How astute of a viewer are you? Here are some things you may have missed and a few extra easter eggs for you from last night’s Automatic for the People.
Scattergood Generating Station in El Segundo, CA actually stood in for our Serrano Point Nuclear Power Plant. As the plant is not actually a nuclear plant, the nuclear towers seen in the establishing shots were added in digitally during post-production.
Sarah’s story takes a scary turn when she learns she wasn’t actually ever “crapped up,” not unlike a certain Meryl Streep film. Is it a coincidence that the alter-ego Sarah gives Greenway is “Karen” (as in Silkwood)?
Very pregnant Kacy introduced the Connors to their new home in this episode. This house is actually the Baldwin Hills Oil Field House, a location made famous at the end of the film, LA Confidential. While incredibly secluded and private, a few nearby houses include the family’s mansion in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the Huxtable’s home in The Cosby Show.
Director Jeffrey Hunt also directed last season’s epic Dungeons and Dragons episode. Jeff made his television directing debut on the series CSI. Natalie Chaidez, the episode’s writer, previously wrote the fifth episode of the series, Queen’s Gambit, and may be known to sci-fi/action fans from, among other things, her stint on the first season of Heroes.
Pay attention to the name of the local bar near Serrano Point — it’s actually called The Busted Atom! Funny enough, this bar set was built in the same space that previously occupied Maria’s dance studio in last season’s episode, The Demon Hand. It is located on the Warner Bros lot and you may be seeing it again…
Automatic for the People briefly operated under the working title “No Good Deed.” It was changed before the episode even began production. Many times episodes are given a preliminary title at conception and are retitled before the episode begins shooting.
Sarah’s neat waitress/smoke trick is actually also an illusion of post-production. The smoke was added as CGI in post-production, as were the balls on the pool table during Cameron’s hustling of Bob.
Anything extra cool that you noticed?
Cool easter eggs, thanks! Sarah’s story did freak me out when she ran through the radiated area unprotected - let’s hope she and the new Connor house make it through the season!
I suspected Sarah’s neat waitress/smoke trick was CGI - dang, I was hoping Lena had hidden talents!
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I thought those smoke stacks looked CG. Great easter eggs. Poor Sarah - you guys are putting her through the ringer this season
I love this show!
The Cameron/Sarah mission episodes (Gnothi Seauton, Heavy Metal) are always the best.
They have such kooky chemistry, every scene Lena and Summer have together is brilliant.
- ENJOY RELAX DREAM over the bookcase in the new Connor living room. That’s kind of a cruel taunt, isnt’ it? Sarah sits down to relax and 3 seconds later a bloody future fighter burst through the door. She never get a break, does she?
- Riley made John a Lego robot for protection. Guess he doesn’t need Cameron anymore
- Greenway terminator used Cam’s line from the pilot: “Please remain calm” (when he was about to kill everyone in the control room).
- Ellison used Cromartie’s line from last week: “We’ll see” (when he was seeing Charley off).
- The resistance fighter coming through in the alley (with a bum sitting there) was very reminiscent of Kyle in T1.
“It’s not safe for you here.” Agent Ellison. Cameron said the same thing to Charlie in Dungeons and Dragons, when she was about to incerate terminator Vick.
“So what’s your story Karl?” Sarah at the bar.
“So what’s your story Andy?” Sarah speaking to Andy Goode in “The Turk.” Both situations Sarah had to go undercover and determine if these men were a serious threat.
The all new T-1001 appearing in a factory of some kind to take control of it just like in the final fight sequence on Terminator2 movie,where it was in a factory, that’s a nice touch.
Riley character… I think she is no normal girl,is she? I’m referring to two plot points in the episode that seem to be placed as hints about the character:
1) She shows a small star tattoo on her arm… and that happens in the same episode a resistance fighter comes from the future. I really think that’s an hint to a connection of some kind there… even because Cameron quotes talking to John tell us that some fighters leaders will get upset by his actions when he didn’t kill her but tried to fix her instead. I wonder if Cameron zoomed on and analyzed that small star of ink on Riley skin she would have read some kind of barcodes on it or anything unusual….?
