Line #4 Trivia/Terminator


1	!!Works in this series with their own Trivia pages:
2	[[index]]
3	* ''Trivia/TheTerminator''
4	* ''Trivia/Terminator2JudgmentDay''
5	* ''Trivia/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines''
6	* ''Trivia/TerminatorSalvation''
7	* ''Trivia/TerminatorGenisys''
8	* ''Trivia/TerminatorDarkFate''
9	* ''Trivia/Terminator23DBattleAcrossTime''
10	* ''Trivia/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''
11	[[/index]]
12	----
13	!!The film series in general
14	* BillingDisplacement: The Terminator is never the main character [[VillainBasedFranchise in a way]], but Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger always gets top billing.
15	* ChannelHop: '''Each movie''' has gone through this (see FranchiseOwnershipAcquisition and TheProductionCurse as to why).
16	** Creator/WarnerBros released the collection of all the movies for what its worth noting.
17	* {{Defictionalization}}:
18	** 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=].
19	** The US Air Force has a unit readiness tracking system called, I shit you not, ''[=SkyNet=]''. During exercises, announcements come over the loudspeakers for group commanders to "update numbers in [=SkyNet=]".
20	** 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. Also, none of their projects involve AI. Although the Cyberdyne name isn't meant to be a reference, as they work in Cybernetics, and dyne is a suffix meaning power. Doesn't explain the HAL 5's name, though.
21	*** HAL is an [[FunWithAcronyms acronym]]. It stands for "Hybrid Assistive Limb".
22	** If parts of ''Salvation'' gave you nightmares then just skip [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZJslSbsLOU this link]]. At least there's no... teeth.
23	** News 4 in Tucson, Arizona has a weather, traffic, and safety observation network called [[http://www.kvoa.com/news/introducing-news-4-tucson-skynet/ Skynet]]. They have billboards for it all over the city and it's a bit unsettling. Especially when in ''The Sarah Connor Chronicles'' the Los Angles traffic system was originally destined to be the "nervous system" of Skynet.
24	* DevelopmentHell: All installments past the second. Leading to both SequelGap and ChannelHop.
25	* 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.
26	* FranchiseOwnershipAcquisition: The ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series of films have jumped from one company to another, mainly to the majority of these companies going bankrupt:
27	** ''Film/TheTerminator'': Hemdale (theatrical distribution by Creator/OrionPictures, television distribution by Carolco)
28	** ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'': Carolco (theatrical distribution by Creator/TriStarPictures, television distribution by Worldvision)
29	** ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'': C2, a Carolco SpiritualSuccessor. (Creator/WarnerBros distribution in the US, Creator/ColumbiaPictures worldwide)
30	** ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'': Halcyon (same distribution as the previous film)
31	** ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'': Skydance Productions (Creator/{{Paramount}} distribution)
32	** ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'': Same production as the previous film, but with the help of James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment (Paramount distribution in the US, Creator/{{Disney}} via Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios worldwide)
33	** This also led to the first two being released in home video by a plethora of companies. The first film's distribution ended up being the wildest, going from Creator/{{HBO}} to Hemdale to Live (under license from Epic) to MGM.
34	** Creator/JamesCameron 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, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, and producer Gale Anne Hurd despised Orion's treatment on the first film so much (although it was a hit) that the high asking price has been perceived to have been deliberate so they wouldn't have to work with the studio again. If the situation was different, Orion might have released both films.
35	* FranchiseZombie: Although he would give some praise to the sequels here and there (mostly because he's friends with some people involved including actors), Creator/JamesCameron wanted the franchise to end with ''Judgment Day''. None of the myriad of producers who came to own the franchise thought much of this and sequels were produced. Three of them, ''Salvation'', ''Genisys'' and ''Dark Fate'' ended up {{stillborn franchise}}s with mostly diminishing returns in both critical reception and box office.
36	* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld: The rights at first were equally shared between James Cameron and the first film's co-writer/producer Gale Anne Hurd. By the second movie, Cameron's part was with Carolco, which went belly-up. The two producers who formed Carolco (and went on to form C2) purchased the Cameron share in the company's liquidation auction in 1998 and Hurd's share one year later. To prevent the eventual subversion of the trope, as once the first movie turned 35 the rights would revert to Cameron, the ''Genisys'' producers who currently own the franchise went to get his help for the sixth movie (although he only produce and helped create the story, as the ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' sequels kept him very busy). However, [[https://screenrant.com/studios-losing-rights-risk-die-hard-predator-beetlejuice/ Gale Anne Hurd’s filing of a copyright termination means the rights could potentially return to her and Cameron.]]
37	* TheOtherDarrin:
38	** 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.
39	** ''Salvation'' also has a new Kate Brewster and Kyle Reese; understandable and necessary in the latter case, since he's several years younger than in the original film.
40	** Then came ''Genisys'', which recasts Kyle, John and Sarah.
41	* 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]] (only Hemdale was lucky enough to be hanging around when its film's sequel was made, and even then they had no involvement in ''T2'' due to selling the IP rights to Carolco to settle ownership disputes).
42	* SequelGap: 7 years between the first two, 12 to the third, then 6 each to ''Salvation'' and then ''Genisys''.
43	* StarMakingRole: Arnold Schwarzenegger had already made ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', but this propelled him even further into stardom (marking even his first BilledAboveTheTitle role).
44	* 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 was only called a T-800 in ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' (the ''fifth'' movie, 21 years after the original!), but the novel refers to it as a Series 800.
45	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The third, fourth and fifth movies would've spawned direct follow-ups had the rights not skipped hands. ''Genisys'' in particular ends with a SequelHook and [[https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/terminator/46339/terminator-genisys-what-wouldve-happened-in-the-sequels plenty of loose ends]] that they hoped to solve in the never-made sequels.
46	** Interestingly, the three films themselves work as a loose trilogy, with the third and fourth movies continuing the story from the first two films, and then the fifth forming an alternate timeline and returning to the past.

Context Trivia / Terminator