Josh Friedman is looking to bring another TV show/Movie series to the small screen with a current day reboot.

This time ABC is looking to him for a Charlie’s Angels Pilot!

Find out more here: New Charlie’s Angels!

This could be seriously awesome!

Ross Out.

Cameron on Salvation 6 Minute Mark

So for those that don’t want to wait, because he doesn’t say much…here’s what he has to say:

I think, you know, it’s an interesting film. I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I was going to, because McG was really, you know, kind of reverential to the Terminator mythos. But you know, obviously the film probably performed a little less than everyone had hoped, and maybe that’s because Arnold wasn’t in it. But I thought that Sam really held his own against Christian Bale; I thought he did a great job. And I thought in a way he was kind of the heart of the movie even though he played a guy who was a machine, because you really felt for him. And you know Sam always projects this kind of interesting mixture of vulnerability and strength that somehow we can relate to, you know he’s kind of an everyman character.

So let’s break it down.

He pretty much liked it. Like he liked T3.

He thought it was pretty reverential to the Terminator Universe.

He thought it should have done better box office…blames it on too little Arnold. (I think Arnie shouldn’t have been in the film).

Sam was awesome, held the movie together, was the heart of the film. (Which is the whole point).

The point of Salvation is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re man or Machine. You do deserve a second chance. And on the same page man and machine can be just as evil and uncaring as each other.

I find it exceedingly humorous that people are calling this review so so.

Far as I can tell he seems quite damned happy about the film. Trust me if you want to see him mad at a film…look up what he said on Aliens 3.

This dude doesn’t mince words. He’s King of the World remember. If he didn’t like Salvation…he would’ve said it. No holds barred.

Instead…he enjoys both sequels…go figure.

Ross Out.

Yes parents Fox is advertising Avatar “4 teh Kidz!”

And since they have no idea just how to advertise said film…for adults or kidz here’s what they came up with.

I am ashamed.

But Fox thinkz Avatar is 4 teh kidz…and this is hou 2 get them.

Go Faux!

Ross Out.

you put years of hard work into writing a magnum opus and folks treat you just like any other writer of fan fiction.

Ofttimes people look on writers of Fan Fiction as the lowest common denominator. The fan who will write and release even the most ludicrous of stories, with minimal connections to what they’re a fan of, just to be seen or heard. And I’ll agree that there are some writers of fan fiction who don’t seem to give two tosses about how awesome their writing seems compared to how awesomely awful it really is.

That becomes a huge problem for legitimate fans of the series, myself included who spend years writing and nurturing their stories or scripts to fruition. In some cases (mine included) they have been blessed and alternately cursed by meeting more than one person behind the worlds they are fans of and are striving to continue in a most legitimate fashion.

I started writing Terminator fiction in 1992, and any study hall period became a brainstorming session for ideas for my Terminator 3 script. By June of 1994 the script had become a 247 page Novel, and I printed out new pages by the day, put them in a three ring binder and carried the story EVERYWHERE. Including to acting classes my Mother and I attended at Beverly Hills Studios.

What happened through those classes changed my life as a up and coming writer and Terminator fan.

One of my instructors overheard me talking about my Terminator 3 story, and they contacted friends of their own within the business. My instructor asked me to bring the binder to class, so I did. It was there in a private room where I met some folks from Industrial Light and Magic. These folks were kind and generous and took a look over the story, and they asked if they could show it to a certain Jim Cameron.

I, of course said yes, and that was the last I saw of my binder for about a month. When I got it back that month later it came with a message from Jim Cameron, via one of the ILM folks: This is awesome especially for a 18 year old keep up the great work.

So I did. Even though it in the end took 8 long years (since I lost ALL my work at one point) it came out all the better for it. As I grew older I matured as a writer, and because of that the T3 script still hold up well 10 years down the road.

Jim contacted me after its release online via e-mail (non of my replies ever got through in response): It was good before now it’s great. You really seem to understand my universe well.

A number of years passed and then Terminator 3 arrived.

I was quite pleased to notice a number of ideas I had placed online in T3: Final Retribution(and unprotected on purpose) appear in the Theatrical cut those include:

A female villian with a liquid metal skin over and endoskeleton.

A hydrogen explosion in a hangar killing the villian at the expense of the sacrificing hero.

And John and The Terminator fighting over The Terminators Mission after it’s been reprogrammed.

Excerpt from T3: Final Retribution-
John
Skynet reprogrammed you-
The Terminator
(As he attacks)
Affirmative…I’m sorry.
John
(Blocking attack with blade arm)
Fight it- you don’t have to do this.

The Terminator
No once you are part of the system it’s over.

This of course became the T-X corrupting his system.

Excerpt from T3: Final Retribution

Termovision: Primary Objective conflict. Primary Objective conflict. New Primary object incompatible with original programming.

