History Trivia / Terminator

** First movie: Hemdale (theatrical distribution by Orion)
** Second movie: Carolco ([[Creator/{{Sony}} TriStar]] distribution)

** This also led to the first two being released in home video by a plethora of companies.

Works in this series with their own Trivia pages:

* TheOtherDarrin: John Connor has been portrayed by [[http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/John_Connor#Behind_the_scenes numerous actors]]; with 7 actors playing him in 4 movies and a TV show. Sarah Connor was recast for the T:SCC series as well, with Lena Heady taking the iconic role from Linda Hamilton and ironically sharing the same initials.

** There is a company called Cyberdyne that is working on exoskeletons. Based in Japan. The version it's getting the most attention for is called the HAL 5. Anyone else see the three problems with this?
*** Yeah, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint none of their projects involve AI]]. Although, apparently the Cyberdyne name isn't meant to be a reference (They work in Cybernetics, and dyne is a suffix meaning power. Doesn't explain the HAL 5's name, though)

* DyeingForYourArt: Linda Hamilton got ''ripped'' for the second movie, to emphasize the [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass that Sarah Connor took]].
** Arnold also had to get back into bodybuilder-level shape to play the T-850 in the third one.

** Sixth movie: Same production as the 5th film, but with the help of James Cameron's
Lightstorm Entertainment (Paramount distribution in the US, Fox/Disney worldwide)
*** This also leads to the first two being released in home video by a plethora of companies.

* {{Defictionalization}}: Of a very scary sort. The British Ministry of Defence actually operates a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_%28satellites%29 satellite network]] used to coordinate unmanned vehicles - including "Hunter Killer drones" - called [=SkyNet=].

** If parts of T4 gave you nightmares then just skip [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZJslSbsLOU this link]]. At least there's no... teeth

** Sixth movie: Same production as the 5th film (Paramount distribution in the US, Disney worldwide)

** News 4 in Tucson, Arizona has a weather, traffic, and safety observation network called Skynet: [[http://www.kvoa.com/news/introducing-news-4-tucson-skynet/]] They have billboards for it all over the city and it's a bit unsettling. (Especially when in the Sarah Connor chronicles series the Los Angles traffic system was originally destined to be the "nervous system" of Skynet.)

* RealitySubtext: Remember the orderly that Sarah brutalizes during her breakout? The one who beat her so she could be restrained? The actor kept pulling that blow too much, and Linda Hamilton badly bruised her knees on the hard floor with each take. She took out her frustration on the poor guy. Also EnforcedMethodActing.

* WordOfSaintPaul: The novelizations of the first two films were written by a close personal friend of James Cameron, who had also contributed rough ideas to the concept. Some of the details revealed in the novels are confirmed true in later films, in creator interviews, or in other works--for example, the series of Terminator that is after Sarah. It is never called a T-800 in ''any'' film, but the novel refers to it as a Series 800.

* TheProductionCurse: More legally cursed than anything. See the ChannelHop trope above? That occurred because the production companies (and a couple of the distributors) kept folding [[SequelGap before the next sequel could be made]]. We'll see if Skydance can stay in business long enough to get a ''Genisys'' sequel out the door.

* SequelGap: 7, 12, 6, and another 6 years between installments. If one wants to count [[Ride/Terminator23DBattleAcrossTime T2 3-D]] as a formal entry, it becomes an eerily regular 7, 5, 7, 6, 6. So, see you in 2020?

* ''Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles''

** James Cameron was contractually obligated to give ''T2'' to Orion to option, but the filmmaker's asking price was so high that the studio had no choice but to pass. It is a fact that Cameron, Schwarzenegger, and producer Gale Anne Hurd despised Orion's treatment on the first film (although it was a hit), that the high asking price was deliberate so they wouldn't have to work with the studio again. If the situation was different, Orion might have released both films.

** Fifth movie: Annapurna Pictures\Skydance Productions (Paramount distribution)

*** Yeah, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint none of their projects involve AI]]. Although, apparently the Cyberdyne name isn't meant to be a reference (They work in CYBERnetics, and dyne is a suffix meaning power. Doesn't explain the HAL 5's name, though)

* TheProductionCurse: More legally cursed than anything. See the ChannelHop trope above? That occurred because the production companies (and a couple of the distributors) kept folding [[SequelGap before the next sequel could be made]]. We'll see if SkyDance can stay in business long enough to get a ''Genisys'' sequel out the door.

* ChannelHop: Each movie has gone through this.

** Second movie: Carolco ([[Creator/{{Sony}} TriStar]])
** Third movie: C2, a Carolco SpiritualSuccessor.
** Fourth movie: Halcyon (along with the 3rd film had Warner in the US, Columbia worldwide)
** Fifth movie: Annapurna Pictures\Skydance Productions (Paramount)

* SequelGap: 7, 12, 6, and another 6 years between installments.

