After the comparatively lackluster T3: Rise of the Machines, more than a few people left the Terminator series for dead - but as it turns out, the franchise may just be catching its second wind..

Aside from The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the Fox spinoff series debuting next month, Terminator fans have a fourth film, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, to look forward to - and after months of scoffing at the very idea of another sequel, let alone one directed by McG, looking forward to it is exactly what many of those fans are doing.. All it took was Christian Bale stepping in as arguably the franchise’s central character, resistance fighter John Connor..

So.. Now that everyone’s excited about T4, and filming is only a few months away, how about we get started on some spoilers?

When Tomorrow’s Entertainment broke the story that Christian Bale was in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, playing John Connor, one of my sources became confused.. That couldn’t be true, I was told - John Connor is barely in the movie.. Turns out that it’s true, and that yes, John Connor is barely in the movie.. Over the last week we’ve have been gathering some details about Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, and while we are trying to steer clear of serious spoiler material, people who don’t want to know anything about this movie should step away from the computer right now..

John Connor is not the main character of Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins; that character is someone named Marcus.. Marcus was put ‘ out of commission ‘ before the nuclear holocaust on Judgment Day and he wakes up about 15 years before the future we see in the original Terminator films, which puts the movie at about 2015 or so.. Marcus is a bad ass - think along the lines of Riddick ( Hmm.. Maybe this post had something to it.. ) - and what he finds is a blasted world filled with horror.. Radiation poisoning, starvation, rampant jaywalking - all the things you expect post - apocalypse.. There’s also John Connor, who is trying to build a utopian society while running the human resistance..

Connor’s role is apparently bigger in the second film; whoever they hire for Marcus ( Our understanding is that the part is not yet cast.. Maybe Diesel? ) will be around for all three films.. Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins is going to be the most male - centric of all the Terminator films, but there is a butt busting female character by the name of Blair, a pilot for the human resistance..

They’re going to need some buttkickers, because the scope of the action in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins is HUGE.. Lots of machine action in this film, including some battles with the T - 600’s.. Yup, the rubber skin Terminators.. And there’s another familiar character that shows up - Reese ( Michael Biehn in the original film ) shows up in a scene with John Connor.. We don’t know what his involvement in the next two films will be, though..

We’ve gathered this info from a number of different sources, and while they all have different takes on the material ( All mostly positive, with one of our sources saying that the story is great and that the action promises to be incredible ), they all bring up one point of comparison: The Matrix films.. Make of that what you will.. For us, the information we’ve gotten - including really spoilery stuff we won’t inflict on you - has gotten us jazzed.. This film feels like it could be epic.. Let’s hope McG can pull this off..

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins is set to begin shooting in either Australia or Budapest on the 15th March 2008.. The budget is rumored to be ” north of $150 million..”