Episode 249 - The Terminator

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And now, back to our regularly scheduled program. Salutations. Welcome to Podmortem. I'm Travis Hunter Syappin, joined as always by my co-hosts, my sister and my brother-in-law. Hi, I'm Renee Hunter Vasquez. Hi, I'm John Paul Vasquez. This week, we're broadcasting live from the Tech Noir Nightclub, discussing the 1984 science fiction action thriller, The Terminator. This film was directed by James Cameron from a screenplay by Cameron and Gail Ann Hurd.

Drawing inspiration from dreams and a lifelong love of science fiction, Cameron and company crafted a captivating creation in The Terminator.

With brilliantly realized visual and special effects, compelling characters, an interesting and inventive premise, a scintillating synth-driven score, and the iconic inclusion of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the titular role, This film would defy initial expectations to not only become a classic of its genre, but spawn a multimedia franchise and be cemented as a pop culture juggernaut in the 40 years since its release.

This film was suggested to us by friends of the show, Bernie H., Emma Mitchinson, Jasmine, Eggie, John Garns, Martin Shaw, Beth Bauer, Topher Williams, Smelly Poo Poo Head, and Murder Steena. We'd like to thank each and every one of them for their continued support of the show, as well as this suggestion. So, The Terminator, what were your first impressions on the film?

So I want to start out by saying that I absolutely love this movie. This was something that I remember, like remember watching as a kid and continuing to watch well into my teens as I got older. And I kept telling your sister to watch this movie, and I was like, man, this movie's really good. I know...

T2. Judgment Day is a really good movie. It's the second one. And it's a fucking masterpiece. But this movie, I think it's overlooked because of how good that movie is. This movie, though, for me, feels like a different tone. than the second one okay uh this is very dark this to me i feel like is can be sci-fi action horror you know what i mean of course we're covering it so it's horror yes it counts officially

But I remember, like I said, always, always loving this and watching it for the show. I was like, this is still really good. I do feel... Like a kid again, I do still look at this and I'm like, run. Are you know what I mean? I'm laughing at shit that I've seen a thousand times. But again, for the show.

I still, you know, taking, looking at it and following along and taking notes and doing background work. And this is still, I still really, really enjoy the shit out of this movie and the synth. Oh my God, the music. Oh yeah. It's fantastic.

it yeah yeah no i was surprised at how much i liked this i feel like there has to be some instance of watching this when i was younger but i don't remember um t had brought up a couple days ago and i completely agree that our references to terminator come from two yeah like i don't know it it feels like this got overshadowed like pop culture wise. But the first time I like cognitively remember watching it had to be 2020 when you and I watched it.

And I was like, that was really good because we watched the first two. And it's a lot of fun. I like the story. It just the references. I know I said that a lot of it comes from.

the second film but just like one-liners like i'll be back you know what i mean like yeah you watch this and you're like that's where that fucking came from and everyone knows that you know it's always really cool to revisit like classic movies like that from the 80s and stuff where it's like they couldn't have had any idea what this was gonna do yeah

But I think that it's really cool. I really appreciate the effects in this because I feel like 40 years later, they still hold up really, really well. Even there are moments where you're like, okay, that's not... that actor you know what i mean it's still really fucking cool because you think and stan winston yes You think about how much work went into it. I think that everybody really showed up. They clocked in. I think this movie is just a lot of fucking fun. It is wild.

Yeah, I definitely agree. I feel like it is exactly as you were saying. I could have sworn that I had seen this film before in my life. Yeah. But then all of the reference points that I had aside from those one liners was absolutely Terminator 2. Yeah. and I honestly frankly there's so much of this film that I did not remember that I don't know if I've ever seen this before

Because as I'm working on the script, I'm like, this is all new to me. Yeah. You know, there's things that maybe I've seen in like pop culture retrospectives or, you know, little things here and there. But I'm like, wow, this is like a brand new first time experience. Yeah. And I will say I did. I liked it a lot. I think that there are a lot of really interesting action sequences. Yeah. The way that they are photographed.

And I think that there are a lot of really good editing choices as far as seeing certain things at certain times or making you feel like you've seen more than you have in one sequence in particular. Yeah. The effects go hand in hand with that, as you were saying. Stan Winston, the work that they also did with miniatures that we'll get into in a bit. Mm-hmm.

Unbelievable work. Okay. I think that it's just a bunch of practical wizardry that you don't see as often these days that you definitely should see as often these days. Yeah. I nothing against. The push and move towards more predominant CGI. Because when used sparingly and used to augment. It can be really good, but I love going back to these films and seeing just practical work. Yeah. There's something just so special about it and so tangible. Yeah. And I...

We'll get, I know we're going to get to it, but that it's that, you know, even knowing that, you know what I mean? That's not the actor. It's still to me watching. I was like, damn. That still looks good. Yeah. Like, there's moments, I mean, you think about poltergeist when dude's ripping his face off. Yeah. Like, that's clearly a dummy, but this is great. It's awesome. Yeah. Oh, no, yeah.

But I think that there are just so many iconic moments, even though I not as many as I thought because of T2. Right. But I just think that there are so many things to take away from this film that you are like, oh, that's where they got that. Right. That's where I've seen this a million times parodied and referenced.

Yeah. I think the only thing that is like a small drawback for me, because I love the story and the idea behind it and the premise itself. Right. I think that there are some elements that are needed for the plot. that aren't as fleshed out as they could be, and so they end up feeling a little forced.

That's fair. Yeah, that is fair. Because this film is a lot of things. There's this science fiction cautionary tale. There is a ton of action. There are some scenes that are somewhat emotional. Right. There's romance. There's definite elements of horror that I appreciate a lot. And honestly, as I get into the portions in production where you hear the inspiration for some of this. Okay. You'll see it. All right.

But I just, and noir. Yeah. Yeah. There is so much film noir in this, in just the way that it's shot and the way that it is presented. Uh-huh. I just it's a lot of really, really good things thrown into a blender. All things that I like a lot. Yeah. And can we talk about how like sadly topical this cautionary tale is 40 fucking years later? Oh, yeah. When we get to him explaining the downfall of civilization, I'm like, dude, that is 2029. No shit. For real.

But even with that poignant social commentary that still hits 40 years later, I was also surprised by the level, and it may be intentional or unintentional, but the level of humor in this film. Oh my God. Like there were a couple moments that I'm just laughing out loud. But I do want to get into the production of this film because the story behind it is pretty fascinating. Okay.

I got a lot of this information from a book called The Futurist, the films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan. I also got some information from a featurette called Creating the Terminator, as well as an oral history and 30-year retrospective. Okay. All right. So interestingly, the story of the Terminator begins in 1980. When James Cameron was working on Roger Corman productions as a model maker and an art director. Okay. Through this position.

He not only met Gail Ann Hurd, who was Corman's former assistant and a budding young producer in her own right, but it eventually led him to being hired as the special effects director. for Piranha 2 The Spawning. What? And eventually being promoted from special effects director to the director of the film. Okay. I did not know that. This story is ridiculous.

This is in 1982. So unfortunately for James Cameron, the experience is fucking terrible. The producers left him in the dark and gave him a lack, a complete lack of creative control. And he was eventually fired from the gig. What? And it was all due to these continued disputes with the producers over creative direction and what they wanted out of the film. Okay. So when the film finally reaches post-production...

James Cameron flies on a one way ticket to Rome and he has these hopes of seeing a rough cut of the film because he had been denied even looking at the dailies while he was directing the film. Oh my God. So after seeing this rough cut, he's like, this is a piece of shit. Yeah. And so he tried to plead to the producers to get his name off of the film.

But he ended up being unsuccessful. And to this day, Piranha 2 The Spawning is directed by James Cameron. Wow. But he also allegedly, because he has said, you know, it's probably. It's illegal what he's done. But he did allegedly break into the editing room several times over the course of two weeks to try to cut a version of this film that worked. Yeah. And he did and he thought that he did the best that he could. He basically said that he goes.

it's a piece of trash, but at least it's my trash. Yeah. Okay. But before it was released, the producers recut it again. So now it's just trash again. Yeah. Not even his. So at this point, James Cameron is stuck in Rome with nothing to show for it. He's jobless. And he's resorting to stealing meals off of room service trays in the halls because he didn't have any money for food. Oh, my God. So he eventually, after some time, grows ill. And in his hotel room, he slips into a fever dream.

During this dream, he sees a chrome covered torso crawling out of the flames of an explosion and clutching kitchen knives. This... inspires him when he wakes up to immediately sketch these images from his dream on hotel stationery, along with the rough ideas of a storyline that he could incorporate. Okay. And again, just thinking of that. Yeah.

I mean, how can you ever guess that this is going to come from that? Yeah. But he would eventually return home to Los Angeles on a loan from his father, and he began immediately working on a treatment for the Terminator. He enlisted the help of his friend and collaborator, William Wisher Jr., as they shared similar sensibilities when it came to science fiction, and he even tasked him with writing some of the scenes that end up in the film.

Unfortunately, Wisher does not get credit as a screenwriter for this film. I think he's only credited in some versions of the film with additional dialogue. Oh, wow. Yeah. And we'll talk about the screenwriting a little bit later because there's some conflicting things. Okay. But the entire launching pad, as he said, for the story of the Terminator was this idea of creating a stylized slasher film on a low budget. Okay.

He said that he idolized John Carpenter and wanted to do what he did with Deborah Hill in 1978 with Halloween. All right. All right. You can... I get it. Yeah. You can see that. But... After he's getting his treatment finished, he takes it to his agent, who he actually got whenever he landed Piranha 2, and his agent hates it. Cameron is so committed to this idea.

that he fires his agent. I mean, good. Yeah. Good, yes, but also terrifying because he has no prospects. He has nothing going on except this treatment that he wrote. Yeah. And having not... any representation it's a really bold move to make yeah and he continues making bold moves as you'll see in just a few minutes seconds really right now right now he then takes this treatment to gail and heard

who he worked with all those years ago, and I believe at this point now owns her own production company. Okay. And she loves it. But the thing is, is that if they are going to shop this film around... it isn't very viable to have James Cameron as the director of the film because all he's directed is Piranha 2. Right. And he has nothing else to his name. And so because of his inexperience as a director...

he made a wild deal with Gail Ann Hurd. James Cameron sold the rights to The Terminator for $1, but only on the condition that she would produce the film and he would direct it. Okay. The reality of that deal, which I read that Cameron later grew to regret, of course. Yeah. He did not make any money for merchandise, for licensing. and for the sequels that came after Terminator 2. Oh, wow. Holy shit.

But if he hadn't, then what? It probably wouldn't have even or he wouldn't have directed. Yeah. God damn. And so he took a risk and it was worth it. But it was also like shit. Yeah. But because of this, and after the deal is made, they start shopping the film around. They went to every major studio. And although some really thought the idea was interesting and would have wanted to run with it.

it was still his inexperience as a director that they didn't want to take that kind of a chance on him. Okay. And Gail Ann Hurd kept her word. and she i didn't mean to run that was good bars but thank you but uh whenever they would say that they're like this is a great idea but james cameron is the director she's like okay we're not gonna work with you then yeah and she would go somewhere else but as it turns out

They went to Orion Pictures because there were a lot of Corman alumni that Gail Ann Hurd knew that worked there. Okay. And so through these connections, she's able to secure distribution. And then they were able to get financing on the basis that they had already cleared the hurdle of finding a distributor. I mean, it worked. It did.

There are some conflicting stories I will say as far as because as you heard in the intro written by James Cameron and Gail Ann Hurd. Right. According to James Cameron and several interviews that I've read. He wrote the screenplay and as producers do, she gave a few edits here and there, but he said that she did not write this film or have any part in writing this film.

And he said that he had wished that she would have cleared that up over the years. Oh, OK. But that's the conflicting thing, because I again, there are plenty of articles where co-writer. galen heard right and then you have these interviews with him but then you have other interviews that say that they did work on it together so it's like yeah where do you go but there is also a wild story of cameron's pitch to financiers that we'll get into a little bit later

as well as the stories of casting the film, which are very interesting as well, particularly the casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the titular role. Yeah. But I know that we'll get into that in just a bit. But speaking of Schwarzenegger. His contractual obligations to the sequel to Conan the Barbarian...

actually held up production of the Terminator for nine months. Damn. Apparently, as soon as Dino De Laurentiis heard about them making the Terminator, he got kind of territorial and he's like, you're stealing my star. I'm going to use this contractual obligation to force him to be a part of the sequel. And so they had to wait another nine months to begin production.

They had planned to begin shooting in the spring of 1983, and they actually began shooting in, I think, March of 1984. Okay. So two full years of pre-production for The Terminator, which ended up being really beneficial to it. Okay. Because in this extra time, Cameron was not only able to secure his cast, a special effects team, square away parts of the story that hadn't been reconciled yet. He storyboarded the entire film.

And he took a few meetings that not only led to him co-writing the sequel to Rambo. But it led him to scoring the job to write and direct aliens. Holy shit. Okay. So, I mean, it worked out. Yeah. So before the Terminator is even made, Cameron is kind of made. Yeah. But he put his heart and soul into this, and it was apparently a very in-depth shoot, and he was a very hands-on kind of guy, as they say. Right.

But he apparently wet his beak in everything. And there were times where you have moments of... a special effects thing that's happening and he's like well i'm gonna add a little bit more blood and he does it himself or he's like well i'll shoot this and he takes the camera and he does the handheld shot himself he was a jack of all trades because of his training with roger corman yeah and so

That is good on one side, but on the other side, there are a lot of difficulties there where it's like you do have these other people for this. Yeah. But the film gets made. But after viewing it. Orion Pictures feared that the film would have a very limited audience. So they only had one small press screening and then they dumped its very small ad budget into the week of its release.

because they didn't think they was going to make a lot of money right they're obviously wrong yeah oh yeah i'm trying to think maybe it being sci-fi like i wonder what aspect of it are they like oh no people are not going to respond to that i i think maybe it might have been too

Not ahead of its time, but too far, like robots, you know what I mean? It's 84. Maybe. I mean, I get we do have other sci-fi stuff, but it being you saying like Halloween, maybe they were just like, I don't want to see that. I think they also felt the vibe of it was kind of the level of a B-movie maybe.

