The Terminator

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The Terminator
Directed by James Cameron
Written by James Cameron
Gale Anne Hurd
Harlan Ellison
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
Michael Biehn
Linda Hamilton
Produced by John Daly
Derek Gibson
Gale Anne Hurd
Distributed by Orion Pictures Corporation
Release date October 26, 1984
Runtime 108 min
Language English
Budget $6,400,000
IMDb page

The Terminator is a 1984 sci-fi action film which became the break-through role for former body-builder Arnold Schwarzenegger. Directed by James Cameron, the premise of the movie is that a "cybernetic organism" (living tissue over a metal, robotic endoskeleton), the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 800 Series Terminator (played by Schwarzenegger), has been transported back in time from 2029 A.D. 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, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, further developed the story line and explored the ethical implications of machine intelligence as well as what it means to be truly human.

Contents

Cast

Plot

Terminator without skin from Terminator
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Terminator without skin from Terminator
Kyle Reese
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Kyle Reese

A young woman, Sarah Connor, finds herself pursued by a relentless killer for reasons completely unknown to her. 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 attack on human beings. 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 family before he can be born. John Connor, of course, is Sarah's future son, and 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 is a powerful machine 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 body, Reese was forced to arrive naked and unarmed, and the small arms of the 1980s that are available 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 is John's father. During the course of the film, Kyle and Sarah fall in love, and eventually have sex. Reese is killed in the final battle, but Sarah is able to destroy the Terminator by crushing it with a hydraulic press. The last few minutes of the movie show Sarah, already pregnant with a son, deciding that she will one day tell John that his father was the man he himself sent back in time.

Inspirations

Some aspects of the story were sufficiently similar to two episodes of the TV series The Outer Limits — 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 body to give him information about his mission). 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 Cyborg 2087.

Legacy

The "first" feature film for director Cameron (he had been replaced on the unsuccessful Piranha II: The Spawning), 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 Aliens in 1986. Schwarzenegger had already starred in the hit film Conan the Barbarian and its successor, Conan the Destroyer, but The Terminator solidified his position as a movie star. It is still considered to be one of his best roles.

Trivia

  • 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.
  • 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. [1]
  • All Terminator films take place in Los Angeles, which is also where the films are shot.
  • 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 R&D. 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 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.

See also

External links

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