I did not expect this at all, but this one was my favorite of the pilots I watched, without a doubt. I decided on this for Summer Glau alone (she did not disappoint), but after watching it, I'd tune in even if she wasn't in the show. I thought they did an excellent job of continuing the "Terminator" story without playing fast and loose with the movie's threads. Lena Headey (as Sarah Connor) did nothing for me in the clips I saw, but won me over by the ending of the first scene. The kid playing John (Thomas Dekker) does teenage emo angst with just the right touch of future leader. Summer Glau is, as always, awesome. The writing, pacing, directing (GO DAVID NUTTER!!! One of THE best X-Files directors EVER!!!!) are crisp and well-done. The set-up for the rest of the season is well laid-out and I was just riveted watching it. I literally have nothing negative to say about this one at all. I loved it. And I can't wait to watch the next episode. I'm already contemplating saving the first episode so that I can burn discs of them to save when the series premieres. I enjoyed it that much.
I did find a few minor things that bugged that I didn't notice before (the Terminator stopping to quip, "Class dismissed" while on a 'kill John Connor' mission, pretty stupid, and yeah, that Terminator dude not horribly interesting. Also, I was distracted by the less than great acting of Dean Winters as the fiance, but overall, it was still incredibly kick-ass.
