As some of you saw, FOX accidently released an old title for this week’s episode — which is actually entitled Today is the Day - Part 2 — a while back. That gives us the perfect opportunity to tell you some of the season one titles that may have been… but weren’t. These were altered for various reasons — didn’t pass clearances, was only temporary, or even we came up with something better! Take a look.

Episode 103 - The Turk
Once known as Blood Bath

Episode 105 - Queen’s Gambit
Once known as En Passant

Episode 106 - Dungeons and Dragons
Once known as Storm the Wire

Episode 109 - What He Beheld
Once known as The Man in Black

Special Sidenote: While this week’s episode IS entitled Today is the Day - Part 1, it was previously known as both The Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter and Crush Depth.

Our lovely publicity team at FOX has released the official descriptions for the final four episodes of the season. Check them all out here.

Today is the Day - Part 2: The exciting two-parter continues as Jesse’s submarine mission in the future takes a fatal turn that has unforeseen consequences for John, Sarah and Derek in the present. Sarah deals with Cameron, who has become a liability, and John steps up and makes a life-or-death choice. Airs Friday, March 20th.

To the Lighthouse: Fearing for her life, Sarah stashes John in a safe house with the only person she believes she can rely on, Charley Dixon. Cameron and Derek struggle to work together after she reveals a big secret, and Weaver’s entire effort is at risk when John Henry is compromised – but by whom? Airs Friday, March 27th.

Adam Raised a Cain: When John attempts to rescue Skynet’s latest target he finds himself closing in on Weaver, but at what cost? Game plans change leading Sarah and Ellison to reunite, while Weaver learns Ellison’s secrets. Airs Friday, April 3rd.

Born to Run: Fate is changed forever on the explosive season finale episode! The Connors come face-to-face with Weaver in a confrontation that shakes John to the core and changes his reality. Nothing will be the same. Airs Friday, April 10th.

Another crazy preview from this coming week’s concluding half of Today is the Day. Looks like trouble’s abrewing with project Babylon at ZeiraCorp. Theories?

Today is the Day - Part 2
Friday - 8PM/7PMc
FOX

“Complications. That watch. It has complications. Something I learned. Something I’ve been thinking about.”

“Complications?”

Today is the Day - Part 2
Friday - 8PM/7PMc
FOX

Our post-episode random factoids for Today is the Day - Part 1 will be rather limited as to not spoil the fun of Part 2 that will air this week, but there are a few things we can share…

Remember last week when we told you there was a Weaver/John Henry/Ellison story originally conceived for Ourselves Alone? Well now you’ve seen it. John Henry and Savannah’s game of hide-and-seek was simply pushed a week for time and space.

Our USS Jimmy Carter (submarine) set was built upon our stage at Warner Bros. But that wasn’t always the original plan. Our production team (and director and writers) scouted potential locations in real submarines — even one as far away as San Diego — and ships like the Queen Mary in Long Beach — before settling on a build. To accommodate the space, our long-standing future tunnels had to be taken down. Nearly all of the details of the submarine are precise, fact-checked by both our accurate Production Designer and episode co-writer Ashley Miller (who previously worked for the Pentagon). Sidenote: the USS Jimmy Carter IS named after a real submarine.

Though we shared it with you right here long ago, Today is the Day - Part 1 is the first episode in which Jesse’s last name (Flores) is actually revealed. She is referred to as such on the submarine.

Hopefully you noticed that the title Today is the Day is a reference to the conversation between John and Riley in Ourselves Alone. John confronted Riley before her fatal fight with Jesse and told her that if she’s hiding anything, today is the day to tell him.

Last week we told you that we’re big fans of The Wire — after all, we cast Andre “Bubbles” Royo as Sumner in Dungeons and Dragons. Surely you caught Chad “Dennis/Cutty” Coleman as the ship’s reprogrammed machine of a captain, Queeg. And for those of you keeping track, our Queeg is named after another Captain Queeg from the film The Caine Mutiny. How does our Queeg differ? Only time will tell.

Speaking of the submarine, we first meet Jesse’s crew during an initiation rite. According to Wikipedia, the “Line Crossing Ceremony” commemorates a sailor’s first crossing of the equator, a tradition that was created “as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea.”

When John goes to see Aaron, Cameron calls and impersonates Riley. Though this is a clear reference to the first Terminator film, it is certainly not the first time we’ve seen one of our machines use this skill. Cromartie used this strategy a few times and Cameron even impersonated John’s voice in the Pilot to fool Cromartie!

What else did you notice? We’ll be back with a more thorough dissection after the second half airs on Friday. Feel free to speculate away!

“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.

First off — let’s set the record straight. This week’s episode is entitled Today is the Day - Part 1. Next week’s is called Today is the Day - Part 2, despite what you may have read elsewhere. Now, a little meaty gossip to hold you over until Friday.