2) Riley doesn’t sleep.. so we have seen.. and she builts a small lego robot toy for John… is that just by chance and nothing else or is that hinting to really something about the character? My thoughts currently include these possibilities, I wonder how much I’m far off from the truth you designed or close to it: a) she is a resistance fighter from the future and from a faction not fully loyal to John Connor that never liked the fact that John trusted Cameron so much and wanted his young one to kill her; b) she is a resistance fighter under control of Skynet in some way; c) she is a resistance fighter or a normal human under control of the T-1001 thru nanomachines in her head, she is like a puppet, and the T-1001 is obviously able to know everything she does, where she is and so on; d) she is another liquid terminator like the T-1001, or the T-1001 is able to split itself into multiple bodies and so she is part of it..the T-1001 might be a twin machine like the double 0 and double 1 in its name could imply…(she couldn’t be a normal terminator with an endoskeleton otherwise Cameron would have detected her immediately)
I hope that FOX managers don’t get fooled by the really silly ratings statistics that keep claiming that viewers dropped each episode. Everyone on forums seems expecting FOX to cancel the show due to it, that would be the worst mistake FOX managers could do, really. Terminator4:Salvation movie will be in theatres next summer, TSCC should be renewed by FOX for more than 13 episodes so that the tv show is airing when the movie is in theatres, it surely would help marketing wise to promote the movie and the two productions would promote each other that way to bring in more viewers. Then even if those stats ever were true.. there is not just the US alone. FOX managers should think worldwide, the real market is quite bigger than just that in the US.
Nope - they’re swearing up and down that Riley is true-blue, one hundred percent human, and I think they also deny the Resistance connection. She’s just John’s one human connection (since Sarah and Derek are paranoid freaks and of course Cameron is Cameron.) She’s there to make it harder for John to withdraw into his “savior of mankind” persona.
I’m more than ever convinced that John never sent Cameron back from the future - she came on her own initiative for her own agenda. We know from season one episode one that she knows how to operate a time machine, and we know from the D&D episode that she had direct access to the time chamber. I think she’s motivated by her own survival.
I mean, what are the odds that after mankind beats Skynet that anybody is going to want a Terminator walking around. She’s evolved enough to figure that out - and evolved enough not to want to be tossed on the scrapheap. Best place to hide - the past - with John Connor seduced to be her protector.
I liked that line in “Vic’s Chip” where she says, “She [Barbara] would not be the first human fooled by a machine.” Then she looks at John as if to say, “Yeah, that would be you, numbnuts!”
Wow, what great material for Lena. She is such an amazing actress. She is amazing as Sarah. Please keep more of this type of material for Sarah coming. Plus, I’m sure I speak for all TSCC fans when I say we want to see Sarah kick more butt. Also, Sarah needs to put John in line. She shouldn’t have to take any of his teenage rebellious punk crap. Especially, all the sacrifices she’s made for him.
I also thought Lena really did the smoke trick because I read somewhere else that she used to smoke.
Me too i like this show but i don’t want that my childs watch that.
it’s so futurist but i prefer the original .
For More cool easter eggs you must watch jurassic park.no?
Yeah, please don’t cancel the show! And if TSCC gets the back 9 it’ll be just nice for T4. **Is there any way Fox could shift the show to Sundays?** The competition isn’t as tight and Mondays are already saturated with Sci Fi, what with Chuck and Heroes already on. Please?
Did you happen to notice after Cameron shoved the Greenway Terminator into the power point, it raised its head to looked back at her? Kind of like it was saying: “Well Done!” (actually it was well done after the shock. Another anomoly was that he tossed Cameron quickly aside to face Sarah.
> As the plant is not actually a nuclear
> plant, the nuclear towers seen in the
> establishing shots were added in digitally
> during post-production.
FYI to the writers and producers of the show: The “nuclear towers” as you call them have nothing to do with whether a power plant is nuclear powered, coal-fired or whatever means is used to feed steam to a turbine to turn a generator to produce electricity. The towers frequently associated with nuclear power plants are cooling towers. Many coal-fired power plants, particularly those that are not near a major water source such as a lake or ocean, use cooling towers. Moreover, many nuclear power plants, such as San Onofre and Diablo Canyon (which are fairly local to Hollywood) use the Pacific Ocean instead of cooling towers.
Cooling towers are literally giant chimneys that circulate air to cool the steam coming out of the turbine (after it has been used to create electricity) and turn it back to water (which is later turned back to steam by the power plant and fed back to the turbine to generate more electricity).
