From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

The Terminator
The Terminator theatrical poster.
Directed by	James Cameron
Produced by	John Daly Derek Gibson Gale Anne Hurd
Written by	James Cameron Gale Anne Hurd
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Michael Biehn Linda Hamilton
Music by	Brad Fiedel
Cinematography	Adam Greenberg
Editing by	Mark Goldblatt
Distributed by	Orion Pictures (1984–1997) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1998–present)
Release date(s)	October 26, 1984
Running time	108 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$6.5 million
Followed by	Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction/action film directed and co-written by James Cameron. It features Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn.

The film takes place in 1984, introducing the concept of a "terminator", specifically the titular character (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a seemingly unstoppable cyborg assassin who has been sent back from the year 2029 by a race of artificially intelligent computer-controlled machines bent on the extermination of mankind. The Terminator's mission is to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) whose future son founds a resistance against the machines. A human, Kyle Reese, is also sent back from the future to protect her.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Inspirations 4 Production 5 Release 6 Score 6.1 Track listing 7 Philosophy 8 See also 9 References 10 External links 10.1 Official websites 10.2 Miscellaneous links

In 2029, machines control the world, bent on the extermination of mankind, and they have sent back someone from the future to May 12, 1984. This mysterious musclebound man begins to hunt all of the Sarah Connors in the phone book, successfully killing two of the three listed. When he attempts to kill the last, he is stopped by another time traveler, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), sent back to protect her. While hiding in a parking garage, he explains to her that the man after her is actually a Terminator, a machine and assassin. These Terminators were invented by Skynet, an artificially intelligent computer that, in the near future, takes over all military hardware and launches a nuclear war against humanity. John Connor, Sarah's son, leads a human resistance against the machines. In a last ditch effort, Skynet sent a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah before John is born, preventing the resistance from ever being founded, allowing the machines to win by default. John sends Reese back in time to protect her, allowing him to be born.

The Terminator feels no pain, has no emotions and will stop at nothing to accomplish its mission. Time travel can only send living tissue back, preventing Reese from bringing any advanced weaponry, and 20th century small arms are not enough to destroy the Terminator's hard metal skeleton. With its disguise of real living tissue over the metal, it is indistinguishable from normal humans, so no one will believe Reese's story.

After Kyle finishes his story, he and Sarah are attacked by the Terminator again, resulting in a chase that leads to their arrest. At the West Highland Police Station, Sarah is looked after by Lieutenant Ed Traxler (Paul Winfield) and Detective Hal Vukovich (Lance Henriksen) while Reese is questioned by a criminal psychologist, Dr. Silberman (Earl Boen). He concludes that Reese's story is a delusion, constructed in a such a way that it requires no evidence, preventing anyone from refuting it.

The Terminator arrives at the police station, uttering his catch phrase "I'll be back", before going on a rampage through the building, killing everyone it sees, including 17 police officers^[1]. Reese manages to escape and rescue Sarah. They hide out in a motel, where Reese makes pipe bombs, teaching Sarah how to make the explosive from household supplies. Sarah asks Reese if she measures up to the stories about her and if he's ever been in love. While replying no to both questions, he confesses that he is in love with her. At first, Reese thinks he has made a fool of himself, but Sarah feels the same way, and they make love.

Later that night, the Terminator tracks them down and shoots Reese, wounding him. Sarah manages to knock the Terminator off its motorcycle, running over it. The Terminator commandeers a tanker truck and drives it at them. They use one of their last bombs to blow the truck, seeing the Terminator collapse in a burnt heap.

They believe that it has been destroyed, but its bare metal skeleton is still functional and pursues them into a factory. In the ensuing battle, Reese jams a pipe bomb into the Terminator's abdomen, blowing its legs off, but also killing himself. The Terminator, still partially functional, drags itself by its hands to pursue Sarah, until she finally crushes it in a machine press, destroying it.

The end of the film shows Sarah traveling in Mexico, several months pregnant. She records audio tapes which she intends to play to the child, John, at some point in his life. She reveals that Reese is John's father, conceiving him in their one night at the motel. While Sarah's gas tank is being filled, a young Mexican boy takes a picture of her, the same picture John will give to Reese in the future. Then Sarah pulls out of the gas station and drives into the distance where storms are approaching over the mountains. Thus the end credits start to roll as her jeep disappears.

Actor	Role
Arnold Schwarzenegger	The Terminator
Michael Biehn	Kyle Reese
Linda Hamilton	Sarah Connor
Paul Winfield	Lieutenant Ed Traxler
Lance Henriksen	Detective Hal Vukovich
Bess Motta	Ginger Ventura
Earl Boen	Dr. Peter Silberman
Rick Rossovich	Matt Buchanan
Dick Miller	Pawnshop Clerk
Shawn Schepps	Nancy
Bruce M. Kerner	Desk Sergeant
Franco Columbu	Future Terminator
Bill Paxton	Punk Leader
Brad Rearden	Punk
Brian Thompson	Punk

James Cameron states that the Terminator idea was originally his, and that it came to him in a dream after becoming ill in Rome. However, several works that predate his script bear some similarity. Some aspects of the story were sufficiently similar to two episodes of the TV series The Outer Limits written by Harlan Ellison, "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand", that Ellison pursued legal action against Cameron. The two settled out of court, and Cameron acknowledged Ellison's work in the film's credits. The concept of Skynet is similar to the evil intelligence featured in Ellison's short story, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream".^{[citation needed]}

The story is also similar to two stories by Philip K. Dick, "Second Variety" and "Jon's World". In these stories, robots, originally designed to fight for humans, design newer models that look like humans in order to infiltrate their bunkers and kill them. The novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin featured a cyborg assassin, a human rebuilt with machine implants, that relied on its human appearance for infiltration. Another film, La Jetée, featured a soldier from the future, sent back to obtain resources needed for humanity to continue. The film Cyborg 2087 had a similar plot of a killer machine sent back in time to change history.^[2]

Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O.J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that "such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer". ^[3] According to him and co-writer William Wisher, Schwarzenegger was offered the role of the human soldier Reese. However, they realized that he would be better suited as the Terminator, which as a result became large and muscular. Michael Biehn was also on the shortlist for the Terminator, and not the hero Kyle Reese.

