KEY POINTS:
Wide-eyed and petite, with the long limbs and ruler-straight posture of a prima ballerina, Summer Glau could not be any less like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Her soft, thoughtful whisper of a voice is the antithesis of the former bodybuilder's thickly accented, booming call.
And yet, the doll-like actress is
Arnie's successor. Glau is the new terminator, sent from the future to protect Sarah Connor and her teenage son John, in the new television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, beginning next Wednesday on TV2.
"What is important about this terminator is she doesn't appear to be a terminator," explains Glau. "She's meant to blend into society."
Of course, the physical disparity between Schwarzenegger and Glau is no coincidence.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger is the terminator. Everybody thinks of him. It would be very hard for someone with his persona or look to take on that role.
"To have someone completely different, I think, is a safer and smarter choice for the series."
Making a TV spin-off of such an iconic film franchise, both cast and crew knew they would be under intense scrutiny from fans, but perhaps none more so than Thomas Dekker, who takes on Edward Furlong's role of John.
"John Connor was an idol of mine, so it was weird to be offered it," says the 20-year-old.
"We really want to stress that we're not making a remake. It's an extension, a parallel. We all love the story and we're making it grow. We're not trying to re-do these characters."
Artistically, taking on the established role of John was difficult for Dekker, who prefers to build his characters from the ground up, creating his own background, history and motivation.
"I tried to maintain [Furlong's] instincts. His outspokenness, his stubbornness. He's very lion-hearted. There's an intensity about him that I share, personally. I tried to maintain those things while putting him in a totally different situation."
The series begins in 1999, after Terminator 2: Judgment Day but before Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Having delayed Judgment Day, Sarah and John are wanted fugitives, living life on the run under a series of false aliases.
"Imagine going out every day, walking down the street, seeing a police officer and thinking 'oh my God, this is it.' It's a very frightening, terrible way to live," says Dekker.
"In the film, John was young, he could draw attention to himself, he wasn't scared. He definitely keeps his head down more now."
Though Glau's character Cameron didn't feature in any of the films, she says there was still a collective pressure to do the story justice.
"It was scary. We were nervous. Not because we didn't believe in it - because we thought it was a beautiful pilot - but people tend to want to dislike something. The fans are very loyal."
It was with bated breath that the cast and crew headed to Comic-Con, America's largest comic book and pop culture convention, to debut the series.
"There were a lot of really, really intense fans there," recalls Glau. "They were so excited after they saw it. They were so complimentary."
Originally a professional dancer, Glau turned to acting after an injury ended her ballet career. The physicality of playing a terminator was a huge drawcard for the actress, who finds it difficult to sit around on set all day.
"Ninety per cent of being an actor is waiting. So playing a role where I get to sweat and get tired really appealed to me."
But Glau soon discovered that playing a robot is tougher than it looks, particularly for someone who has spent years training to be graceful and elegant.
"When you're playing a robot, basically, you pick things up and throw them or you break walls and run people over. It's just brute force."
She learned to dehumanise her movements, adopting the mechanical motion of a robot.
"You can't cross your legs, you can't move your face, or scratch yourself."
Glau also took a crash course in gunmanship, learning how to handle the show's vast artillery of weapons.
"The gun training was intense because we use so many different types of guns. You need to know how to use them properly or you look stupid.
"I bought books about guns because I would come to the set and have some amazing gun that I was going to use. I didn't want to be the stupid actress who didn't know what they were."
But despite her best efforts, Glau has still come in for criticism over her petite, un-Terminator-like appearance. So has her British co-star, Lena Headey, who plays Linda Hamilton's character Sarah Connor.
British feminist and novelist Bidisha, a fan of the Terminator films, expressed disappointment at the casting of Headey, describing her as "a toothpick-thin, feeble-looking Sarah Connor".
Earlier this year, Bidisha said, "Presenting a clearly emaciated actress as a heroine is a crime against women."
Glau has one response to such criticism: Don't watch the show.
"All I can say is if you don't like it, you don't have to watch it. I'm very protective of Lena. People are saying 'she's not Linda, she's not Linda.' No, she's not. So if you like Linda, you can watch the films. You don't have to watch the series.
"She can't change the way she looks and I can't change they way I look. And I don't want to."
The girls aren't the only ones to have come in for flak over their physical appearance. Dekker has also been the subject of criticism, with some fans labelling the actor's portrayal of John "emo".
"A lot of people are calling John emo, which is funny," says Dekker.
"They're calling me emo, which is hilarious, as I'm as far away from emo as you could possibly get. I just have long hair."
Despite the criticisms, the series has been largely well-received by critics and audiences, and was recently confirmed for a second series in America.
Which as Bionic Woman - another sci-fi film adaptation starring a British lead actress that was cancelled after just one season - proved, is no mean feat.
Who: Summer Glau and Thomas Dekker
What: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles begins next Wednesday, TV2, 9.30pm
Trivia: Glau had never seen the Terminator films until she was cast in the role of Cameron.
- additional reporting The Observer
