Censorship. Yawn.

daylight | July 25, 15:13 CET

So what are they going to change it to? Are they going to pull a Spielberg and have the Terminator pull a walkie talkie that also shoots .45 ACP?

war_machine | July 25, 15:48 CET

Presumably they'll move it out of the school and not have kids being shot (though one 'kid' sort of has to be for the later reveal to work).

I can see the point though I do wonder what the 'statute of limitations' is on these things. Presumably no-one was worried before Virginia Tech but Columbine wasn't that long ago. How long is long enough ? Also, the 'Bones' college episode that was pulled for similar reasons is apparently being shown in December (i.e. before 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles') so I guess it's pretty arbitrary.

(and surely it's not censorship if a business decides to do this, only when governments do ?)

Saje | July 25, 16:07 CET

Sorry, but imo this sucks. Controversial topics aren't to be avoided.

fadalow | July 25, 17:00 CET

I understand their concern, but if you eliminate every scene that might offend someone, pretty soon there won't be any scenes left...

Rowan Hawthorn | July 25, 17:04 CET

How is it controversial ? Are we worried about the important "pro school shootings" lobby ? ;)

Guns in schools (hell, guns in general) I can see as controversial but in this instance the Terminator is designed to infiltrate and kill. He's not some pissed off geography teacher in a mid-life crisis or some student that's gone off the deep end he's the villain of the piece, he's meant to kill people, even innocent people (and often with guns) so he can't really be used to examine the issue or its causes. You could have a complete ban on guns (or alternatively, arm all students so they can defend themselves - a suggestion some were actually making after Virginia Tech) and the Terminator would still find a gun/other weapon and still be unstoppable as far as the kids are concerned.

And i'm not sure 'offend' is quite the right word, more 'emotional distress'. Of course, all TV shows will cause someone problems (a friend lost his sister in a car accident and for years afterwards we'd skirt the topic of wrecks, I even remember switching over once when a documentary about Grace Kelly came on TV while he was visiting) but at what point do we say, basically, the entertainment value isn't worth the potential pain caused ?

(did see a pretty decent treatment of the 'guns issue' in an episode of 'The Dead Zone' where Johnny 'sees' a school rampage but in the end it's partly the paranoia and suspicion that arises as a result of his vision that causes the tragedy - had a lot of stuff about cycle of violence, mistrust etc. Good TV)

Saje | July 25, 17:44 CET

Considering FOX is facing a massive fine from the FTC for an episode of Tim Minear's THE INSIDE, you can understand why they might be a bit skiddish on this one.

(They had 24,000 complaints in one month mentioning this bit of dialog:

"
FBI agents run a check on the doorman at the S&M club: "George Skoll arrested in '98 for exposing himself on a city bus. Filed an appeal, violation of religious freedom."
"How'd he figure that?"
"Something about comforting people with his rod and staff."
"So in his mind he's saving them."
"…Why kill them?"
"Sending them to heaven?"
"

gossi | July 25, 17:49 CET

The pilot episode has been leaked online.

From what I understand, the shooting occurs outside, at the front of the school, and only involves the main characters, a Terminator, and several cops.

As for FOX's decision to reshoot that scene, I defer to David Cross:

"Are we a nation of six year-olds? Answer: yes."

jason.cinema | July 25, 18:32 CET

saje:

No, but I'm pretty sure the studios are worried about the important "TV teaches kids to kill" lobby...

saje:

Trust me, there's more potential problems from people who make a career of being offended than from people who might actually experience some emotional distress. More often than not, it's the former group pulling the latter's strings.

Rowan Hawthorn | July 25, 18:32 CET

They should reshoot the scene with EVERYBODY armed. Apparently, the only way to deal with a lone gunman without infringing the right to bear arms, is to make sure he (it's usually a he) is not the only person with a gun.

Like nuclear weapons and M.A.D.

malcolm | July 25, 18:45 CET

Let's censor fiction because it's a vague reminder of tragedy. Can't have art remind us of anything sobering or real can we?

noplaceIcanbe | July 25, 19:05 CET

From what I understand, the shooting occurs outside, at the front of the school, and only involves the main characters, a Terminator, and several cops.

