The king of the Vampires is a US Marine

Due to its long episode running time (1+ hour each) I've slowly been catching up on the excellent modern war TV mini series Generation Kill. It originally aired about 8 months ago and during that time I've watched quite a few other shows. This has lead to not one, but two instances where an actor I originally saw in Generation Kill is more familiar to me from another series which I'd started watching after GK. So when I watch a new GK episode I have an odd mix of deja vu and the feeling of recognising someone but not being able to remember where from (is there a word for that?).

The following are two actors who I originally saw in Generation Kill back in July of 2008 but have since become more familiar through other shows, namely The Mentalist and True Blood.

Example 1 (Generation Kill vs True Blood): Alexander Skarsgård

Sgt. Brad “Iceman” Colbert from Generation Kill

Eric “King of the vampires” Northman from True Blood

Example 2 (Generation Kill vs The Mentalist vs Sarah Connor Chronicles): Owain Yeoman

Sgt. Eric Kocher (right) from Generation Kill with "Captain America"

CBI detective Wayne Rigsby (left) from The Mentalist (with Simon Baker)

Terminator "Cromartie" from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Pilot episode only)

Terminator Salvation Stars Release Candidate Terminators

Joblo has this cool poster image of the T-600 terminator that will star in the new Terminator: Salvation flick due out May next year (June is Australia). Yes, I said T-600, not to be confused with the Sony Ericsson T600. This is the model BEFORE the T-101/T-80/T-800/T850 Arnie model and apparently it has some issues.

I've seen in promotional materials that the skin on the T-600 looks terribly plastic and word on the street is it just blows off in chunks revealing the bulkier-than-Arnie's endoskeleton underneath.

This helps us figure out the time setting for the new film in that it's obviously before John Connor found and used the time machine to send Kyle Reese back to stop Arnie... because Arnie hasn't been made yet.

This also might explain the no-comment comments from McG about Arnie's involvement in the film off-camera where some people guessed he was being scanned in 3D. McG did however say that the film will end in a cliffhanger, obviously preparing for a follow-up.

Maybe we'll get to see the scene that was originally meant for T2 where John Connor breaks into the T-800 factory then into the time machine facility to send off Kyle. I've always wanted to see a production line of Arnies.

Interested tidbit, the time machine design meant for the un-filmed scene was recycled for use in Contact with the spinning rings crossing over each other.

New Terminator Movie Might Actually Be Good

Putting memories of the not-so-good Terminator 3 aside I have some interesting news on the upcoming Terminator 4, or Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins to be more precise.

Movieweb is reporting on a blog update over at the production's website from visual effects superviser Charles Gibson who talks about the challenges he's facing working with McG and how this film is going to be quite energetic.

If you saw the flashback sequences in The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode Dungeons & Dragons you might get an idea of what we're in store for where the world of the future glimpsed in past Terminator movies is the setting for the entire film.

This will be the first non-Arnie Terminator film but don't forget that Christian "Batman" Bale is playing John Connor so when May 22, 2009 rolls around make sure you have the cash to see Avatar and Termi 4.