“Did you know,” a friend told me while touring Stage 28 and ogling the nifty new set you’ll see tonight, “that there’s never been a bad submarine movie?” I bit my tongue and refrained from mentioning Down Periscope, because his general point stands. When you look at the roster of films set on submarines, from The Enemy Below and Run Silent Run Deep up through Das Boot, The Hunt for Red October and Crimson Tide, you realize they’re all pretty entertaining. There’s something inherently dramatic about being trapped in a box under the ocean with only a thin sheet of metal separating you from certain death. No matter how familiar the tropes get— sonar pings, depth charge attacks, sealing off the flooded compartment with the guys still inside to save the boat— they never fail to grab you.
So it should come as no surprise that the writing staff has long wanted to do a Terminator: SCC episode set on a nuclear submarine. The setting always seemed like a natural, especially with On The Beach rattling around our collective subconscious, and the introduction of the Jesse character gave us a natural “in” for doing a submarine story. How, in the middle of an apocalypse, does a petite Australian freedom fighter wind up in the ruins of Los Angeles? The earlier episode Alpine Fields provided the answer in dialogue: courtesy of the USS Jimmy Carter (aside from the obvious humor in the name, do an Internet search to discover why the Jimmy Carter is actually ideally suited for use by the Resistance against the machines).
And if you rewatch that episode, you’ll actually see that we were already planting seeds for tonight and next week’s two-parter episode— Jesse initially expresses confidence in John Connor’s leadership and comfort with the idea of serving alongside a reprogrammed T-triple Eight, leading to the implied question of what happened to Jesse to turn her so passionately against reprogrammed machines, Cameron, and John Connor’s leadership. Today is the day— or rather, tonight is the night— you begin to discover the answer. And of course it all takes place on a submarine.
Sounds like an awesome episode. I love the idea of a two parter, although i can only imagine the agony that I am going to feel in between the two considering they are connected. I usually feel a ton between any given episode anyway, so I don’t know how I can handle this, but I’ll manage. Future episodes have a lot of potential for some really cool stuff. The ruins of LA thing is really intriguing. And the question of why Jesse hates metal so much has been looming over the past week and I’m dying to get an answer! It appears that we’re also going to get a lot of other plot stuff from both Weaver/Ellison/JH and John, Sarah, and Cameron. This episode is going to be PACKED! Only 5 more hours…
I’ve been waiting for these 2 eps for months now! Wahoo! Can’t wait for them – I have a sneaking suspicion that I know what’s going on w/ Jesse….but knowing Zack and Ash I’m probably wrong :p
[...] Before you watch tonight’s episode, check out episode co-writer Zack Stentz’s post on the Official Blog, We’re on a Submarine Mission for You, Baby: [...]
I’m really excited to see what happens. I can see Jesse doubting all Machines if/when the sub. pilot goes bad, but I’m very curious as to her incredible hatred for Cameron. It makes me think that Cameron herself did something. Or it could just be because she and John are close in the future…
=D
Why must these hours go by so slow? I’m really looking forward to this episode. Not that I never really look forward to episodes. But like it was said… Tonight is the night!
Looking forward to it.. I am sure it will be great as always.
Uh yeah the hours are going slow! lol thankfully i spent the last one on the phone with a friend who just started tuning in to T:SCC, I basically did a recap of all of season 1 and 2 up to this point so she could understand what was going on. When i was done she was like
“Wow there is a lot more to this show then i thought”
I just wish other people would take the time to realize that as well. Mindless reality tv is not the only way to go!
Anyways CAN’T WAIT FOR TONIGHT!
I have to wait an extra few hours due to a previous engagement.
I’ll be DVRing it and watching as soon as I get home.
It’s gonna be a long night and a long wait until next week!
Definately looking forward to this one…. And having a two parter is going to make the wait even worse for next week’s episode. The agony…. I love it!
I hope the sub pilot terminator is going to be kickass! Like Vick, Carter and Stark… Didn’t like the one from goodbye to all that much for some reason… Did he have a name?
Sawweeet! Can’t wait for tonight’s ep! I can already hear the sonar pings!
I just read about the shake up of the head of Fox Broadcasting…. is this good or bad news for struggling series like T:SCC?
“I bit my tongue and refrained from mentioning Down Periscope, because his general point stands.”
A little known fact – Down Periscope is actually viewed as one of the better movies about naval leadership concepts. It was even written up in Proceedings Magazine, the house publication of the United States Naval Institute and is generally considered the public-facing area of the Navy where knowledgeable civilians and active/retired personnel tend to exchange ideas and innovate on naval policy. Tom Clancy and Colin Powell are some of the more celebrated members.
