Terminator is Back - on Tv

It's not hasta la vista, baby just yet for the Terminator franchise, with the Fox network in the US planning a TV spin-off of the humans v machines movie trilogy.

Fox has ordered a pilot of the Terminator spin-off, which has a working title The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The TV drama will pick up the story after the second Terminator movie, 1991's Judgement Day, with the Sarah Connor character and her teenage son, John - who in the future will become leader of the human resistance after machines take over - on the run.

However, the TV spin-off is not expected to feature Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger, now governor of California. It is also thought unlikely Linda Hamilton, who played Sarah Connor in the first two films, will be part of the TV show.

James Middleton, one of the producers developing the Fox pilot, told Variety: "[Sarah Connor] has the weight of the world on her shoulder and she also has to raise a 14-year-old son who may be the salvation of the world."

The constraints of TV budgets mean that Fox's Terminator spin-off is unlikely to boast the same number of spectacular, special effects-driven shootouts and chase scenes that were such a key feature of the movie franchise.

"There's going to be a healthy dose of both [action and family drama]," said Josh Friedman, who is scripting the Fox pilot.

Mr Friedman added that the Terminator mythology, covering time travel and alternate futures, "has a lot of big ideas in it that don't cost you a dime to explore".

His previous writing credits include the recent Tom Cruise sci-fi action movie War of the Worlds and Brian De Palma's upcoming James Ellroy adaptation The Black Dahlia.

The TV adaptation of Terminator is being made by independent producer C2 Pictures, which was involved in the third movie in the trilogy, and Warner Bros TV. C2 is also developing a fourth Terminator movie.

ITV is also jumping on the sci-fi bandwagon following the success of Doctor Who, with plans for a £6m drama entitled Primaeval, according to reports today. Primaeval features a team of scientists who travel into prehistoric times through black holes.