“Dr. Horrible” [and Deadwood and John from Cincinnati and Fringe] writer Zack Whedon will be tackling considerably darker fare in his upcoming “Terminator” miniseries from Dark Horse. The writer, who is the younger brother of “Dollhouse” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon, is no stranger to science fiction, having written several episodes of the television series “Fringe.” Whedon’s three-issue “Terminator” miniseries begins in March, shining the spotlight on Kyle Reese, the man destined to sire the savior of humankind. (…)

Though Whedon does not remember the first time he saw the original “Terminator” film (“but I’m sure it was on video”), he does know that he became an enthusiastic fan with the release of the sequel. “I vividly remember seeing ‘T2.’ I went to see it twice in one day, or two days in a row at least. I was blown away by it,” he said. “I called my brother and we talked for a long time about all the things we loved about the movie. Both of those hold up incredibly well. I’m fond of the whole series, and I loved the TV show, too. I did the all of the ‘Sarah Connor Chronicles‘ on DVD and disappeared for a week or two. I thought they did an amazing job with that show of finding stories to tell about Sarah and John that felt fresh and exciting. I’m also a big fan of Garret Dillahunt, who made an awesome Terminator.” [Comic Book Resources]

Hope everyone has a great time tonight and a fantastic year ahead.

See you in 2010!

_________________________________________________________________________________

The year started with Terminator promo and press tours. The show returned with the last nine episodes in the Friday slot in mid-February.

Later that month, Garret was spotted filming Winter’s Bone in Missouri. The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January. If anyone plans on going, the Sundance screening schedule is here.

The Last House on the Left opened on March 13. The reviews ranged from excellent to free branding campaign and the film made it to several lists of best horrors of the year. In October, it won a Reaper Award for Best Theatrical Release in 2009.

Toward the end of the month, Garret played his fifth character on T:SCC, the Skynet virus from the future. Previous four were George Laszlo, Cromartie, the Beastwizard and John Henry.

In late March, the first pictures from Burning Bright appeared online. Burning Bright was later renamed to Ravenous and it still awaits theatrical release. In November, it was screened at the AFM. The first reviews were pretty positive.

In early April, Water Pills had its U.S. premiere at the Florida Film Festival. Jasmine Jessica Anthony walked away with a grand jury award for best performance.

Also in April, two series finales aired two days apart. Garret snuffed the TV crew and gave Damian Lewis his final headache in Life on April 8. Life season two was released on DVD on August 25.

The Terminator finale aired on April 10. Despite cancellation, the show made it to #8 on the list of  the Top 10 Most Pirated Shows in 2009. Last year, it was the only new show among the top 10, at #4.

In the meantime, Garret joined Delroy Lindo and Roslyn Ruff in Things of Dry Hours, a play by Naomi Wallace about communists in 1930s Alabama. Rehearsals started on April 21.

The first trailer for The Road hit the web on May 15.

On May 18, Fox announced that they would not be picking up Terminator for a third season. Even though there has been talk of a possible TV/DVD movie, Terminator rights are currently up for grabs and in limbo until February 2010.

On May 20, Garret appeared in the season finale of Criminal Minds.

Two days later, Things of Dry Hours went into previews at the New York Theatre Workshop. The show premiered on June 8 and ran through June 28. Critics liked the cast, but were divided on the writing.

At some point over the spring/summer, Garret was cast in Madeleine Stowe’s Unbound Captives, an independent western epic with Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Robert Pattinson. If they get financing in time, the film will go into production in March (at the earliest).

In late July and early August, Garret filmed two TV guest appearances,  on CSI and Lie to Me, and a short film, One Night Only.

The Last House on the Left was released on DVD in mid-August.

Later that month, Garret was spotted filming the season three finale of Burn Notice. The episode will air in March 2010.

The trailer for One Night Only was released on September 2.

On September 3, The Road had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Ten days later, it was screened in Toronto.

Terminator: The Complete Season Two was released on DVD on September 22.

On September 24, the CSI season 10 premiere aired. “Family Affair” is one of the five hours of television nominated for an ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) Award this year.

Speaking of CSI, in a fine display of Terminator fanboyism, the last episode before the break, Better off Dead, had a bunch of people stealing Cromartie’s music and killing each other. Also, a killer described as a Terminator.

On October 13, Oliver Sherman, an independent drama with Molly Parker and Donal Logue, went into production in North Bay. The film will most likely premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2010, but Canadians might get an early screening in the spring.

