I have to say. After Terminator: Dark Fate was released, I thought the franchise done. Even hearing that James Cameron was producing a new title, Terminator movies had become stale, repetitive and nothing like 1 & 2 that had made it the bulwark of the action franchise that spurred countless spinoffs. I'm so glad I was so, so wrong in that assessment.

Terminator: Zero has to be one of the most nuanced, grounded and greatest return to forms a franchise could have in modern day entertainment. And I might sound like I'm exaggerating or taking this out of proportion, but as someone who grew up watching the Terminator franchise with my dad since I was 8 years old, I'd been saddened by how mistreated this franchise was after James exited the IP. The scoring is top-notch. The soundtrack "It Will Never Be The Same" is probably one of my most played songs on Spotify right now. The use of tense music and build up towards certain climatic moments is honestly amazingly well done. The animation is up to par with one of the strongest showings of animation for a Netflix release - and it translates super well both in dub and in sub. I haven't seen such unforgettable voice acting since Cowboy Bebop, and that's not an easy bar to clear.

The story itself? Centers itself around a family and builds the Terminator universe around it. Not its antithesis. Where the later movies tried to build cinematics instead of a story, Terminator: Zero took its time in building its family dynamic with an the driving plot narrative being Judgment Day. Best thing too? It actually elevates that concept further then just "everything is over". It uses modern day questions about morality in the face of an advancing technological prowess of our machines, and balances them with the ethics of what makes us human. What makes us feel. What makes us, well, us. In an age where AI is becoming more apart of our daily lives, getting an outlook that tries to deal with that question on a more developed level is truly well done. It doesn't overstay its welcome, nor does the story drag on. Only thing is, it does take its freedom sometimes with the physics of technology. (No Netflix. A CPU doesn't work that way if you remove it from a computer. sigh) It feels like the exact right pace for what it is and what its trying to tell. It's a humble story of a troubled man of a troubled past, rationalizing his present and trying to correct the mistakes of a future he can no longer see. I'd be more then happy to see a Season 2, although I'd be fine with this existing in its current format as a springboard for more similar attempts at masterful writing.

All in all, this is a return to form for one of the greatest franchises that'd lost its way. A generational movie franchise that never had a chance to flesh out a larger story or got the care it needed to break out. I hope the JC movie releasing soon will have this level of care. The first two Terminator movies still hold a dear place in my heart. And I'm glad that we're finally getting something worthwhile and with clear love for the fans, while exploring the shortcomings of its predecessors. It honestly does a great job of both elevating and breathing new life into a franchise that everyone wrote off 5 years ago. I didn't know much about this series before the Netflix leak. But after seeing the trailer, I'd set myself to give it an honest-to-god try and decide how I felt afterwards. And I'm glad I left satisfied.