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21st May '13 8:53:22 AM MattStriker

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The '''''Terminator''''' franchise -- a series of films that revolve an [[ImplacableMan implacable killer]] with a [[ScienceFiction Sci-Fi]] {{justifi|edTrope}}cation -- has become an oft-imitated part of the pop-cultural pantheon. Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger portrayed the eponymous cyborg for three (and [[FakeShemp a half]]) films, and his performance in the first film shot him into superstardom. Writer/director Creator/JamesCameron felt inspired to create the film after a dream he had while sick with a fever; the dream involved a mechanical skeleton [[OutOfTheInferno emerging from a wall of fire]] to chase after Cameron. Recalling how terrified he was, Cameron crafted the story of ''The Terminator'' based around that one moment -- and unintentionally, or so Cameron says, plagiarized Creator/HarlanEllison's ''TheOuterLimits'' story "Soldier" (not, as commonly believed, "Demon with a Glass Hand") for the plot. When Ellison found out, he managed to snag a cash settlement and an official acknowledgment in the credits. (Ellison later said the trouble could have been avoided if Cameron had come to him first and offered a screen credit in the movie, which he would have offered for free).

In the first film ('''''The Terminator'''''), two individuals emerge naked from two separate electrical storms in Los Angeles and quickly go out to find supplies. One stays low and out of sight, while the other starts to kill women named Sarah Connor from the phonebook. Meanwhile, a young diner waitress -- Sarah Connor -- hears that two people with her name have been killed within the last few days. While the killer murders two people in Sarah's home in an effort to find her, Sarah hides in a nightclub -- and when the killer catches up with her there, she ends up rescued by the other individual, Kyle Reese. After he escapes with Sarah, Kyle explains the {{backstory}}: [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in the near future]], man will create [=SkyNet=], an artificial intelligence [[AIIsACrapshoot that will promptly]] [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turn against its masters]] and attempt to KillAllHumans in the cataclysmic event that will become known as [[FauxSymbolism Judgment Day]]. Mankind will eventually defeat [=SkyNet=], but at the last minute, [=SkyNet=] will send a T-800 Model Terminator -- an [[KillerRobot android assassin]] wrapped in human flesh to give it the appearance of a human -- [[TimeTravel back in time]] to kill Sarah and prevent the birth of her son, John, who will become the leader of the [[LaResistance human resistance]]. In response, John will send Reese into the past to [[WaybackTrip protect his mother and the timeline]]. After several dramatic battles and a HeroicSacrifice from Reese, Sarah destroys the Terminator in an [[NoOSHACompliance industrial factory]] -- but not before Sarah sleeps with Reese [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy and conceives John Connor]] (which means John causes his own birth and creates a StableTimeLoop).

In the second film ('''''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'''''), [=SkyNet=] sends a more advanced Terminator -- the [[NighInvulnerability nigh-invulnerable]], [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]] T-1000 Model -- to the past. In response, John Connor sends back a T-800 Model Terminator that he reprogrammed to protect his past self. Both Terminators arrive at a time when ten-year-old John lives with foster parents and Sarah sits in an asylum after an attempt to blow up a computer factory. The T-1000 kills anyone it chooses to replicate, and when John figures out the T-1000 will attempt to replicate Sarah, he forces the T-800 to rescue his mother before the T-1000 can reach her. After being freed, Sarah -- now an ActionGirl after [[TookALevelInBadass years of preparing for Judgment Day and beyond]] -- learns details of [=SkyNet=]'s history from the T-800 and attempts to assassinate Miles Dyson, the man who will go on to create [=SkyNet=]. Sarah falters before she can pull the trigger, and after John and the T-800 arrive, the trio pumps Dyson for information. They learn that Cyberdyne -- the company Dyson works for and, as revealed in a deleted scene from the first film, the owners of the factory where Sarah destroyed the T-800 -- will build [=SkyNet=] after it reverse-engineers technology from the components of the original T-800 (which makes [=SkyNet=] itself part of the StableTimeLoop). The Connors, the T-800, and Dyson infiltrate Cyberdyne and destroy all of the computers, then steal the T-800 remains in an attempt to thwart the creation of [=SkyNet=]...but the T-1000 is not far behind them. After several running encounters, the T-1000, the remains of the original T-800, and the second T-800 all get dissolved in a vat of molten steel.