On October 21st, Garret appeared on Lie to Me.

And two days later, on Law & Order: SVU.

The Road finally saw its U.S. premiere at AFI fest in early November. On Thanksgiving, it got a limited release. Even though the film has been vastly overlooked in the early awards season, the reviews were mostly positive and it scored a few acting nods (Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Kodi Smit-McPhee) from several critics’ societies (Broadcast Film Critics, Utah Film Critics, St. Louis Film Critics).

On November 13, Garret appeared on White Collar.

And the next day, One Night Only had its premiere in New York.

In November, Garret was cast in two new projects. The comedy pilot Keep Hope Alive, with Martha Plimpton, Cloris Leachman and Lucas Neff, was filmed earlier this month. If it gets picked up, it will be aired in the 2010/11 season.

The other project, John Sayles’ film Baryo, starts shooting in February in the Philippines. The crew is already there, building the set and preparing for the shoot. You can follow the updates on the new production blog, at johnsaylesbaryo.blogspot.com.

And that about wraps it up. If 2010 is even half as eventful, it will be another excellent year.

One for posterity:

EXTRAS

Gag reel
Five minute gag reel

Commentary
“Samson and Delilah” – Audio Commentary with Ex. Producer Josh Friedman and actors Lena Headey Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, and Shirley Manson.
“Allison from Palmdale” – Audio Commentary with Ex. Producers Josh Friedman, James Middleton, and John Wirth, and actors Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau
Episode 221 “Adam Raised a Cain”
Episode 222 “Born to Run”

Featurettes
The Storyboard Process: Cameron Goes Bad
Cameron vs. Rosie: Fight Rehearsal
Write the Future: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Conceptualization: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Blood and Metal: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Designing Destruction: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Choreographing Chaos: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
War Stories: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Setting the Tempo: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Motivations: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Deleted Scenes
Ep. 3T7308 Sc. 47 John and Cameron have a moment in the bathroom
Ep. 3T7313 Sc. A29 Sarah and another woman talk
Ep. 318-Today is the Day Part 1 Sc. 35-”Part of the Plan”
Ep. 321- Today is the Day Part 2 Sc. 12-”Captain Bligh”
Ep. 321- Today is the Day Part 2 Sc. 18-”Missed Call”
Ep. 321- Sc. 22-”I Shouldn’t Have Let Him Get to Me”
Ep. 321- Today is the Day Part 2 Sc. 25-”Fire Control”
Ep. 319- To the Lighthouse Sc. 7-”Secrets”
Ep. 319- To the Lighthouse Sc. 36 & 37 – “El Viejo del Monte”
Ep. 322-Born to Run Sc. 12- “Stakeout”

Sources: Bluray.com, RealMovieNews.com

The quick answer is, yes, there have been many discussions. I can’t go into more detail about the subject until I have something truly substantial to report. What the fans should know is that I hear them and I too would love to see T:SCC come back in some form. [io9.com]

So nothing concrete yet, but a producer going on record with this should be enough to create some more hype.

Screencaps & clips from yesterday’s CSI episode are up. Click on the picture below to see them.

Lie to Me episodes 2×02 and 2×03 got switched. (Maureen Ryan has a new interview with Shawn Ryan and Tim Roth and mentions that Garret will appear in episode 3. More at Chicago Tribune.) Unless something changes again, the new air date for the episode is October 12.

And if you don’t have the new Terminator DVD yet, you can check out some of the behind-the-scenes featurettes on YouTube.

SaveTheSCC.com has pictures and a video of the mobile billboard that’s been driving around L.A. since yesterday. To see them, go here.

And you can get season two on Amazon:

The region 1 DVD comes out next week (Sept. 22). No details on the bonus material for region 2 yet. (The DVD doesn’t come out until November.)

Television Without Pity has revealed the winners of the Tubey Awards. The show won in 16 categories, including Best Drama, Best Returning Show, Most Painful Cancellation, Best Single Episode (Allison from Palmdale), Best Season Finale, Best Smackdown (Cameron vs. police station), Best Onscreen Death (Derek) and Favourite Actress (Summer Glau).

Next stop, the Scream Awards – if you haven’t voted yet, head over to Spike.com.

In the meantime, some preview clips from the DVD showed up on YouTube yesterday. Embedded below are the ones from Adam Raised a Cain, with commentary from Josh Friedman, Summer Glau, Thomas Dekker, John Wirth and James Middleton. Big thanks to Summer-Glau.net for posting them. (Make sure you visit for more clips.)

