It isn’t known if James Cameron has actually sat through and watched the entire 2 seasons of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles but Jim seems impressed enough by Josh Friedman to hire him to write for the Avatar Sequels and write on Terminator 6 with seven other writers.
David S. Goyer talked to Rotten Tomatoes about the start up of his new TV Show Krypton…
Goyer also joined the party when filmmaker James Cameron returned to the Terminator franchise to produce a new movie, which is currently untitled and expected in 2019. Cameron assembled a writers’ room that included Goyer, who told Rotten Tomatoes that he wrote a draft. He also revealed which non-Cameron Terminator property the producer-director held in high regard.
David S. Goyer on James Cameron/Josh Friedman:
“It was interesting to hear his take on what he felt we could change and what we couldn’t change. Sometimes it was surprising,” Goyer said. “Josh Friedman was also in the room — who did Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which is why Josh was in the room. So I think [Cameron] was most impressed with what Josh did there.”
David S. Goyer on The Terminator character and canon:
“I approach them as being well-known cultural icons that have well-known canon that have made a cultural imprint,” he said. “My approach to adapting them is similar, in terms of assessing what’s canon and what isn’t, what one needs to hew to and what one can reinvent.”
Getting us a little worried there David… “change” and “reinvent”; then go on to talk about canon- isn’t the point of canon to stick to rules and to not change/reinvent the mythos? Amidst unveiling a really average looking Superman spin-off TV show… saying stuff like this doesn’t really get us excited,- you can of course argue that Terminator needs reinventing to be fresh and new or you could argue that reinventing it from what it used to be is the problem with the franchise and that taking it back to what it used to be would be more fresh and exciting than any form of reinvention.
When it comes to T: TSCC TheTerminatorFans.com staff have mixed feelings… some of us like it, some of us don’t and that’s just the way it is but regardless; it had/has a loyal following and people still love the show and would like to see it back in some form. There were talks of a DVD/Blu-Ray movie to tie things up but it seems a legal issue prevents it from happening.
Did the writing on TSCC make us put Josh Friedman on a pedestal? Not really and besides, as far as we are aware he may have created/wrote on it but he didn’t write it all by himself (not that we’re saying he takes all the credit for himself). The whole core plot of TSCC hinges around the idea of will John Connor sleep with a robot… sorry but it kinda did.
The writers room for Terminator 6 still slightly worries us due to the number of writers involved (8 to be exact) but only a soulless machine would not worry after the last three Terminator movies failed to rejuvenate the franchise. This is lightening in a bottle and catching it is really difficult.
No offense but we really don’t want this superhero world that David S. Goyer lives in seeping into Terminator and this is what David does for a living. We can pull Blade out of his writing credits and say “fuck yeah, we really enjoyed that movie” but then you compare that to Blade: Trinity and then we really start to worry about his involvement. He did write the Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines of the Blade franchise and why didn’t the sequel to Blade take place in Moscow? Now- THAT was really annoying.
Sorry but TheTerminatorFans.com is all out of patience… it just seems like history is constantly on repeat with writers constantly trying to put their own stamp on things (and this is already a case of James Cameron has had to say yes and no but of course he is a consultant…) if you were doing the job correctly he would never have to say no or, at least, say it very rarely; you wouldn’t be asking him what you can and can’t “change” and you wouldn’t be surprised when he has to say no to your stupid ideas because if he did say no… they obviously sucked. What mess would this film be without James Cameron saying no? A fucking disaster waiting to happen but in Hollywood you fail upwards so it doesn’t really matter what we say… does it?
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
5 Comments
Okay seriously did these people haven’t learned their lessons after Rise of the Machines, Salvation and Genisys ? seriously how difficult it can be ?
How to do a good Post-T2JD Terminator sequel/reboot/remake rule book for dummies !:
1: You need a completely serious Back-To-Basics approach in tone and scale (in the style of the first movie, relatively smaller budget, so the studios won’t be tempted to force a PG-13 condition, basically do what the Curse of Chucky 2013 did with the Child’s Play series, a seriously dark return to the source point)
2: Write and shoot it as a hard-hitting R-rated material from the inside and out, keep the little kids away from the theater if you have to.