Soon after Terminator 2, Cameron lost the rights to the franchise (specifically in his divorce from LindaHamilton) and it got passed around to different studios and continued in different forms. As such there are [[ContinuitySnarl some irreconcilable differences between them]]. Said snarl can be resolved, however, if the latter two movies are regarded as non-canon, or occurring in an [[ExpandedUniverse alternate universe]]. There is actually some support for this interpretation, in that Cameron stated after T2 that he had said everything he wanted to say with those two movies, as well as evidence in-universe of timeline degradation in ''Salvation,'' as noted below.

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Writer/director Creator/JamesCameron felt inspired to write the script for the first film in the franchise based on a dream he had while sick with a fever. The dream involved a mechanical skeleton [[OutOfTheInferno emerging from a wall of fire]] to chase after Cameron. Building on the terror he felt during the dream, Cameron crafted the story of ''The Terminator'' based around that one moment -- and unintentionally (or so Cameron says) plagiarized Creator/HarlanEllison's ''TheOuterLimits'' story "Soldier" in the process. (People often mistakenly claim he plagarized "Demon with a Glass Hand" rather than "Soldier".) When Ellison found out, he managed to snag a cash settlement and an official acknowledgment in the credits. (Ellison later said the trouble could have been avoided if Cameron had come to him first and offered a screen credit in the movie, which he would have offered for free).

In the first film ('''''The Terminator'''''), two men emerge naked from two separate electrical storms in Los Angeles and quickly go out to find supplies. One stays low and out of sight to avoid the police and other authorities. The other picks up a phone book so he can find women named Sarah Connor...so he can kill them. When a young diner waitress also named Sarah Connor hears that two people with her name have been killed within the last few days, she begins to worry that the killer will come for her next. While the killer murders two people in Sarah's home in an effort to find her, Sarah hides in a nightclub; when the killer catches up with her there, she ends up rescued by the first individual, Kyle Reese, who explains the {{backstory}} to Sarah after escaping from the killer: [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in the near future]], the United States government will create [=SkyNet=], an artificial intelligence [[AIIsACrapshoot that will promptly]] [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turn against its masters]] and attempt to KillAllHumans in a cataclysmic event that will become known as [[FauxSymbolism Judgment Day]]. Mankind will eventually defeat [=SkyNet=], but at the last minute, [=SkyNet=] will send a T-800 Model Terminator -- an [[KillerRobot android assassin]] wrapped in human flesh to give it the appearance of a human -- [[TimeTravel back in time]] to kill Sarah and prevent the birth of her son John (who will become the leader of the [[LaResistance human resistance]]). John will respond by sending Reese into the past to [[WaybackTrip protect his mother and the timeline]]. After several dramatic battles and a HeroicSacrifice from Reese, Sarah destroys the Terminator in an [[NoOSHACompliance industrial factory]] -- but not before Sarah sleeps with Reese [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy and conceives John Connor]] (which means John causes his own birth and creates a StableTimeLoop).

