I am – Hercules!!

“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” from screenwriter Josh Friedman (“Chain Reaction,” “War of the Worlds,” “The Black Dahlia”), is the television sequel to 1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” It stars Lena Headey (“300”) as Sarah, Thomas Dekker (“Heroes”) as son John, Summer Glau (“Serenity”) as friendly cyborg Cameron, and Richard T. Jones (“Judging Amy”) as a Javert-like FBI man who wants Sarah for the murder of cybernetics genius Miles Dyson.

In “Chronicles,” Sarah’s still alive in 1999 … and beyond. Which I guess means the series is simply ignoring “Terminator 3,” which had Sarah dying of cancer in 1997.

While the new project predictably does not attain the sci-fi amaziosity that distinguished the first two genius-drenched “Terminator” movies (how could it without James Cameron’s involvement?), it also could have been a lot worse.

What I liked: The way Sarah deals with Cameron when Cameron is rebooting. The mystery of who’s behind SkyNET now that Dyson is dead. The mystery of why Cameron is different from the T-800s. The whole safety-deposit vault thing. The abundant nakedness. Sarah learning how she dies. The way Richard T. Jones sells his character’s speeches.

What I didn’t like: Cameron doing a flawless impersonation of a flirty high school girl in one scene, only to start walking and talking like Jeff Bridges in Starman as the series soldiers on. John stupidly risking humanity’s future because he’s bored. It never occurred to Sarah to call any of the male terminators “Tin Man” in the movies, but she decides to apply the name to girlbot Cameron.

And then there’s the Arnold factor. Four different actors have played John Connor over the last quarter century, but “Terminator” doesn’t quite feel like “Terminator” without an Austrian muscleman lurking about.

I also don’t like that the TV terminators appear to be less smart than the movie terminators.

One hears the classroom-shooting scene in the pilot was almost cut because of last year’s real-life Virginia Tech shooting. Ultimately it wasn’t cut -- which is too bad, because I despise that scene.

Here’s how it goes. John Connor is in class at his new school. A terminator cyborg from the future, pretending to be a substitute teacher, takes attendance from behind a desk at the front of John’s classroom. When John’s name is called, John says “here,” so now the terminator has his target. So far, so good.

Now. Were I the terminator, I would calmly stroll down into the middle of the classroom as I finished taking attendance. As I wandered by John’s desk, I would put down the clipboard and use my powerful cyborg arms, which can rip the door off a bank vault, to decapitate John and squish his brain to pulp. Humanity doomed. Mission accomplished.

In the scene as filmed, the terminator-teacher inexplicably squanders the all-important advantage of surprise. When John says “here,” the robot immediately stops taking attendance, pulls a handgun out of his bloody robotic thigh (!) and tries to shoot John from across the room.

Of course, because he is on the other side of the room, the terminator misses and John escapes by diving out a window. The terminator gives chase, but inexplicably pauses to say “class dismissed” to John’s stunned classmates as he exits.

“Class dismissed”?

Hated that scene.

But I didn’t hate it enough to stop watching, and I’ve already instructed my TiVo to record all nine completed episodes. We’ll see if they all get watched.

TV Guide says:

… dull it's not. … lives up to its franchise's reputation for suspenseful action. … Hasta la vista, boredom.

USA Today gives it three and a half (out of four) stars and says:

Now this is how you rejuvenate a franchise. Smart, tough and entertaining, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles gets most everything right that Bionic Woman got so glaringly wrong. Witty rather than relentlessly dour, exciting rather than excrutiatingly dull, Sarah Connor has the twin benefits of a more clearly defined battle between good and evil and, in Lena Headey, a livelier British star who has better mastered the demands of an action/adventure format and an American accent.… …

The New York Times says:

… One of the more humanizing adventures in science fiction to arrive in quite a while, the series is taut, haunting, relevant and an exploration of adolescent exceptionalism rendered without the cheerleading uniforms and parody of “Heroes.” … finds its dimension in the way it refuses to shy away from the terrors of ordinary life. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… has what "Bionic Woman" never quite acquired: a brain and a heart. …

The Washington Post says:

… One of the main problems with "Connor Chronicles" is that it takes an exquisitely simple premise and keeps complicating it. … Headey speaks with a delicate British accent when not Americanizing herself for Sarah. But whatever she does, she can't compete with the memory of Hamilton hunkered down for the fight of the century. You won't be glued to your sofa if you tune in, but you probably won't be cutting your fingernails, either.

