Sarah Connor Cast Chat With LA Comic Fans

There was a nice turn out today at the LA Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention when the cast of The Sarah Connor Chronicles took the stage.  On hand to talk about the new series were consulting producer James Middleton, and stars Thomas Dekker (John Connor), Richard T. Jones (Agent Ellison) and Summer Glau (Cameron).

Summer Glau definitely garnered the most attention as she fielded questions quietly and demurely, looking very much like a young Lauren Bacall.  She brought along a small friend to the panel, a Terminator action figure that she admittedly nicked from a reporter.  The figure gave Dekker a chance to joke about the series’ dwindling budget, saying they were forced to use the action figure instead of CGI by the end of the run.  Then he demonstrated some of his patented, “oh no”, faces as Summer worked the toy’s arms and legs. 

At a quick glance, Thomas Dekker didn’t look much like his character of John Connor.  Gone was the baby-faced, emo teenager and in his place a young beatnik with a crazy sense of humor.  When the crowd went wild for the introduction of Summer Glau, Dekker nudged his co-star Jones and suggested they leave the podium as they were obviously both unnecessary.

When the moderator quizzed Glau on her on-screen relationship with John Connor, Thomas tossed in, “And we make lots of babies,” at the end of her speech.  Producer Middleton was quick to dispute this fact but Dekker insisted that John does occasionally remove Cameron’s chip so he can “have some fun with her.”  Not one to miss an opportunity, the moderator asked if John had “spare parts” he could use to put Cameron back together when she was broken.

Dekker put on his best lascivious smile and replied, “John would like to put her back together. . . ”

Still, it was all joking aside when a fan asked about the school shooting scene in the pilot episode.  Middleman was prepared to speak to the point, but to everyone’s surprise Thomas Dekker asked to field the question.  In that moment he went from casual and crazy to sensible and articulate.  He talked about how writer Josh Friedman had included the scene not to shock or horrify, but to point out one of the basic fears all parents face — the fear of sending their child out into the world unprotected.  A fear that has its basis in fact if you’re Sarah Connor.

MIddleton and the cast spent the rest of the time answering questions about up-coming plot points (all handily deflected), the development of the animated Terminator series (I do have more on that, I swear) and what effect the writers’ strike has had on production.

There was one other question and answer that really got the crowd rumbling and it wasn’t Terminator related at all.  A fan asked Summer Glau about her dancing.  She replied that she still dances for exercise because she hates going to the gym but that she no longer takes ballet.  When asked if she’d be doing any dancing “professionally” in the near future she replied, rather cryptically, “You’d have to ask Joss [Whedon] about that.”

And that’s not all.

Come back later this week for my one-on-one interview with Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau.  They both answer the contest question and Thomas fills me in on his video game obsessions.   

Don’t miss an all new episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles tomorrow night (Monday) on Fox.