In the second film ('''''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'''''), [=SkyNet=] sends a more advanced Terminator -- the [[NighInvulnerability nigh-invulnerable]], [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]] T-1000 Model -- to the past. In response, John Connor sends back a T-800 Model Terminator that he has reprogrammed to protect his past self. Both Terminators arrive at a time when a ten-year-old John lives with foster parents and Sarah sits in an asylum after an attempt to blow up a computer factory. The T-1000 kills anyone it chooses to replicate, and when John figures out the T-1000 will attempt to replicate Sarah, he forces the T-800 to rescue his mother. After being freed, Sarah -- now an ActionGirl after [[TookALevelInBadass years of preparing for Judgment Day and beyond]] -- learns details of [=SkyNet=]'s history from the T-800 and attempts to assassinate Miles Dyson, the man who will go on to create [=SkyNet=]. Sarah eventually falters before she can pull the trigger, and after John and the T-800 arrive, the trio pumps Dyson for information. They learn that Cyberdyne -- the company Dyson works for and (as revealed in a deleted scene from the first film) the owners of the factory where Sarah destroyed the T-800 -- will build [=SkyNet=] after it reverse-engineers technology from the components of the original T-800 (which makes [=SkyNet=] itself part of the StableTimeLoop). The Connors, the T-800, and Dyson infiltrate the Cyberdyne building, steal the T-800 remains, and destroy all of Dyson's research in an attempt to thwart the creation of [=SkyNet=]. The T-1000 eventually catches up to the group, and after a lengthy battle inside an industrial factory, the T-1000, the remains of the original T-800, and the reprogrammed T-800 end up dissolved in a vat of molten steel.

Soon after the release of ''Terminator 2'', Cameron lost the rights to the franchise (specifically in his divorce from LindaHamilton). The rights ended up shuffling around different studios and the franchise itself continued on in a number of different forms; this has created [[ContinuitySnarl some irreconcilable differences between the various continuations]]. These snarls can be ignored if you consider the latter two movies as non-canon or occurring in an [[ExpandedUniverse alternate universe]]. Support for this interpretation exists: Cameron stated after ''Terminator 2'' that he had said everything he wanted to say with those two movies, and the in-universe timeline degradation in ''Salvation'' (as noted below) speaks to the same idea.

The continuations of the franchise post-''Terminator 2'' run as follows:

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* In '''''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines''''', the Connors seem to have prevented [=SkyNet=]'s takeover -- the date Reese cited for Judgment Day has come and gone -- and John lives off the grid to make sure no one, including Terminators, can track him down. Another shapeshifting Terminator, a T-X Model with a female appearance, shows up out of the blue -- as does a T-850 Model Terminator (functionally similar to the T-800, but powered by [[MadeOfExplodium hydrogen fuel-cells which explode if ruptured]]) reprogrammed to protect John Connor. John, who resents everything about what his late mother Sarah told him about the future and raised him to become, eventually returns to the fight alongside his wife-to-be, Kate Brewster, and the T-850. After he narrowly fails to prevent the activation of [=SkyNet=], John decides to destroy the AI's computer core before it can initiate Judgment Day. The head of the [=SkyNet=] project, Kate's father, gives John and Kate the address and entrance codes for a military bunker that he calls their "only hope". After a final battle with the T-X and a sacrifice from the T-850, the couple manages to enter the bunker -- but they discover a nuclear fallout shelter instead of a computer core. [=SkyNet=] -- a piece of software, not hardware -- can run on any computer network; [[YouAreTooLate by the time the Connors reached the bunker, nobody could have stopped it]]. The Connors had deferred, not prevented, Judgment Day -- and after the initial strike, John and Kate to use the communications nexus in the bunker to coordinate the emerging human resistance. As the film ends, [=SkyNet=] launches its takeover and annihilates every major world government with a tactical nuclear strike.
* '''''Terminator Salvation''''' takes place during the war with the machines and shares no ties to ''TheSarahConnorChronicles''; while it references both ''Terminator 2'' and ''3'', it keeps those references vague (the first film holds more importance to ''Salvation's'' central themes than the other two films). ''Salvation'' forgoes the idea of time travel in favor of a [[GenreShift sci-fi war]] slant on the franchise. While John Connor is a highly respected officer he is not the leader, as several more prominent faction leaders question the claims that he will become [[TheChosenOne the savior of mankind]]. John sets out to end the war as fast as possible (and locate a young Kyle Reese), but his quest reveals an awful truth: the StableTimeLoop has begun to break apart. [=SkyNet=]'s forces have shown sophistication and progress far ahead of schedule, and numerous other changes Connor never accounted for have thrown humanity's inevitable victory into question. One of these anomalies comes in the form of Marcus Wright, a criminal who reportedly died before the war began, but turned up on his own in the present; Wright's role in the movie works as an inverse of the series' central time-travel mechanic (as he comes from the past into the future instead of the other way around).

