I missed the broadcast of both the premier and first episode of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. No matter. Most of the networks will allow you to watch the show on their websites, and Fox is no different.
I thought the premier was okay and the series showed promise. The first ep was better, not by a lot but by enough to keep me interested. The characterizations were okay, with the title character being more warm and nurturing than we would have expected from the first two films. The future savior of mankind, John Conner, came off as a self centered punk. That is probably the point so I didn't let it bother me.
The series is an action/adventure tale, and I found myself paying attention to the action sequences. For TV they are alright, nothing stellar but it wasn't embarrassingly bad either. It got me to thinking: How would you equip yourself to take on an armored battlebot from the future, anyway?
In the series the guns used most often against the kill-crazy death machines were semi-automatic handguns, mainly Glocks although I saw at least one SIG.
(Please click on all pictures to see if a larger image is available.)
That is a Glock on top, a SIG below. The plot is that the authorities are hunting Sarah Conner as a dangerous crazy person, and John is being hunted by the Terminators because he is humanity's only hope to defeat them after a nuclear strike wipes out most of the population. Handguns would be used because they are concealable and can always be kept close to hand, not because they are particularly effective. In fact, they are almost useless against the machines.
The preferred method of use is to fire as fast as possible at the head of the Terminator. This doesn't really stop the device, nor even injure it. The only reasonable hope is to pepper it with enough rounds so it stops what it is doing for a moment to look around and locate the source of the incoming fire. ("What? Someone's shooting at me?") But then they go right back to what they were doing and ignore the shooter. ("Oh, it's only a pistol! And I was worried for a moment!")
I suppose it would be possible to knock out one of the eyes of the Terminator, but this is almost impossible considering how difficult it is just to hit the head of a moving target. I wouldn't mind seeing it happen once in a great while on TV, though, just to increase the cool factor for us shooters.
The preferred weapon used against Terminators seems to be a motor vehicle of some kind. Just run them down and bounce them off the hood. This doesn't actually bother them all that much, either, but it usually takes a little longer for them to orient themselves and get back into the fight. Say five seconds instead of two.
The title character seems to prefer a tactical shotgun as her main defensive armament.
I first thought that was a Winchester 1300 with a fancy folding stock, but the slide looks more like something I'd find on a Remington 870. Oh, well, the difference in performance between the two is so minuscule that it really doesn't make any difference. Let's just call it a 12 gauge pump and let it go.
The problem with the shotgun is that is only marginally more effective against Terminators than handguns. Although it will cause them to wobble around a bit when hit, they rarely lose their balance. Damage is pretty much non-existent except to the meat covering the actual machine. The best that could be expected is that they will again act as they do when shot with a fusillade of handgun bullets: ie they will stop and look around to see who is shooting at them before going right back to whatever they were doing before being shot.
Although no one has produced one in the show as of yet, I figure that the only legal weapon that would be effective against a Terminator would be one of those .50 sniper rifles that has the gun grabbers so scared.
The TV show and movies are fantasy, so it could be that the Terminator robots are constructed of some sort of impossible Adamantium material that simply cannot be destroyed. But if they aren't, then this bad boy would probably be able to erode them down pretty well.
I noted that the anti-gun lobby wants to have these weapons banned, although they have never been used in a crime before. In fact, I don't think anyone has ever been seriously injured through an accident, either. Yet they want to get rid of them. Perhaps they have surrendered to the inevitable and are hoping that they will be spared by the machines if they start working for them now!
Hey, it is as likely an explanation as any for their hysteria. Right?
There is another alternative to battling the robots. In both the premier and 1st episode, Terminator robots are knocked out by electric current. The needed current doesn't seem to be too high, either, since regular house current sufficed in at least one instance. It appears to be a major design flaw. Armor them so they are proof against just about anything a squad of Marines can throw at them, but they shut down when they get a taste of 120 volts.
