# I watched The Terminator last night **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486 "2010-05-23T18:28:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/101 "2010-05-26T04:03:12Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Yes. The best by far. I’m not a fan of Jim Cameron, but the ingenuity and moviemaking skill he displayed in T1 (because of the shoestring budget) is considerable. I think it’s his best movie. He is ingenious. From his imdb entry: **“According to Cameron, he got his big break while doing pick-up shots for _Galaxy of Terror_ (1981) as 2nd unit director. He was shooting scenes of a dismembered arm teeming with maggots (actually mealworms). In order to make them move, he hooked up an AC power cord to the arm, and an unseen assistant would plug it in when the film was rolling. Two producers were strolling through, and when Cameron yelled ‘Action!’ the worms began to writhe on cue. When he yelled ‘Cut!’ the worms stopped. The producers were so amazed at his directing prowess that they began talking with him about bigger projects.”** ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/102 "2010-05-26T04:32:20Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Two producers were strolling through, and when Cameron yelled ‘Action!’ the worms began to writhe on cue. When he yelled ‘Cut!’ the worms stopped. The producers were so amazed at his directing prowess that they began talking with him about bigger projects."\*\* Holy crap, that’s highlarious. You can just imagine the two producers conversing: “Look, that director’s got such a commanding presence that he can even get great acting out of maggots!” “Wow, how can we best suck the blood from him?” ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/103 "2010-05-26T04:42:27Z")
Well, to be honest, Cameron has a knack for sucking the blood out of millions of mindless worms, so that point really can’t be argued. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/104 "2010-05-26T12:32:17Z")
Say what you like about James Cameron and his films, but he definitely has a knack with strong female leads. Think , T1, T2, Aliens, Titanic, Abyss. They are all on an equal footing at least with the most bad-ass of men. In fact, I recall a recent UK poll (though can’t find it now) on the greatest film action hero of all time, the winner? Ripley, and I heartily agree. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/105 "2010-05-26T14:13:44Z")
I love Arnold’s shopping spree at the gun store. Da 12 gauge auto-loader Da 45 long slide with laser sighting Phased plasma rifle in 40-watt range Hey, just what you see pal! Da Uuuzi 9mm. Sarah actually has the same mission as the Terminator in T2, to kill an innocent before he causes future harm. She becomes “The Bad Guy” or humanities savior. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/106 "2010-05-26T21:30:03Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Exactly - in the first movie, you have a scary unstoppable (almost) killing machine. So in the second movie, you have to have something that’s really scarier - not just have the movie _tell_ you it’s scarier, but have you the viewer understand how terrifying and unstoppable this thing really is. So let’s have it not be limited in structure at all? Let’s have it be uncrushable, un-blow-uppable, un-blockadeable? Okay, but how do you _convince_ me that it is? The effects are essential, but that doesn’t mean it’s a “look at the effects” movie. It’s a movie with a big idea that’s portrayed well through the effects, but not one where the effects eat the movie. The perfect melding of story and movie magic, IMHO. (Except that annoying teenager. He can go. The rest of the movie is classic.) They did such a good job that the Terminator in T3 feels like a regression. Sure, she gets to carry a gun around with her and control machines at distance, but the gun gets broken pretty quick, and she cant leak out of containment or hide in the floor and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/107 "2010-05-26T21:58:57Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > During the helicopter chase scene over the freeway, he has one hand on the cyclic, one hand on the collective, one hand shooting an mp5, and.. not sure what the fourth one is doing. That was deliberately obscured so the film could keep its R-rating. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/108 "2010-05-26T22:06:25Z")
Let’s just say the pilot had a “happy landing”. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/109 "2010-05-26T22:09:21Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > _Terminator 2_, IMO was awesome. It expanded on the story started in the first one, without ever fucking up it’s internal logic despite the fact that it involved time travel and was written long after the first one, which wasn’t written with a sequel in mind. Actually, there are deleted scenes on the DVD that imply they were setting up for the possibility of a sequel. Stuff that actually becomes important to the plot of T2, like Cyberdyne finding the remains of the T-800. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/110 "2010-05-26T22:10:07Z")
