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There is a lot of speculation on what caused NBC's "Bionic Woman" remake to bomb in front of television audiences. But comparing it to all the hype surrounding tonight's premiere of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," it seems that the most important ingredient any genre icon needs is heart.

With "Sarah Connor's" cast and crew filled with fans of the Terminator movie series started by James Cameron back in the 1980s, Fox may have itself its first bonafide science-fiction hit since "The X-Files" or even "Firefly" (if you're not counting ratings), and composer Bear McCreary knows a hit when he sees one.

The musical maestro took on SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica," making his cues the 12th Cylon and one of the most important characters of the series. While his music may not have the same role in "Sarah Connor," it's still an important storytelling element that can go a long way in helping or hurting a potential television series.

"I think that Terminator fans will be thrilled," McCreary recently told Airlock Alpha's Michael Hinman. "My inspiration was pretty obviously the scores for 'Terminator' and 'Terminator 2.' Those were among my personal favorite scores of my childhood, and I always wanted the opportunity to do something with it."

That score was the work of Brad Fiedel, who has been composing music since 1975's "Suicide Cult." It's the kind of music that has staying power, even nearly 25 years later, and it took little effort for McCreary to incorporate that into the new Terminator's overall soundtrack.

"It's a very cold and synthetic sound," he said. "Both those scores from the first two Terminator films were very different, and they were both very cutting edge. They were really at the cutting edge of technology at the time."

Even though listening to the score from the original film might sound like something fans would've heard from the 1980s in hindsight, Fiedel was able to do a lot with a small amount of technology available to him at the time period. No matter when the music is played, however, it's still the distinctive theme of the Terminator franchise, and that is something that has to carry over into the new series, otherwise audiences will find it almost impossible to accept this outing as a true Terminator outing, McCreary said.

I'm just trying to set it in the musical universe that Terminator fans will be familiar with, whether or not they're actually thinking about it," he said. "When I close my eyes, I think about what is the Terminator universe supposed to sound like, what is the Star Wars universe supposed to sound like, you have to know what it sounds like, because everyone else is already going to know what it sounds like."

And while there has been tremendous hype about the new "Sarah Connor," this is Fox, which has a tendency to not give science-fiction shows a chance. In a season when many genre shows came and went, including the aforementioned "Bionic Woman," there is still some hesitation with some fans becoming invested in this new series. McCreary, however, says they have nothing to fear, and it's not because he's collecting a paycheck from the show.

"I'm always careful about getting people's hopes up, and as I work on the show, I'm always going to see them in a different context," McCreary said. "I went into this very skeptical, but it really surprised me. I hold 'Terminator' and 'Terminator 2' very close to my heart, and I was prepared to be disappointed. But not only did the pilot not disappoint me, but every episode since then has been a knockout. I think people are going to be real surprised by the show."

It doesn't take long for the typical viewer to forget that there are different actors bringing Sarah Connor and John Connor to life, McCreary said, as Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker take over the iconic roles from LInda Hamilton and Eddie Furlong.

"Anyone who has been alive in the past 10 to 15 years, they know who these characters are," McCreary said. "These are almost mythological characters, and it's hard not to imagine Sarah Connor not being played by Linda Hamilton, but these new actors really help these characters take on a whole new life."

The writing team for "Sarah Connor" set the bar high when they started the project, and have stayed with that, McCreary said. "They are not trying to make a watered down version," he said.

Next week, McCreary talks to Airlock Alpha about the upcoming fourth season of "Battlestar Galactica," which premieres April 4 on SciFi Channel. In the meantime, you can check out McCreary's new and improved blog filled with more details about "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and even comments on every episode of "Battlestar Galactica" ever broadcasted by clicking here.

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox, and will air a second episode in its regular timeslot of Monday, 9 p.m. ET on Fox.

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