Terminator Zero Season 1 Review

Terminator Zero (2024-)
Season 1 - 8 episodes (2024)

Watch Terminator Zero on Netflix
Created by: Mattson Tomlin
Starring: Yûya Uchida, Hiro Shimono, Shizuka Ishigami, Saori Hayami, Toa Yukinari, Timothy Olyphant, André Holland, Sonoya Mizuno, Rosario Dawson
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer

Plot
In 2022 a future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines, while in 1997 the AI known as Skynet gains self-awareness and begins its war against humanity.

Verdict
Despite not being a completely new story in the Terminator universe, acting as an adjacent remake set in Japan of the familiar Terminator tale of hunting people in the past to protect the future, it defied my skepticism. This deftly handles multiple story lines and characters; surprisingly effective  with more than a few call backs to the original movie. The pacing remains intense as the characters are on the run the entire time. The brevity helps; there's no filler to the series and this merges future and past with surprising intersections. It's less of an action movie and more of a horror movie like the original movie.
Watch It.

Review
The opening is effective with a human rebel in 2022 thwarting a Terminator. From the movies, I had always wanted to see more of the future. While I thought this might spend time there, most of the story takes place in 1997. It's a great first episode that establishes the world and concludes perfectly with the first Terminator sent back in time as the classic music fades in.

This takes a lot from the first movies. Certain scenes and sequences must have been directly inspired, like an assault on a police station. It's almost like fan fiction, though it's very well done fan fiction. Some of it feels like an homage, or an easter egg. While there are some differences, the premise is mostly the same. A Terminator is sent back to stop a scientist and ensure the creation of Skynet, while a human rebel is sent back to protect the scientist. This throws in the scientist's children as a way for the Terminator to manipulate the scientist.

This does a great job of maintain the spirit of the first movie in a new medium. It looks at the future of Skynet from a few different view points. The Terminator is after a scientist, Malcolm, using his children as leverage. It's a sprint to the end with the Terminator continuing to chase them. If anything it feels too quick.

While this borders on duplication, it's surprisingly good. I do wish it spent more time in the future to differentiate this from the movies. It does a great job of adding just enough to the story to give it a fresh feel. The question again is fate. Can characters change the future or only ensure it? Malcolm hopes he can change the future of Skynet, and his history provides an intriguing twist.