It hadn’t occurred to me before now, but the progression between T1 and T2 is a bit like the progression in zombie movies. In “old school” zombie movies, they are slow, even plodding, but absolutely untiring and relentless in their pursuit. New zombie movies tend to favor the kind that sprint at you at high speed. And, that’s pretty much what Robert Patrick looks like, when he fixes his stare on a Connor and starts running. T3 was okay, but the T-X is too human, in rather stupid ways. For example, the little pseudo-orgasmic gasp when she tastes/samples the blood and finds it to be John Connor’s. Or the frantic screaming as she’s about to be destroyed and lose her target. A machine ought not behave like that, and I can’t help but think that the T-X being “female” played a role in the decision to make it display more emotions. I saw T4 just last week, and while it was pretty stupid and disappointing, I have to give some grudging respect to McG for a few very long single-camera shots that had to be immensely technically challenging. Apart from that, though…let me just say that I can’t remember a movie that (this is true) I dozed off during, and had to back up and see what I’d missed, more often than T4. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/111 "2010-05-26T22:20:31Z")
It seemed to me that much of the plot of T4 was conflicting and illogical, but I didn’t care enough to go back and see if I missed stuff that would have filled in the gaps. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/112 "2010-05-26T23:06:51Z")
Don’t forget to watch the TV show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Such an amazing show that Fox canceled too soon. ☹ I actually saw the first season of the show before watching the movies. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/113 "2010-05-27T00:33:41Z")
> [@JCorre](#): > > This blew my mind. I’m usually good at spotting bit actors that I’ve seen in other films but I’ve seen T2 dozens of times and I never caught this and I don’t think I ever would. I probably learned that tidbit here, I might have stumbled upon it in IMDB (and Google Image 😉 ) searches for Goldstein, not sure, but she sure ain’t Vasquez in T2. I’m surprised nobody dinged me for “step mother” instead of “foster mother”. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/114 "2010-05-27T00:37:00Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > It seemed to me that much of the plot of T4 was conflicting and illogical, but I didn’t care enough to go back and see if I missed stuff that would have filled in the gaps. I saw it in a theatre in late September, right when presidential campaigns were at a high pitch. Every time I heard “This is John Conner…”, I had to fill in with “…and I approve this message”. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/115 "2010-05-27T00:40:26Z")
This thread inspired me to watch T2 again, and I did. It definitely holds up. It doesn’t look particularly dated (I mean, the cars and stuff - but in terms of special effects it’s just good). I don’t know how you can define the T-1000s abilities as a gimmick. I mean - it’s central to how the character works. It’s logical for the machines to make a weapon like that if they have the technology, his abilities make him a spectacularly good infiltrator. The movie uses his abilities not just to say “hey, look at these cool effects!” but to show what a machine with those abilities can do. Thematically, he needs to have some substantial advantage over the T-800 in order to create the tension. I’m also not quite as bothered by Arnold being a big softy in T2. I’d prefer he wasn’t, but in retrospect, most of the stuff he does that’s objectionable (not killing people, trying to fit in with humans with slang, etc.) are because he’s under direct orders to. His actions make him appear as though he’s less of a killer machine, but he’s really just following cold hard orders. The exception to this would be at the end when he tries to comfort John, but that can probably be justified by manipulating John into letting him complete his mission. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/116 "2010-05-27T05:08:22Z")
I just had to share this pic: [noparse][T-1001](http://hawtness.com/2010/05/26/wtf-girl-photos-t-1001/)[/noparse] ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/117 "2010-05-27T06:31:31Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > I was surprised that the same actress played Vasquez in Aliens and also John’s stepmom in T2. And the Irish Mother comforting her children in Titanic. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/118 "2010-05-27T06:37:10Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > And the Irish Mother comforting her children in Titanic. HOLY CRAP! I knew it was the same chick in Aliens/T2, but I completely overlooked the redhead in _Titanic_. I’ve seen all those movies a bunch of times. She was right under my nose the entire time. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/119 "2010-05-27T06:47:12Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > HOLY CRAP! > > I knew it was the same chick in Aliens/T2, but I completely overlooked the redhead in _Titanic_. I’ve seen all those movies a bunch of times. She was right under my nose the entire time. You’ve watched _Titanic_ a bunch of times? Were you a teenage girl when it came out? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486/120 "2010-05-27T07:06:35Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > You’ve watched _Titanic_ a bunch of times? > > Were you a teenage girl when it came out? 😛 :o [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-the-terminator-last-night/540486.md?page=7)