Richard Jones' Log: Terminators and Cloverfield

Rachel and I saw Cloverfield on Friday. I liked it (I'm not alone) but Rachel really didn't like it (she's not alone either).

We also watched the first two episodes of the new Terminator TV show. Before seeing it I was dubious about the premise (oh, it's another teen high-school drama but with Terminators ... wow) but I'm less dubious now that I've seen it. I am very, very frustrated with the sloppy writing though. They took great pains to explain the Terminator universe (the war, Cyberdyne, how time travel doesn't let machines or even clothes through) and then bam, at the start of the second episode they break one of the fundamental rules of time travel that they'd just explained to us.

Spoiler: the bad terminator's head is sent through time with the Connors with no living flesh covering. The Connors (and terminator pal Cameron) arrive all nekkid and sans "not quite nuclear" gun (and also healed up of serious wounds!?) but so does the bad terminator's head -- apparently intact! And why the hell was the terminator's body in a scrapyard?? After all that fuss about the arm in the second movie?