Terminator: how to run a theme into the ground

[Before I begin, I'm compelled to say that Terminator 2 was and is one of my favorite action movies and was an overall great movie.]

For the fictional world of Terminator, writers who take up the mantle have a real problem because the series has written itself into a hole. The issue of narrative fidelity is a particular problem for the TV series but for the movies as well, assuming there will be more.

The story happens over more than a generation with the original happening in 1984 and the most recent story occurring in 2009, which is by itself an invitation to problems. How to address the issue of trying to connect culturally is one issue but the lack of any structure continues. We're going to ignore the whole series' hinge schwarzenegger since he was so easily replaced.

The first movie introduced the problem (robots gone bad) and the second movie solved it (destroyed the inventor of the robots). Director James Cameron wisely rejected that ending making armageddon a continued threat in our world, which of course it is. The third movie at this point was fucked -- they had to reintroduce and the not even try to solve the problem because that might prevent further sequels and spinoffs. Simple survival the only real goal here so T3 turned into a plain old disaster movie with lots of catchphrases and colorful explosions. Doing what little rewrites they could, they threw out the problem and took the machine's nuclear bomb (cold war fears) and then added a worldwide computer virus (current fears)!

The only thing left was to bring on armageddon so they could work with some unknowns that would create dramatic tension, such as whether or not the main character will live through it. Even the movie preview describes a new environment as "this is not the future my mother warned me about," thus creating a new page.

That said, TV has its own unique challenges and trying to attract new viewers is one of those. Shows that require you to have watched previous episodes to understand the current one are few and require a pretty dedicated viewership such as Lost and Battlestar Galactica. What happens this week on the Sarah Connor Chronicles? Oh something related to robots and armageddon ... and of course boom goes the dynamite. There's not much flexibility to bring in real writing with meaty stories.

So I'm more sympathetic to the TV writers, although Star Trek TNG milked the android Data's brush with humanity for at least 10+ episodes and a good chunk of at least two movies. No one accuses Brent Spiner of being an amazing actor so surely they can figure out something compelling for at least one season with Summer Glau.

Unfortunately, I won't be there to see if they succeed.

Update: I saw Terminator 4 and was impressed in parts, bored in others. There were elements of Sci-Fi and some outstanding action sequences, but too big a percentage of the movie was a dull homage to the previous movies (though far less than the "new" Star Trek).