Comprehensive information and links about Terminator, The

Terminator -builder Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Directed by James Cameron, the premise of the movie is that a "cybernetic organism" (an entity with living tissue grafted over a metal, robotic endoskeleton), the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 800 Series Terminator (played by Schwarzenegger), has been transported back in time from 2029 to May 12, 1984 to assassinate a woman named Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton). At the same time a man, Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn), is sent back to protect Connor from the cyborg. Issues raised by the film include time travel, causal loops, and artificial intelligence.

The sequels to the movie, , further developed the story line and explored the ethical implications of machine intelligence as well as what it means to be truly human.

The property has also been adapted into video games and comic books, including some in which the characters are paired with (or against) characters from other movie-licensced properties, including

A young woman, Sarah Connor, inexplicably finds herself hunted by a relentless killer. She is eventually approached by Kyle Reese, who explains that in the future, an artificial intelligence called "Skynet" will be created by military software developers to make strategic decisions. The program becomes self-aware; in a panic, the humans attempt to destroy Skynet. In the interest of self preservation, Skynet seizes control of most of the world's military hardware (including various highly advanced robots), and launches an all-out thermonuclear attack on humanity. However, a man named John Connor eventually leads the human resistance to victory, only to discover that in a last-ditch effort, Skynet had researched time travel and sent a robotic killer back in time in the 1980s to destroy John Connor's mother before he can be born. John Connor is Sarah's future son, and so he sends back a trusted assistant (Reese) to protect his mother at all costs.

The key difficulty in Reese's mission is that the Terminator, variably known as a cyborg or robot, is of an extremely durable construction that can sustain a considerable amount of damage. Since the time travel mechanism precludes the traveler from carrying non-living matter outside the being's , Reese was forced to arrive naked and unarmed, and the small arms of the 1980s are simply not powerful enough to affect the Terminator. Furthermore, a Terminator's organic covering, when intact, makes it indistinguishable from an average person. This makes the task of convincing anyone of that time that this assailant is actually an extremely advanced machine - without being written off as crazy - almost impossible.

As it ultimately turns out, Reese, of all humans, was sent back in time for a special reason — he volunteered because he was in love with Sarah (having been given a picture of her in the future) and is John's father.

In 1984, the Terminator quickly obtains clothes and an enormous arsenal of weaponry, and sets out on its mission. It systematically murders the first two 'Sarah Connors' in the Los Angeles telephone directory before killing Sarah's flatmate Ginger and Ginger's boyfriend Matt. It then discovers that Sarah is in a nightclub called Tech Noir and is awaiting assistance both from the police and from her flatmates. It attempts to terminate Sarah in the nightclub but is stopped by Reese. Following a brief car chase, Reese and Sarah escape, while the Terminator violently commandeers a police car and chases them.

While hiding in a multi-storey car park, Reese explains everything to a sceptical, frightened Sarah. However, the Terminator arrives and a pitched gun battle between the two cars results in the Terminator crashing its car and Reese being arrested by pursuing cops. At the police station, Sarah is looked after by police lieutenants Traxler (Paul Winfield) and Vukovich (Lance Henriksen) while Reese is interrogated by smug criminal psychologist Dr. Silberman, who concludes that Reese's "delusions" are incredible in that they are so intricate they don't even require a shred of proof. While this is going on, the Terminator retreats to a hotel room and performs reconstructive surgery on its damaged arm and eye socket before re-arming itself and heading for the police precinct.

The Terminator arrives at the precinct only to be told by the desk sergeant that he can't get in to see Sarah. After assuring him, "I'll be back," the Terminator drives a car through the glass panel doors of the building, crushing the desk sergeant. The Terminator proceeds to storm the precinct, shooting his way through the panicked cops who have been caught completely off guard. Reese manages to break free from his cell and rescue Sarah before the Terminator can get to her.