Boy is the above familiar.

And No once you are part of the system it’s over became…Desire is irrelevant I am a machine!
Needless to say I really enjoyed the shit out of T3: RotM. Not only because it used some of my stuff and used it really well but because I loved the film as a whole. Also Cameron contacted me, and he wanted to meet.

So we did, and we talked Terminator on and on and on. And it was beyond amazing. He asked if I had plans to continue writing based off T3 and I told him of course, and those ideas we shared helped in the forging of TWO MORE scripts with a third on the way.

In 2006 I released T4: Years of Darkness.

In 2008 I released T5: Ashes of War.

And in 2009 comes Terminator Salvation.

And what do I notice with much glee I’ll add, that Brancato and Ferris have borrowed again. And I don’t mind one bit.

Of course they change things so that they aren’t totally or even tonally ripping me off, but seeing my ideas on the big screen never gets old.

Ironically they used my method of scarring John Connor from my T3: Final Retribution script. And changed time and place, and age of John.

Excerpt from T3: Final Retribution-

John tries to move out of the way, The Terminators fingers leave 3 gashes one above and two below the left eye. The scars the General had worn all his life.

And even a little bit from T4: Years of Darkness…okay they took the whole final act but made it their own as it is all about springing Rees out of the Slave Camp.

But to be specific I can think of one other obvious lift off the top of my head from my script:

Excerpt from T4: Years of Darkness

The Hunter Killer Carrier is huge.

The huge craft approaches the Human Detention Camp.

Hey it sound just like a Transport to me.

Once again though I feel vindicated, proud and accomplished to have such similarities appear within the films to my writing.

I would not be surprised if I find even more.

The point is, while some people look down on fan fiction, for some like myself fan faction is an artform. I don’t do it for kicks, I don’t do it to Jameron, and I don’t do it on a lark.

It’s what got me started in writing, screenwriting and writing of all kinds. And when people attack the valadity of my writing or my recounting of talking and meeting with Jim Cameron I remember what he told me after I had to restart T3 Entirely.

His message was simple and it was thus: Don’t give up because it’s easy, finish it because it’s hard.

If you write fan fiction DON’T GIVE UP!

Get better.

Ross Out.

It ’s a HUGE novel.

Can’t wait to pick it up.

Ross Out

What an interesting set of circumstances.

1997: Terminator Rights come up for auction. Cameron is working on Titanic let’s Fox Bid. They of course WOEFULLY underbid.

From that we get IMHO and ironically Camerons (on T3) as well damn good couple of films.

2009: Cameron is working on his first actual film since Titanic. The Terminator rights go up for sale again. What will happen?

Some fans say he abandoned the franchise and let it fall into the hands of people milking the franchise for money.

He said he was simply done with Terminator.

Some fans are HOPING for a second coming of sorts of Cameron to Terminator.

I say don’t hold your breath. Everyone…aka all the majors are getting in on this auction with Sony Studios being the front runner. And regardless of who purchases the franchise I can promise that with nigh on 1.5 BILLION bucks thus far another Terminator film WILL eventually be made.

Wil Cameron redeem himself in the eyes of the fans? And if he does will we get a Terminator movie in 3D using the Tech from Avatar?

Only time will tell.

Ross Out.

*Based on a thread of the same coherence and title at iMDB.

Here we go again let’s see how many stupid things we can…erm un-stupefy for folks…

1. You can actually connect a usb device to a alien robot and also you can override it’s operating system (probably windows xp)!

If you were playing close attention that was NOT a USB slot on the Mototerminator or the DOORS at Skynet Central. Have we also forgotten that John and his men has massive Programming and technical skills. Apparently we have.

2. Aliens write English Numbers on their walls!

First there are no aliens in this move. Second ALL of the facilities we see are human made and designed, even a good chunk of Skynet Central is re-purposed HUMAN buildings. The odds of human buildings having numbers is quite good.

3. Arnold schwarzenegger always shows up nude on his first appearance on each terminator movie.

Good eyes! Yes he does. What’s the point of dressing Terminators?

4. After finding out that you can cast a frequency signal in order to shut the robots down don’t even bother to bring a casting device with you on a rescue mission!

Except there is NO evidence to support it actually works. The Hydrobot was fodder. The Aerial H/K was commanded by Skynet to crash. EVERY time they show the SIGNAL WORK it is accompanied by a screen that says SIMULATION. The only way that signal actually works is as a TRACKING DEVICE for SKYNET.

5. in 2018 people listen to radio devices that belong to 1980s.

Yes they do…because they happen to be the ones they get to work.

6. A robot can have a heart! How stupid is that!

So stupid that the Terminators had Organs in the Treatment for The Terminator. In fact Terminators would HAVE TO HAVE ORGANS of some kind. Or their skin would die and their hair would fall out all over the place.

Next!