Does it permanently disable the robot? No, because they "reboot in 120 seconds". But they simply lie there for that period of time. I don't know what would happen if you would drop a live wire on them so they would get a continuous charge flowing through them. Supposedly they would reboot, only to shut down immediately. 2 minutes later they do it again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I have been extremely critical of electric self defense devices like the TASER, but I think this is one self defense scenario that I think they would actually be effective! Or, at least, most suitable as long as the killer robot was no more than 15 feet or so away from you.
I started to write this because I saw that Popular Mechanics had posted an article examining all the different types of Terminators that have been introduced over the years. (Hat tip to Glenn.) But PM also gave us a heads up to a wireless TASER projectile. This new and improved model has a range of up to 100 feet because it is fired from a standard shotgun.
Finally, Sarah Conner has a weapon that could actually do something against death machines from the future! And she can use her trusty shotgun to deliver this particular can of whoop ass! Now all we have to do is wait until the script writers, who are usually less than well informed when it comes to weapons and their use, get around to noticing this little device. But it might make an appearance sooner or later.
But why would I be interested in any of this? It is only fantasy, after all, just entertainment.
That might be true, but it seems that Great Britain has recently completed the first stage of a global military communications network. And what is the name of this network?
Might as well get ready for the coming robot apocalypse now before it is too late.
Comments (11)
Interesting post on the amusing reactions of the terminators to various weapons and devices.
I'd like to see what happens with a high end shaped charge (RPG-29) or a DU anti-tank penetrator hits one:-)
I would point out that, although I think banning 50BMG is pointless and stupid, they have been used in a few crimes. I don't think they've actually been used to kill anyone, but Albert Petrosky definitely shot his as part of his spree killing, and I think the Branch Davidians fired their's a few times as well.
Posted by Bob | January 19, 2008 4:47 PM
Posted on January 19, 2008 16:47
I sure wouldn't mind seeing more rifles on TV.
Since you brought it up, I think we've finally found a use for that .50 BMG "carbine" I saw on the cover of a gun rag a few months ago!
Slap a 20 rounder in that thing and go to town!
Posted by existingthing | January 19, 2008 7:48 PM
Posted on January 19, 2008 19:48
What about those phosphorus rounds that the vampires used against each other in Kindred: The Embraced?
I think if there ever were a robocalypse, they would be far too smart to build androids to battle against humans. All they would have to do is build insect-like microbots which can inject fatal nanobots into humans with their "bite." The nanobots would of course be designed to behave like a contagious organic virus and could be transmitted from one human to another by close proximity or physical contact. It would all be over in a couple of days and no one could anything about it.
Posted by AlanDP | January 19, 2008 10:44 PM
Posted on January 19, 2008 22:44
I thought all the terminator stuff happened in the southern california area how the hell are they getting .50 BMG into the state
Posted by Chris | January 20, 2008 12:56 AM
Posted on January 20, 2008 00:56
"I thought all the terminator stuff happened in the southern california area how the hell are they getting .50 BMG into the state?"
The main characters are on the run from the law, yet they have no problem acquiring some pretty impressive firepower even though it would be a felony for them to even touch a gun.
Considering how it is no problem for a criminal to get a gun in reality, and gun control laws simply disarm the law abiding, I think that the writer's tendency to ignore gun laws is one of the more realistic aspects of the show.
At least so far as a TV show about time traveling killbots covered in picture perfect human meat can be, of course.
James
Posted by James R. Rummel | January 20, 2008 1:11 AM
Posted on January 20, 2008 01:11
There has been a death attributed to the .50 caliber, and the victim was a LEO at that.
On April 28, 1995, Albert Petrosky walked into an Albertson’s grocery store in suburban Denver, Colorado, and gunned down his estranged wife and the store manager. Petrosky then walked out into the shopping center parking lot and went to his van where he set up an ambush with the .50 caliber. He exchanged fire with a federal IRS agent and killed Sgt. Timothy Mossbrucker of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. He was found to be armed with an L.A.R. Grizzly .50 caliber rifle, an SKS Chinese semiautomatic rifle, a .32 revolver, and a 9mm pistol.