Reese and Sarah eventually take refuge in a motel, where Reese makes plastique explosives and then confesses his love for Sarah. They then make love and ensure the birth of John Connor. The next day the Terminator has tracked them down and pursues them along a motorway, shooting Reese and wounding him, but an increasingly resourceful Sarah manages to knock it off its motorcycle, only for her truck to crash. The Terminator commandeers a large tanker and drives it towards the pair's wrecked truck. Sarah and a badly-wounded Reese escape just in time and Reese explodes the tanker with one of his few remaining bombs. The Terminator is shown collapsing in a burnt heap from the remains of the tanker.

Just as they think the Terminator has been destroyed, however, its metal endoskeleton emerges from the flames, and pursues them into an automated factory. Reese confronts it and explodes it with a bomb at the expense of his own life. Just as Sarah finds Reese , the Terminator's mangled upper torso springs to life and attacks her, but she crushes it in a hydraulic press. The end of the film sees a pregnant Sarah in Mexico. As she records audio tapes which she intends to play to her son John at some point in his life, she drives off into an uncertain future...

Inspirations

Some aspects of the story were sufficiently similar to two episodes of the TV series — both episodes written by Harlan Ellison — that Ellison pursued legal action against Cameron. Cameron settled out of court and acknowledged Ellison's work in the film's credits. The episodes in question were called "Soldier" (which involves a specially-trained man sent back in time to assassinate a rival) and "Demon with a Glass Hand" (concerning a time traveler who suffers memory loss and relies on a computer chip implanted in his artificial hand to give him information about his mission while assassins sent from the future attempt to kill him). There is also some similarity between the concept of Skynet and the evil intelligence featured in Ellison's short story, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream".

The subject matter of both films seem to be inspired by the writing of Philip K. Dick. His story Second Variety features a post apocalyptic world where enemy robots wear rubber skin to pose as humans. In the film, Reese mentions an older series of Terminator (the 600 series) which had rubber skin and were easily distinguishable from actual humans.

A similar plot of a killer machine sent back in time to change history was seen in a fairly obscure film from 1966 entitled

Legacy

The "first" feature film for director Cameron (he had been replaced on the unsuccessful ), this low-budget movie was a surprise box-office hit, earning $38,371,200 (the film cost roughly $6.5 million) in 1984. It established Cameron as a talented action director. He would then go on to produce a string of successful action movies, continuing with The life-size Terminator model was actually made of steel, a production goof which complicated shooting. The model was so heavy that it required four people to hold it and move it during close-ups.A pair of documentaries about the film, which appear on the DVD version, have a number of explanations of various issues about the movie.Producer Gale Ann Hurd mentions that OJ Simpson was considered to play the role of The Terminator. However, Cameron didn't think anyone would believe Simpson as a killer.Cameron originally wanted the Terminator to be a typical-looking guy of average size so as to easily infiltrate human society. Indeed, Cameron's first choice to play the Terminator was Lance Henriksen.Both Cameron and co-writer William Wisher claim that originally Schwarzenegger was going to be offered the part of Reese, the hero. However, as a result of a lunch meeting, both he and Cameron independently realized that he would be better suited to play the part of the title character. Gale Ann Hurd, meanwhile, claims that Arnold was never considered for Reese's part. [2]The film was originally scheduled to be shot in Spring, 1983 in Toronto, but Dino DeLaurentis chose to option Schwarzenegger to film and as a result, this film had to be placed on hold for a year, and filming began in March of 1984 in Los Angeles. Several date inconsistencies in the film are explained by this change of scheduling.The most important deleted scene occurs at the end. After the fight scene, one of the factory workers finds the Terminator's CPU and gives it to another worker, saying he'll bring it to RD. As Sarah is taken by paramedics, the camera pulls out to show the factory sign: Cyberdyne Systems...Although the film is commonly perceived as technophobic, Cameron considers technology neutral: capable of being used for both good and evil. In the film, despite the numerous machines that cause all the bad things to happen (the answering machine, the personal tape player, Sarah's mother's telephone, etc.), it is also a machine, the hydraulic press, that eventually destroys the Terminator.When Reese breaks the ignition lock on a Cadillac Eldorado with the end of a shotgun - the entire scene is a factual error. Pre-1978 GM vehicles had a spring clip which retained the lock cylinder to the steering column. In real life, this film led to the rise of GM and AMC (particularly Jeep) vehicles being stolen the following year.