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This story contains MINOR SPOILERS for the upcoming second season of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

More action, less drama? Or more drama, less action?

It's like a real bad beer commercial, but an important balance the writers and producers behind Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is trying to strike.

But yes, expect more explosions, gun battles, car chases and other visual pockets of ecstasy when "Sarah Connor" returns for its second season in the fall.

"I think we will be incorporating more action this year," executive producer Josh Friedman told news outlets including Airlock Alpha during a telephone conference call Tuesday. "This is something that the network and I have been talking about about how much action versus drama, and versus special effects. But if you do too much, people will get bored with it, and I think people like a balance."

Friedman was sharing his excitement that Fox has ordered at least 13 episodes for a second season of the show, a move that wasn't all too surprising considering the fact the network had already brought the writers back to work to break stories and other aspects of pre-production were already under way. At the same time, however, nothing beats getting that special announcement, he said.

"I think they [had already] felt pretty good about the show" before the pickup, Friedman said of Fox. "It's just a process we had to go through. And you know, they like to torture us."

Changes in terms of actors and production will change very little from the first season, except for the fact that Brian Austin Green will be added as a series regular from recurring status in the first season as John Connor's uncle, Derek Reese. Also returning are Summer Glau as Cameron, Thomas Dekker as John, and Lena Headey as the title character.

But even a robot has to have some issues about starting up a car strung up with a bomb.

"You like to beat her up, but you can't mangle her too much," Friedman said of Cameron. "That car bomb, that will definitely mess her up."

The production crew does hope to make some more trips to the Future War in the second season, however, it could be budget that once again limits those trips.

"I had plans to do a number of Future War episodes [in the first season], but they are the most expensive episodes we do, and the most time consuming," Friedman said. "The hard part is the CGI. It not only costs a lot of money, but it takes post-production time. It's hard to turn those things around."

Some of the B-story elements that likely will be eliminated is the suicide mystery at John's high school in the first season. At the same time, Friedman said he's looking to try and make the overall storyline more concise as well.

"I want to write a show that is complicated and sophisticated and subtle -- everyone does, I guess -- but I tried to write something that was very serialized," he said. "There were some points where the storytelling was a little muddy where I think we could do a better job of."

Jumping 10 years in the future as the Connors did in the pilot may not be a terribly long time to go, so adjusting to a new decade isn't that hard. But even a family used to creating news lives in new places and time periods can't ignore some of the major events, which is why some time had to be devoted to that process. Like the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"It was important to bring it up and realize that," Friedman said. "There is a voiceover with Sarah trying to process it. You jump over 9-11, and the world has changed. That is something that was worthy of spending a scene on."

It's not clear what night and time "Sarah Connor" will pick up on Fox's fall schedule, but those wanting to catch up on the first season will be able to find it on DVD as early as August, Friedman said. The set will include commentaries for the pilot, the season finale, and the episode that focused on Future War. It also has some mini-documentaries as well as other features.

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Hear Michael Hinman on SyFy Radio every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, and Sundays at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SyFyRadio.