3: Resist the temptation to do stupid jokes, unnecessary comedy and sassy attitudes, if you feel you have to inject some humor now and then it should be quick, sharp and to-the-point, don’t linger on it, do it and move on.
4: Cast actors that actually look the part (example: a brick bully-faced, gym beefcake like Jai Courtney as a post-apocalyptic survivor/veteran ? are you fucking dumb ?)
5: Resist the temptation to make your “Bad Guy” (or guys) into physically over-the-top super-powerful comcbook villainy as a compensation for not knowing how to make it Intellectually DANGEROUS (take a look at Cromartie from the SCC-TV series 2008-2009 for example, didn’t need Hulk-like strength and damage-absorption or multiple Inspector Gadget-like bag of tricks to have a dangerous presence to it, it watched and learned from it’s errors and adapted accordingly to the good guys tactics, it prepared traps, tricked it’s targets Predator-style to get the job done, show us an Evil Terminator that is actually smart, capable of planning multiple steps ahead)
6: The flesh & blood human “Hero” characters are NOT steel statues that you can throw and shake around and they will be perfectly fine from it (again take a look at the original movie, Kyle and Sarah were seriously injured and exhausted after all the gunfire and chasing, they were on their last legs physically and mentally, that’s important, this aspect in particular is why Genisys doesn’t work, the human heroes were basically written as typical Fast and Furious Action-style protagonists, i’m sorry but “Terminator” is not about invincible, perfect heroes that can get themselves smashed into another car and then just walk away from it “Cool Guys Don’t Look At Explosions” style)
7: Be conservative on the usage of CGI (if you absolutely have to use it the use it but NOT to the point where people start wondering if a full-feature Cartoon/Anime would have been a much preferred alternative to a live-action film)
8: Unless you really have an interesting story to tell, something truly revolutionary so that a new generation of fans can be proud to “Own It”, the please don’t force a shock schlock plot twists (example: “oppsie we are too lazy to come up with anything interesting so let’s shit on John Connor or his new-gen Equivalent and turn him into big bad villain !”)
9: No More Arnold, yes a controversial decision for you fans but you have to acknowledge that Arnold did a massive damage to the seriousness/immersion factor of this franchise Post-T2JD (ever since T3RiseOfTheMachines) and as evident in Genisys he never changed his ways, it’s thanks to Arnold (ironically) that people associate the Terminator with comedy and little kids these days.
Excellent comment, Mike; I absolutely agree!
^ I hear ya William O. Najera, now because there is no edit function once a comment is sent (and English is not my first language) i wish to elaborate a little further on my guideline #6: (the “don’t make your good guys super-tough and invincible to the point of absurdity” guideline) that doesn’t mean you have to make the Connors/Reeses/Friends (or their new reboot equivalents) into clumsy, clueless idiots for 95% of the movie that solve problems and survive on pure dumb luck and coincidence either, what you have to do is reasonable balance: unless you intended to give the principal characters some meaningful dirt, exhaustion and injury OR you actually intend to kill them off don’t stupidly write them into a no-win corner where the Terminator/Skynet villain should have 100% terminated them no problem or at the very least gave them one hell of a painful tattoo branding, secondly this will nicely complement Guideline #5 because for a R-rated Terminator film (still a big IF?) this help the evil terminators to win their mojo back in way of MOWING DOWN dozens of people like grass for willingly or unwillingly interfering with their assassination objectives, showing us the painfully wincing faces of our heroes so they know the BLOODY human cost of their continued survival to fulfill their life’s important mission (shades of the 1984’s Police Station massacre really) and then ultimately a well-earned triumph over the baddie Terminators.
Long-story-short: I have nothing against designated heroes having their “Ooops!” moments and getting tagged out for it. just make sure that they are gonna be twice as hard to kill next time (skill/experience-wise), the difference is that next time they don’t make the same mistake but learn from it, in a sufficient to twist a bad situation around on his enemy’s head-way.
they will win in their minds before killing with their hands and nothing trains the spirit to seek victory like unrelenting ‘tell us where you screwed up’ self-discipline.
I think my reply in this article can be a companion read to Mike’s comment:
https://www.theterminatorfans.com/exclusive-terminator-6-writer-talks-sarah-connor-new-arnold-terminator-and-jim-cameron-feminist/