The correct jargon for receiving a measurable radioactive dose isn’t “crapped up.” It’s simply “dosed.” (I imagine though that some censor somewhere thought that using “dosed” would lead people to think that Sarah received a venereal disease rather than irradiation.)
Fox,
Love the show. I don’t watch much tv, in fact, TSCC is the only one i watch with any reg. And, thank you so much for putting the full eps on the web. Our cable “hung” the other night about 15 minutes into the show. It was just a face of one of the characters and you could barely hear the show in the background. I gave up, counting on it being on-line and was very happy to find it today.
Fans,
Help! I must be getting old. As with most TSCC eps, I have questions at the end. Some things just don’t make sense. Please help this old guy connect the dots.
1) Why did Sarah enter rad room the first time? She was spying on the plant mgr, then, all of a sudden, she was suited up and going to clean a spill?! It was obvious that the mgr was trapping her. She’s usually not that gullable and not that willing to protect a false identity.
2) Why did Sarah believe that she was contaminated? As far as I could tell, it looked like she had just walked in the room, had a panic attack, ran out and tore her suit off.
3) Why did Cameron hesitate to fix the plant when Sarah approached her. Sarah said “hey, are you in there”. Then, finally Cameron looks up and says “I’m trying to think of what to do”. That was wierd.
4) I’m totally thrown off by the new girl. She’s definitely not normal. Hasn’t John learned yet that anybody who approaches him is probably bad? Why does he just take her home without any caution?
5) The end scene, Sarah follows blood trail into room. Is that Greeway’s house? Whose blood was on the wall and what was the message? Was it like the blood on the wall that the other terminator wrote in the first season? Why do they do that? Can’t they use a pen?
6) Why is Sarah so concerned with her mortality? She’s going to die. If not soon by a terminator, then in 2 years with cancer, and if not then, then by nukes. Her number one priority is to get John ready for the future and she should act like every day is her last and not worry about it.
Thanks for any insight.
Lena Heady has the same tatto as Riley (but on both arms). Is that on purpose? Did someone tell Lena one of her tattoos could show, not explaining that it would be on someone else? Lena explained in an interview that hers were for protection.
Did anyone else recognize the striking resemblance of Charlie’s wife to Linda Hamilton, the original Sarah Connor? Does she have a twin sister or is it just a lookalike?
herring,
1 I’ve watched the episode several times and I can’t see anything that would make Sarah think the manager would purposely put her in a life threatening situation.
2. She is scared to death of radiation and cancer so maybe isn’t thinking rationally.
3. Yes weird at first glance, but then I realized Cameron was not thinking about what to do about the plant melt down, she was completely absorbed in thinking about what to do about John. Remember earlier she told him things had changed between them–she can’t trust him anymore. Clearly she thinks she should terminate herself, but apparently her programming doesn’t allow it, so she needs to come up with a different solution. Kind of refutes an idea going around that she (it) is driven by self preservation–on the contrary, she is a machine driven by programming. Special or not, she has no self awareness like skynet, a least not yet (and as far as I can tell, the writers haven’t given even the slightest hints in that direction–of course you can never trust writers to do what you want them to do except to write great episodes).
4. Your right. She’s in High School and though she talks about her parents, she doesn’t seem to have any, or they are truely the worst parents ever. I don’t think she’s metal or Cameron, Sarah, and Derick would have detected it.
5. The blood was from the resistant fighter who died in Sarah’s arms. When he first appears in the time bubble he is fine, but as the time bubble dissolves, a projectile enters his back and leaves his chest. Actually, I don’t know why he didn’t die instantly–it looks like the bullet must have gone through his heart. Anyway, the Conner’s weren’t home so he wrote a message the best he could in his own blood. He was naked and apparently didn’t have a pen on him
6. Sarah’s first instinct is to take John to the remotest part of the world she can find. John begs her to destroy skynet. Cameron tells Sarah this is possible and apparently decides this is the best way to protect John. Sarah promises John she will, but knows she has to stay alive in order to do so. She then goes to the doctor for an exam in which she is 100% cleared of cancer, meaning if she dies of cancer she must get it from something like radiation.
Anyway, that’s my take, and I believe supported by the series thus far. Time will tell