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Netflix’s current trend of sponsoring anime works has yielded a crop of TV shows that combine the best aspects of limited series and Japanese anime. Without needing to release episodes in a cour, animation studios can produce more consistent, high-quality work. The collaboration between Japanese directors and American writers allows for a fascinating thematic exploration of both old IPs through a new lens. A collaborative show about the “Terminator” franchise focused primarily on the anxiety surrounding artificial intelligence and what exactly it means to be human would seem to be the perfect project considering animation studio Production I.G’s (“Ghost in the Shell”) previous work. However, “Terminator Zero” only brings new ideas to the table after it’s already too late.
The first half of “Terminator Zero” is bland and derivative. In 1997, Malcolm Lee (Andre Holland, “Moonlight”), an AI researcher in Japan, finds himself and his family hunted by the eponymous Terminator (Timothy Olyphant, “Scream 2”), a cyborg assassin from the 21st century. The Terminator was sent courtesy of Skynet, an AI defense system gone rogue that will cause nuclear armageddon in the distant future. To fully drive humans to extinction, Skynet is experimenting with time travel to eliminate their opponents before they are even born. However, Skynet is not the only group with access to time travel, and the resistance movement fighting Skynet in the post-apocalyptic future sends one of their operatives, Eiko (Sonoya Mizuno, “House of the Dragon”), back in time to protect find Malcolm and stop the Terminator.
The fantastic character work and background design shine through in the show’s first episode. The action scenes are sleek and stylish, and the mechanical design of the buildings’ exteriors bring out the oppressive atmosphere of the setting. Director Masashi Kudo (“Bleach”) professed his intention to make the Terminators as menacing and brutal as possible, to emphasize the desperation of the struggle against Skynet. This comes through clearly in the first scene, as the resistance members desperately throw themselves at the cyborg just to slow it down, with little to no effect. Yet, all creativity seems to fizzle out of the show when the plot picks up in the present. The drama simply isn’t engaging — after a brief scuffle with the Terminator, Malcolm has a wildly uninteresting dialogue with an AI at a secure location for the remainder of the series. What follows is a string of chase set pieces as the Terminator pursues Malcolm’s family throughout Tokyo. This set of scenes lacks both stakes and urgency. The Terminator’s character is boring, silent and totally lacking the charm that characterized previous Terminators. This Terminator isn’t cool or cunning, but rather a faceless, soulless plot device. The first few episodes of this limited series end up feeling confused and aimless, more like “Terminator”-themed content rather than a new entry in the franchise, with only the show’s stylish animation keeping it afloat.
However, around the end of episode five, everything starts to fall into place. The show begins to lean into the thematic content surrounding the fine line between man and machine and the speculative science fiction at which the franchise excels. Particularly, the conversation between Malcolm and his AI creation, Kokoro (Rosario Dawson, “Men in Black II”), on the topics of fate and free will push the boundaries of the franchise and are complemented by the series’s preexisting thematic elements, such as the rules surrounding time travel and the role of cyborgs in society. While not particularly new questions, the way the show frames them within the context of the plot feels fresh and original. Instead of solely featuring the battle with the Terminator, the show branches out in another direction, with new antagonists and conflicts.
But just as everything is coming together in the suspenseful final episode, “Terminator Zero” doesn’t quite stick the landing. There’s a limit to how many unanswered questions a show can leave you with and still have a satisfying ending; “Terminator Zero” trips over that line at the last possible moment. While the time travel is deliberately written to leave various events open for interpretation, it feels as if the writers wanted to open up holes for a potential sequel. The ending is a satisfying conclusion to the show’s conflicts, but it blows away the goodwill the show built up in its latter half.
I struggle to recommend “Terminator Zero,” despite its (eventually) interesting third act. Rather than featuring a slow-burn resolution to its events or coming to a natural conclusion of said events, the show feels as though it suddenly decided to explore more experimental ideas and bite off more than it could chew. If you’re OK with a slow beginning and find the promise of great speculative sci-fi tantalizing, it may be worth a watch, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for dropping the show during its dull first act.
Daily Arts Writer Nicolas Eisenberg can be reached at niceisen@umich.edu.
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