by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Ugh. Where to begin with this one. What is it about early 80s scifi movies connected to James Cameron turning into shit 30 years later. So, we have a problem.
The Terminator franchise is a very beloved one. It has a really passionate, built-in fan base, a sizable chunk of which is willing to rush to the theatres to see the latest incarnation.
But the last few Terminators have been real stinkers. The premise is tired. Played out. Here’s how to fix it and make a lot — A LOT — of money.
Again, just with the Alien franchise, there’s an issue of consistency of tone to deal with. So, much like the James Bond franchise, I would get the best director I could find willing to do three movies and attach them to the project.
Then I would do something to the basic premise of the movies that would infuse it with a huge amount of life. Instead of constantly sending Terminators to kill John Conner over and over again, why not shock the audience in the first film by having him die at the end of the first movie in the series.
The twist is — the whole thing is a different timeline from the one that send the Terminator in the future. (I haven’t seen the last few Teriminators, so if I’ve stumbled across one of their existing plot twists, sorry.)
Anyway, you would need to reboot the entire series from the beginning. Give it a three picture arc with the same director and rake in the money. The issue would not be “here we go again,” but a journey through different timelines.
Or something.
There is a risk, of course, that the entire premise is so played out as to make any reboot meaningless.
