# How Would You Fight A Terminator **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093 "2009-04-14T17:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/81 "2009-04-16T17:54:28Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Skeletons can’t walk through jail bars, That’s what the plasma cannon’s for. > [@](#): > > ooze through small openings, Plasma cannon. > [@](#): > > or impersonate non-human objects. Er… plasma cannon? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/82 "2009-04-16T18:40:06Z")
> [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](#): > > As an aside, what’s the explanation for how T1000 was powered? Once a day, it had to morph into a fat-legged girl wearing corduroys in order to generate a sufficient amount of static electricity. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/83 "2009-04-16T18:41:14Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > That’s what the plasma cannon’s for. > Plasma cannon. > Er… plasma cannon? Hey, just what you see pal. Since we’re onto the mimetic abilities of the T-1000, did anyone else think it was a copout that they used twin actors for the movie? Both times you see the T-1000 and the person being mimicked on screen at once, it’s twins, not special effects. I wonder if they planned that going into the movie, or just decided that since the primary actor (Linda Hamilton) already had a twin, they’d just make life easier and use twins (Don & Dan Stanton) as the guards at the hospital. That casting session must have been fun. “One of you gets 3 minutes of screen time and several lines. The other gets only 30 seconds of screen time and no lines. But you get to stab your brother in the eye.” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/84 "2009-04-16T19:00:58Z")
> [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](#): > > I seem to recall that was implied in the movie as well. Wasn’t T1000 having problems with its mimic abilities after the freeze / thaw incident? I got the impression that if you pounded on it often enough, eventually it would malfunction. It stands to reason that if a T-1000 is made from billions of nano-scale components, individual components could become damaged from impact, thermal and chemical damage. Enough of those little nano-cells become damaged and useless, it may start to degrage the performance. But I don’t think shooting it a bunch of times or even hitting it with a grenade would do more than just discombobulate it for a few minutes. [Getting frozen seemed to screw up it’s systems for awhile, but after a few minutes it seemed none the worse for wear.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWz8AeB9nnc) ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/85 "2009-04-16T19:52:43Z")
turn off the ominous theme music in the background. that’s your only chance…seriously ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/86 "2009-04-16T19:57:04Z")
I think of them as a more sentient, metal-based version of a dog-vomit slime mold. The mold is made of tiny single-celled organisms which work together to move across the ground. Then when reach their goal - a dry sunny spot - they morph into the reproductive phase of their existence, the spore-bearing fruiting bodies. So, the individual “cells” can decide whether to increase or decrease their magnetic properties in order of strength to dissipate, liquidize, or solidify. Magnetic manipulation could also then allow the cooperating shards to begin rolling toward each other. (Not by sensing and aiming, but by attraction.) EMP would work only on the outermost layer, as the inner layer would be protected by the electrical conduction of the outer layer. So what we need is a tri-pulse weapon, EMP, freeze, shatter, repeat. Compined with a Ghost-Busters style magnetic collection trap containing a highly oxidative substance (Two good candidates named above.) Pulse, freeze, shatter, collect/oxidate and peel it like an onion until it’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/87 "2009-04-16T20:04:04Z")
What would relaly be fun is to re-program it. I picture the prgrmaming as a ROM coded DNA in each nano-cell. Could we come up with a bullet containing virus like compenents which would insert new programming, and be hardened to, say a certain degree of freezing beyond which the T-1000 would be incapacitated? Shoot, freeze, wait for friendly robot to thaw and awaken? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/88 "2009-04-16T20:11:56Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Since we’re onto the mimetic abilities of the T-1000, did anyone else think it was a copout that they used twin actors for the movie? Both times you see the T-1000 and the person being mimicked on screen at once, it’s twins, not special effects. I wonder if they planned that going into the movie, or just decided that since the primary actor (Linda Hamilton) already had a twin, they’d just make life easier and use twins (Don & Dan Stanton) as the guards at the hospital. The best special effects are the ones that make the scene work, not the one that creates the most jobs for digital effects guys. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/89 "2009-04-16T22:48:58Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > That’s what the plasma cannon’s for. Didn’t the plasma cannon get broken pretty early in that movie? Also, for all those targeting screens, she was a terrible shot with it. Probably couldn’t have shot her way out of a room… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/90 "2009-04-16T23:15:27Z")
I’d try and use some thermite, or get an oxygen lance. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/91 "2009-04-16T23:29:38Z")
Create a logical contradiction loop, that always work with advanced intelligence. Something like, “Could God microwave a burrito so hot that even he couldn’t eat it?” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093/92 "2009-04-16T23:32:49Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Create a logical contradiction loop, that always work with advanced intelligence. Something like, “Could God microwave a burrito so hot that even he couldn’t eat it?” Yes, but then he’d eat it anyway. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-fight-a-terminator/493093.md?page=4)