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* In '''''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines''''', the Connors appear to have prevented [=SkyNet=]'s takeover: the date Reese cited for Judgment Day has come and gone, and an adult John Connor lives off the grid to make sure no one (including Terminators) can track him down. Another shapeshifting Terminator, a T-X Model with a female appearance, shows up out of the blue to carry out a specific mission: kill John Connor and as many of his future Resistance lieutenants as possible. A T-850 Model Terminator (functionally similar to the T-800, but powered by [[MadeOfExplodium hydrogen fuel-cells which explode if ruptured]]), reprogrammed to protect John Connor, also shows up. John, who resents everything about what his late mother Sarah told him about the future and raised him to become, eventually returns to the fight alongside his wife-to-be, Kate Brewster, and the T-850. After he narrowly fails to prevent the activation of [=SkyNet=], John decides to destroy the AI's computer core before it can initiate Judgment Day. The head of the [=SkyNet=] project, Kate's father, gives John and Kate the address and entrance codes for a military bunker that he calls their "only hope". After a final battle with the T-X and a sacrifice from the T-850, the couple manages to enter the bunker...where they discover a nuclear fallout shelter instead of a computer core. The government developed [=SkyNet=] as a piece of '''software''' that can run on any computer network; [[YouAreTooLate by the time the Connors reached the bunker, nobody could have stopped SkyNet]]. The Connors had only deferred, not prevented, Judgment Day. After the initial nuclear strike, John and Kate to use the communications nexus in the bunker to coordinate the emerging human resistance. As the film ends, [=SkyNet=] launches its takeover and annihilates every major world government with a tactical nuclear strike.
* '''''Terminator: Salvation''''' takes place during the war with the machines and shares no ties to ''TheSarahConnorChronicles''; while it references both ''Terminator 2'' and ''3'', it keeps those references vague. (The first film holds more importance to ''Salvation's'' central themes than the other two films.) ''Salvation'' forgoes the idea of time travel in favor of a [[GenreShift sci-fi war]] slant on the franchise. While John Connor has become a highly respected officer within the human resistance movement, he has not yet risen to the role of leader, as several prominent faction leaders question the claims that he will become [[TheChosenOne the savior of mankind]]. John sets out to end the war as fast as possible (and locate a young Kyle Reese), but his quest reveals an awful truth: the StableTimeLoop has begun to break apart. [=SkyNet=]'s forces have shown sophistication and progress far ahead of schedule, and numerous other changes Connor never accounted for have thrown humanity's inevitable victory into question. One of these anomalies comes in the form of Marcus Wright, a criminal who reportedly died before the war began, but turned up on his own in the present. Wright's role in the movie works as an inverse of the series' central time-travel mechanic: rather than entering the past from the future, he comes from the past into the future.

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* In the original ending of ''Terminator 2'' (included as a bonus feature on most of its DVD and Blu-Ray releases), an elderly Sarah Connor watches John -- now a United States Senator -- and her granddaughter play on a playground similar to the one from her dreams of Judgment Day. This ending takes place in 2029, when humanity would have won the war that the Connors successfully averted; an intact, futuristic Washington D.C. sits in the background of the scene. James Cameron disliked the idea of a definite, deterministic wrap-up for a film centered around the idea of "there is no fate but what we make for ourselves" (and rather happy for such a bleak story). Sources disagree as to whether Cameron changed the ending because he had plans for a third ''Terminator'' movie. Given how he [[ExecutiveMeddling lost the rights]], it's impossible to tell.
* After the second film, but before any other films and television series became a reality, the series continued through a small number of comics that depicted [[AfterTheEnd the future after Judgment Day]] and through a trilogy of novels: "T2: Infiltration", "T2: Rising Storm" and "T2: The Future War". The comics produced ran with the idea that [=SkyNet=] sent more than two Terminators back; the T-800 and the T-1000 became the ''last'' two it sent back. [=SkyNet=] sent dozens before its eventual defeat, but since it didn't have the "time bubble" technology until later, most of these Terminators [[AndIMustScream wound up entombed in buildings and machinery]], while others barely remembered their orders when they arrived in the past.
* '''''T2 3-D: Battle Across Time''''', a Universal Studies attraction also created before the other films and television series, combined a live show and a 3-D movie; the plot involves Sarah and John Connor, [[ExcusePlot for no given reason]], trying to prevent the apocalypse again. A T-800 shows up and takes John back to the future with him (somehow), and the duo makes their way past robots like the Hunter-Killers as they break into Skynet and fight the T-1000000, a [[GiantSpider giant liquid-metal spider]] Terminator. John eventually returns to the present while the T-800 stays behind to self destruct and destroy Skynet's core.

