Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator

The Terminator (1984)

...The original T-101 was sent to terminate a single target, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), in 1984, to prevent the birth of her son, John, the future leader of the Human Resistance. It survives being caught in a truck explosion, though its flesh cover burns away and it is fully revealed as a machine. The Terminator was finally crushed in a hydraulic press by Sarah after a lengthy chase. However, its damaged main CPU and right arm were recovered by Cyberdyne. The remains of the first Terminator were used in Cyberdyne's research to radically advance the company's technology, paradoxically creating the machine intelligence entity Skynet. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the arm and CPU chip of the first Terminator were recovered by John Connor and destroyed in a pool of molten steel.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

...Schwarzenegger's T-101's role was reversed in the second film. He was reprogrammed by the future John Connor (Michael Edwards) and sent back to 1995 to protect his younger self (Edward Furlong) from the T-1000 (Robert Patrick). While interacting with the Connors as they work to try to prevent Judgment Day, this Terminator is taught how to speak in slang-like terms, such as "Hasta la vista", developing into an almost fatherlike role for John Connor, with Sarah (Hamilton) reflecting that the Terminator is the first male figure John has ever had in his life who can be guaranteed to always be there for him. At the end of the film, he orders Sarah to lower him into a molten metal vat in order to destroy the CPU, though John wanted him to stay with them, the Terminator recognizing that he has to be destroyed to ensure that Skynet cannot be recreated in the future using his technology.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

...In the fourth film, the T-101 has a small role, though once again as an antagonist. Being the very first T-800 produced, it engages John Connor (Christian Bale) in battle during Connor's attempt to rescue Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) from the Skynet base in San Francisco. John holds his own with his advanced weaponry, but is unable to stop the Terminator until it is drenched in molten metal and then liquid nitrogen, freezing it temporarily. As John begins planting hydrogen fuel cells (similar to the ones powering the model seen in Terminator 3), cyborg prototype Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) arrives to stall the Terminator, able to match its strength due to his own metal endoskeleton, but due to Marcus harbouring biological organs, the Terminator is able to incapacitate him long enough to stab John through the heart from behind, fatally wounding him. Marcus retaliates by jamming the same metal bar through the Terminator's neck and twisting it until its head rips off, destroying it instantly. The hydrogen fuel cells are set off as John and Marcus escape, destroying the base and taking thousands of unfinished Terminators with it. Marcus later gives up his own heart to save John's life.

Terminator: Genisys (2015)

...The "youthful" T-101 from the first film also appears, and is intercepted by the "aging" T-101 and Sarah Connor after it arrives in the alternate 1984. Despite Sarah deactivating the young android with her high-caliber sniper rifle, the T-1000 reactivates and reprograms it to pursue Kyle Reese. Kyle ultimately retrieves Sarah's sniper rifle and blows the Terminator's head off with a close-range shot, changing the outcome of the predestined battle between them. The young Terminator's endoskeleton is later dissolved in hydrochloric acid and its CPU is used to operate Sarah and the older Terminator's time machine. The CPU is destroyed after the time machine's usage. With both the original T-800's and the T-1000's remains are destroyed in 1984 and the older Terminator's existence is concealed, Cyberdyne Systems lacks the Skynet technology to work with for decades until John Connor is under Miles Dyson's (Courtney B. Vance) employ and assists his son Danny Dyson (Dayo Okeniyi) in the development of "Genisys" technology.




Related Pages: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terminator