7: The only way to kill John Connor is to create a robot that sends him to a Terminator Facility guarded by two Terminators! That’s the only way.

I doubt it was the ONLY way…it was the only way that was shown here. And let’s be honest the odds of Marcus heart being good enough for anything even IF it were restarted is infinitesimal at best. Connor should have died….and I would have actually preferred that.

8. Nobody would send in a heliborne assault with a functioning SPAAG only 100 yards away and the A-10s still struggling to suppress it.

Unless they’re desperate mother fuckers on the verge of going out forever.

9. If the CM was hit by the SPAAG, it would not continue inbound to hit it’s target.

Apparently the Resistance has mad skills.

10. The VLA in Arizona has ZERO utility as a military installation, let alone an installation /below which/ is buried a command and control and R&D site which is somehow accessible via a giant hole after the CM blew it up.

I keep telling people it’s that VLA. And Skynet could have made quite a few changes between 2004 and 2018 to just what is under there.

11. Everything about the Transforminator.

Oh you mean the Harvester. Who doesn’t transform at all, bar it’s gun moving into position. It was designed to intimidate and grab…it did a good job of intimidating and grabbing.

12. Everything about the Harleynator.

Oh you mean the Mototerminator. It was designed for fast pursuit and tagging and herding of human vehicles. One shot from it’s plasma cannon pretty much fucked the Tow Trucks engine. I’d say it did a mighty fine job.

13. The total lack of a believable logistics system for either side. Who makes the robots that make the robots? Where does Connor get 10,000lbs of fuel per A-10 sortie?

The humans made the Machines that made the machines, could you not tell that the machines had re-purposed an old human factory. Also it is revealed in the book that they are VERY low on fuel reloads etc. Humans are on the verge of going out forever.

14. Fighting in the daylight with No Ozone Layer to shield you from the UV -after- Kyle Reese said ‘you stay down during the day’. It was a simple and ingenious way to get around the ‘Terminators have IR’ quote.

They haven’t learned to fight at night yet, get over it.

15. Terminators have IR. Let’s light a fire.

Especially when we’re a LONG LONG WAY from either Skynet or Resistance Territory.

16. Nobody sets down in a hot LZ with valuable helicopters. We lost something like 5,000 of the things in Vietnam that way. Nor do you get off a helicopter and do a glory shot for the camera. Ignoring the whole Demille Close Up schtick, that chopper is gonna be OUTTA THERE for both threat and return sortie (more fuel, more troops, more ammo) reasons.

While I agree with most of your points there was no damned point for said helicopter to lift off again as I’ve just stated a few points earlier…they’re low on a shit load of resources.

17. If you are transmitting you are triangulateable. A sub doesn’t transmit because it’s principle protection is stealth, it has very short antenna masts (to clear the local horizon with) and RF doesn’t go through water real well. Thus Connor should have been killable by the same missile which killed the sub, long ago. The V-22 should never have been able to -find- the sub to send it a signal while it was submerged and the whole idea of using the sub as a source node for this miracle spoof signal is ridiculous on it’s face.

That’s exactly why the Humans are so freaking idiotic. They use the signal anyway without checking on it at all.

18. Nobody wear’s black leather in a desert.

You wear whatever damn clothes you find after Judgment Day.

19. Both slutty girl and boy toy hero should have been dead as doornails given the way the fight developed.

When ones a Terminator and the other’s a hardass you know they’re both going to survive handily.

20. Slutty Girl shouldn’t have put down her gear and /would not/ have had a ’spare set of clothes’ in her ejection seat.

What set of spare clothes? She took off her coat to reveal what she was already wearing.

21. Connor throws away assets like salt over his shoulder: A-10s, Helos yet is famous for saving human lives.

You can save lives without materiel. Eventually you’ll run out of ways to keep it going or armed…like THEY WERE.

22. General Ashdown was right. If Connor hadn’t been The Designated Hero his ideas would have been completely unsupported by real life outcomes.

Connor has to survive until 2029 that is all. Or does he?

23. Slutty Girl was a designated bunny but what was Connor’s excuse? NOTHING had changed with regards to Wright being a Terminator, likely trying to get Connor to trust him so he could kill him. And even if EVERYTHING Wright said was true, Connor had no reason to believe that Reese was alive or indeed that he had to repeat the loop _because this was a new future_. A future in which Wright’s intel was several days old and Connor KNEW that Skynet likely was aware of who Kyle Reese was. Because it had put him on the top of it’s _Kill List_, by name. Knowing all this, Connor can still win by defeating Skynet before it can create Time Displacement. But he cannot win if he tries to rescue a dead man and ends up dead himself.

All very true. But family, and human emotion very often get in the way of reacting normally let alone smartly.

24. Connor was dead the instant a 6″ thick door hit him in the face hard enough to send both door and man flying backwards 10+ft.