But I don't feel that because even with the budget that it was given of this, it was only $6.4 million to make Terminator. Yeah. It feels way more. Yeah. I was going to say, it doesn't feel like that. No. And I think I just, I was. kind of confused by that as well i don't know how you can view this film even in the lens of 1984 and say oh this there's barely anybody's going to want to see this yeah but to their shock critics loved it audiences loved it

And it not only did well at the box office, but it increased its audience even more with the home video market. And since then, it's spawned several films. You have video games. Oh, yeah. You have comic books. Like, it is a multimedia juggernaut, as I said at the front. Yeah.

But it even was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2008. Oh, damn. OK. So it's I mean, it's a very impactful film on pop culture. And it really is a lot of things. Yeah. It is that cautionary tale that. only grows even more relevant as technology grows.

and there there were some parts and i have to say you know there may be a little bit of a debate of like oh you're covering the terminator but there's some parts and some concepts that'll scare the hell out of you absolutely Now, before we hunt this film, we would like to issue a warning for spoilers. Podmortem is a very in-depth podcast, and in thoroughly discussing horror films, we have no choice but to spoil a thing or two. If you don't wish to be spoiled...

Please go watch the film, then come back and enjoy the show. If you've already seen the film or don't care about spoilers, let's travel back in time. So the film opens, fading in on a shot of what appears to be the ruins of what once was a city. The skeletons of support beams of buildings stretch twisted like dying branches, arcing over stone rubble and remnants of civilization, all bathed in a brittle blue hue as we get on-screen text reading.

Los Angeles, 2029 AD. I was like, oh shit. Yeah. We're running out of time. This probably felt a lot easier to watch in 84. Yeah. Yeah.

Bright lasers blast from contemporary weaponry in the distance as the exhaust from an unseen vehicle blows dust from the decrepit structures and light beams down from the sky. Suddenly... A massive drone appears over the wasteland, gliding over all, before recorrecting its course to engage with the source of the blasts, firing off a laser of its own from a turret mounted at the front of it.

It glides through darkness, blinking lights lining its rudder as it blasts a beam at its target, exploding it in a bright ball of fire. Another drone just like it patrols off in the distance. But on the ground, we watch as the continuous track of a tank plows thoughtlessly over a mound of dirt and bone, its tread carving a path through the dead and debris, skulls shattering beneath the weight of it.

The camera rises up the body of the vehicle to reveal a head like a camera, on a swivel, a light beaming at us like an ever-watching eye, as a turret mounted at its arm fires at a detected combatant. But in a tracking shot... The camera follows the target of the blast, a humanoid figure shrouded in shadow, dodging futuristic projectiles and weapons as they race through broken-down vehicles in search of safety.

diving as a last-ditch effort to avoid the lasers, only to end up smoldering in the rubble when the shot from a nearby drone fatally finds them. So to open the film this way is pretty wild. In bold. Yeah. And I was really shocked to see it because for some reason I always... Well, maybe, you know, my entire knowledge of the Terminator is just wrong. So maybe I shouldn't rely on any of that. Yeah. But I did not think that the film would open this way to see such a desolate and just destroyed.

earth yeah well this is what we're trying to prevent yes yeah but and i all i needed was the two minutes of what's going on here and i was like oh i'm in for whatever the fuck this is I will say one thing again when we talked about practical effects at the beginning. This opening sequence is accomplished with the use of miniatures, models, and high-speed photography. Okay. I love that so much. And I think that I didn't...

realize until we started doing this show how often miniatures are utilized. I remember that one part in Spice World where the little bus goes over the thing. And I clocked that as a kid, but a lot of stuff I didn't clock. This is one of them. This is one of them. Yeah. You know, they probably got that. For sure. From this. Yeah. It was a nod. Uh-huh. It's Cinematic Masterpiece.

Terminator, right? Both. Yeah. Yeah. The work here was created by the late Gene Warren Jr. and the folks at Fantasy II Film Effects. Okay. Warren went on to work on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Oh. He had worked on Pet Sematary and Tremors, The Return of the Living Dead. It miniseries. And he would go on to win an Oscar for the work on Terminator 2. Very nice. But what they did is they built a three foot platform and it was only 18 feet deep.

They filled the background with cutouts of ruined cities and the foreground with broken buildings and skulls that were honestly about the size of grapes. Okay. Wow. But even the machines were small models and the aircrafts were just hung on wires for the sequence. Yeah.

And they built these and we learn later they're called hunter killers. Right, right. But they built them in stages and they just filmed sections of what they needed. So you have the track tires. So we build that and we have that done. Then we have the upper body and the torso. We'll have that built and do that. So it was all just really segmented. Okay. And created in such a way that they were utilizing everything at their disposal in such a really fascinating way. Yeah. But...

They also were talking about how hot the lights were because it helped them to maintain a depth of field. And they even switched out from time to time. And you'll have very randomly, like we're about to see. a skull that is actually the size of a skull. But because of the lights and the smoke that they added, it maintains this feeling of just an endless wasteland. Yeah. And you still have that depth of field with this large object in the foreground and these miniatures in the background.

It all looks really good. It does. So, like, just using, like... forced perspective yes i that is incredible that's so fucking cool and they were masters of forced perspective and in a lot of the films that they worked on it is something that they utilized okay But one thing that I did want to mention was this explosion that we see because it was also completely practical. What they used were flashbulbs.

But they kind of coated it in orange gels. And the burst that we see that appears like a ball of fire is walnut dust. What the fuck? Yeah, it's just unbelievable. Again, I don't know how you... understand that this will look like this on film yeah but everything about this sequence is very seamless yeah and later when we use these shots that we have to kind of be projections and composites with real live action as well yeah it's just a really really fascinating blend of just so many things yeah

But now, gazing up from a mound of skulls at the encroaching tanks as their beams blast balls of fire in the distance, accompanied by ominous synth in the score, we get on-screen text reading. The machines rose from the ashes of nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind had raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be fought here, in our present. Tonight. Tonight. I'm already in bed. I didn't plan for this. Not at all. Yeah. No, thank you.

But the scene fades to black around the text before giving way to the opening credits. The white text of the cast and crew entered like data into a computer, a cursor pulsing as the white text turns a confirmed green. All the while, large letters outlined in a steel blue. Glide by slowly in the background.

The score knocks and pounds rhythmically as the credits continue, and the synth is joined by strings as well as deep, rumbling chugs, before finally giving way to the title in a shimmering cobalt blue, The Terminator. We love a dramatic opening. Yes. And like an opening sequence like that. It's a lost art almost. Yeah. I really appreciate the way that everything is unveiled here. Right. And you also get with the.

almost data entry of the names. Right. You get this theme of technology just throughout. Yeah. And the theme. Yeah. It's fantastic. Oh, yeah. The composer was a guy called Brad Fidel. And he would actually go on to work with James Cameron on T2 and True Lies, if I'm not mistaken. Okay. But this was his first feature film. Wow. He had done a lot of work in TV and I think that he had a connection in common with James Cameron and that's how his reel kind of got to him. Okay. But...

He had talked about on that documentary that there were a lot of times that he would work with a filmmaker and they would have like this impassioned speech about what. the film was going to be and all these extravagant ideas of what they wanted the music to sound like. And then he would watch the film and he would be like, where is that film that you've described to me? Oh.

But with James Cameron, who came in very impassioned, as he always does, he was kind of feeling that. But then he saw it and he's like, oh, there it all is. Yeah. And so it was a much different thing. And instead of being like, oh, I have to work on this film, it's I get to work on this film. Yeah.

The score goes over time. It does. There's a specific sequence where I'm like, y'all did not even need to go this hard. And I thank you for doing it. It's great. It is. And it's so varied. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's a moment later where it's. It's like this really like pensive, like romantic piano. Yeah. And then there's this like chugging of this, which he said was kind of inspired by Jaws and the simplicity of that.

I can see that. Okay. But there's just so much going on and the synth is just fantastic. But through darkness, we hear the whirring of machinery before we fade in on the well-worn hydraulic grabbers of a garbage truck as they descend from on high, the truck pulling forward to hook into an adjacent dumpster. Text appears at the bottom of the screen reading Los Angeles 1984 152 a.m. I will say it is important that we get the time here because a lot of shit happens today. Oh yeah.

But the driver of the truck, played by Chino Fats Williams, sits in shadow, a half-burnt cigar resting in his mouth as the dumpster rises in front of the windshield. Now, this man, I know I've seen him in a lot of movies. It's always bit parts. But I did recognize him. He did all the first three Rocky movies, bit parts in those. He also did a bit part in Weird Science. Really? Yeah. And he was in Action Jackson.

So I was like, I know this dude. And they are small parts, but he is, do you know what I mean? He is working. But suddenly, to the driver's confusion. The vehicle shuts off, his headlights dipping to dark. He reaches for the keys in his ignition, cursing under his breath, but just outside of his window. A sudden wind blows trash and newspapers around. A flash of electrical light bursting brightly around the truck, bolts licking at its massive metal frame.

Fear fills the face of the driver as he peers out of the window, prompting him to tear his door open when the electricity ceases and a cloud of smoke fills the area. He spots something there at the center of the smoke. his eyes growing wide before he takes off running. As the thin veil dissipates, crouched on the pavement is the nude, muscular body of the Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He rises, surveying his surroundings as the score pulses around him, marching across the parking lot and reaching an overlook where the city lights of Los Angeles shine brightly in the distance. We all know Arnold. Indeed. Yeah. And this is certainly not something that you see every day. No, that's the proper response. I'm sorry. I like, you know what I mean? Working, whatever. Kind of.

if i see that i'm in the job oh no i'm taking off too fuck that yeah because at first i was like i feel like he's underreacting and then he ran and i was like okay no yeah get out of here and it is kind of funny as well because there are a lot of like the police involvement and a lot of things. But then there's also like, I don't hear from this garbage truck driver. No, he's still running. I would think that he would tell somebody about it.

So I did read that for the part of the Terminator, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson were both considered and they both declined. Stop that. Yeah, that's not. I thought that was interesting, specifically Mel Gibson. An exec at Orion really, really wanted OJ Simpson. I recall hearing such things. Yeah. And James Cameron was adamant that that not be the case, that he not be the Terminator. But there was a lot of push.

for him okay i read a lot of interviews where james cameron said that he just didn't believe oj simpson as a killer right interesting yeah that's interesting um yeah moving on from that um but The executives wanted Arnold Schwarzenegger for another character that we're going to meet in a minute. Yeah. But James Cameron was positive that Arnold Schwarzenegger would not work for this character. So he he I guess was kind of obligated to take a lunch meeting with.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and he had devised this plan that he was going to be so rude and so off-putting that Arnold would not want to work with him okay and so he was basically like trying to sabotage it because he's like Like that is not what I envisioned that character to be at all. So he takes the meeting and he says that Arnold is so kind, so energetic, so excited about the script that he was sent. But when he's talking about the moments in the script that excited him, he's describing.

things that the terminator is doing yeah he's not even talking about this character that these orion executives really want him to play yeah and so James Cameron said that he's watching him talk and he's so animated and just going on and on and on to the point where he can't really interject very often. But he's just looking at him and looking at his angular face. And he's like.

I kind of feel like this is my Terminator. Yeah. Not this other character. And he never wanted O.J. Simpson at all. So apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger's agent was against.

him playing the Terminator if it were to come to that because that's not even what he was in talks to do but after their lunch and James Cameron said that Arnold paid because he had no money which really ties into what you were saying yeah and you know in the production portion but James Cameron painted a portrait of Arnold as the Terminator and he had it sent to him and Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he looked at this

And he called his agent who did not want him to be the Terminator. And he called and said, I am the Terminator. He was like, I don't I don't care. Like, I'm looking at it and I'm doing this. And he put the painting on his wall. And I mean, typically. i mean not typically period the rest is history yeah and um james cameron had said that

Without changing a word of the script, simply Arnold Schwarzenegger embodying this character changed everything because the Terminator is supposed to be a nondescript dude that can slip in and out, blend in with the crowd. And Arnold Schwarzenegger is not. at all and so he said it immediately made everything more um kind of fantastical more hyperbolic and kind of changed the way that he saw the film but in a way for the better

Yeah. Well, he is larger than life. Yes. But then again, and maybe it is just through the lens of pop culture, because you're like, watching this, I don't know how anybody else could have possibly played. No! Any of these names that you say, I just don't see it. Not at all. It's like it was always meant to be him. Yeah. And I think I get it. You know, him just being able to.

disappear and come back or be every man or whatever are every person and what like I get that but I feel like making letting it be Arnold and him being like you're saying T larger than life he's bigger that it almost feels like a creature feature it is almost he is Jason Jason is a big dude you know what he looks like nobody

you know, out of a goddamn lineup who, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Not to spoil anything, but even if I'm a machine and I'm trying to work to send like a, you know, an assassin somewhere or something, I'm sending the biggest. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. We're making a big ass dude. Yeah. And he's going to go handle it. Exactly. And that's what we've done. Yes. And I will say, I think that, again, just as you said, kind of clouded by T2. As this film continues, I'm like, he's the villain? I know.

I didn't realize that he was the bad guy in this that they're running from. Oh, yeah. Oh, no, he is. Yeah, he is. But we cut to a few street toughs mucking about a coin-operated telescope. One dark-haired punk played by David Christen and a blonde punk played by Brian Thompson who are flanked by their spiky blue-haired leader played by Bill Paxton. That's right.

I was very surprised. Yes. To see him here. Yeah. And there's no like he has maybe a minute. Yeah. Yeah. Of screen time. I think his credit is punk leader. Yeah. At least he got to. That's what he is. Yeah. I mean, and we know him. We talked about him on Frailty. He's also in Aliens. He is. Yeah. Maybe it started here. Yeah. Him and Cameron. And real quick, Brian Thompson.

I remember him and anybody else who loves the Mortal Kombat movies. He's Shao Kahn. Okay. But that was Annihilation. That was in 99. He was also in Cobra in 86, Dragonheart in 96, and then Joe... dirt no one oh my god but fed up with his subordinates hogging the telescope the leader smashes a glass bottle against it announcing that it's his turn he seizes it

But before he can bring his tire-marked face closer to peek through the eyepiece, the blonde punk notices something off in the distance, asking his cohorts, what's wrong with this picture? Approaching them through the dark, His silhouette carved out of the night by street lamps is the stark naked Terminator. The three punks can't help but laugh as he marches toward them, forming a line to block his path under the bright awning of the overlook. Let me tell you this right now.

This giant naked man is walking toward us at this barreling speed, hanging dong, fucking just... The last thing I'm doing is fucking laughing. Yeah. I am. What is that old David Tell joke? You saw a naked man running. You run with that man. Oh, yeah. Why are we laughing? and standing here. I don't know. I was like, and whatever is about to happen, they deserve it. Yeah. This is foolish behavior.

But, you know, I mean, they're like 80s punks. They're going to, like, fuck with him. You would think if you seem to be like, well, we're busy with this telescope. Yeah. You can pass. You can go right back. Yeah. This is literally none of our business. I'm taking the alley with the punk. not with the giant naked dude. No! But the blonde punk snarks that it's a nice night for a walk, which the Terminator repeats stoically. Nice night for a walk.

The blonde snaps his fingers in front of the Terminator's face, sarcastically supposing that it must be wash day tomorrow, asking, Nothing clean, right? All right, guys. He's naked. Yeah. How many jokes do you have? He's like, I have about 12 naked jokes. I've been saving them up.

But the Terminator just repeats this question emotionlessly, which causes the punk leader to assess that he just might be a couple cans short of a six-pack. But the Terminator stares a hole through them before ordering. Your clothes. Give them to me. Now. The demeanor of the punks devolves into profanity as the leader brandishes a switchblade, antagonizing the Terminator with a fuck you, asshole.

Which is very important. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. But the twin blades of his cohorts flick sharply as the score sizzles in the background. But the Terminator, assessing his threat, acts very swiftly. He effortlessly bats the dark-haired punk away before seizing the leader by the jaw and tossing him backward into a nearby gate. The blonde punk, however, picks his spot.

piercing the torso of the Terminator with a quick jab of his knife, but his weapon clatters to the floor when the Terminator grabs hold of him, arcing his fist with ease straight through the blonde punk's stomach. lifting him upward by the sight of his impalement. The Terminator wrenches his arm free, the blonde punk crumbling lifelessly on the ground as the Terminator flexes his blood-covered arm. The dark-haired punk then reaches his feet.

cowering clumsily past the telescope and over to the fence. But when the Terminator raises his gaze over to him, the dark haired punk breathes shakily as he strips off his jacket and offers it fearfully to the muscular man. Yeah, so do you want my underwear too? You might not want them anymore because of how badly you just scared me, but you're welcome to them. No, yeah, I think that's a good rule. If you punch a hole through my buddy's stomach, you can have my clothes.

You've earned that. Yeah, I would say. Just leave me be. But sirens wail somewhere distant, and we cut to a dark and dingy Los Angeles street, a police car speeding down the road with its lights flashing. But the camera pans lowly from the asphalt to a nearby alley, where debris whips around in the wind and a derelict, played by Stan Yale, groans unintelligibly, clutching a bottle of liquor in a brown paper bag.

But he's promptly interrupted when the alley is overtaken by the bright bolts of blue electricity, which latch onto the nearby metal stairs of a fire escape, as well as the pipes that line an adjacent brick wall. Suddenly... From the ball of lightning, the body of a man clatters naked onto the ground in a heap. Not as graceful as the... Yeah. No. But he's here. He's arrived. Yeah. I did read the stuntman actually just, they lifted him up and he just tossed himself off of this.

Platform, just hip and side first. Onto concrete, because a lot of this film is filmed flat out in Los Angeles proper. Okay, I mean, it looked real. Yeah, it looked real. But rising painfully from the surrounding smoke, an aching moan escaping him, is Kyle Reese, played by Michael Biehn. So Michael Biehn. I know this dude, and again, from this.

But it took me a minute to realize and I was like, oh, yeah, I've seen this dude a lot more many times than I thought. He's a Johnny Ringo in Tombstone. Yeah. That's right. Yeah, and I was like, oh, I do know his face. Of course from this, but you know what I mean? From other things, it's like, oh, I see him all the time. He was also in Aliens 86. He did The Abyss in 89, fantastic movie. He was also in The Rock in 96 as well. The Abyss is also James Cameron. Okay, that movie's fucking great.

He's also in Planet Terror. He is. We should probably get to that at some point. I would say. Oh yeah. I did want to talk a little bit about his casting though. Well, first of all, considered for this role... that obviously didn't get it was sting. Really? You know, you know, you can kind of see it, right? Yeah. There's some stingy vibes. Yeah. Bruce Springsteen.

not as much i've never seen him act before yeah i don't know that's true i know he was born in the usa but that's about it uh matt dylan sure who else tommy lee jones I don't know about that. I think he'd only take it so that he could be naked again. It's like, okay, I get it. And saving my best for last, Kurt Russell. Oh, wow. But I will say, and I love...

I love Kurt Russell. Every iteration, every decade. That would make this an entirely different movie. Kurt Russell as Kyle Reese, that's a different movie. For me... That's a totally different. Right. It is. But I got to say, I think Kurt Russell, I think we all agree can do anything. Oh, yeah. And I do real quick. I was thinking of Tommy Lee, not Tommy Lee. Oh, I was like, I don't remember him being naked, but sure. I'm sure he would take any excuse to be naked. Probably.

But as far as him getting this role, he almost passed on it because reading the script, he thought it was too silly. really yeah he thought that the movie might end up too silly but he did go in and audition for it and they said that he was the best one of the day they loved him and so they called his agent and they were like look he did a really great job he was actually our favorite but he He has this thick Southern accent and we don't want.

this character to have any kind of accent he's supposed to just be like an everyman kind of and his agent was like a southern he doesn't have a southern accent so earlier that day he had auditioned for a cat on a hot tin roof oh wow and he hadn't shaken

the accent yet and so he went into this audition with that accent okay and uh yeah he came back and read without one and they were like yeah no you got it like what the hell was that before It's just funny to me that he didn't even think to be like I don't normally have this accent. I got to say, I think that he does a great job with everything that is asked of him. Right. But I am actually starting to get more and more pissed off that he's not Kurt Russell.

I don't know, though. I feel like I know even at the time, though, people knew who they were. Yeah. Would that be a clash of who we need to pay attention to more? I don't know. I just really love Kurt Russell. Yeah.

that trajectory of a career going from Escape from New York to The Thing to The Terminator? Yeah, no, it would have been wild. I just think that Kurt Russell's the gravity of kurt russell would just change this character into something totally different and not i'm not even saying in a bad way no i'm just saying that it would be even the dynamic of him and a very important character who we're gonna meet soon i that would be totally

different i think that this movie would be it would just be a different a different uh telling yeah something interesting though is that michael bean is in planet terror and kurt russell ended up in death proof we should really do those at some point we should really really should

But the scarce light of the alley catching the scars on his torso, Reese runs through the shadows, stopping when he reaches the derelict, who asks him earnestly in a raspy voice if he just saw a really bright light. But suddenly... A searchlight beams from a police cruiser into the alley, the voice of an uncredited cop attempting to confirm with dispatch over the radio if this is the guy. So maybe they did.

Because that really confused me. I was like, he's been here for about 30 years. He hasn't done anything yet. Well, that shit was crazy. Yeah, okay. Somebody had to have called somebody. Yeah. I would hope. Yeah. But I guess the guy with the garbage truck, the driver. Right. He probably was like, dude, you're not going to believe. I just saw some shit. Yeah. Yeah. But in the light, we see Reese stepping into a dirty pair of jeans and pulling them up to his waist.

Having seen what the Terminator is capable of, I'm like, oh, he just killed that guy. I got to say, too, we learn later what is happening with the beaming here and the lack of clothing and whatnot. I think whatever mission either of these two are on, I think finding clothing is a tall first order. Yeah. Like we got to think of some like organic material for clothes, something like, and I'm, that's a lot.

do all this shit yeah and i'm like i'm i don't want to say hanging dong again but we are no yeah and honestly with what we come to learn later about the fact of the machines having this capability to give you the ability to time travel. Yeah. But they have no idea where you're going to end up or anything. No. Like put me in a department store. Yeah. Make it a little bit easier.

That is true. Take some pressure off. Yeah. Look, we're in the city that we need to be in. We should be grateful. And I guess in all honesty, I mean, they're not trying to, and we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Yeah. But they're not trying to send any people back. So they send a machine. A machine doesn't feel shame. No, it's true. But he's not going to blend in either. Like, I feel like that's my thing. And I mean, they're really thorough. These.

When creating what the Terminator is because they didn't need to sculpt. He's got a pass. Yeah, I guess. He did slowly kind of go look for clothes. He did. He was like, look, first things first. Yeah. Violently. But the cop's partner, played by Ed Doggins, calls out to Reese, who immediately takes off running barefoot down the alley.

The partner rushes into the alley as the other cop speeds off in their cruiser in pursuit of Reese. He catches the derelict in the beam of his flashlight, who shouts up to him that that son of a bitch took his pants. I was glad that he was still alive after what we had just seen, like you said, with the punks. But I got to say, when he runs away, that cop goes, he's rabbiting. And I don't know why it struck me as fucking hilarious. Rabbiting?

he took off yeah i was like what the hell does that mean so i literally googled he's rabbiting and there's like a thread on reddit where people are like this line is so funny to me i don't know why because like in the uk it means just like talking a lot Uh huh. But I guess it means like scampering away in this context. But.

I just never heard that before and it really fucking tickled me. Well, because, I mean, you would have to have a really, really expert knowledge of rabbits. Yeah. He's rabbiting. It's just the first thing he said. He's eating a carrot? That's exactly it. Yeah. He's a stinker? Yeah. I understand. But Reese gives chase as the synth in the score warbles around him, and the second cop races after him on foot.

Reese's path is diverted when the first cop heads him off at the pass in his cruiser, forcing him to cut left, rushing down an adjacent alley, and tumbling over the hood of a car which screeches to a stop in front of him. The second cop continues his pursuit, and when Reese darts into another alley, he follows, only to discover that Reese is nowhere in sight. He aims his flashlight, creeping cautiously through the fog and debris as he catches his breath.

But just as he inches forward, peering deeply to the other side of the alley, Reese leaps out from behind a dumpster, overtaking the cop as he draws his gun. The two struggle against a wall, where Reese gains the upper hand, wrenching the gun from the cop's clutches, the two accidentally firing off an errant shot as Reese seizes control of it. He elbows the cop in the gut.

backing away from him and pointing the gun directly at his face, pleading to urgently know what day it is. Confused, the cop responds stiltedly that it's the 12th. May. Thursday. Reese shouts back in return, demanding to know the year, his eyes peering around the alley as the sirens of nearby cruisers echo through the evening. The second cop stands too puzzled to answer, and Reese rushes away.

And when he's promptly surrounded, he breaks through a locked door and races inside of a building. I understand, like, the day or whatever, but I think that, too, that, like, I don't give a fuck what day it is, the year. Yeah. What? Why? I just, there is not attention given to that at all. Yeah. Well, he's rabbiting. That's the main priority.

But the second cop rallies his brothers in blue, alerting them that the suspect has his gun. And we watch as Reese runs through the inventory of the back of a department store before making his way to the store proper. and we follow him tensely through the aisles as he crawls out of sight of his pursuers, through shelves and past racks of apparel.

The cops comb through the store with their flashlights as Reese ducks out of sight, his hand reaching up to silently snag a gray coat from a nearby hangar. As the cops press on through the store, Reese continues his shopping spree, snagging a pair of shoes and sizing them against his bare foot before absconding with them. Did that make anyone else laugh out loud? He's like, well, I don't want to be too loose. Yeah, I got to be able to run in these. Wow. I feel like he...

He was so stealthy when he came in here, but the minute he started taking these clothes, he just didn't give a fuck anymore. It was hilarious to me. When one of the cops sweeps past a seemingly empty booth, We watch as Reese lowers his fresh new pair of Nikes onto the ground behind its curtain, fastening the white Velcro strap at the top of them. You paid for that, didn't you, Nike?

I read, I'm trying to remember where I read it, but I read that this pair of Nikes was designed for this film. What? Yes. And so, yes, they did. But armed with the officer's service weapon. Reese darts for the front entrance of the department store, only to be thwarted by the arrival of another prowl car, its lights flashing and its siren chirping. Reese instead makes a beeline for an adjacent escalator.

which rests motionless. So it's really just a set of stairs. Sorry for the convenience. Yes, we're doing 20-year-old. Yes! Mitch Hedberg jokes this week. But he races through the upper level, and just when he's out of sight... The cop from the alley reaches the escalator, shining his flashlight upward and continuing onward when he doesn't see anything peculiar.

just a plus police well it's off so nobody's gonna use it yeah clearly yeah it's broken my note is just these cops suck like this is embarrassing especially in a minute oh yeah But Reese has already made it outside, climbing cautiously down a fire escape to the pavement below, where he creeps over to the passenger side door of a parked police car, opening it up and snagging a shotgun that rests in the center of the seats.

fucking fool out of y'all dude you should all be embarrassed he walks away calmly stashing his newfound weapon in the folds of his stolen coat as he walks through the brisk wind in the night He watches the street as another police cruiser speeds toward the department store under the glow of street lamps. It's siren howling as it drives right past the very man they're searching for.

Once it's gone, Reese crosses the street and heads inside of a phone booth, wrenching the folding door open and grabbing a phone book that rests on the floor. Pouring through the pages, he finally reaches the surnames beginning with C, narrowing his search down to Connor, where he finds three numbers listed belonging to different women of the same name.

Sarah Connor. He tears the page free from the book and disappears into the night. He got away. He did. I will say this whole little sequence, this does feel very different than... Like you were saying from the other guy. He fell in. The other guy was in a cool pose. Yeah. He was like grunting and groaning when he was getting up. The other guy did not. No. He's got scars. The other guy did not. True. So this does.

feel a little different following uh reese yeah that's a really good point yeah there's and there are a lot of parallels between them as they continue yeah and this first night it really is a lot of you know back and forth yeah But we soon learn why everything was so different for both of them, which is very interesting. Yeah.

But we cut to the bright light of morning, and we find Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, riding her Honda scooter through the Los Angeles traffic, dark glasses shielding her eyes from the sun. It's Linda Hamilton. Yeah. Yes. I was like, there's our girl. So firstly, some people that were considered for Sarah Connor. Okay. Patricia Arquette. Okay. Yeah. Jennifer Jason Lee. Yeah. And T. Hmm. Jessica Harper. Really? From Suspiria. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. They Cameron had said that because.

Sarah Connor is a pretty, she's a badass. Yeah. And she's a pretty empowering character. He said that there needed to be a blend of girl next door. but also in athleticism because this is a physically demanding role. And Linda Hamilton was fresh off of Children of the Corn. It hadn't even been released yet. And so she was not.

like a big name and when he saw her he kind of knew and it's funny because I read that they did not really get on very well filming this at all and then after they did the second one they started dating they moved in together she got pregnant and i think when their baby was eight months old she was like i

cannot stand living with him and so she and the baby moved out and then they later ended up getting married and then they're married for eight months and they get divorced it's like it just seems very um like a roller coaster yeah i don't know why the way you said the way you said the baby yeah moved out it really tickled me because i'm just he's like let's go

Like, I don't know. First she moved out. Then the baby was like, I'm leaving, dude. Yeah, this is crazy, dad. Yeah, the baby's like, I see what the fuck you're talking about, dude. He sucks. Let's go. It was the baby from who framed Roger. It is interesting because I think from 85 to 89, James Cameron was married to Gail Ann Hurd. Oh, wow. He's been married several times, to my understanding. Catherine Bigelow? Yeah.

Piggybacking on what you were saying about it being a physically demanding role, we do see Linda Hamilton doing a lot of her own things and stunts in this film. Yeah. There are, of course, you know, stunt performers that do take her place from time to time, but she doesn't.

shit ton of running in this film and they had said that in that break of time between them wanting to start production and then actually starting production she broke her ankle And so every single day that they had to do those physically demanding scenes, they taped the fuck out of her ankle.

God. So that she could even do it. Yeah. But they saved all of those scenes for the end of production and they had to reconfigure everything just to hopefully give her a little more time to heal. Yeah. God damn. But Sarah pulls off the road, coasting down a sidewalk before parking and locking up her vehicle with a bright blue chain in the parking lot.

She snags her pink backpack from the seat of the scooter as she heads into Big Jeff's restaurant, calling out to a statue outside who holds two massive cheeseburgers in his hands to guard her bike for her. But once inside, Sarah breezes past the front counter in a hurry, where she's joined by Nancy, played by Sean Sheps, who is still tying the bow at the back of her pink server's uniform as she rounds the corner of the counter with Sarah.

Sarah announces that she's late, and Nancy concurs that she is too. But Sarah pushes through the swinging doors into the kitchen. where she reaches the time cards, finding hers and stamping it, the camera pressing in on her name, Connor, Sarah, as well as the pay period, which ends on May 19th. So this is the same day.

yeah those naked guys fell from the lightning storm right i love this being the reveal of her name though oh yeah like i thought that that was really clever yeah and i mean i might be a little biased but i enjoy that she's a server and yeah You know what I mean? Uh-huh. But somewhere in the city. The camera climbs from the curb past a studded pair of boots befitting of a 1980s punk to find the Terminator, clad in the outfit that he forcibly received hours earlier.

So he really committed because he did not have to put the fingerless gloves on. No. That was all him. It's part of the outfit. It's an ensemble. And none of those dudes were that fucking big. No. Let's be very clear. There's going to be a tear in the back of that jacket. Something. Frankenstein with all three jackets together is something.

But percussive knocks echo in the score as he steps from the curb and approaches a station wagon, punching a hole through the glass window of the driver's side door with his studded glove and letting himself inside. I did see in an interview that Arnold Schwarzenegger said, I guess that they had run out of time or out of budget or something. And so they didn't have the clearance to be filming this right here when he's walking across the street. Really?

He said that James Cameron was like, just go. and punch that window and and you know whatever he's telling him what to do and so he went and did it and James Cameron was like what was great is that I could say hey go over there and punch that window and Arnold was never like why like he was just like okay But they didn't have any clearance to be doing this. And so it was kind of like this like clandestine, you know.

cloak and dagger you know but i mean they got it done yeah there's a story later too at the end of the film where they're just it's just guerrilla filmmaking and you think about it and you don't really hear these days whenever we talk about films especially the newer ones yeah of films being made in los angeles yeah really and so it's it was pretty cool to get to talk about it and to say that they did film here right on the streets and everything

But the Terminator tears the steering wheel apart with ease to access the wires underneath. He pinches them with his bare fingers in a twist, and with a small zap of electricity, he's able to kickstart the engine. shifting into gear and driving forward on a mission. Well, that was interesting. Yeah. Very easy. Yeah. But back at Big Jeff's, Sarah, now clad in her server's uniform as well, pulls food from the pass bar.

balancing the plates on her arms as she complains to Nancy that she's in it. And Nancy, once again, concurs that she is too. Gliding through customers and employees, Sarah finally reaches her section. where an uncredited customer calls out to her as she passes, clutching an empty mug in his hand. And he says, honey, can I have that coffee now, please? Yeah, let me just drop these fucking plates on the floor.

Sarah handles this with grace, assuring him that she'll get it for him, before finally approaching the proper table. Still balancing several plates, she asks the customers, played by Hugh Farrington and Harriet Medin, who ordered which entree. Confusion erupts at the table, as seemingly none of the items ordered are the ones that she holds precariously on her arm.

As she attempts to figure it all out, another customer at a separate table, played by Lori Frazier, impatiently calls out to Sarah that she's ready to order now. It's like, fuck it now. These people really exist. by the way. This is not a fucking exaggeration either. That's funny because that's my note. People are still the same way. Yes. You don't see how busy you are.

Frustrated, Sarah attempts to just drop the food at the table but accidentally spills a cup of coffee onto the jacket of the uncredited man. She apologizes profusely, wiping out his clothes feverishly with napkins, inquiring that hopefully his jacket isn't real leather. But as she cleans him up, a young, uncredited boy at another table takes the roundest spoonful of ice cream I've ever seen, and he drops it right into the front pocket of Sarah's uniform.

The uncredited man who is not in the same party as the kid. No. He says, nice going, kid. I ought to give you the tip. For what reason? That's criminal. Because we hate our fucking server. That's why. And so I'm like this small clip. I don't know if we're supposed to think that Sarah's kind of a bad server or if the customers just suck. But even if she is.

kind of a bad server the customers don't fucking suck yeah like this scene stressed me out a lot yeah i think it's just to kind of show that her daily life is filled with like its own challenges yeah and assholes and yeah But Sarah stands in disbelief as she peers into her ruined pocket. But Nancy approaches her from behind, offering the reassurance that on the positive side, in a hundred years, who's going to care?

Sarah can do nothing but let out a sigh. But we cut to the stacked yellow sign of Alamo's sports shop as the Terminator steps into frame just beneath it. He passes an exiting customer on his way inside who I could have sworn was Greg Nicotero, but is absolutely not Greg Nicotero.

It did look like Greg Nicotero. Yes. That's funny. And I'm, dude, I'm fucking sick of Google. Like I'm just trying to Google shit and they have this like AI bullshit. I asked, I was like, was Greg Nicotero in, or a cameo in the Terminator?

or did he work on the Terminator? And the AI said, yes, he did. And he had a cameo in it. And I scrolled down and the first thing was like, no, he did not work on the Terminator. So again, this is kind of the perfect film to be pissed off at AI trying to cover shit. Oh, yeah. But inside the shop, the Terminator lists a series of weapons for the clerk played by Dick Miller to grab from the wall behind him. Dick Miller, we out.

We covered, we talked about him on Gremlins. Uh-huh. Yeah. Night of the Creeps? Yeah. I remember whenever we did talk about him on Night of the Creeps about him being a good luck charm for a ton of directors. Yeah. And I forgot that it wasn't just Joe Dante, but it was also Roger Corman, who we talked about at the beginning being where James Cameron cut his teeth. Yeah.

But as the Terminator racks the slide of a submachine gun, the clerk rests a 12-gauge autoloader down onto the counter at the customer's request. He then snags a .45 long slide with a laser sighting for the Terminator to test himself, extolling it as brand new and instructing him to only lightly touch the trigger for the beam to come on. The Terminator does as told, and we see the red laser pointing the path of the round straight ahead.

The clerk asks if he'll need anything else, and the Terminator flatly requests a phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range. A very odd request. Yeah, I was like, is this fucking Fallout? What are you talking about? I just love, he's like, it doesn't have to be too high on the water. I'll make do. But the clerk just laughs it off, telling him that he's only selling what he can see on the shelves behind him.

So the Terminator returns his gaze to those shelves, spotting an Uzi 9mm and asking for it, which earns the praise of the clerk, who remarks that he definitely knows his weapons, as any one of these firearms lying on the counter... are ideal for home defense. He asks which one it will be, but as the Terminator dry racks the 12-gauge, aiming down sight, he simply answers. All.

The clerk rejoices that he may get to close early today, but he reminds the Terminator that there's a 15-day wait on handguns, but he assures him that he could take the rifles right away. What? It's an interesting distinction. Yeah. I don't understand. It's very upsetting. But his back turned. The Terminator reaches into a box resting on the counter, snagging a shotgun shell and loading it into the weapon that he holds in his hands.

The clerk catches him, scolding that he can't do that. But racking the shotgun, the Terminator succinctly responds, wrong. before pulling the trigger and blasting the clerk through the chest. This is a lot. Yeah, he doesn't give a fuck. He doesn't, but like, why are you so funny? Yeah, you don't need to be funny. Who programmed you to be funny? That's crazy. Because he's more funny later.

Yeah. Did this remind anybody else of The Simpsons when McBain is like, buy book? Yeah. Because that's what I thought of. But I'm like, are we not concerned at all with keeping a low profile? Because this is like the middle of the day. No. Yeah. I didn't think about that. I mean, because he's a Terminator. He doesn't give a shit. He doesn't. I got to be honest, dude. As this continues, the Terminator kind of sucks at his job.

I mean, he's got one program. Yeah. But I guess they didn't specify on a way to go about. I think they need to patch that program. Yeah. This is an early model. Yeah. It's a T-800. Yeah. They're working on it. Yeah. But elsewhere in the city. Reese crouches in an alley, sawing the stock off of the shotgun that he stole the night before.

He attaches it to a length of rope around his shoulder, hanging it there underneath his jacket, which allows him to walk freely through the crowded sidewalk, with no one the wiser that he's carrying a weapon. But we cut to the curb of the street where the Terminator pulls up and parks in his stolen station wagon.

He promptly exits the vehicle, approaching a payphone, which is occupied by Morris, a large bearded man played by John E. Bristol, who complains to his wife that his bike broke down and he needs her to come and get him. As he expresses his disinterest in whatever his wife has going on right now, the Terminator clutches his shoulders from behind, tossing him away from the phone booth effortlessly.

The man cries it confused. What the? As he clatters to the sidewalk. But the telephone is left swinging from its cord in the booth as his wife calls out for him through the receiver. Morris reaches his feet, declaring that the Terminator has a serious attitude problem.

But the Terminator is too preoccupied by the phone book that he's found on the shelf in the booth, gliding his finger down the page with the surnames beginning with C, eventually tracing his way to the three Sarah Connors that Reese found. the night previous. Oh no. Yeah. Morris' wife continues calling out for him on the phone, frustrated when he doesn't answer. And the scene just sort of ends. I thought he's killing Morris. I thought Morris was going to try to kick his ass.

I did too. But then he's like, you got a real attitude problem. And I'm going to take myself elsewhere. I'll call my wife later. Yeah. Well, they're both big dudes. But again, looking at Arnold. Come on. Oh, yeah. Oh, wait. Yeah. You needed the booth more. Clearly. But shortly afterward, we're taken to a peaceful suburban street, neighbors walking across the sidewalk on a morning stroll, carefree children riding their tricycles and playing in the road. But the Terminator arrives in his car.

Crushing the small toy of a blue 18-wheeler that was left in the road. Bit of foreshadowing? But he steps out of the car, stoically marching up the driveway of one of the homes where he's incessantly barked at by a small dog who is tied to a tree on the front lawn. Again, we'll learn a little more of that later. Yeah.

But the Terminator just continues on his path, ascending the front porch of the house before reaching the entrance, opening the screen and standing directly at the front door with no barrier. He knocks sternly on the wood as the score pounds a tense rhythm. Wrong Sarah, played by Marianne Mueller-Lyle, answers, opening up just a crack to peer at the Terminator through the chain-locked door.

But locking eyes with her, the Terminator coldly inquires, Sarah Connor? She answers somewhat nervously, Yes? And without a second thought, The Terminator forces the door open, snapping the chain from the lock as wrong Sarah backs into her living room fearfully. The Terminator reaches into his jacket, removing the laser-sided pistol, its red glow leaving its mark in the middle of wrong Sarah's knitted brow.

The Terminator fires, and the camera follows the sights of his pistol as he aims at wrong Sarah's body on the ground, firing several more rounds for good measure. That's crazy. Again, no fucks given. It's today's time. Kids out there playing. You fucked up some kid's toy. And you know that there were three. Yeah. Like we're not even doing due diligence here. Yeah. Well, I mean, in all honesty, it's like, you know, we'll get all of them. Yeah. Who cares? I mean, that's what he was.

program yeah program whatever um i did want to say very quickly before we move on this actress right here that plays wrong sarah Her face looked so familiar to me. And I scrolled through her IMDb and I understood why. Like all of your favorite shows from like the fucking 90s or the 80s, she was on at least.

an episode or two of okay she also had parts in CSI really desperate housewives there you go and nip talk yeah really so shout out to this queen who guested on so many of my hyper fixation shows uh yeah i was like no way no way no way It just kept being more and more and more. That's wild. Thank you for your service. I'm sorry for what just happened to you. But back at Big Jeff's, the right Sarah enters the kitchen.

calling out to her boss that she's on break and has someone else covering her section. She folds a small stack of singles in her hands, but she's promptly grabbed by an eager Nancy, who urges her to come here, claiming that it's about her. Sort of. Nancy places a cigarette in her mouth as she leads Sarah into the employee lounge, past a row of lockers and a few of their co-workers to park her in front of a television.

Nancy declares that it's incredible and that Sarah isn't going to believe it. And there, in the small glow of a television resting on the table in the lounge, an anchorwoman played by Hedy Lynn Hertz reports that once again... Sarah Connor, 35, mother of two, was brutally shot to death in her home this afternoon. Nancy leans over Sarah's shoulder, chuckling as she snarks. You're dead, honey.

Cue the gnarliest fucking existential crisis. Yeah. I'm sick for the rest of the day. But you know that that's your friend because they're playing with you about some shit like that. True. But honestly, I'm a little pissed off. You didn't bring that shit to me. She's like, get off the floor real quick. We have to show you this.

But Sarah just looks over at her friend, giving a small smirk and rolling her eyes. Honestly, more good natured than I would be. Yeah. Because that's frightful. Yeah. But that evening. The camera glides past a populated construction site to find Reese sitting behind the wheel of a car, focused but seemingly puzzled as he struggles to hotwire it, finally twisting the correct wires in place to start the engine. So once again, like you were saying with the.

differences the duality of their kind of journeys yeah he couldn't just start it no like the terminator did he's hot wiring it or he's trying to figure it out he's trying different wires yeah terminator knew already what the fuck he was doing squeeze these done yeah A song of synth and hand claps plays on the radio as Reese is transfixed on the site of a large construction vehicle that sits behind the fence next to him. Its windows reflecting a blinding light in his direction.

and its continuous track of tires rolling over debris. But as the camera dips down, we see that the tires of the vehicle are trudging over rubble, ruin, and countless skulls embedded in the dirt. Bombs go off, bright lights flash, and we find ourselves back in 2029 in what remains of Los Angeles. We've triggered a cut scene. Indeed. And I love this fucking 80s ass score right here. It is so good.

Reese, clad in a military uniform, watches from undercover with an uncredited comrade as the unmanned tank rolls by in front of them. Synth plods arpeggiated in the score as Reese crawls through the dirt, signaling for his comrade to follow him. The pair climb over the shells of cars, clutching their weapons as they evade blasts and lasers all around them to take cover as machines pass them by.

As a drone glides by overhead, the lights on its rudders glowing in the foggy dark, Reese urges his comrade into a small crevice carved out of what used to be a building, and she watches as Reese gives her the order to follow onward. The two rushed through scattered metal, past an uncredited gunner who mans a turret, firing back at the encroaching machines and providing cover fire.

As the pair nears an approaching tank, they take cover behind a stone pillar, Reese arming a small incendiary device with a twist and tossing it right into the path of the tank. His comrade attempts to do the same, But when she twists her device, the tank takes notice, the turret at its arm blasting beams in her direction, one of which connects right on target.

bursting as her screams echo and leaving nothing but her lower limbs resting on the stone debris, her blood showering a mist that rides a breeze into Reese's face. He winces, but kind of in a, you hate to see. That's literally my note. I was like, what a fucking underreaction for what just happened. It's like, damn. Yeah. Gordon Ramsay.

But Reese's device explodes beneath the tank, destroying it in a burst of flames and sparks as Reese takes this opportunity to forge onward, reconnecting with an uncredited squad member who drives a car over to scoop him up. So again, this is a lot of combination of regular photography, the miniatures, the things that we had witnessed at the very beginning of the film.

Part of it that is very interesting to me is they discussed how this grenade that is tossed, you see Reese throw it. Yeah. But whenever it match cuts to it falling under the tire of the tank. The grenade is about two inches long because it switches to a miniature. Oh, yeah. It's just incredible work. Yeah, it looks great. That is so cool. But Reese climbs over the hood and through the empty windshield to sit behind the wheel of the car, driving forward as the tank smolders behind them.

But an aerial drone detects their movement, gliding certainly through the air and opening fire, which Reese's uncredited comrade returns with the help of a mounted turret. Reese drives evasively through the debris, but one sure shot from the drone flips the vehicle over, killing Reese's comrade and sending him sailing halfway through the windshield, struggling against the tight crash site through the resulting fire.

He groans in agony as he attempts to free himself from the wreckage, but he promptly wakes up gasping in the car that he hotwired in 1984, racking his shotgun defensively as he returns from this horrific memory. What a fucking nightmare, man. Yeah. Yeah, he's been through it. And that's AI? It will be. Yeah. Watch out. We got four years. But he catches his breath, gazing back at the construction site.

where a towering drill is lowered deep into the dirt. He switches off the radio, pulling away from the curb slowly as he makes his way down the evening street. But in a Los Angeles apartment bathroom... The camera rises up from the sink where a cassette player rests, and up the silk-purple sleeves of a robe worn by Ginger Ventura, Sarah's roommate played by Bess Mata.

Sarah stands at her side, blow-drying her hair as Ginger vibes to the music blasting through her headphones. But when the wires are crossed from their respective electronics, Sarah accidentally pulls the headphones off of Ginger's head. After a quick apology, Ginger replaces her headphones and continues dancing in their crowded bathroom.

I like that you said that Ginger was vibing because that was my note was this is a whole vibe. Yeah. Like sometimes the dancing and getting ready to go out is more fun than the actual going out. But when the phone rings in the living room, Sarah sets down her blow dryer to answer it. On the other end is the voice of Matt, played by Rick Rosovich, who seductively whispers that first, he's going to rip off the buttons of her black.

one by one and then run his tongue down her neck to her bare, gleaming breasts. He continues this erotic novel as Sarah stands smirking, clutching her hand over the receiver to tell Ginger that it's Matt, her boyfriend. He came in hot. He did.

and he knows that gender doesn't live alone yeah he's like no it'll be her i'm sure it'll be her We cut to Matt, who sits reclined on his couch at home, sensually describing further desires until he's finally interrupted by Sarah on the other end as she sarcastically asks who he is.

Matt bolts upright, realizing that he's been getting all hot and heavy with his girlfriend's roommate and promptly apologizing for his mistake and asking to be put on with Ginger. Sarah just giggles as she hands her friend the phone. joking that it's the creep. As soon as Ginger is on proper, Matt starts from the top, describing just how he'll rip the buttons from her blouse one by one.

he wrote it he's I'm like I'm performing this that's all I thought so you had this rehearsed yeah you couldn't let it go to waste But we cut abruptly to the police department, where the random guy who was exiting the gun shop earlier that I thought was Greg Nicotero is dragged away through the bullpen by uncredited officers kicking and screaming with great protest.

Which honestly just made me think more and more that it was Greg Nicotero for him to reappear. Yeah, true. But it's not Greg Nicotero, guys. Unfortunately. But if he was the last one to leave that store before anything happened, he would be a suspect. He would. But Lieutenant Ed Traxler, played by Paul Winfield, stands idly by, stirring his cup of coffee as he nonchalantly chews a stick of gum and makes his way past the cubicles. Paul Winfield, we talked about him in Mars Attacks.

That's right. But Traxler doesn't get very far before he's stopped by Detective Hal Vukovic, played by Lance Henriksen, who rushes off of a phone call to join Traxler on his walkthrough. And we all know Mr. Pumpkinhead himself. Yeah. He's also in Aliens. He is. And I think he was in Jennifer's body very randomly, if I'm not mistaken.

And he also was in Scream 3 because he knew Maurice. That's right. He knew he knew Maurice. Yes. The interesting thing is that Lance Henriksen was also in Piranha 2. Oh. which is how Cameron knew him to cast him for this. But when I had mentioned earlier about the pitch meeting that James Cameron did for financiers, he had initially wanted to cast Lance Henriksen as the Terminator. Huh. And so part of his pitch was he had Lance Henriksen show up early dressed as the Terminator.

walking and acting like the Terminator and basically scaring the fuck out of everyone in the office. Yeah. And then James Cameron showed up later with a really impassioned pitch for the film. So Lance Henriksen did think at one time he was going to be the Terminator. Wow. Okay. But after all the casting and everything went through with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was given this role almost seemingly as like a consolation. Yeah. He does good. Yeah.

But Vukovic hands off a stack of evidence files to the lieutenant, who asks the detective what they've got. Vukovic puts it as plainly as the photograph at the top of the stack. A dead girl. Traxler obviously already knows this, but Vukovic adds that her name was Sarah Connor, aged 35, secretary, shot six times at less than 10 feet by a large caliber weapon.

Traxler facetiously removes his glasses, reminding Vukovic that they do indeed work. You got to stop being such a character. This is wild. But I really like their dynamic between the two of them. Yeah. But upon reaching Traxler's office, Vukovic hands off another crime scene photo of dead girl number two, which he says was sent over from the Valley Division this afternoon.

Traxler sets down his coffee mug on his desk, assuming that there's a point to all of this, and Vukovic makes it very clear, urging his boss to read the name of the victim, Sarah Louise Connor. In his disbelief, Traxler confirms that this information is correct, and Vukovic laments that the press is going to be short-stroking it all over the place. Not short-stroking. I think that that's a term that actually means something, but you...

Can't say that. Wow. He's rabbiting. He is, yes. Yeah. Well, that's... Well, yeah, you know. But Traxler adds in concern, a one-day pattern killer. Vukovic admits that he hates the weird ones. One day so far. Yeah. And once again, the scene just abruptly ends there. But we cut back to Sarah and Ginger's apartment bathroom where Sarah stands in a peach colored blouse and Ginger's voluminous hair hangs at the straps of her pink dress. Just a couple of 80s babes. I mean.

But they smile, putting their arms around each other, and Ginger assesses that they look better than any mortal man deserves. But Sarah exits the bathroom, leaving Ginger to tease her hair all alone as she gazes into an empty glass case that rests in the middle of their living room. She asks her roommate if she's seen Pugsley.

and when Ginger says that she hasn't, Sarah kneels down to look under the couch. Ginger checks the answering machine on the side table as she puts her earrings in, and just as a message begins to play from Sarah's mother, Sarah spots... Pugsley, her green iguana resting regal atop a bookshelf by the front door. Now, how the hell did Jub Jub get up there? Please tell me that.

I mean, he has the run of the place. Yeah, clearly. But Sarah urges her pet to mind its mother as her mother ends her short message with a simple bye. I was like, God damn. But even worse, the message that plays afterward is from Sarah's date, the uncredited Stan Gorski, who laments that something has come up and he won't be able to join Sarah for their date this evening.

She clutches Pugsley to her as she stares off somberly, and Stan apologizes through the speaker, promising to make it up for her before hanging up. And you can absolutely tell, though he's uncredited, but this is James Cameron on the phone. that's hilarious but i was like that sucks because she's like ready to go yeah just change and go wherever the hell ginger's going because she looks like she's gonna have a fun night and she had a shitty day dude yeah no shit

I wonder, though, if this like because I mean, I know this is just like this dude canceling and whatever, but I wonder if he heard on the news and he was like, oh, I'm not doing that. Oh, shit. I didn't even think of that. Because he is canceling and they've already reported it on the news. He's like, something's come up. I'm not allowed to be around any Sarah Connors tonight.

But Ginger is furious, fuming that Stan is a bum, asking, so what if he has a Porsche? He can't treat Sarah like this. It's Friday night, for Christ's sake. She offers to break Stan's kneecaps, but Sarah simply mutters that she'll live, as she looks down at Pugsley, noting that at least he still loves her.

Pugsley hisses a response as he's placed back into his glass enclosure, and we cut to some time later, Sarah changing into much more casual clothing and telling her roommate that she's going to catch a movie. She says for Ginger and Matt to have a good time tonight, and Ginger returns this kind greeting to Sarah as she leaves the apartment.

She does a strange spin as she turns to close the door, which puts her in the proper position to be jump scared by Matt, who stands waiting at the door. That was funny. Yeah. And we were supposed to think it was the Terminator. Yeah. But Matt just laughs and Sarah smacks the shit out of his shoulder, blaming him for that whole spin maneuver thing that I explained. It was her fault. Yeah, it was. It was.

But he gives her a kiss on the cheek as she giggles and makes her way out of the apartment complex and over to her scooter in the parking lot. The music grows ominous around her, rhythmic thumps pervading as she peers around the empty lot before starting her engine and taking off into the night. But we spy her through the windshield of a parked car, panning just slightly to the left to find Reese sitting there, who starts his engine as well, before following close behind her.

I don't know how he started this engine. He was hot wiring cars earlier. This was like a key. Is this a different car? Oh, I don't know. He found it. It was in the visor. Okay. Yeah. I don't have to do that again. Yeah. It's easier. Yeah. But back at the police station, as soon as Traxler and Vukovic enter the hallway to Traxler's office, they're swarmed by the press.

Camera bulbs flashing and lights shining at them as a reporter, played by Webster Williams, demands to know if the lieutenant is aware that the two women who were killed were murdered in the same order that their listings appear in the phone book. I was a little surprised to see the press in the hallway.

yeah and not like clamoring outside like we normally see like in the hallway is wild by his office yeah like gail weather shit like she's in there she found a way yeah But Traxler offers no comment, entering his office with Vukovic and closing the door behind them as the reporters' questions continue muffled behind the barrier. Traxler spits out his gum, shuffling a couple of pills into his hand to take them with the cup of coffee that Vukovic reminds him is two hours cold.

It'd be like that sometimes. It does. And it's gross. You shouldn't do that. But Traxler, who clutches a cigarette in his fingers, asks Vukovic if he's reached the other girl yet, but he hasn't been able to, only getting her answering machine. Traxler suggests sending a unit, which Vukovic has already done, but there's been no answer at the door and the apartment manager isn't home either.

Traxler impatiently orders Vukovic to call her again, and when he reaches for the phone on the desk, the lieutenant asks for a cigarette. But when Vukovic hands him a pack from his pocket, Traxler realizes that he's already holding a lit one and tosses the pack away. He's stressed. Oh, yeah. A little bit. And it feels again like this is like a buddy cop situation between them. Yeah. It feels like a little bit of comedy being injected. Yeah.

But the phone rings unanswered in Sarah's apartment as Ginger's voice on the machine greets Vukovic, at first pretending to answer him, only to alert him to the fact that he's reached the answer phone.

I think this was all their age in the 80s for some reason. Yeah. I did it too as a teenager. You did? I thought it was really funny. This joke has never been funny. It was funny to me. Yeah. I'm going to be honest. I didn't like that either. I had a buddy who had one of those and he would do that. Hello. I can't hear you. Knock it off. Did you really think I picked up my phone? It's like, yeah, because that's so outlandish. It's crazy. What an idiot.

But her voice tells the caller that it's okay and not to be shy, as machines need love too. But we follow down the hall and into Ginger's bedroom where things are getting steamy with Matt. And I have to admit that I have no idea what's happening because I think Matt is inside of her shirt and they're sharing the neck hole. Yeah. They're doing it. They're doing that.

them alone they're fine all right well we shouldn't have to see it if we don't even know what's happening i don't know what's going on but matt just turns up the music to drown out the sound of the answering machine and they keep making with the love So I thought when Vukovic said that he sent units to the room or to the apartment that they had been gone on their date. No, they're home. They're just home. Yeah, they're busy.

I'm not opening the fucking door. Sarah has a key. Nobody else needs to be here. Yeah. It would be who viewed. No. But Vukovic hangs up at the police station, describing it as the same shit. Traxler laments that he can hear it now. He's going to be called the goddamn phone book killer, which is a great name. It does have a ring. It's like a phone. Vukovic reaches for a cigarette, seething that he hates these press cases, especially the weird press cases.

As he lights up, Traxler checks his watch before heading to the door. He tells the detective that he's decided to make a statement, commenting that maybe those jackals outside could work for them for a change. He posits that if he can get on television by 11, maybe Sarah Connor will call them. He fixes his tie and takes off his glasses, asking Vukovic how he looks before facing the press. Vukovic deadpans.

Like shit, boss. And Traxler Snarks, your mama, before turning the knob and heading into the hall. And they were waiting. The camera's already on him. Yeah. He's got to come in there sooner or later, guys. But we cut to the grainy broadcast of a news anchorman played by Joe Farago, who announces that this just in... The police have released the name of the victims of the two murders that occurred today, and incredibly, their names are virtually identical.

We find Sarah, sitting alone at a table in a dimly lit bar, about to enjoy a slice of pizza, but her meal is interrupted when the anchorman continues that two hours ago... 35-year-old Sarah Ann Connor was pronounced dead at the scene in her Santa Monica apartment, while Sarah Louise Connor was slain by a lone gunman earlier today.

A bartender, played by Bill W. Richmond, pours a drink for a customer seated in front of him, played by Patrick Penny, who requests for the channel on the TV behind the bar to be changed. But before the bartender can honor this request, Sarah rises from her seat, rushing over to the bar to stop him from changing it.

She stares worriedly at the screen as the anchorman continues that the police have refused to speculate on the similarities between the two shooting deaths, and that no other connections have been established as of yet, but he promises more information on this. story as it comes in. I don't know how I would feel about that. I don't know if I would stay quiet like Sarah is, or I would be like, Hey, that's my name. Or, you know what I mean? Be like, Oh fuck. And then tell somebody.

Yeah. I mean, first of all, I would throw up naturally. But yeah, it's like even if it's like targeted for me or not. I don't know how many Sarah Connors there are. I mean, we've seen the phone book and know that it's three. She doesn't know that. It is funny with what she does next, though.

Because she turns away puzzled as the bartender and other patrons peer at her, but she breaks away from the bar and finds her way over to a nearby payphone where she snags the phone book that rests there inside of a blue binder. She tears it open. her fingers tracing down a list of names until she finds the three Sarah Connors with her own name listed third. Fuck. I'm fucked for sure. And is this guy standing by the phone to Terminator as well? I don't know.

He's at least surveillance for Skynet. It's an ocular pat down. But she reaches for the phone attempting to dial out only to discover the out of order sign taped to the receiver. Her eyes dart around in her head as she formulates her next move. While, as you said, a very creepy, uncredited guy just stands there checking her out unapologetically. Yeah, it was weird. Like to the point where I was like, oh, this guy's going to come back into play and he died.

No, she's got enough going on. But out on the street, Sarah continues nervously down the sidewalk, stopping just for a moment before rushing off hurriedly. She makes eye contact with a stranger who stands casual against a locked storefront, his hand reaching to the gray jacket that he stole from a department store the night before.

And we see recognition washing over Reese's face as he turns to follow Sarah as inconspicuously as he can. Which is not inconspicuous at all. He's not a Terminator. Not at all. But Sarah does catch on immediately, dipping into a nearby club and putting her back to a wall to watch through the windows for Reese to pass her by. I did appreciate how smart this was. Yeah. She's aware of her surroundings and of the potentially very dangerous situation that she's in.

Yeah, because it is really, really scary shit. That's my note. You just seen all this news. You know what your name is. You just seen the phone book. This dude's fucking following you because of course he is. He's not like being discreet about it. No. Not at all. He's like, hey, I'm going to follow you for a little bit. It's like, oh, okay. I'm going to dip into this club. Yeah.

But he finally does pass by, but only after gazing through the glass in her direction, before continuing down the sidewalk. And the camera rises to capture the neon sign in front of the club, which reads... tech noir in beaming red letters i want to go to there yeah i did read that tech noir was actually

At least the building that they're filming in. It was an old restaurant that they outfitted to be this nightclub. Okay. And they named it Tech Noir because they were thinking that this could be the style or genre of film that the Terminator is.

okay and so it's almost like a bit of branding yeah that's cool yeah but they said while they were filming like people were coming up on the street because they thought it was a real club and trying to pay to get in yeah let him well that sounds cool But inside, Sarah locates a ticket taker played by Barbara Powers, who stands inside of a booth.

Sarah shouts over the loud music, asking where their telephone is, and the ticket taker responds that it's in the back. But just as Sarah rushes off to find it, She's called back and told to pay the $4.50 cover, which she does quickly before making her way through the crowded dance floor and locating the payphone under the flashing lights above her.

It did make me laugh, and I know she's about to use the coins right now, but it did make me laugh that she waited for her change. Well, she knows what she has to do. It's an emergency. But she does immediately use her change from the cost of her ticket to dial into the Los Angeles Police Department, only to get an automated message in response, learning that all of their lines are currently busy. But she's directed to stay on the line.

if she needs a car dispatched to her location. Well, that's concerning. I don't know why I thought that you could just call 911. I didn't think that you needed to pay. Yeah, you're right, honestly, at a payphone even. Yeah. Well, she's frantic. Maybe the coins will spit out. Maybe. But frustrated, she just scoffs, hanging up the phone. But we find a police car parked on a dark Los Angeles street.

where an officer gets a call through dispatch regarding a robbery at a liquor store. He switches his lights on, screeching as he pulls away. But the camera lingers on the car's vacancy left in the road, only for the Terminator to walk right into the frame, filling it. The camera arcs around him as he approaches the front of Sarah's apartment complex, climbing the steps outside to comb through the list of tenant names out front.

We talked about this, I think, on Mulholland Drive. It's just, this can't be legal to have everyone's name just out front like that and on these apartment complexes. It's a safety hazard for sure. I think some do for mail purposes. but they should be inside the building or inside a fence or somewhere. Not for Terminators to just see like this. Yeah, no.

But upstairs, Ginger climbs out of bed, tying her silk robe as Matt lies crashed out underneath her pink blankets. She exits the bedroom, listening to her headphones. And as she does, maybe the funniest track I've ever heard in my life. Very fitting. Yeah. It's literally just saying intimacy over and over. Yeah. And then yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's like something out of South Park, really.

It made me think of the ya body, ya body from that one game. Beyond Two Souls, yes. But Ginger hums along to the music as she dances her way to the fridge in the kitchen. the glow of its interior light cast against her face as she opens the door. She snags the proper ingredients for a sandwich, placing them onto the counter, only to be startled by-

Pugsley, who stumbles on the shelf above her, knocking items down on top of her. Now is not the time. Yeah. No. But this looks like it's going to be a good ass sandwich. Yeah. She's making a for real sandwich. Yeah. She worked up an appetite. Yes. She shoes the lizard away, threatening to make a belt out of him. And he was clumsy. Yeah. He was knocking shit over. He knows he's not supposed to be.

But the patio door in Ginger's bedroom slides open, tense knocks echoing in the score to accompany the Terminator's steps as he marches toward Matt's bedside. But Matt senses his presence, waking up and jumping out of the way just in time as the Terminator drives a fist through Matt's pillow, a cascade of feathers exploding from the Force. Matt leaps out of bed, snagging a bedside lamp and warning the Terminator as he wields it defensively. Don't make me bust you up, man. He tried his best, man.

He swings it at his approaching attacker, only to be promptly thrown through the glass patio door for his efforts. Ginger is none the wiser, using two pieces of celery as drumsticks as she continues listening to her music in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Matt has recovered, reaching his feet to engage once again with the attacker, only to be slammed into a mirror spine first and smashed through several shells of a dresser.

he was trying he did his best yeah ginger pours a glass of milk before walking jovially down the hall with the drink and sandwich that she prepared for her lover but before she can return to her bedroom Matt's bloody and beaten body crashes through the door, his eyes staring lifelessly in Ginger's direction as she screams, and his late-night meal clatters to the floor in a heap.

The Terminator climbs through the remnants of the bedroom door, and everything moves in slow motion as the score shrieks. He raises his pistol with his laser sight. pointing it at Ginger as she turns to run away, but he fires, catching her in the shoulder and sending her diving to the floor. She clings to the carpet, clawing at it in a futile attempt to escape the intruder.

But the Terminator towers over her, aiming the gun at her back as she whimpers. He fires several rounds, and her bloody fingers tense with every shot as her life slips away from her. I was a little surprised at them getting killed so quickly. And I feel like this is when I know that he was killing people earlier. Yeah. But it's like you fully understand. Matt was not.

Sarah Connor no like like he was not standing in his way necessarily like and he just took him out okay so it's just this like he doesn't care there there's no morality there's no oh I have this one target that I'm trying to get to and I killed these other people because they were either standing in my way or I thought that they could conceivably be that target it's just like no but I guess he did kill the um the pawn shop guy yeah so yeah maybe he's just bad

Well, he also killed those punks earlier. Yeah, but they wouldn't give them his clothes. So he had a purpose on that. They were standing in his way. I think the pawn shop one was just kind of just like, oh, he's an asshole. Yeah, he's kind of having fun. He needed the gun. And I think his first name is Terminator. Also true. Yeah, well, I think his first name is The. Okay, wow. Yeah, so...

That makes sense. What does his father say? I'm Terminator. Call me Terminator. You're dead, though. Yeah, but if you were alive, you know. But suddenly. The telephone rings, startling the Terminator, who turns to face it, the beam of his laser catching the receiver as the answering machine picks up. Once Ginger's gag comes to a close, the machine beeps, giving way to the frantic voice of her roommate, who identifies herself as Sarah, piquing the interest of the Terminator. No!

You ever think he feels like embarrassed? Because he's like, damn. God damn it, dude. But Sarah urges Ginger to pick up the phone, adding that she's at a place called Tech Noir on Pico Boulevard and that she's really scared. At the club, surrounded by oblivious dancers and covering her ear from the blaring music, Sarah continues her message, hopeful that Ginger will hear it soon, and asking for her and Matt to pick her up as soon as possible.

The Terminator absorbs this information as Sarah complains that the police keep transferring her around, but that she's going to give them another try. She leaves the phone number for the club, pleading with Ginger to call her because she needs her help. But when Sarah hangs up, the Terminator sets his gun down on the side table and rifles through a drawer. There, he finds Sarah's planner as well as her university ID.

An almost imperceptible smirk registers on his face as he zeroes in on her smiling photograph. But at the police station, Sarah's call finally reaches Lieutenant Traxler and Detective Vukovic in Traxler's office, and she shouts over the club music, begging not to be put on hold or transferred to another department. Traxler assures her that she won't be, as Vukovic focuses intently on his superior's conversation.

Traxler soothes Sarah, asking her to tell him where she is, Vukovic handing off a pin and a pad for the lieutenant to write it down. Sarah tells him that she's at Tech Noir, a place that Traxler apparently already knows, adding himself that it's out on Pico Boulevard. That made me laugh. He loves that place. But when asked if she's all right, Sarah states that she is, but that she doesn't want to leave.

claiming that there's a guy that's been following her. Traxler assures her that since she's in a public place, she'll be safe until the police arrive, but he urges her to stay visible and not to go outside or even near the restroom. He promises to have a car there in a hot minute, which Sarah accepts before ending the call and taking a seat at a table in the middle of the club.

I mean, she should be safe. Should be. There's a lot of people here. Yeah. As long as there's not any kind of machines or anything. But the music pulses around her as she peers around nervously. But through the entrance of the club. stalks the Terminator, who we see from behind a chain-link barrier just in front of the ticket counter. He breezes past without paying, and the ticket taker alerts a nearby security guard.

The Terminator just continues steady in his stride, and when the security guard reaches for him, the Terminator seizes his hand without looking back, crunching the bones of his fingers to dust as the security guard crumples to the floor in agony. And there's no commotion caused by this. Everybody is still just dancing and vibing. And there's only one security guard. I guess, yeah.

But Burnin' in the Third Degree by Tawny Kane and the Triangles blasts over the club's speakers as the Terminator continues his march, surveying the faces of every clubgoer he passes. Sarah, however, still seated at her table by the dance floor, looks around impatiently, anticipating the arrival of the police.

But in her frantic glances around the room, Sarah accidentally knocks over a bottle of Canada Dry Ginger Ale, and when she leans down to pick it up from the floor, the Terminator creeps by just behind her, his head on a swivel as he passes.

This is by a crowd of dancers in slow motion. It did make me laugh that she ordered a Canada Dry because she's like, I don't know how long it'll be here. He said a hot minute, but I'm thirsty. Yeah, well. And this is the best ginger ale, I believe. So good. Yeah. But when Sarah returns upright at her table, she spies Reese at a distance, sitting alone at the bar. His eyes meet her gaze momentarily, and she cowers, sinking into her chair with grave concern.

I love this dude paid, got in, found her, and then just is chilling. Never seen that. My question was, did he pay the cover? Because he didn't have any problems with the security guard, presumably. But the Terminator makes a swift about-face, retracing his steps through the crowd once again, and through the congestion of club-goers, he finally reaches Sarah's table, where she sits small in her seat, still fixated on Reese.

His target acquired and recognized, the Terminator approaches Sarah in slow motion, tense music pervading in the score as she slowly lifts her head, her eyes finally resting on her real pursuer. Kill Bill music would have fit really well right here. The Terminator reaches into his jacket, retrieving his pistol with its laser sight.

just as Reese rises from his seat, removing and racking the shotgun from his coat. The Terminator raises the gun, aiming it directly at Sarah's face, the beam of the sight blinding us in a POV shot. as Reese rushes to clear the club goers from his line of fire before aiming his shotgun and pulling the trigger just in time before the Terminator can add to his body count. Reese fires again and again as the club goers scream.

dispersing in a disorderly fashion toward the front entrance as the Terminator crashes to the emptying dance floor. His fingers twitch and his eyes widen as he rises up like Michael Myers, reaching for another weapon in his arsenal. And as Reese struggles against an uncredited civilian, The Terminator reaches his feet, arcing his weapon as he sprays bullets in a sweeping motion, killing that unfortunate civilian as Reese dives for safety behind the nearby bar.

He might have used him as a shield. Yeah, I was giving him a bit of a doubt. It's like Reese wouldn't do that. He absolutely did that. But a firefight commences between Reese and the Terminator as Sarah camouflages into the crowd and races for the nearest exit.

When the Terminator has Reese pinned down behind the bar amongst shattered glass and debris, he returns his focus to his search for Sarah, firing shots in her direction, only for an uncredited woman behind Sarah to catch the bullets in her back. falling dead on top of her. Reese dives for new cover on the opposite side of the dance floor, the Terminator following him with a barrage of bullets, shattering glass and destroying fixtures, but missing Reese entirely.

Standing serene underneath the flashing Tech Noir sign, the Terminator once again switches his focus to Sarah, who lies struggling on the floor against the dead weight of a stranger. As she tries to force herself free, the Terminator stalks toward her on a mission, reloading and racking his submachine gun as he aims it certainly at her. But before he can pull the trigger...

Reese dives out of a side hatch, blasting the shotgun into the Terminator's shoulder, racking and firing again and again into his torso, the slug sending him closer and closer to the entrance of the club until he crashes through the glass of the- front window clattering on the sidewalk outside i i i think i would question i just seen that and i know that

He's got skin and, you know, whatever, but he's a robot underneath. Right. But there's obviously not blood pooling around him. No. Where he's been shot all this time. Yeah. It's puzzling. Yeah. I also look, and I know I said it earlier that the Terminator kind of sucks at his job, but he has missed a lot of shots tonight. A lot. And he needs a laser sight in order to... God damn. It's an early model. Yeah.

But as the Terminator lies there motionless, Reese's eyes remain focused on him as he leans down to retrieve Sarah from the floor. Clutching her arm tightly as she attempts to catch her breath, Reese emphatically implores, come with me if you want to live. Iconic. Yeah. Yeah. But I feel like it only really gets. love from the second movie yeah but this and there is a there is a parallel from what happens to her here and then something similar happens in the second movie

But with Arnold. Arnold. Okay. But, you know. He's got big arms. Right. Yeah. But it is funny watching this again and being like, oh, no, he said it first. It is kind of wild again, this.

like misremembering at least on behalf of pop culture yeah because when he said it I was like he says yeah like everything is just so confusing to me but just outside To Sarah's abject shock and horror, the Terminator rises again, amongst the sea of shattered glass, climbing to his feet and through the vacant window frame back into the club.

Reese collects Sarah, forcing her in front of him as they run back toward the dance floor in search of an exit. Lights flash around them as the Terminator picks up his pace in pursuit, watching as Reese smashes through a door and leads Sarah into the back alley.

they take off running together as the terminator follows fast behind them and through his eyes we see his targets in front of him through a red haze and a collection of data entered rapidly in white text which is overlaid over the saturated environment before him. The music pulses intensely as the Terminator pursues Sarah and Reese through the long dark alley, the pair finally reaching Reese's stolen car and shielding themselves behind the passenger side door.

Reese fires his shotgun at the gas tank of a vehicle in front of them, exploding it and creating a ball of fire like a barrier between them and the Terminator. Reese forces Sarah into the car and climbs over her to reach the driver's seat, but through the rising flames races the Terminator, who climbs over the destroyed cars and dives for the hood of Reese's ride as he reverses rapidly toward the street.

The Terminator raises his fist, the sleeve of his jacket still smoldering from the blaze, as he crashes through the windshield and seizes the collar of Sarah's shirt as she screams. Reese swerves evasively as the Terminator pulls Sarah closer to him, but once Reese reaches the street, he whips the car around, clattering into a parked vehicle on the curb, which sends the Terminator tumbling to the sidewalk.

A police cruiser arrives as Sarah and Reese speed off, their tires screeching. But the officer, played by William Wisher Jr., tears out of his vehicle, standing in the street and clutching his radio to report the felony hit and run. felony hit and run did make me laugh and wisher i remember that name yeah you were talking about him at the beginning but when he fell onto the road all i could think was

Guess he didn't see me. Dude, and that's another thing I expected to see in this film. Yeah, that's true as well. Yeah, that's the second movie. I swear to God. That's when he wanted to get in a quick night. Yeah. Down at the pigeon fight. Yeah. But the officer details the model of the vehicle as he stares intently to give the dispatcher an adequate description. The Terminator, however, his jacket still smoking, reaches his feet behind the officer.

who is requesting an ambulance from dispatch that the Terminator definitely doesn't need. I watched on one of those interviews, they were talking about how difficult... It must have been like the transformations that Arnold Schwarzenegger has to do. He said that his least favorite part was that they poured a mild acid on his clothes to make them smoke like that. Real acid? Yeah.

I was thinking the same thing, but yeah. That's crazy. He was like, that was my least favorite part. He was like, I would rather sit in makeup. I would rather do anything else. He was like, because it hurts your nose and it stings your eyes. And I was like, why are we all pouring acid on him? You'd think they'd have something.

for that anything you would think yeah you've created all these robots and brought all this to to life yeah well acid is the only thing that smokes so like i don't know what you want me to do But the Terminator approaches the officer, startling the shit out of him, seizing him by his uniform and ramming his head into the side of the cruiser, knocking him out. The Terminator then climbs behind the wheel.

snagging a shotgun that rests upright in the middle of the seats before whipping a violent reversal and continuing his pursuit of Sarah and Reese from behind the wheel of a police car. Something really interesting that I read in an interview with the cinematographer is a guy called Adam Greenberg. He actually shot Terminator 2 as well. Okay. But he was talking about all of the influences of...

what James Cameron wanted to accomplish with the way that the film looks. And you see a lot of it in this scene. He was talking a lot about film noir of the 1930s and 40s with shadows and smoke and backlighting. I really think that what they did with that is remarkable. But the really interesting thing I learned from that interview is how they were able to craft illusions by using the set in interesting ways. Okay.

Whenever Reese and Sarah are reversing in the car, they're sitting still. And what's happening is the wall behind them is being pulled. What? Get the fuck out of here. And when you see them like kind of bump into the street, they just put some lights there to look like the lights of the street. That's so cool. Okay. So all this motion, it's all an illusion. Fold me. And then they match it with the stunt drivers that are actually driving in the streets of Los Angeles.

that's really cool hell yeah i i again if you were like hey they're driving and we're driving in front of them shooting okay yeah yeah are you ever like sitting parked and then a car next to you reverses and you feel like you're sliding backwards It's like a mini panic attack. If you sit too long in a parking lot, it's like... Yeah. Oh, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. But Reese keeps driving. The lights of the car switched off as he wrenches a sharp left turn down an alley and reaches a side street.

Screeching as he switches lanes, he calls out to Sarah, who sits despondent in the passenger seat. She stares blankly as she tries to digest the events of her evening. When she doesn't answer his calls, Reese shouts again, asking her if she's been shot. She finally returns to herself in a feverish panic, forcing Rhys to subdue her as he orders her to do exactly what he says. He commands that she doesn't move or make a sound unless he tells her to, shouting to make sure that she understands.

She assures him that she does, holding her hands up defensively as she trembles for him not to hurt her. Reese just swerves, drifting through an intersection and speeding down a sidewalk before returning to the road. I understand we have to get away from this Terminator. I don't feel like driving this way is right. It's right. It's going to draw attention to you. Yeah. It's that. Yeah. The Terminator is like, oh, it's probably the car that's on the sidewalk. For sure.

you But Reese surveys the road through his shattered windshield, continuing onward at a high speed as he reassures Sarah that he's here to help her, introducing himself to her as Reese, Sergeant Techcom, DN38416. assigned to protect her, and he reveals that she's been targeted for termination. Well, that makes sense. Yes. Yeah. But if you just wanted to fire me, why didn't you tell me?

You don't have to do all this. Like, did Big Jeff put you up to this? But unbeknownst to them, the Terminator rides through the congested Los Angeles streets searching for them. He reaches for the radio, pressing the button to call into dispatch, but the voice that emanates from him is an exact and precise impression of the officer that he stole the car from. That's cheating, right? Yeah, he stole the Scream 3 device. He shouldn't be allowed to do all that. That's not fair. He's a machine.

He's sent here to terminate. Yeah. Well, he's doing a really shitty job at it. I feel like you've been defending the Terminator a lot. Yeah, what gives? His eye turns red. But the Terminator reports that he's heading westbound on Olympic, approaching Overland. The uncredited dispatcher on the other end directs the Terminator to proceed to Pico, and he awaits further instructions to locate his target.

But back in their vehicle, Sarah insists that it must be a mistake because she didn't do anything to warrant this. But Reese assures her that she will. He tells her that it's very important that she lives. Sarah sits in disbelief, trying to understand how the man who was after them was able to just get back up. But Reese reveals that the Terminator isn't a man, but a machine. A Cyberdyne Systems Model 101.

Sarah struggles to understand. A machine? Like a robot? But Reese corrects her that the Terminator isn't a robot. He's a cyborg. A cybernetic organism. Sarah still can't grasp the concept, certain that she saw the Terminator bleeding, but their conversation is interrupted when a police cruiser pulls up beside them, an uncredited officer shining a searchlight through the passenger side window at them.

Reese forces Sarah's head down as he swerves right at the officer, ramming his vehicle off the road before cutting a sharp left turn down an alley. Another officer pursues them as Reese dodges parked cars and dumpsters before unexpectedly breaking harshly to a stop.

The officer overcorrects, screeching to a horizontal stop in the middle of the alley, and Reese reverses, ramming the side of the cruiser before speeding off and returning to the road, dipping into a nearby parking garage after crashing through the barricade. I think that's probably like three or four stars now. Oh, yeah. The helicopters are out for sure. They're coming.

But Reese urges Sarah to listen to him as he explains that the Terminator is an infiltration unit, part man, part machine. Underneath his skin is a hyper-alloy combat chassis, microprocessor controlled. fully armored and very tough. But on the outside, it's living human tissue. Flesh, skin, hair, blood, all grown for the cyborgs.

Reese drives in circles around the pillars of the empty parking lot as Sarah tells Reese that she doesn't know what he wants from her, but he merely wants her to pay attention. He parks the car, noting that they need to ditch it before leaning in close to Sarah to continue his spiel. He states that the 600 series of cyborgs had rubber skin and were much easier to spot, but these models are new.

And they look human, sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. That's terrifying. Yeah. And the fact that this is being grown for them, skin and hair and... It's disturbing. I think the thing about it that really gets me is, again, this is all from the machines. And so it's like they are learning as it goes on. They're like, we tried this. Yeah. It doesn't work. Yeah. Let's figure out how to give them halitosis. Exactly.

That's really what sets humanity apart is the halitosis for sure. Reese adds that he had to wait until the Terminator moved on her before he realized what it was. Incensed, Sarah retorts that she isn't stupid and she knows that the technology isn't there to make stuff like this yet. And Reese agrees, not yet, adding, not for about 40 years.