Finally, the Blu-ray extras:

Disc One

Disc one features a pair of commentary tracks, the first for the episode Samson and Delilah and featuring Executive Producer Josh Friedman and Actors Lena Heady, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, and Shirley Manson. Commentary track two, available on Allison from Palmdale, features Executive Producers Josh Friedman, James Middleton, and John Wirth, and Actors Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau. Also included is The Storyboard Process: Cameron Goes Bad (1080i, 2:55), a brief piece that looks at the importance of storyboards to the filmmaking process, including a side-by-side storyboard vs. final product comparison.

Disc Two

While none of the five episodes found on disc two sport a commentary track, the disc does offer two “Terminated Scenes,” one each for the episodes The Tower is Tall but the Fall is Short (1080p, 1:04) and Complications (1080p, 0:26). Also included here under the “Behind the Story” heading is Cameron vs. Rosie: Fight Rehearsal (1080i, 5:27), an informative piece that looks at the process of bringing this fight sequence to life, featuring raw behind-the-scenes footage, interview clips with the crew, and storyboard analysis.

Disc Three

Only a pair of “Terminated Scenes” for Strange Things Happen at the One-Two Point (1080p, 0:50) and Earthlings Welcome Here (1080p, 1:04) are included on disc three.

Disc Four

Like disc three, disc four features only a collection of “Terminated Scenes,” this time one from Today is the Day — Part 1 (1080p, 1:19) and four from Today is the Day — Part 2 (1080p, 2:50 combined).

Disc Five

Disc five contains the bulk of the supplementary material, headlined by another pair of commentary tracks. Track one, accompanying Adam Raised a Cain, features Executive Producers Josh Friedman, James Middleton, and John Wirth, and Actors Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau. The second track with the same participants is available for the series finale episode Born to Run. Collision With the Future: Deconstructing the Hunter Killer Attack (1080i) is an interactive piece that takes viewers on an in-depth tour of the many layers of work that came together to create the season’s climactic sequence. Viewers may choose from one of four boxes — one each for “Production,” “Direction,” “Special FX,” and “Visual FX” — from a main menu that features all four pieces playing simultaneously with an overlaying commentary with Creator/Executive Producer/Writer Josh Friedman. The Continuing Chronicles: Terminator is a collection of eight featurettes presented in 1080i high definition: Write the Future (12:39), Conceptualization (8:18), Blood and Metal (7:39), Designing Deconstruction (7:32), Choreographing Chaos (7:21), War Stories (9:15), Setting the Tempo (13:15), and Motivations (9:51). Rounding out disc five are three “Terminated Scenes” — two for To the Lighthouse (1080p, 0:43 & 1:32) and one for Born to Run (1080p, 0:27) — and a gag reel (1080p, 6:04). [Blu-ray.com]

With news that the show might come back as a straight-to-DVD film and that producer James Middleton is still working on making this happen, it is essential that the DVD sales are big enough to convince Warner executives that picking up the story where it left off would be a good idea.

From the site:

The Freaking Big Push is a massive campaign directed at Warner Brothers to demonstrate our love for the show and convince the WB to bring it back. According to a loyal, anonymous source, there is talk of a DVD movie. It’s our objective to convince the WB to make sure this happens. The campaign is broken down into various missions which will each launch on a specific date throughout the month. We can’t stress enough how important it is that everyone do these things on the same day. The only way to make a real impact is with strong numbers, pushing each avenue together on a daily basis, together.

The campaign has been supported by people related to the show. Thomas Dekker recorded a message for the fans the other day (visit the Sarah Connor Society for the video) and Ashley Miller has helped spread the word on Twitter.

For updates and all the info you need about the campaign and what you can do to help, head over to SaveTheSCC.com. The September calendar is here.

If you are looking for a place to start, the show has been nominated for several Scream Awards (Best TV Show among others). You can vote on Spike.com.

_________________

In related news, the British Royal Academy of Engineering puts John Henry on trial, Swiss robots learn to lie and cheat, and Noel Sharkey channels Sarah Connor.

Also, you can (pre-)order Terminator on Amazon.

Link:

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/tubeys/nominees.php

(Go to “Fans Have Their Say.”)

For the full press release, go here.

And for all the Cromartie screencaps you’ll ever need, click on the picture below: