Summary
Netflix’s exciting newTerminatoranime series,Terminator Zero, perfectly combines the best elements of the franchise’s two greatest movies (the first two).Terminator Zerofirst went into development under the working titleTerminator: The Anime Seriesin 2021. Mattson Tomlin, Matt Reeves’ collaborator onThe Batmanfranchise, is on board as the showrunner and writer for the project, whileBleach’s character designer Masashi Kudō is in the director’s chair. The eight-episode series isscheduled to drop on Netflix on August 29.
Although there have been a grand total of six movies in theTerminatorfranchise, only the first two hold up as great entries in the series. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth attempts atTerminatorfilms failed to recapturewhat made James Cameron’s original twoTerminatormovies great.The TerminatorandTerminator 2: Judgment Dayare timeless sci-fi action masterpiecesblending their thought-provoking themes with explosive spectacle and sharp characterization.Terminator Zeroseems to be borrowing the best elements of both movies for the ultimateTerminatorstory.
Terminator Zero Sounds Like The Perfect Combination Between The Terminator & Judgment Day
It’s not too complicated like the other Terminator sequels
Terminator Zerorevolves around an A.I. scientist named Malcolm Lee, voiced by Andre Holland, who hopes to compete with Skynet in the year 1997. Sonoya Mizuno plays Eiko, a resistance soldier sent from the year 2022 to protect Malcolm and his family from the Terminator – voiced by Timothy Olyphant – that’s been sent to assassinate him. This storyline combinesThe Terminator’s premise of a soldier going back in time to protect a high-profile target from a Terminator, withTerminator 2’s ties to the larger Skynet mythology.
The key to the first twoTerminatormovies’ success – and most of Cameron’s films in general – is that they’re not too complicated. The stories are nice and digestible, so the themes can shine through.Terminator: Dark Fatereplaced Skynet with Legion.Terminator: Genisysturned Skynet into a living, breathing entity. It’s not necessary forTerminatorstories to be this complex.Terminator Zerois taking a cue from Cameron’s original movies and telling a simple storyabout a time-traveling soldier taking on a time-traveling Terminator to prevent Judgment Day.
Terminator’s First Two Movies Will Always Be The Franchise’s Best
Terminator can’t seem to top its first two films
After four failed attempts, it’s safe to say that noTerminatormovie will ever top the original two (althoughCameron has announced he’s working onTerminator 7, so the filmmaker still has hope).The first twoTerminatorfilms refused to be pigeonholed by a rigid formula, they made the Terminators feel like a real threat, they used CGI sparingly, and they both had a strong hook – all things the subsequent sequels have missed. Hopefully,Terminator Zerocan make up for all that disappointment.