No, a, err, little bird told me that it's inside the classroom, the Terminator is masquerading as a substitute teacher, takes register and then proceeds to shoot up the classroom (including at least one apparent student - our very own Summer) when 'John Reese' answers that he's here. He smuggles the gun in inside his leg. There's also a scene at the front of the school but it doesn't involve any other students.

It's interesting to me that, IIRC, there are far more dissenting voices on this thread than there were on the 'Bones' thread, which was closer to the tragedy itself. Guess we may have discovered how long is long enough after all ;).

They should reshoot the scene with EVERYBODY armed.

Screw that, I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit ... ;)

Saje | July 25, 19:17 CET

Summer Glau's Terminatrix: "Come with me if you want to live."

John Connor: "Where? They'll hunt us down no matter where we go, nowhere is safe!"

Summer Glau's Terminatrix: "Negative. Due to artistic censorship, we should be safe in any school or university campus. They'd never attack us there."

zohrael | July 25, 19:26 CET

Saje,

Thanks for clarification. The leaked pilot, from those who've seen it, only has the scene I spoke of that takes place outside of the school. Regardless, FOX will revise that scene, no doubt, and have it take place at a different location.

jason.cinema | July 25, 20:33 CET

Ah, well that's actually the 'little bird' I was talking about jason.cinema (I watched it yesterday) and it definitely has the classroom scene in the one I may (or, for legal reasons, may not ;) have seen.

Might be there's more than one version floating around though. Cool, me and a million other folk have a limited edition pilot. It's like the 'Londinum' thing only with more potential jail time ;).

Saje | July 25, 20:51 CET

They should reshoot the scene with EVERYBODY armed. Apparently, the only way to deal with a lone gunman without infringing the right to bear arms, is to make sure he (it's usually a he) is not the only person with a gun.

I'd love to see such a scene done realistically, with the friendly fire casualties outnumbering the original gunman's. Police and military units train hard on not shooting each other. It still doesn't work a lot of the time.

Good one, zohrael.

dreamlogic | July 25, 21:08 CET

Pet peeve: the word Terminatrix. Ugh!

TamaraC | July 25, 22:59 CET

The thing about that, Dreamlogic, is that even when everyone CAN be armed, very few people actually CHOOSE to be, and thus such friendly fire shootings are comparably rare. One of the interesting statistics is that when "armed citizens" shoot someone in self-defense, they're about 1/5th as likely as the police to shoot a wrong person. While initially troubling, the discrepancy is easy to explain, since most armed citizen shootings take place in their home--a controlled access area where they know who belongs and who does not: an advantage police officers do not have, even if they are better trained.

Leaving all that aside, the to-be-revised scene sounds very similar, thematically, to the attempted assassination of Buffy in _What's My Line?_. Of course, that was about 18 months before Columbine, but it featured an outside imposter imitating an authority figure bringing violence into the school, not a potential student-initiated homicide, a la _Earshot_.

jclemens | July 25, 23:28 CET

Whatever they do, I hope they find a way to do it well; that scene is supposed to be Summer's big reveal.

(and LOL, zohrael)

dispatch | July 26, 00:50 CET

This is a new and exciting topic.

Pumps | July 26, 04:18 CET

I snuck a peak at the pilot episode just yesterday and I believe that the scene that jason.cinema is referring to is Sarah Connor's nightmare at the very beginning of the episode (i.e., the teaser): it's right outfront of John's school in, IIRC, West Fork, Nebraska, with plenty of cops are amassed outside the school to apprehend John and Sarah. As the two sit handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser, a Terminator shows up, starts blasting away cops with a shotgun and firing at mother and son. Much of it is actually featured in the series trailer from Fox, available on plenty of legit online video sites. Anyway, this scene is presumably not going under the knife.

The scene that is likely the one to be re-shot takes place later in the episode and as dispatch points out, is crucial to Summer's character.

gorramit | July 26, 05:04 CET

BTW, the title of the series may be changed to what it's shown as in the pilot, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

jason.cinema | July 26, 05:56 CET