Ranking The Terminator Franchise From Worst To Best

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is the only worthy successor to The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Focusing on the lives of Sarah and John Connor after Terminator 2, the family travels from 1999 to 2007 with a T-888 named Cameron to prevent the Judgement Day in 2011. Forging a new path past Terminator 3 (virtually ignored), creator Josh Friedman's series expands the Terminator mythology and takes it into new directions.

At the center is not your typical nuclear family. Mother Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) deals with the fact that she would have died of cancer in 2005. Son John Connor deals with his destiny, his feelings for Cameron, and attempts to maintain his humanity in the face of machines. Fake sister/crazy girlfriend Cameron (Summer Glau) has a set of orders from Future John and thus her own agenda.

Additionally, TSCC plays with various aspects of the first two films: a plot based around a Terminator hunting for someone through a phone book, a plot based on Sarah having visions of Kyle, and a plot based on Sarah's time in Pescadero. Furthermore, the series revisits the future in flashbacks (or flashforwards?), providing Cameron like visuals that surpass the dull-looking Terminator: Salvation.

But TSCC is also the imperfect masterpiece. The short first season is very heavy arc based, but the wheels spin a bit into the longer Season 2. The show also ends on a cliffhanger, cancelled by Fox and destined never to be resolved. Nontheless, TSCC is the worthy successor to James Cameron's films as it possess the emotions and character drama that makes the franchise so riveting.