# Terminator 2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398 "2010-10-17T02:49:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/41 "2010-10-19T03:17:47Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Didn’t he have to have physical contact with someone first, before he could morph into said person? Yes. (from IMDB) John Connor: I need a minute here. You’re telling me that this thing can imitate anything it touches? The Terminator: Anything it samples by physical contact. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/42 "2010-10-19T03:38:39Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > True, but they didn’t reset the switch in his head so he could learn why humans cry. Sarah did it as a ruse to pull his plug for good. “Why do you cry” came about after they reset the switch; Arnold would never have thought to ask the question at OEM default settings. > > Interesting that Jeanette Goldstein was in this film, Michael Bein was in the first Terminator film, as were both Lance Henricksen and Bill Paxton, all of whom James Cameron also used in Aliens. And he used Goldstein and Paxton in “Titanic”. In these 3, Ms. Goldstein portrayed 3 different ethnicities: American (T2), Hispanic (A2), and Irish (Titanic). ---
**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:** [October 19, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/43 "2010-10-19T03:41:37Z")
Just watched the opening scenes again. When the T-1000 arrives, a cop is driving by and stops to investigate the lightning. This cop is definitely NOT played by the [T1000 actor Robert Patrick](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001598/). As he’s looking at a circular hole in a fence, a naked Robert Patrick comes up behind him and hits him in the abdomen. He bends down over the maybe unconscious, but given what we later find out probably dead, cop, and in the next scene is walking to the police car in a police uniform. The next few scenes are of Arnie & the T1000 each trying to find John Connor - the T1000 by talking to his foster parents. They both track him down at a mall, and right up until the shooting starts, you’d really think the T1000 is actually the human sent to protect him from Arnie. So the default face he uses most of the movie is the one he actually arrived with, unless it was a homeless guy he killed in the few minutes before the cop showed up. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/44 "2010-10-19T03:44:05Z")
Interesting that he copied the cop’s clothes only. I would have bet money that his Robert Patrick-ness was copied from the cop as well. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/45 "2010-10-19T22:18:12Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > The state of computer graphics at that time could not produce a photo-realistic helicopter going under a bridge - the silvery T-1000 was the state of the art. Actually, the most impressive bit was the morph from the floor tiles to the security guard. > > Anyway, if Cameron wanted a helicopter to fly under a bridge at that time, they had to actually do it. Well, they couldn’t have done it in CGI, but they could’ve used miniatures or some other old school technique, but it probably wouldn’t have looked as good. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/46 "2010-10-19T22:55:53Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > There is certainly some shape it could shapeshift into (robot cheetah?) that would make it much faster than a sprinting human, but it doesn’t. Ignoring the “he never touches a cheetah” aspect, a cheetah runs faster than a person because of specialized muscles. Given the liquid nature of the T-1000, I’d guess that he could reach top speed in practically any form and turning into a cat, horse, antelope or whatever wouldn’t make him any faster. He does do a decent job to trying to catch up with the car in the one scene. Gets his “hand” blown off for his trouble but he _does_ catch the car. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/47 "2010-10-20T00:02:36Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Interesting that he copied the cop’s clothes only. I would have bet money that his Robert Patrick-ness was copied from the cop as well. Like the man said, I think the idea was for an audience to mistakenly figure this guy is the next best thing to Kyle Reese: another resourceful and cunning resistance fighter sent back to use the minimum required amount of force to accomplish his mission, someone who shows up naked but promptly acquires weapons and clothing while dispatching any obstacles in his way as he moves to intercept the Terminator tasked with murdering the legendary Connor – who our hero is sensibly desperate to locate and protect, by any means necessary. Seeing a nude Robert Patrick swiftly overpower that cop and then ask all the right questions while wearing a sidearm when dressed like a policeman – man, that fits. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/48 "2010-10-20T01:07:07Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > Another point that I noticed: being unable to learn from his experiences until they manually reset the switch in his head is a minor plot point, It’s not a plot point in the theatrical release; that sequence, filmed with Linda Hamilton’s twin sister, is a deleted scene. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/49 "2010-10-20T02:03:53Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Ignoring the “he never touches a cheetah” aspect, a cheetah runs faster than a person because of specialized muscles. Given the liquid nature of the T-1000, I’d guess that he could reach top speed in practically any form and turning into a cat, horse, antelope or whatever wouldn’t make him any faster. He does do a decent job to trying to catch up with the car in the one scene. Gets his “hand” blown off for his trouble but he _does_ catch the car. The “never touches a cheetah” part is irrelevant. We know he’s able to form himself into simple non-human shapes likes blades and grabby-crowbar bits. I’m not saying to become an actual cheetah, I’m saying to shape himself into some physical shape other than bipedal human in which whatever “muscle force” he’s able to generate produces maximum forward velocity on the ground. Which is why I’m thinking a long-legged quadraped of some sort. This is where the prototype-ness comes in. If Skynet had time to fully develop the project, the T-1000 would have a ton of pre-programmed shapes in its arsenal (super-fast-runner, super-wall-crawling-climber, etc.) that it would change into when speed or climbing was important, as opposed to camouflage and appearing human. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/50 "2010-10-20T03:37:19Z")