Despite the hokey plot, Kelsey Grammer’s character, LT CDR Tom Dodge, applied basic and sound leadership principles – he evaluated the situation, listened to the people who really knew what was going on, made a timely decision and fixed the problems in a forthright and efficient manner. You want it done right? That’s how it’s done. The blustering XO parody of Marty Pascoe (Rob Schneider) is a lot more common in some government circles than you would be willing to believe (or be comfortable, as a tax paying citizen).
To put this back ON TOPIC – it’s goes to show, you CANNOT judge a production adequately if you haven’t explored all of it’s layers. And so it is true of TSCC. Here’s to tonight’s exciting episode and news of a Season 3!
Been a theory that the T-888 does more than just go berserk. He makes a decision that kills some of the crew, maybe someone very close to Jesse. This would be her way of getting even, in addition to creating a divide between John and his use of reprogrammed machines.
The Jimmy Carter also has some of the best food in the Navy, I know it first hand.
I’m quite curious what their submarine depiction will look like.
You’re forgetting K-19 the Widowmaker! The only thing better than a submarine action movie is a submarine action movie based off a real life event. Even though there’s never been a bad submarine movie (exception Down Periscope – shudders) this also means that T:SCC has a lot to live up to in order to continue the tradition. I think the idea that the Terminator went rogue on the sub is a good theory because of what is also going on in the episode, has Cameron gone rogue and killed Riley?
5:36! Almost time!
Will Jesse get to live to see Montana?
Don’t forget… James Cameron’s “The Abyss” features a nuclear sub downed by those overly curious water aliens. It also has a pretty cool “wall of water” sequence when the navigation room is flooded.
The outside shots of the “up and running” sub crashing into the underwater mountain range used practical effects with divers maneuvering a large scale model in a water tank. The wrecked sub model lying on the floor of the rocky outcropping sequences where photographed dry on a smoke filled soundstage with motion control gimbal-rigs “flying” the mini-science vessels on thin, electrified piano wire to supply power to the miniature lights and mini-rear screen projection plates of the live actors sitting “inside” the models manning the controls.
And it has Michael Biehn too!!
I hope tonight’s sub story is as good as “The Hunt For Red October!” That would be something!
Remember how Richard Widmark’s “The Bedford Incident” ended.? Ka-BOOM!! Proving beyond doubt, that you do not mess with nuclear subs! Two hours and counting….
Am I the only one who liked Down Periscope? It wasn’t art, but it was silly fun. Heck, it was worth it just for Harry Dean Stanton and the string stretched between the walls of the sub which sags as the hull is compressed. “Try *that* in one of the big nuke boats!”
Looks like my last (and first) comment got moderated out. Hmmm.
Anyway, Windy, you’re not alone. The US Navy has generally acknowledged Down Periscope was actually one of the best films to represent leadership models – Google USNI Proceedings Down Periscope” – not to mention they actually filmed a movie featuring a diesel-electric sub in…a diesel-electric sub!
Hunt for Red October was an instant classic that I still enjoy watching today. In fact after this episode I may just watch it again! And Dan if this episode is even half as good as Red October then it is guaranteed to be a hit!
They also forgot U-571 – I’ve never stayed awake long enough to see all of RED OCTOBER – what a great film for helping me to catch up on my sleep.
Another really good episode, I hope that there is some way that Fox decides to keep this show on. Please Fox don’t forget that Watchman opened last Friday. It would cut into the Terminator numbers.
Lol. That cracked me up. I’ve never made it all the way through either, for some reason.
Gee, those of us on the left coast are always last to see these. I gotta find a website.
In addition to Watchmen, let’s also not forget that the next theatrical Terminator trilogy begins May 21, 2009. Even though it’s a different timeline, we still love the franchise. Perhaps T4 will draw in some new fans to TSCC in the off season and boost S1 and S2 dvd sales?
ps: Fantastic half-episode… next week can not get here soon enough!
Great episode! My favorite part is John conducting his own investigation and figuring out that it wasn’t Cameron who killed Riley. When he looked at Riley’s fingertips they were caked in skin and blood. Cameron may heal fast but there was no way she could cover up the marks in that short a time (just look at the season premiere). Also liked how Cameron put Sarah in her place about “being a threat to John.” The fact that Sarah never fully realized that in the end, no matter how many friends he has, John will ultimately be alone.
Except for one entity – Skynet. It’s the one known variable in future John’s life that he knows can never be doubted. Now that’s tragic.
I remember what John said in that tape, I’m not going to say anything to those who haven’t seen it, but for those of you who did one of the things he said definitely looks like it’s about to happen.
Last thing for this comment, I love how in the next week’s promo John is talking to Derek about “his” future. That’s the same conversation, for those of you who saw the wondercon spoiler vid, where John asks Derek how long he thinks he could last if Cameron wanted to kill him.
