>>The Terminator movies weren't really my thing. I think I saw the first one at a theater, may have caught the others on TV, probably in bits a pieces. The TV show has a little more time for dialog etc. Less robot-centric. Can't really remember the plot of any of the movies other than the very basic setup.
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>The background story is actually not bad - the resistance from the future is trying to survive by making sure its existence is not prevented beforehand, sort of the reverse grandfather paradox. That's #2; in #1 they are trying to do the grandfather paradox, i.e. to prevent the existence of the future in which they exist as a resistance against the rule of the machines.
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>But that's the background, which you only see in flash-forwardses. What you see onscreen is a combination of road movie - chase - shoot our way through the lines. Ahnuld's influenced the thing by his very existence, it seems they kept adding stuff only to make room for him.

Exactly, and that is why this kind of stuff is more interesting as a TV series. ( far superior medium to movies ) this is a writer's medium with a chance for storytelling and exploration of subplots.

Think Babylon 5. Imagine writing a 5 season story arc before the first show airs. The amazing Battlestar Galactica his finished 3. Buffy ran 7 seasons, Angel 6? The Shield is going into 6 I think. The Wire is on 5 now. Sopranos 6. Deadwood unfortunately many fewer. That's story telling like we've never seen before - even novels usually don't get that much time.

Then think of how one could tell those stories in less than 2 hours.

No doubt the best work now is being done on television. Movies are mostly special effects and packaging.