Totally agreed. And if nothing else his spine was fractured or snapped after he was tossed into the METAL CORNER moments later.

26. Skynet has no reason not to kill Connor outside the complex with every defensive measure it has. Inside the complex it also has no reason to fight so poorly with just one, naked, unit.

Agreed. But he should’ve died anyway if nothing else from a completely destroyed heart.

27. Connor talking about Terminator weak spots gives instant backfeed to Skynet on how to correct them. This is why the truth must have a bodyguard of lies in war. This is why we did NOT always ‘find’ enemy forces that had been revealed by Ultra or Magic and did NOT always hold back our forces from attacking ships or trains that we KNEW had POWs on them.

Very much agreed. This could also in his passion be where he revealed that Kyle Reese will be his father in a prior broadcast.

28. Apparently everyone’s forgot about the whole ‘boarding a submarine underwater’ thing.

That’s because it surfaced idiot. We just don’t see that happen.

29. If Skynet tracked and recorded everything that Marcus Wright saw, then surely Skynet would know where the Resistance base is and would send in an army to destroy it?

Sure in the next movie.

The End…Ross Out.

1: This was a terminator film right? Then why did we only see like 3 terminators? IF this is the big war then shouldnt there big terminators everywhere you look? Where was the T-700? I know i saw a toy for one in walmart but yet didnt see it in the movie. too many questions and plot holes this movie created.

Answers: Yes it was. Because the Machines had all but wiped out humanity, why waste valuable resources. See last reply…this is the part that Kyle mentions in T1…the part where humans were on the verge of going out forever.

2: Yeah it sucked. Doesn’t look anything like the post apocalyptic future from the first movie either, wheres the nuclear winter?

Hello they haven’t learned to fight at night. Also Nuclear Winter has come and gone, and it also looks like said Nuclear exchanged has totally fucked up the weather patterns judging by all the damned rain in Salvation.

3: Terminator Salvation was fantastic on the level of art design — the terminators move so well in this film, it puts the earlier films to shame (but that can’t be helped, the originals didn’t have this level of visual effects quality available to them).

Instead, it was a war story, and a good one — all the themes of typical war stories are here: heroes crossing enemy lines, questions of loyalties and identity, romance, sacrifice… If Bogart could have been in any Terminator movie, he would have been in Terminator Salvation.

Answer: Fuck yes! And I’m borrowing your last sentence for my new sig.

4: I liked this one. I know I’m in the minority but I thought this was a very great movie. The action was fantastic and it sets up perfectly for the next film, if there is one.

Answer: Damn right, I can’t wait for a sequel either.

5: Was John Connor’s wife in this one ?

Answer: Yes.

6: Somebody please terminate this franchise.

Answer: Sorry but no. The franchise once DVD sales are done will have netted approximately One and a half BILLION Dollars so it’s not gonna happen. Besides with the war ongoing at the end of Salvation ending it would piss people off even more.

7: This should have been an R rating in the first place so you knew that the directors cut would have added something to it…..

Answer: Hell yes it should have! I just rewatched T3 which I love and there is no way in hell that it should be rated R over Salvation.

8: My only complaint with the movie was that the promotion campaign gave away the reveal of Marcus’ character. Watching the movie most have him figured out prior to the reveal, but that is how it should be, not going in already knowing.

Again, the negativity for this film escapes me. So what if it was PG13, so what if McG directed it. Save for less F-bombs and bareass timetravel entries, the film was every bit as violent and action packed as the previous films. The effects were light years beyond anything done previous. Bryce Dallas in less screen time as “Kate” totally makes you forget Clair Dane’s tepid performance of T3 and don’t even get me started on Stahl’s junky, “I don’t want to be John Connor” performance; Bale in one growl encompassed everything I had imagined Connor to be from the quick glimpse shown in T2.

Answer: 100 percent agreed. (Bar the T3 Stahl Connor comments).

And that’s it.

Ross Out.

THE place for scripts!

Here’s the Download links to my T4 and T5 scripts c/o SimplyScripts!

SimplyScripts is a boon for any screenwriter or fan of screenwriting with many multitudes of scripts available for download including stacks of unproduced scripts in a myriad of categories.

My T3 script may still be hosted there but I can’t find it…lotta scripts.

T4: Years of Darkness .doc Through SimplyScripts.

T5: Ashes of War 2nd Draft .doc Through SimplyScripts.

First of all I LOVE the trailer for the final Season.

Original Story here. In case the above flash video doesn’t work.

However what does annoy me is when T.V. shows do lazy advertising banners.

Creative Boredom?

Yeah the folks behind Lost have no creativity in the image department at least not this time.

Yeah we ripped off Band of Brothers for our new logo.

The Original

Hopefully the show itself will be fantastically creative, and it better answer some of the most important questions.

Ross Out.