Production was originally scheduled for Spring 1983 in Toronto, but after Dino De Laurentiis chose to option Schwarzenegger to film Conan the Destroyer, filming was delayed until March 1984 in Los Angeles.

Several scenes cut from the film are available on some DVD releases. One particular scene involving the destruction of Cyberdyne inspired a very similar plot point in the sequel. In this scene, Sarah suggests to Reese that they find Cyberdyne Systems and destroy it before they can invent Skynet, preventing the war. At the end of the film, when Sarah is being taken away by the ambulance, two factory workers find the remains of the Terminator and decide to turn it over to Research and Development, with the camera zooming out to reveal the name of the factory: Cyberdyne Systems. These two scenes set up major plot points in Terminator 2, where the CPU and arm from the Terminator in this film are reverse engineered and used to create Skynet, and where Sarah, John, and the Terminator blow up Cyberdyne to prevent the war.

The Terminator was a low-budget movie, at roughly $6.5 million, which turned out to be a box-office hit, earning $38,371,200 domestically. The film went on to gross more than $78 million worldwide.^[4] The film also had a positive critical reception, and was placed in Time Magazine's Top 10 Films of 1984. It currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Terminator
Film score by Brad Fiedel
Released	1984
Length	36:16
Label	DCC
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link

1. "The Terminator: Theme" 4:30
2. "Terminator Arrival" 3:00
3. "Tunnel Chase" 2:50
4. "Love Scene" 1:15
5. "Future Remembered" 2:40
6. "Factory Chase" 3:50
7. "You Can't Do That" (Tahnee Cain, Tryanglz) 3:25
8. "Burnin' in the Third Degree" (Tahnee Cain, Tryanglz) 3:38
9. "Pictures of You" (Jay Ferguson, Sixteen Millimeter) 3:58
10. "Photoplay" (Tahnee Cain, Tryanglz) 3:30
11. "Intimacy" (Linn VanHek) 3:40

The movie contains an example of a predestination paradox. The Terminator's mission is to go back in time and kill Sarah Connor, thereby preventing John Connor from being the leader of the resistance forces. However, had the Terminator not been sent back, Kyle Reese would not have been sent back to father John, preventing John from being born. The Terminator is also reverse engineered and used to create Skynet. By sending the Terminator and Kyle Reese back in time, Skynet and Connor ensure their own existence.^{[original research?]}

• Terminator series
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
• Terminator argument — an argument in bioethics that sophisticated technology carries an amount of existential risk which should be avoided by slowing or stopping the advance of technology.

• Terminator1.com

• The Terminator at the Internet Movie Database
• The Terminator at All Movie Guide
• Wired.com More Robot Grunts Ready for Duty
• The Terminator Narrative Chronology
• The SciFlicks Guide
• The Terminator at Rotten Tomatoes
• Terminator Gallery
• The Terminator at MetaCritic

Awards
Preceded by Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi	Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1984	Succeeded by Back to the Future

v • d • e The Terminator series
Films	The Terminator | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins
Other media	T2 3-D: Battle Across Time | Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Characters	"The Terminator" | Sarah Connor | John Connor | Kyle Reese | Miles Dyson | Kate Brewster | Dr. Peter Silberman
Terminators	T-800 / T-850 / T-101 | T-1000 | T-1000000 | T-X | T-1 | Cromartie
Locations	Los Angeles | Skynet | Cyberdyne Systems | Cyber Research Systems | Crystal Peak | Tech-Com
Cast	Arnold Schwarzenegger | Linda Hamilton | Michael Biehn | Edward Furlong | Robert Patrick | Nick Stahl | Claire Danes | Kristanna Loken | Earl Boen | Lena Headey | Thomas Dekker | Summer Glau | Christian Bale
Crew	James Cameron | Jonathan Mostow | Mario F. Kassar | Andrew G. Vajna | Stan Winston | McG
Games	The Terminator (DOS) | The Terminator (NES) | Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Game Boy) | T2: The Arcade Game | Terminator 2: Judgment Day (pinball) | Terminator 2: Judgment Day (LJN) | Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Acclaim) | The Terminator (1992) | The Terminator 2029 / Deluxe CD Edition | RoboCop versus The Terminator | The Terminator 2029: Operation Scour | Terminator 2: Judgment Day (B.I.T.S.) | The Terminator: Rampage | Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Chess Wars | The Terminator (SNES) | The Terminator: Future Shock | SkyNET | The Terminator: Dawn of Fate | The Terminator (mobile) | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (pinball) | Terminator 3: War of the Machines | Terminator 3: The Redemption | The Terminator: I'm Back! | Terminator Revenge | Terminator (working title)
Comics	The Terminator | RoboCop versus The Terminator | Superman vs. The Terminator | Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator
Miscellaneous	I'll be back | Terminator argument

v • d • e Films and Television Shows by James Cameron
Xenogenesis (1978) • Piranha II: The Spawning (1981) • The Terminator (1984) • Aliens (1986) • The Abyss (1989) • Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) • True Lies (1994) • T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996) • Titanic (1997) • Dark Angel (TV series) (2000-2002) • Expedition: Bismarck (2002) • Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) • Aliens of the Deep (2005) • Avatar (2009) • Battle Angel • The Dive