James Ellison (Terminator)

Infobox character
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name = "James Ellison"
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portrayer = Richard T. Jones
species = Human
gender = Male
occupation = Former FBI Special Agent
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imdb_id = 0000945

James Ellison is a fictional character in the television series "" series, portrayed by Richard T. Jones. He shares his surname with science fiction writer Harlan Ellison, who, after a lawsuit, was acknowledged as a source of inspiration for elements of "The Terminator". [cite web | url= http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100019196&docId=l:727672020&start=9 | title= "Old plotline terminated" | first= Frank | last= Lovece | date= 2008-01-13 | publisher= "Newsday" | accessdate= 2008-01-17]

Ellison was once one of the FBI's top agents before he was assigned to the seemingly easy task of bringing down dangerous fugitive Sarah Connor, who was presumed responsible for the death of Miles Dyson and the initial destruction of Cyberdyne Systems.

When Connor went missing, Ellison's stature was diminished in the eyes of his fellow agents. He now has an unrelenting resolve to apprehend Sarah Connor to exonerate himself. After Sarah reappears years later he is shown as still disbelieving her story about Skynet and its Terminators. However, after investigating a series of related but unsolved and eccentric cases, including that of a whole high school class witnessing a robotic leg on a man, he is beginning to question some of his past assumptions.

After illegally recovering a T-888's endoarm from Los Angeles County Police and reviewing documents on Sarah Connor, Ellison has become more convinced that her story was accurate. To confirm the information he visited Dr Peter Silberman, Sarah's psychiatrist from her time at Pescadero State Mental Hospital. While speaking with the Doctor, Ellison is drugged and assaulted by Silberman who believes him to be an advanced Terminator sent back to kill Sarah and her son John. Ellison informs Silberman he has proof that the Terminators exist and Silberman investigates the evidence. Shortly afterward he is nearly killed when Silberman sets his cabin on fire, but is rescued by Sarah Connor (whom he believed to be dead). Shortly afterward Silberman is incarcerated in Sarah Connor's former Pescadero cell.

The final scenes of the episode show him with a group of people reading a Bible.

In the season finale, Ellison discovers that Cromartie is posing as an FBI agent searching for Sarah and John. His partner believes that Cromartie's deception is extensive and suggests that they arrest him. By this point, Ellison strongly suspects that the man they are pursuing is a machine and questions what exactly they are getting into. They lead a heavily armed FBI HRT team to Cromartie's apartment to apprehend him, but even they are no match for the terminator. After the battle Ellison finds himself the sole survivor and face to face with Cromartie. The cyborg can easily kill him, but instead he simply lowers his gun and walks off, leaving a baffled Ellison to survey the destruction and wonder why he was spared. After this incident, Ellison was ordered to take six weeks of paid leave. It is later explained by Cromartie that he spared Ellison because he is still searching for Sarah and John, and needs Ellison in order to find his targets. Ellison tells Cromartie that if he was spared so he could lead him to the Connors, then he might as well just kill him right now, as he will "not do the devil's work", and the Terminator wryly comments "we'll see", before walking away again.

Ellison later visited the paramedic Charley Dixon, Sarah Connor's former fiancé, who was also at the scene of Cromartie's rampage, to talk about the incident which has traumatized them both. After he arrived the Dixons' resident, he discovers that Charley has acquired a firearm for protection, despite the paramedic's dislike of them. Realizing that Charley's stress is about to be on a breaking point, Ellison suggests that he should leave town for safety, and gives him a copy of the Bible as a gift, establishing a better relationship. He later attended Dixon's wife's funeral, after she was killed by a piece of Cromartie's bomb's shrapnels.

Catherine Weaver, CEO of ZeiraCorp, whom Ellison doesn't know is also a Terminator, offers Ellison a job to find and capture a Terminator in order to reverse engineer it. Ellison appears to have taken the offer, determined to hunt down Cromartie. However, Ellison remains suspicious of Weaver and her intentions with the Skynet technology, and checking her past with the FBI resources.

In the episode, "Allison from Palmdale," it is revealed that Ellison was previously married to an FBI Agent, Lila Ellison. The details of their separation still haven't been revealed, but they seem to maintain a good professional relationship within the FBI, while his former wife still has concern for his well being.

Events that have transpired within the show, Cromartie sparing his life, Weaver hiring him to hunt down another Terminator, etcetera, seem to indicate that Ellison is somehow involved in the creation of Skynet in the current time line. Ellison is also beginning to question his role in the impending future of Skynet and is determined to find out if he has any part in Skynet's puzzle.

Although it may only be a coincidence, the character's last name is shared with that of science fiction writer/legend Harlan Ellison, who once sued James Cameron for plagarism over the similarities between the original "Terminator" film and Ellison's "Soldier" short story.

References

External links

* [http://www.fox.com/fallpreview/new/sarahconnorchronicles.htm Fox official website for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles]