Critics may have warned us that the Terminator franchise could not possibly survive without Arnold Schwartzenegger. But after viewing Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, one can see the franchise still has legs - sexy, bionic legs.

Spoilers below:

The Sarah Connor Chronicles begins in 1999 with Sarah (Lena Heady) and John Connor (Thomas Dekker) living under aliases, enjoying a semi-normal life…until Sarah’s boyfriend proposes to her, forcing both Sarah and John to skip town (visions of Runaway Bride). When her boyfriend files a missing person’s report, an FBI agent named James Ellison (Richard T. Jones) informs him that Sarah is a wanted terrorist - and so the manhunt begins.

Unfortunately, something else was plugged into the FBI network: a terminator posing as a teacher in John’s new school. Needless to say, the teachernator attempts to assassinate him. In an extreme turn of luck another disguised terminator (this time as a high school student) named Cameron (sci-fi alumni Summer Glau) rescues John from certain death. With Cameron’s help the Connor’s learn that resistance fighters from the future have built a time machine beneath a bank and use it to jump forward to the year 2007. (Really. I swear I’m not making this up.)

Now they are on a mission to elude the FBI, more terminators and stop Skynet before it triggers the nuclear war, known as Judgment Day. Whew! Read more

In Hollywood, hot babes come a dime a dozen. In a town where talent has little or nothing to do with becoming a household name, it’s great to see the stunning Summer Glau (”River Tam” from sci-fi cult classics Firefly and Serenity) get some recognition.

Glau, a classically trained ballerina (and all-around dancing machine) will put her skills to the test as Cameron Phillips, protector of Sarah and John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, premiering this Sunday on Fox. Judging from her small-but-impressive resume, she won’t let us down; whether the creative minds behind the chronicles do is another story altogether.

Check out clips of Summer Glau in action after the jump. Read more