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* In the original ending of ''Terminator 2'' (included as a bonus feature on most of its DVD and Blu-Ray releases), an elderly Sarah Connor watches John -- now a United States Senator -- and her granddaughter play on a playground similar to the one from her dreams of Judgment Day. This ending takes place in 2029, when humanity would have won the war that the Connors successfully averted. An intact, futuristic Washington D.C. sits in the background of the scene.
** James Cameron disliked the idea of a definite, deterministic wrap-up for a film centered around the idea of "there is no fate but what we make for ourselves" (and a happy ending for a rather bleak story). Sources disagree as to whether Cameron changed the ending because he had plans for a third ''Terminator'' movie. Given how he [[ExecutiveMeddling lost the rights]], we may never know for sure.
* After the second film, but before any other films and television series became a reality, the series continued through a small number of comics that depicted [[AfterTheEnd the future after Judgment Day]], as well as a trilogy of novels ("T2: Infiltration", "T2: Rising Storm" and "T2: The Future War"). The comics ran with the idea of the T-800 and the T-1000 as the ''last'' two Terminators that [=SkyNet=] sent back after having sent dozens more before its eventual defeat; since it didn't have the "time bubble" technology until later, most of these Terminators [[AndIMustScream wound up entombed in buildings and machinery]], while others barely remembered their orders when they arrived in the past.
* '''''T2 3-D: Battle Across Time''''', a Universal Studies attraction also created before the other films and television series, combined a live-action show and a 3-D movie; the plot involves Sarah and John Connor, [[ExcusePlot for no given reason]], trying to prevent the apocalypse again. A T-800 shows up and takes John back to the future with him (somehow), and the duo makes their way past robots like the Hunter-Killers as they break into Skynet and fight the T-1000000, a [[GiantSpider giant liquid-metal spider]] Terminator. John eventually returns to the present while the T-800 stays behind to self destruct and destroy [=SkyNet=]'s core.

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10th May '13 4:33:23 PM AntMan

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9th May '13 10:33:14 PM PragmaticPolymath

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2nd May '13 8:39:03 PM PragmaticPolymath

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1st May '13 5:16:32 PM petrus4

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1st May '13 12:02:21 PM PragmaticPolymath

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1st May '13 11:33:48 AM PragmaticPolymath

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**It does help that the T800 Resistance Infiltration Prototype that they fight against, is made from Hyperalloy, the trademark alloy that the T800s+ are made from. It's also equipped with what we can presume are more refined hydraulics and actuators to give it strength and performance in excess of what the T600s could muster. The T600s, are made from Titanium and possibly some steel and ceramics. They also don't have the latest and greatest series of components that the T800s have. While titanium composites are pretty damn tough, compared to Hyperalloy, not so much. It also doesn't help that the T600s we see, have been out and about for God knows how long, subjected to the elements, to wear and tear and to the eventual corrosion that they'd be subjected to. Heck, if you look at a lot of them, and from what is mentioned in the scripts and novels, the rubber skin they're covered with, is caked in grime, bacteria and who knows what else. The first T600 Marcus meets sounds like it needs a full work done on its joints and the rubber skin it's covered with, along with what remains of the rags it was equipped with, look like they've been scorched by fire and subjected to advanced weathering and damage. Top of the line they're not.

1st May '13 11:23:55 AM PragmaticPolymath

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