** Second movie: Carolco ([[{{Sony}} TriStar]])

* ''Trivia/Terminator23DBattleAcrossTime''

* ''Trivia/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''

* ''Trivia/Terminator23DBattleAcross Time''

!!''Terminator 2 3-D: Battle Across Time''

* ActorAllusion: Apart from the obligatory ''T2'' references, most of the Terminator's one-liners are references to other movies. For example, when holding a shrieking mini-hunter, he says "[[Film/KindergartenCop Stop whining!]]"
* DoingItForTheArt: In the behind-the-scenes documentary, Cameron goes to great lengths about how he is essentially treating the attraction as a third Terminator movie.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Some of you may recognize the narrator of the pre-show video as [[WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado Cortes]], and less likely, as [[Franchise/{{Bionicle}} Ackar]] and [[JimmyNeutron the mayor of Retroville]].
* TheOtherDarrin: Kimberley Duncan is played by different actors from show to show, and each one has a different take. For example, one acts a lot like an ExcitedKidsShowHost, another tends to say "Super!" a lot.

!!''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines''

* DawsonCasting: Nick Stahl was actually 23 when playing 19-year-old John.
* HeyItsThatGuy:
** [[ClaireDanes Juliet]] [[WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet Capulet]] is Kate Brewster
** [[Film/{{Bully}} Bobby Kent]] is John Connor
* TheOtherMarty: Sophia Bush of ''OneTreeHill'' fame was originally cast as Kate Brewster but was replaced by Claire Danes a week later as Jonathan Mostow felt that she was too young for the role.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** In early drafts, Sarah Connor was alive and John was working as a computer programmer.
** Linda Hamilton was offered to reprise her role as Sarah, but declined after reading the script, in which Sarah is killed halfway.
** Creator/{{James Cameron}} was expected to direct the film during the mid 1990s but due to Carolco's bankruptcy in 1995, he lost interest in the franchise and focused on doing ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' instead.
** T-X was originally androgynous. In fact, both male and female actors were offered for the role, such as Creator/{{Vin Diesel}}, Creator/{{Carrie Anne Moss}}, [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Jeri Ryan]], Creator/{{Famke Janssen}}, Shaquille O'Neal, [[Series/LaFemmeNikita Peta Wilson]], Wrestling/{{Chyna}} and Lucia Rijker.

** T-X was originally androgynous. In fact, both male and female actors were offered for the role, such as Creator/{{Vin Diesel}}, Creator/{{Carrie-Anne Moss}}, [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Jeri Ryan]], Creator/{{Famke Janssen}}, Shaquille O'Neal, [[Series/LaFemmeNikita Peta Wilson]], Wrestling/{{Chyna}} and Lucia Rijker.

** T-X was originally androgynous. In fact, both male and female actors were offered for the role, such as Creator/{{Vin Diesel}}, Creator/{{CarrieAnneMoss}}, [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Jeri Ryan]], Creator/{{Famke Janssen}}, Shaquille O'Neal, [[Series/LaFemmeNikita Peta Wilson]], Wrestling/{{Chyna}} and Lucia Rijker.

** JamesCameron was expected to direct the film during the mid 1990s but due to Carolco's bankruptcy in 1995, he lost interest in the franchise and focused on doing ''Film/Titanic'' instead.
** T-X was originally androgynous. In fact, both male and female actors were offered for the role, such as VinDiesel, CarrieAnneMoss, [[StarTrekVoyager Jeri Ryan]], FamkeJanssen, Shaquille O'Neal, [[LaFemmeNikita Peta Wilson]], Wrestling/{{Chyna}} and Lucia Rijker.

** [[Film/Bully Bobby Kent]] is John Connor

** T-X was originally androgynous. In fact, both male and female actors were offered for the role, such as VinDiesel, CarrieAnneMoss, [[StarTrekVoyager Jeri Ryan]], FamkeJanssen, Shaquille O'Neal, [[LaFemmeNikita Peta Wilson]], Wrestling/Chyna and Lucia Rijker.

** [[TheManWithoutAFace Chuck Nordstadt]] is John Connor
* TheOtherDarrin: Nick Stahl replaces Edward Furlong as John Connor.

** LindaHamilton was offered to reprise her role as Sarah, but declined after reading the script, in which Sarah is killed halfway.

** T-X was originally androgynous. In fact, both male and female actors were offered for the role, such as VinDiesel, CarrieAnneMoss, [[StarTrekVoyager Jeri Ryan]], FamkeJanssen, ShaquilleONeal, [[LaFemmeNikita Peta Wilson]], Wrestling/Chyna and Lucia Rijker.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: BillyIdol was originally slated to play the T-1000, but a serious motorcycle accident in 1990 left him incapacitated and unable to work. James Cameron also considered casting Michael Biehn, who played Kyle Reese in the first film, as the T-1000, and would've wrote around it by saying that Skynet managed to get Kyle's DNA and used it for the T-1000, but the idea was binned when he thought audiences would get confused by this.