendly but if there’s one thing the Terminator movies are not, it’s family-friendly. Unless you count the warm and fuzzy moments between John and the T-800. Those were pretty cute.
Of course no movie franchise is complete without a video game. A new Terminator game is set to be released along with the movie next year. With the technology we’ve got now I’m thinking it’s going to be pretty bad-ass.
Now that he’s played Jack Kelly, Laurie, Batman, Alfred Borden and John Connor if we could just get Christian Bale in The Hobbit somehow, my fantasies will be complete.

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5 Responses to “Skynet, Judgment Day, the history of things to come.”

  1. GeekBoy says:

    Hm. Technically, you’re right.

    But … a critical plot point of T3 was that Sarah had died of cancer 5 or 6 years before, and this affected both John’s level of training and his emotional stability. So even if the writers killed Sarah off, then sent John back to the point where T3 starts, things would be different. He’d have all the experiences from SCC, the extra training, the time spent with Cameron, etc. So things wouldn’t play out the same way when the Terminatrix arrived — he’d be better prepared.

  2. Nerdy Bird says:

    Haha, yeah you’re right. I was thinking of where they were at the start of the series, not where they are now. But, the show doesn’t necessarily have to invalidate T3 right? I mean, unless they are changing history because of their time jump. They could somehow go back to their normal time after the series is done and be left right before T3. I’m starting to confuse myself with time-travel so I’m not going any further than that, haha.

  3. GeekBoy says:

    Actually (pushes up his nerd glasses), SCC takes place instead of T3, not before T3. The first half of the SCC pilot took place between the two movies, but the second half of the pilot time jumped PAST the third movie entirely, thereby invalidating it. Which I thought was a brilliant move on the writers’ part, because T3 wasn’t all that great.

  4. Nerdy Bird says:

    Wow, that Moon Bloodgood thing didn’t even dawn on me. What an odd niche to be placed in.

    It seems there will be time travel, with that Marcus character. Not exactly what we’re used to but it’s something.

    And remember, the SCC is set between the second and third movies so it has to at least lead up to the stuff we saw in T3. But I think it’s doubtful they’d mention any of the tv series plot in the new movie.

  5. GeekBoy says:

    Oddly enough, I’m not very excited about this … yet. Part of what has always jazzed me about this franchise is the time travel aspect. So I guess having the main action set in the post-apocalyptic era diminishes that for me a bit. Also, I’ve really taken a liking to the new Sarah Connor series, and I’m wondering how this will fit in with that. If it even can. And if not, will that hurt either project?

    But mostly, I’m worried about the PG-13 news. Not because I don’t think they can make the movie work with that rating, but because the primary motivation for it is pure and simple — MERCHANDISING. So with a TV show, three new movies, video games, and Terminator action figures being handed out in the Happy Meals at McDonald’s, I can’t help but think the franchise will quickly get oversaturated in the next year or so. Which would suck.

    I’m happy to see Moon Bloodgood again, but that poor girl is kind of getting typecast. First she was the girlfriend in the time loop series Day Break. Then she was the ex-girlfriend and fellow time traveler in Journeyman. Now she’s in yet another story involving time travel. She seems to be the go-to girl for stories involving temporally fluid plot lines!