Fanboys Anonymous

I've dealt with a great deal of confusion and consternation over the next Terminator film coming next summer, entitled Terminator: Genisys. Is it a reboot, a remake, a re-imagining? What is this thing? I initially thought it a remake/reboot of the franchise and didn't like the idea because I feel like there could be one more in the core series, one more film to link up the promise of the first one; I want to see John Conner and the survivors of Judgment Day smash Skynet to bits, and win in the end finally, thus setting off the chain of events that leads to the original T-800 terminator going back in time to kill Sarah Conner in the first place.

Thanks to director McG's shoddy work on Terminator: Salvation, that is not happening. The rights to the film franchise were sold off soon after because the company that owned them, The Halcyon Company, filed bankruptcy. So the man who claimed would be "bringing back respectability to the franchise" McG, killed the franchise in its initial form. Nice going, bub. Just the fact he threw a dig at Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines by the above quote irks me to no end. Shut your mouth and do your movie and stop talking smack about others. What kind of name is McG, anyway? Are you still in Junior High?

So what is a franchise to do? Wipe the slate clean, of course. Not only will Terminator: Genesys kick off a new trilogy (fingers crossed), but it will also spin-off a TV series, a la The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Ever since the massive success T2, the franchise has been desperate to somehow capitalize on that success. I liked T3, it was a slam bam, well made action film that fulfilled the promise of the original film: they blew everything up. Judgement Day happened. That's hardcore.

What will this next film be? I'm calling it right now: it will be nothing but a fan appeasing, PG-13 rated, sissified version of the story that will appeal to the widest possible audience. All I've seen of it thus far points in that direction. Arnold will play an "older" T-800 model, a machine that has worn its human skin for so long it has wrinkled and aged. Huh? This is so stupid. The skin on the Terminators in the first three films doesn't last long at all, the machines are too busy fighting and killing. Plus, can't they replace it? What kind of wussy world is this that the skin lasts for 30 years? See what I mean? They are starting weak by using fan service by including Arnold at all, and this is the lame compromise.

The director, Alan Taylor, has stated the film will tie directly to the original 1984 film. He says there is a scene where we see that early scene with Arnie's Terminator screen with Bill Paxton and the punks he kills to take their clothes. Right after, the older Arnold comes on screen, bearded and whatever, and off we go I guess. Taylor is suggesting it will be like the second Back to the Future film, where we see Marty McFly running around during events of the first film, in the background.

They are attempting to piggyback the first film, audiences' nostalgia for it, and what they think will appeal to new comers to the franchise. They might do some CGI chicanery with Arnold's face on a younger stunt double like bodybuilder Aaron Williamson, who has posted online about working on the film, but has given no further details. See, there is a lot of secrecy surrounding the film. What are they hiding? The lagoons of offal?

However, despite this, we do know most of the core cast and the parts they will be playing. Sarah Conner, an older, grown-up John Conner, Kyle Reese, his father, Arnold's T-800, and the T-1000. Why would the T-1000 be in this? Is this a reboot of T2? This is what gives me a bad feeling about this film. It's like they have to stuff everything they can into it because they want to cover their bases. Now, if it were Christopher Nolan direction something this potentially complex, I would have hope. But when it's the director of the mediocre Thor: The Dark World, my heart sinks.

Am I wrong? Will it all come together and blast the Terminator franchise back into the heights of box office success? Sound off below.