Astute viewers will of course recognize that the title is borrowed from dialogue in Ourselves Alone. So what does FOX say officially about the new episode? “Jesse flashes back to a life-altering mission aboard her submarine, the Jimmy Carter. Sarah and John decide they can’t continue living in their house and make plans to leave.” Both Part 1 and Part 2 were written by superstar team Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (of The Good Wound, Dungeons and Dragons, and Goodbye to All That fame) and both parts were directed by first time Sarah Chronicler Guy Norman Bee.

Obviously the episode contains long-ago promised backstory we first hinted about when we learned about Jesse’s life in the future and she met Derek in Alpine Fields. Also of note: the episode features the long-awaited return of Busy Philipps as Kacy! And like the dedicated fans of The Wire that we all are, the episode also includes another guest star turn by another awesome cast member of that HBO series — see if you can recognize him in the episode (of course you remember The Wire cast member Andre Royo (aka Bubbles) played Sumner back in Dungeons and Dragons).

So what are your predictions for the two-parter? Be bold, friends and discuss away.

Today is the Day - Part 1
Friday - 8PM/7PMc
FOX

“You’ve thought this through.”
“No. But I think about it. Just like you do.”

Today is the Day - Part 1
Friday Night - 8PM/7PMC
FOX

Thanks to the six of you that watched (and seemingly enjoyed) last Friday night’s Ourselves Alone. This episode marked a pivotal turn into the final (exciting) arc of the season. Here are a few things you may have missed because they were hidden under skin covering your endoskeleton arm…

You remember, of course, that this isn’t Cameron’s first conversation with the Connor house pigeon, right? Way back in The Mousetrap, Cameron announces to Sarah that there is a bird living in the chimney. Cameron promises to kill it, but Sarah instructs her not to touch it…

Ourselves Alone marked the first reappearance of Jesse and Riley since leaving the hospital abruptly in The Good Wound. Ironically enough, that episode was the first one directed by Jeff Woolnough — who then returned for this one to finish the job!

The Jesse and Riley final fight scene was expertly choreographed and rehearsed in the weeks leading up to the fight. It actually marks our first human versus human fight in the series so much thought and discussion was given to the differences between this battle and our typical machine versus machine battles. Though most of the moves were performed by our actors, stunt doubles were needed for some of the extreme moves (ala the coffee table smashing). Our amazing stunt coordinator Joel Kramer had the entire hotel room set padded — walls, furniture, and the ground were all coated with a layer of thick foam core so that the talent could truly be thrown around. The scene took an entire day to film and was one of our last days of production before our winter holiday break.

Cameron versus the bird isn’t the only thread from the episode that was established way back yonder. Most of you should remember that in season one, we saw Cameron saving endoskeleton parts (chip from Terminator Vick and even a coltan bar in Heavy Metal)!

Many of you complained about the lack of Weaver/John Henry/Ellison in this episode (man, there’s no pleasing you — kidding!). You should know there WAS originally a storyline with these three scripted for this episode but it became too jampacked with all the other goodness. That doesn’t mean you won’t see it soon, though…

It might have not actually been mentioned in dialogue in the episode, but the Kaliba lawyer Derek spent the episode tracking (and attempting to capture) was actually given a name in the script — KO Samuels. His name is not important to the bigger picture, but it still remains a fun Ourselves Alone fact!

In the episode, John worked on fixing Cameron’s malfunctioning hand by (her) peeling back the skin covering her endoskeleton forearm. Production on this scene was complex and did not actually contain any post production FX (as is usually the case with movement of an endoskeleton). Special FX Makeup Artist Rob Hall built a model arm (without a hand), a whole was cut in the table, and puppeteer Erik Pornn controlled the movement from below. Summer slipped her hand through the hole and moved her fingers in sync with the puppet arm. Later, an insert unit shot close-ups of the hand to cut to if needed. Every movement had to match — from Cameron shifting her fingers to gripping John’s hand — and therefore was expertly choreographed by our entire production team.

Dearest SCC viewers/fans/haters, it’s yours truly, Leven Rambin. Just wanted to stop by the blog to thank all of you for your support of me and Riley (even you naysayers!). You all inspired me more than you know so thank you for yours efforts. I had such an amazing time shooting (no pun intended) the fight scene with Jesse. Even though I could simply crush Stephanie with a single swipe of my husky hand, we managed to carry on a sufficiently entertaining duel. And I’m really dead for all you doubters.

I have never felt such a passion and commitment to my craft as I did during that scene. I am so grateful to the writers for having me go down in such a fantastic blaze of glory. I discovered strengths and weaknesses about myself during my time here that I will carry with me for the rest of my life personally, and professionally. Everyone in the cast is so talented and creative, it was a blessing to be in this environment as a young actress. I watched this past Friday’s episode with tears in my eyes as I realized how fortunate I was to have this opportunity. I will keep this episode on my Tivo until it absolutely breaks down, and even then I will salvage its parts!!

Peace out, y’all. Maybe we’ll see each other again soon (and hopefully I will be hounded by another sexy fembot). And just maybe you won’t all despise my presence or think I’m a whale (it’s all about the Bikram Yoga…).

All my love!
Leven Rambin