I haven't seen The Terminator of 1984 for a long time, and for the past couple of days I tried to figure out why was it that every time I attempted to remember what Kyle Reese looked like, I would visualize Corporal Hicks from Aliens. When I finally looked up the cast list for The Terminator, I discovered - as a lot of you already guess - that both characters are in fact played by the same actor, Michael Biehn. (One of my weirdest and most unexpected discoveries in a long time.)

As I'm a fan of Aliens, this little detail got me excited about Terminator again to the extent that I re-watched Terminator 2, which I, with utmost confidence, still consider the definite best of the three. But the films aren't the only thing the fans can watch anymore, are they.

Ever since the pilot of The Sarah Connor Chronicles was introduced to the public, I've been meeting controversial opinions about it. People argue, quite predictably, about how accurately the whole Terminator universe known from the films has been continued in this TV series. One of the central issues is the difference between Linda Hamilton, the original Sarah, and the noticably smoother Lena Headey. Yes, they're different. Lena is not the same person as we saw in the films, but I think she doesn't even need to be and I suspect the producers' purpose wasn't to introduce a clone of young Linda either. Why? Because the TV series concentrates on a time of relative 'peace', which doesn't require Sarah to run around with a gun in her hands and play a super-tough mum all the time. Lena fits in with the everyday 'modern life' very well, at the same time still retaining the aura of strength and determination accompanying the original idea of Sarah Connor. So I personally think she is an excellent choice for the role of Sarah.

Cameron vs Arnold? Well, I think both of them can be described with the word 'awesome', already for what they are - unflinching protectors of the good. As with Sarah, here I also appreciate their differences (although of course Cameron and Arnie's Terminator are not meant to be the same character). It is simply fascinating to see two very different Terminators handed the very same task of protecting John Connor. A charming lightweight girl, and a big muscular don't-mess-with-me kinda dude. Yet both are designed for the same purpose - to be efficient killers. Terminators.

But whatever the exterior, we love them, right? We cherish playing with the idea of a person who can do everything he or she wants, and can get away with it too. Someone who without hesitation goes to meet their own end if it means protecting the person they are assigned to protect. Always there, never slacking off on their post. Sarah Connor says something rather moving about the Terminator in T2:

"Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear... The Terminator would never stop, it would never leave him. And it would never hurt him, never shout at him or get drunk and hit him, or say it was too busy to spend time with him. It would always be there... And it would die to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only one who measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice."

Humans are flawed. They aren't. They are unstoppable. And unforgettable.