The Chicago Tribune says:

… supplies what you would expect in those arenas and shows potential as a moderately satisfying action-adventure series. There's just about enough momentum to allow the viewer to skip over the occasional plot holes or predictable story lines. For instance, in the show's second episode … Sarah (Lena Headey) warns her son John (Thomas Dekker), the future savior of mankind, that he should stay indoors for safety's sake. What do you think happens? (Did "Sarah Connor" raid "24's" supply of dumb-teenager plots?)…

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… Fox has taken the wholly predictable course of putting a lot of money into explosions and regenerating cyborgs (and the makeup that helps them) but hasn't paid much attention to plot, casting or writing. … The problems are manifold. The first hour is all action, no plot, no character development, no persons of interest anywhere. …

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:

… While it's hard to predict how this new chapter will play among deeper fans of the "Terminator" mythology, the rest of us have to ask ourselves if watching reboots of robot battles once a week is worth our time. That's all the series is in the first two episodes, and it doesn't seem to promise much beyond that. Plus, stretching what has heretofore been accomplished in two hours into an unknown amount -- nine of its 13 episodes reportedly have been completed -- deflates the tension. If the producers are hoping to make this into more than a midseason snack or pre-promotion for the next movie, "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins," this show had better give us something more. Wait. Maybe we're thinking too much about this. After all, if not for the writers strike, we'd be watching "24" instead of "Sarah Connor." Now there's a series that all but orders you to switch off your brain before watching. Do the same here, and "Sarah Connor" might just be the kick in the head you've been craving.

The Portland Oregonian says:

… As you expect from the "Terminator" franchise, there are plenty of riveting car and motorcycle chases, and the hand-to-hand combat between dueling Terminators gets intense (they are particularly hard on drywall). But there's more going on here than pistol-packing 'bots. Sarah's fears of constantly being watched resonate with real headlines about warrantless wiretapping by the government, as does the school shooting in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. The storytelling is rich and complicated, too, as it moves between timelines. …

The Dallas Morning News says:

… Is there any life left in the Terminator story? How many more times can we handle another altered future or another cyborg chasing a car? Probably at least once more, particularly if The Sarah Connor Chronicles can maintain the zest of the Sunday episode. The second installment runs Monday at 8 p.m. and slows down some, but there's still promise.…

Denver Post says:

… Large-scale fun, terrific effects and a rich mythology all pull in this show's favor, not to mention the lack of other fresh scripted fare on the networks at the moment. … Certain plot twists defy explanation, given the back-to-the-future time travel and other mangling of reality. Overthinking the details will only mess with viewers' enjoyment of the hot action. Strong special effects make up for sometimes silly, melodramatic dialogue. A hefty budget is apparent in the impressive production values of the first two episodes. …

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says:

… I won't say the first two episodes of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" were bad enough to make me consider killing myself. They were just bad enough to make me want to hurt myself a little. Not having seen the "Terminator" movies, I can't say whether this TV spinoff, with British actress Lena Headey ("300") in the role created in 1984 by Linda Hamilton, lives up to the originals. But if the movies were anything like the Fox series - pretentious, humorless, violent without real excitement, complicated without much depth - I'm not sorry I missed them. …

The San Jose Mercury News says:

… it comes as a surprise that the first two episodes are as good and involving as they are. The effects may not be what you'd see in a big-budget film, but the visual energy is high. The writing is decent (it actually develops a sense of dry humor in episode 2), and the initial story line makes a certain amount of sense. …

The Fort Worth Star Telegram says:

… Cameron helps Sarah and son jump from the '90s to 2007 (don't ask), and this is just one of the many moments when your suspension of disbelief is stretched to membranes. Let's not even talk about these supposedly sharpshooter, laser-vision cyborgs who can't seem to hit the side of an Escalade. … Still, at heart, Sarah Connor is all about action, and there's enough to keep even the most itchy-fingered remote-holder satisfied. But the series would seem to have a short shelf life. Sooner or later, there's got to be an evil robot with good aim. …

The Boston Herald says:

… a megawatt jolt to the heart, crackling with exhilarating stunts, plot swerves and, most unexpectedly, a touch of humanity. It’s everything “Bionic Woman” should have been. …

The Boston Globe says:

… Without Headey and her maternal magnetism, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" would probably deteriorate into a nonstop series of effects-laden fight scenes that's as cold and grim as NBC's "Bionic Woman" remake. … may appeal to a large segment of the "Heroes" audience, particularly now that "Heroes" is out of new episodes due to the writers' strike. This series runs on the same blend of time travel, paranoid atmosphere, global consequence, and familial intensity. And, unlike the more recent "Heroes," it still has the potential to be coherent.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… an action-packed, explosion-filled sci-fi variation of "The Fugitive" … Director David Nutter gets the series off to a rousing start, practically packing every frame with suspense, special effects and an urgency that drives this show like an incessant drumbeat. Can subsequent episodes measure up to this glitzy and heart-pounding pilot? A second episode sent to critics pretty much assures they can. …

Variety says:

… a slick brand extension … the reworked pilot (shot in New Mexico before production shifted to Los Angeles) exhibits a tighter pace, impressive and abundant action with convincing effects and, frankly, plenty of eye candy between Glau and Headey -- who solidly slips into the Rambette role, complete with the portentous voiceover -- sure to be enjoyed by teenage boys of all ages. …

8 p.m. Sunday & 9 p.m. Monday. Fox.

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