> [@PeskiPiksi](#): > > Michael Biehn was in _The Abyss_. Sigourney Weaver in _Aliens_ and\* Avatar\*. Arnie in _True Lies_. I’m sure I’m missing some. Bill Paxton was also in _True Lies_. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/51 "2010-10-20T13:38:39Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Well, I’m going to weasel my way out of this by pointing out that the timeline changes from movie to movie and I specifically mentioned the T2 timeline. 😛 From your point of view…I don’t know tech stuff. > [@PSXer](#): > > Why does he need to pass for human? Part of the problem is that nobody believes Terminators are real, because they look just like humans. Part of the problem is also that the human the T-800 looks like is the other T-800 who is wanted for wiping out a police station in the first movie. But the reason is that Sarah, John and Uncle Bob are trying to blend in and hide from the T-1000. If they are walking around with some sort of obvious half-man half machine cyborg from the future or at the very least, what looks like a bloody mess of a guy who was shot sixteen times, it is going to attract unwanted attention, possibly drawing them into a conflict with the police (where Sarah or John could be killed or injured). The more attention they attract, the more likely the T-1000 will be able to acquire them. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/52 "2010-10-20T13:42:51Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > **Joe** , in the future of the T2 timeline the terminators don’t have flesh. We see that from the flashback at the beginning of the film. Arnold’s character has flesh for 3 reasons: > > 1.) It’s a movie and it was easier to just hire an actor than try to film a movie with a realistic android. > 2.) So that he can blend in. > 3.) You can’t send things back in time unless they’re wrapped in organic material. Don’t ask me to explain the liquid metal terminator. Some terminators are flesh covered. The terminators in the future war scene don’t have flesh because they aren’t infiltration units. They are just regular old infantry models. Doesn’t make sense to cover your endoskeletons with flesh if they are just going to go wading into shrapnel and 40 watt phased plasma rifle fire. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/53 "2010-10-20T15:14:31Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > The T-X, being a later model had more options. > > You have just killed a police officer! Would you like to: > > 1. Assume his identity > 2. Take his weapon and vehicle > 3. Search the LAPD database > 4. Remote control his vehicle > 5. Deflate your breasts back to normal size Considering every computer programmer I have ever met in my life, I seriously doubt that option 5 would ever even be considered. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/54 "2010-10-20T16:29:30Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Doesn’t make sense to cover your endoskeletons with flesh if they are just going to go wading into shrapnel and 40 watt phased plasma rifle fire. On the other hand, it would bring new meaning to the phrase “meat shield”. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/55 "2010-10-20T17:26:54Z")
Bill Paxton, Jeannette Goldstein, and Lance Henriksen were also all in Near Dark. So Goldstein has played four ethnicities: American, Hispanic, Irish, and vampire. Also, Bill Paxton is the only person to have been killed by an Alien, a Predator, and a Terminator. (Lance Henriksen might also be included if he was in the police station during Arnie’s rampage and can be considered “killed” in Aliens.) ---
**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:** [October 20, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/56 "2010-10-20T17:38:55Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Bill Paxton, Jeannette Goldstein, and Lance Henriksen were also all in Near Dark. So Goldstein has played four ethnicities: American, Hispanic, Irish, and vampire. > > Also, Bill Paxton is the only person to have been killed by an Alien, a Predator, and a Terminator. (Lance Henriksen might also be included if he was in the police station during Arnie’s rampage and can be considered “killed” in Aliens.) Lance Henriksen was absolutely shot by Arnie in Terminator. He jumps out in the hallway, yells “Hey!” and shoots Arnie. Arnie calmly turns around, and shoots both his rifle and shotgun at Henriksen. We don’t see him collapse, but there’s no chance Arnie missed. So unless he avoided bleeding to death until the EMTs arrived, he’s dead as Dillinger. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/57 "2010-10-20T17:42:17Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Also, Bill Paxton is the only person to have been killed by an Alien, a Predator, and a Terminator. (Lance Henriksen might also be included if he was in the police station during Arnie’s rampage and can be considered “killed” in Aliens.) Definitely killed in Terminator, more like grievously injured and asking to be euthanized in Alien 3. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/58 "2010-10-20T18:29:04Z")
He was a robot. Would a robot ask to be euthanized? Could you even call him injured, or would “damaged” be a better term? ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/59 "2010-10-20T19:30:26Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Considering every computer programmer I have ever met in my life, I seriously doubt that option 5 would ever even be considered. 🙂 You’ve never met a female programmer? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398/60 "2010-10-20T21:01:36Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > He was a robot. He prefers the term “artificial person”. Well, preferred. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminator-2/557398.md?page=4)