Posted by Brass | January 20, 2008 11:35 AM
Posted on January 20, 2008 11:35
There has been a death attributed to the .50 caliber, and the victim was a LEO at that.
Looks like you might be mistaken about that, Brass. You can find the full story here. Just scroll down to the last section.
It seems that most people have the erroneous impression that Sgt. Mossbrucker was killed by a .50, and it appears to be an impression that the news media and anti-gun lobby is all too happy to keep from correcting.
James
Posted by James R. Rummel | January 20, 2008 11:46 AM
Posted on January 20, 2008 11:46
Well, I've heard -- 2nd hand -- that Petrosky did, in fact, shot the deputy with the .50. I have, on occassion, done a fair amount of web searching on this incident, and found nothing difinitive either way. I'd like to know Mr. Burtt's source for his statement. I just tried again, and found John Lott's
recount of the coroner's testimony, which sounds pretty solid. The VPC makes no claim other than that Petrosky fired his .50, and that might be difficult to debunk.
Other minor quibble. There are bigger legal weapons available, if one wants to do the paperwork. (Except in jurisdictions where they're banned) For example, I've seen a Solothurn 20mm anti-tank rifle with a nice healthy price-tag on it, on display at the last two gun shows I've gone to. A Lahti 20mm is legal as well, again with the proper sign-offs and tax stamp. Hmmm, so is a motorized gatling. Absent movie-physics, could a terminator really stand up to several hundred slugs?
Posted by jed | January 21, 2008 4:16 PM
Posted on January 21, 2008 16:16
My wife noticed something that had eluded me while watching this show. It must require a lot of takes to get enough of the right footage of the terminators running hard without breathing or sweating.
Kind of like when the Six Million Dollar Man would only sweat with one of his armpits.
Posted by TheGunGeek | January 22, 2008 10:34 AM
Posted on January 22, 2008 10:34
I'm partial to the M203 and a 40mm HE round.
There was this guy in my unit that would shoot illumination rounds straight into the target, they burned really hot with no bang.
Posted by DoubleTapper | January 22, 2008 12:40 PM
Posted on January 22, 2008 12:40
nice blog! Thought I would chime in...
Anti-terminator weapons
An elephant gun firing non-expanding design solid bullets intended to penetrate the skull of an elephant is probably a better anti-terminator weapon than the usual shotguns and handguns used on the show. A .375 up to .458 caliber elephant rifle is also smaller and faster handling than a typical 20+ pound 4+ foot long .50 caliber rifle.
Another possiblility is a custom handload of one of one the civilian high velocity .30 magnum cartridges loaded with an armor piercing bullet pulled from a military .30 M2, or 7.62mm cartridge. The hardened steel core bullet of the .30 caliber AP M2 still might shatter vs whatever a terminator is made of. But the tungsten core bullets of recent 7.62mm AP cartridges should do the trick if pushed to high enough velocities.
As for unothodox anti-terminator weapons, I have two suggestions: a spray of paint against the face of a terminator might blind it long enough to enable escape before the terminator is able to scrape or desolve the obscurant from it's eyes; incendiary weapons such a flamethrower should also disable a termintor for a short time as the terminator overheats and shuts down as seen in the first terminator movie.
Whatever power source keeps a termintor moving (most likely some kind of nuclear power source) will generate a lot of waste heat which has to be dumped. A terminator probably has a quiescent mode for infiltration during which it's power output is similar to a humans. But when a terminator starts flipping buses or other extreme outbursts of power it's power system must be generating tremendous amounts of energy and waste heat. During this attack-mode a termintor should light up like a christmas tree to an infared sensor or vision system because the teminator would have to shed lots of waste heat.
Posted by Brad | January 27, 2008 10:46 PM
Posted on January 27, 2008 22:46