John knows something is up and he is acting on the premise of not to trust anyone especially since both Derek and his mom immediately wanted to kill Cam, John now knows they were both wrong. So now he needs to narrow down the list and the next lead will most likely be the “Guidance Counselor” that came to talk to Sarah.
Also I like how in the Jesse flashback it showed that Derek left to go to the future before Jesse returned from that last fateful mission that changed her outlook on everything. It explains why he trusts Jesse so blindly even though she isn’t “good” like he is. And I agree he is a good man even if he does stupid things every now and then.
Cannot wait for next week! And I don’t care what the ratings show this series is the best thing that’s happened to telivision in a long time.
Go John! Way to show us just why you’re the future leader of the resistance!
Ugh “Edit Button”
By tape I mean the famous “Dekker Tape” and what Thomas said and not John (obviously)
Gary… Erika…
For shame!
You never made it through “The Hunt For Red October??” It’s a fantastic film IMHO. Wonderful cat ‘n’ mouse suspense.
So is “Das Boot” (the director’s cut… the TV length version just doesn’t flow right with its even longer cut; the same with “Apocalypse Now: Redux”… why didn’t Coppola leave it alone?).
I can’t wait for “Das Boot” to be released on Blu-ray! The remixed 5.1 track should be unbelievable since the plain old Dolby Digital lossy track on the DVD was great in and of itself. “Red October” is on Blu-ray already.
I knew it was, for some reason either my schedule or something else I was doing each time never allowed me to finish it. I’ll have to make a point to sit down with it some day.
One of my favorite parts in The Hunt for Red October (THRO) is the ending where the two ambassadors square off – classic
Great episode and a great critique nick. I was thinking the same thing about JC’s conversation with Dereck.
Oops, no c in Derek
Funniest line in a long time: “bye bird, there was a 51% chance I wouldn’t have killed you.”
Hilarious!!
Run Silent, Run Deep would have been a great sub movie if they’d stuck closer to the book. By the way the book is great and every bit as good as Das Boot.
I liked Down Periscope, it was funny.
I think Jesse doesn’t like Cameron because she won’t let her talk to John.
So the bird was only a 49% threat!!!
LOL!!! Got to love Cameron. 
I agree ‘Das Boot’ is the top u-boat film.
By the way the show did a great job with its U-boat. Well done!
Can’t wait for part two. Now hand over a S3!!!
I have a question!!! What was the mission with that pack from the terminators??????? Are they someone who turned against their own creator:Skynet???????????
I’ve got my fingers crossed that you’re not going to miss a classic trope from “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” … and Jesse will be crawling around in the ventilation ducts looking for a monster!
My fiance is aboard The uss jimmy carter right now……….. We have been worried sick how his mission out is going then i found out about this.. THIS ROCKZ….. im glad everyone is okay.. i am so stoked they got chose.
That damn table lamp is still not quite where I want it.
is it possible Jesse was captured and then sent back by Skynet to get John to send Cameron away? So Cameron’s not there to protect John?
This episode was one of the best I’ve seen.
But I gotta be honest. I’ve heard some talk about the show possibly getting cancled. We need more episodes with this level of intensity. I have plenty of friends that love the Terminator, but say they can’t get into the show because they think it’s kinda slow. Personally, I think the pase is perfect and I wish the show could go on forever.
My suggestion: more action, more often. A little sexyness wouldn’t hurt either.
Problem solved.
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God it’s been ages since I’ve posted on this site, been busy with my own writing, but I’ve been watching every episode twice here in sunny Scotland and loving it, can’t wait for the DVD to come out and they better run season 3 or we’ll have to send Cameron after them.
I loved the line in this episode about the 51% chance she wouldn’t have killed the bird, if it’s one thing you have to love about Summer’s character it’s the fact she’s brutally honest. Humans are deceptive, we lie and cheat all the time but a machine only lies when the mission requires it. Her comments on humanity along with John Henry’s are classic lines. I loved his comment about God not making humans with ball joints, now that would be cool, maybe heaven did have a hardware problem way back then:-)
But I can’t wait until part two, I’m guessing Jessie just got jealous because a machine was in cahoots with John instead of her, let’s not forget good old fashioned jealousy is a great way to drive the plot forward. Whether it’s jealousy between humans or in this case jealousy because John is working so closely with Cameron. he can see now that Cameron didn’t kill Riley because he was checking her throat and she had tried to fight back. You don’t have a chance to fight a machine back, you just don’t so it was a human who killed her. I’m betting there are factions in the resistance who want to influence the young John, jessie would belong to one of those factions.
Well I can’t wait, thanks to the writers, cast and crew for such a great episode.
Cheers,
Alastair