Its hard to believe its 24 years since Arnie first promised to 'be back', but it is.

Apart from catapulting uber-director James Cameron from the obscurity of Piranha 2 and giving us the governor of California, the film series has been amazingly influential: how many glowing red eyes, fugitives from the future or liquid morphing characters have shown up in popular culture in the years since?

Now the series reaches the small screen, and we will soon find out whether the big budget actioner really can sustain the weekly (and budget restricted) format of a tv drama.

Those who really pay attention to timeline of the films might wonder how the series fits in. At least with regard to the last one, it doesn't. T:TSCC (catchy) ignores the third film, and follows a different future that resulted from the more successful T2:Judgement Day.

For those keeping score, the upcoming T4, 5 and 6 (I'm not kidding) follow the events of T3.

The biggest draw in the show for genre fans is undoubtedly Firefly's Summer Glau as the mysterious Cameron (see what they did there?), and its nice to see the on the up Brit Lena Headey step into the shoes of Linda Hamilton.

The fate of the future is on Thursdays on Virgin 1 at 10pm...