Earthlings Welcome Here wraps up our fall run and fall fun, but it isn’t the conclusion to this chapter of the story — it’s only the beginning. What did Sarah see in the sky? Was it real? February will tell, but in the meantime here are some fun facts about the controversial fall finale to hold you over for a bit…
First thing’s first — the ending. Perhaps Natalie’s script can shed some light on the final shot? Here’s exactly what she wrote: “Something hovers in the sky. The only thing she can make out for sure are 3 BRIGHT LIGHTS– like three suns blazing down over her… There’s the outline of a craft; Drone? H-K? Hallucination? Whatever it is, it’s hers…”
Cameron checks Riley’s pulse under the guise of wanting to feel her tattoo. But did you catch what Cameron told John she was thinking of getting tattooed on her body? “A tiger. Or a wolf.” Animals, you might remember, that were specifically held captive on the freighter ship Cameron tortured Allison on in the episode Allison from Palmdale…
The role of “Eileen”/”Alan Park”/”Abraham” was, as expected, difficult to cast. In session we read both male and female actors, eventually lucking out with the extremely talented Dinah Lenney. Unrelated side note, her blogger pseudonym “Abraham” was originally scripted as “Isaac,” and was only changed right before production.
Earthlings Welcome Here is, at it’s core, a character study of Sarah Connor. Even within the episode, Sarah sees manifestations of her old selves — the pre-John waitress Sarah Connor (the first Terminator film) and the Pescadero Mental Hospital patient Sarah Connor (T-2). One scene in particular is a specific and direct homage to the second film: Sarah scribbles “No Fate” on the diner table, much like she does in the film outside of Enrique’s.
Ellison finally revealed a little bit more about his relationship with his ex-wife, Lila, in conversation with the Pastor. For all those keeping track out there (quiz-goers), James admits that his marriage fell apart when she got pregnant but September 11, 2001 made her question it, so she terminated it.
The Riley/Jesse flashback of her first day at school was shot at the same exterior location that doubled for the school in the first season, but was filmed during the course of this episode to match. John’s long hair is the wig he wore throughout Samson and Delilah (before he cut his hair) and his clothes are from his season one wardrobe (so this scene takes place some time before John/Riley’s first meeting in Automatic for the People).
Earthlings Welcome Here was our first episode directed by veteran director Felix Alcala, and the second time he has worked with Stephanie Jacobsen (Jesse). Felix previously directed her in the Battlestar Galactica spinoff movie, BSG: Razor.
At the beginning of production on this episode there was still uncertainty as to our fate — would we receive an order for more episodes to complete the season? As it turns out, we learned the good news on the last night of the episode’s production — Friday, October 24th! After hearing from FOX and WBTV, the producers informed the cast and crew on the set during the shooting of the future scene in which Jesse first finds Riley in the tunnels.
Since much of this episode took Sarah out into the desert in search of a link to Skynet, we had to find one location that could triple for the exterior of Eileen’s trailer, the factory/warehouse Sarah finds (where she gets shot), and the Desert Pie Shop. Funny enough, we actually shot at Agua Dulce Airpark, an airport outside of Los Angeles, used previously in films such as Space Cowboys. EXTRA SPECIAL, SPOILERY TIDBIT: This is not the last time you’ll be seeing the factory/warehouse this season…
Did you catch the name of the man Sarah battled with? His company — Desert Canyon Heat and Air — badge listed him as Ed Winston. He was played by Ned Bellamy, an actor some of you might recognize from his recent and memorable appearance in the film Twilight. Hit film and awesome TV series? Seems like things are looking up for him right now.