Sarah understands, but asks doubtfully if Reese is suggesting that the Terminator is from the future. And Reese complicates the proceedings with his answer. One possible future. From your point of view. Hold on. Slow down, egghead. Yeah, you need to pull over. I'm not going any further until you tell me what the fuck. I'm too nosy to just hear. Well, you haven't done anything yet. What am I going to do? What is it? What is it? Pull over. He admits that he doesn't know all the tech stuff.

But Sarah concludes that this means that Reese is from the future too, which he cops to. This prompts Sarah to reach for the door handle in a failed attempt to escape, but Reese grabs her, pulling her back into the car. She sinks her teeth into his hand, Reese's blood coating her lips as he tells her, Cyborgs don't feel pain. I do. And he warns her not to do that again. I fully understand why for Sarah.

that was she's like oh so you're from the future yes goodbye like i understand why that was the line but it was kind of funny to me that he was like that really hurt yeah god damn it please don't bite me again but again there is a difference they got here the same way but again he's like look dude i promise you i shot that guy and he got up he's he's still coming after us yeah that really hurt you know what i mean don't don't bite me and she she bit him hard enough to draw blood yeah

And I think that it goes into what we were discussing earlier with these parallels between them. Yeah. We completely understand it now. He was a cyborg and he fucking landed like a superhero. Yeah. just infiltrating the society and marching his orders. Right. Reese is a human being. Yeah. He's clumsy. He fucks up. He's doing the best that he can. Yeah. But Sarah crumbles, begging for Reese to let her go, but he implores her to listen and to understand. The Terminator is out there.

It can't be bargained with or reasoned with, and it doesn't feel pity, remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until Sarah is dead. Sarah's eyes search aimlessly before returning to Reese, asking if he can stop the Terminator. But Rhys just sighs, releasing Sarah and running his fingers through his hair, sharing his uncertainty, especially with the limited weapons at his disposal.

I absolutely love this little line delivery here of him when he's telling her. I know I've seen some memes with it and it makes me happy because I'm like, oh, it's Terminator. But just that, like the way he says it, it's like. Oh, you're serious. Yeah. Yeah. You really believe what you're saying. Something they had talked about. I saw an interview with Michael Bean where he says, you know, at this point in the film.

It's kind of, you know, you're not wanting a lot of exposition or when films do this and kind of have a dump of exposition here, at least there was like a lot of action going on during it. Yeah. And so you're kind of enthralled by what you're seeing. So as you're digesting the information, you got a lot of really neat shots, a lot of action. And so it doesn't feel like this big exposition dump like it normally would. Yeah.

But we cut to the Terminator, who continues his search, scanning left to right and back again under his scorched-off eyebrows through the windows of the police cruiser, the echoing knocks in the score his only company. In that interview as well or in one of them, he talked about that was his idea.

The way that he'll like look with his eyes and then his head will follow like he's a security camera. And then when you watch it after he says that, it's like, no, that's literally what he's doing. Yeah. It feels like he brought a lot to. you know, making it not feel so human. Yeah. There's a lot of slasher DNA in that because when you think about Michael Myers, I think he does this thing where he turns his head and his body follows.

Yeah. Okay. So it's kind of, I mean, where it's like, that's just not how a person moves. Like there's just something wrong about it. But back in the parking garage, another cruiser pulls up next to Reese's car, only to discover that it's been abandoned, and the discovery is relayed by the dispatcher for the Terminator to hear in his car, and once the address to the parking garage is given...

he whips a violent U-turn. But in the parking garage, as a description of Reese is given over the radios of the prowling cars, he and Sarah sneak stealthily using the parked cars as cover as they slink by in search of another vehicle. Reese unlocks the door to a blue sedan, letting Sarah inside before climbing in himself and closing the door behind them as they sink into their seats. Hidden from the side of the police, Sarah wonders why the Terminator wants her.

and with his shotgun resting at his shoulder, Reese hesitates before providing an answer. He explains that there was a nuclear war a few years from now, and everything all around them in this moment was gone. But he shares that there were survivors here and there. Mostly here. I was already trying to...

But as he loads shells into his shotgun, he adds that no one even knew who started the war, but he knows. It was the machines. Sarah doesn't understand, but Reese reveals that it was the Defense Network Computers knew... powerful, hooked into everything and trusted to run it all. He says that it got smart. a new order of intelligence that saw all people as a threat, not just those on the other side, and it decided their fate in a microsecond. Extermination.

Reese uses the butt of the shotgun to knock the ignition switch free from the steering wheel as Sarah asks if he saw this war. But before he can answer... They're forced to cower lower into their seats as a police car drives by, its searchlights beaming in their direction. As soon as it passes, Reese explains that he didn't see the war. He grew up after. in the ruins, starving and hiding from HKs. Sarah asks what those are, and he tells her. Hunter killers.

patrol machines built in automated factories. You have a lot of nerve using abbreviations. It's wild. He's like, yeah, those HK's are like crazy. What the fuck are you talking about? He's like, oh, I forgot we're not back where I'm from. Not at all.

She did, I will say, she did believe him, I guess, after the bite. And he told her, you know what I mean, whatever about the Terminator. Because the cops are passing by. I mean, I know there is a chance he's got a gun, whatever. But he's like, I'm not going to hurt you. to jump up and be like, hey, hey, right here. But she just doesn't. That's true. Because honestly, I mean, all that she, the only thing that's changed, he did save her life.

right yeah but the only thing that's changed is that she bit him and saw him bleed and then from that point forward it does seem maybe she tasted his blood and they're like bonded or something for life that's it that's the vampire thing yeah are they vampires dude i don't know what's going on i don't even know what an hk is It's a different movie. Yeah, we got a lot of catching up to do, I think. But Reese says that most of the survivors were rounded up and put into camps for orderly disposal.

He lifts his sleeve to reveal a bright purple mark bruised forever into his skin by a laser scanner, revealing that some humans were kept alive to work, loading bodies for the machines. But he says that the disposal units ran night and day, and humanity was close to extinction. But one man taught them how to fight, to storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal motherfuckers to junk.

One man who turned it all around and brought them back from the brink, and his name is Connor. John Connor. Sarah's eyes widen as Reese meets her gaze, telling her, It's your son, Sarah. Your unborn son. What? Yeah. Pretty wild. But the music pulses around the Terminator as he enters the parking garage in his stolen police cruiser.

With a scowl, he surveys his surroundings in search of Sarah, but thankfully for Sarah, Reese has hot-wired the car that they're hiding in, finally getting the engine to turn over. But just as he does, the Terminator reaches their lane, his eyes widening with recognition as he spots Sarah, and he reaches for the shotgun parked at his side. Without even a second thought, he blasts out the back window of their car, racking and firing as Reese puts his foot on the gas, speeding away.

The two trade shots between the pillars as they stay level with each other in opposite rows, Reese firing over a cowering Sarah until he's able to ram the Terminator's cruiser right into a parked truck. Seizing his opening, Reese speeds out of the parking garage, but the Terminator corrects his course, following them out. And the shot is clearly sped up for some reason, which is really hilarious. Yeah. I will say, I wonder if James Wan was influenced on that for Saw.

Do you remember that scene? Yes, of course. Yeah, it's very funny. It's hilarious. But the cars reach the freeway as the synth in the score warbles tensely, both vehicles weaving in and out of traffic in evasion and pursuit. The Terminator continues firing wildly as he catches up to Reese and Sarah, pulling alongside them, only to be rammed by Reese onto the neighboring sidewalk.

The Terminator makes his way back onto the road, undeterred as he fires right into the passenger side door at Sarah. Reese shouts for her to take the wheel, and she does as told. as he pulls himself out of the driver's side window to aim over the roof to return fire to the Terminator. The two exchange shots, but Reese is able to momentarily wound the Terminator with a shot through the windshield, leaving it a shattered mess and the cyborg in a mild daze.

Sarah screams for Reese when she realizes that they're heading straight for a dead end. She pulls the emergency brake, screeching their stolen car to a drifting halt. But by the time the Terminator leans his head out of the window to discover it for himself, it's far too... late, and he crashes the cruiser directly into it at a high speed, crumpling on impact.

Anybody else feel like this was kind of a rookie thing for the Terminator to fall for? Dude, I'm telling you. I'm getting less and less impressed by this guy. Well, he's paying attention now. He's got a lot going on. He's following the objective. Like, once again, defense. Yeah, he's like, leave the Terminator alone. But with the Terminator out of commission, Reese struggles to restart the car, just as he and Sarah are promptly swarmed by a cavalry of cruisers.

He grabs his shotgun, ready to go toe-to-toe with the officers, but Sarah clutches his shoulder, warning him that they'll kill him and convincing him not to. Uncredited officers call their orders out to Reese as they line the hoods of their cars, their service weapons trained on the time-traveling Tuff, commanding him to show them his hands.

Sarah raises hers as the officers soon approach their vehicle, and Reese does his told, exiting the car and dropping to his knees to be arrested. Another officer pulls Sarah out of the car, moving her over to the trunk. But a noise coming from the Terminator's crashed cruiser startles Sarah, and when she turns to look, she sees another cop investigating the wreckage, peering through broken windows to discover that there is no one else in sight.

That's concerning. It is concerning, but it's also really funny that the Terminator's like, I gotta regroup. Yeah, well, he, like John Paul was saying, he's been through a lot. Yeah, he needs a reset. He needs a moment. Have you tried turning yourself off? Exactly, exactly. You blow the cartridge, then you, you know. But at this point, I'm like, okay, how the hell is this going to go with him at the police station? He doesn't exist here.

that's true like how how does this go well this whole chase was wild as fuck we need to explain that first there's a lot i'm like imagine you're on your way home from work and then you see this shit yeah And I will say that is kind of shitty. Like, we have a lot of evidence. We see exactly how this goes at the police station. Yeah.

But it is clear that we were being chased by someone. Yeah. Someone was chasing us, but there seemed to be no questions. No. But we cut to the police station, where Sarah sits haggard and tearful in Traxler's office, clutching her knees to her chest and staring off despondently. She sniffles shakily as the lieutenant enters the room, flanked by Detective Vukovic and Dr. Peter Silberman, played by Earl Bowen. This man, Earl Bowen. I know that I know this dude.

And he was in Metal Gear Solid 2. He did some voice work there. No shit. Yeah. He also starred in The Man with Two Brains in 83 and Walk Like a Man in 87. But... he's done so much voiceover work. I did too. And I told your sister, I was like, oh man, this dude's done like three or four Monkey Island games. Really? Yeah. He's the ghost pirate LeChuck. Are you kidding me? I was fucking activated. Looking at this dude, I would never...

Imagine that voice coming out of him. No. Yeah. That's amazing. We are in the presence of royalty at the police station. He does a lot of voice work. And I was like, man, that's really cool. Didn't you say you told me off mic that he's also in other Terminator films? Oh, yeah. He's in the three more. That's insane. Well, two more after this. Three altogether. Yeah. But with a cigarette clenched in his teeth.

Traxler kneels down to Sarah with a small white cup, urging her politely to try and drink some of its contents. But Sarah whimpers interrogatively, wondering if Traxler is sure that it's them, and suggesting that she should look at the bodies. But Traxler assures her that they've been identified, and that there's no doubt about it.

Sarah just crumbles into tears, weeping for Ginger as Traxler places a comforting hand on her shoulder. That's so sad. Yeah. Because everything that we've just seen, you're like, oh, yeah, that happened, too. Yeah. This is kind of the connection or the point that I made the connection to this idea of Sarah Connor, at least in the first film, almost as if this is a seeming slasher, a final girl.

Yeah. Because this reminds me a lot of Nancy at the police station after, I almost called her Amanda because I think that's the name of the actress, but after her friend dies at the beginning. Yeah. No, that's true. And you also have Sydney at the. Yeah. Like there's a lot of moments that feel very final girl. Yeah. That was something that I noticed as well, because I was like, this is very different later on again. She is.

a badass character you know what I mean and she's strong and you know what I mean she does a lot of cool stuff in the other movies but here it is a different again it's just a different tone I think that's another thing that I kind of was looking for because of all the things that I've always been told about Sarah Connor. I don't really see it in this film. Right. And so I was waiting for that. Yeah. And so I guess it is again, T2. Yeah.

But Traxler then directs Sarah's attention to Dr. Silberman, who offers a kind hello to Sarah. Traxler instructs her to tell Silberman everything that Reese told her, asking her if she feels up to it. Sarah reluctantly agrees, catching her breath and wiping her tears as she confirms that Silberman is a doctor.

Silberman yawns that he's a criminal psychologist, and Sarah bypasses all pretense and inquires if Reese is insane. I don't know why I kind of expected both of them to... be a little more selective with what they tell the police but they're both like no he's from the future yeah i think i was just a little surprised that

at the candidness i know we haven't seen reese yet but the fact that sarah was like so he you know is he crazy or not yeah i'm like i don't know i was a little surprised well i mean if he if she did believe him and he convinced her a little bit when they were in the parking lot she again she did hide with them they went to a new car maybe she was like look

Do I have to worry about Terminator? I'm like, do you guys know anything about this? I think that that's what I would say, though, is what you're saying is I'd be like, this guy saved me at the club, but there is a hired assassin. Yeah. After me. Yeah. I just, I feel like I wouldn't be, I wouldn't tell the future part. I wouldn't tell the robot part. Just be selective. Right.

But to Sarah's question, Silberman softly intones that that's exactly what they're going to find out as he clicks his pen from his pocket and begins writing on his yellow legal pad. But through a dimly lit room... We spy the Terminator crouched beneath the red light of a neon sign on a fire escape, raising a window open.

He slinks underneath the swaying set of blinds, creeping through the dark, the suspenseful score thudding rhythmically as he approaches the chain of a hanging light. He pulls it. Illuminating his wounded face, his left eye swollen shut with red streaks of blood marring his cheek. He finds a desk at the far end of the room and takes a seat, rolling up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal a deep and angry abrasion on the inside of his forearm.

He snags a utility knife that rests in front of him on the desk, his fingers wriggling as he pierces its small blade through his flesh to open the wound. He widens the incision with two surgical forceps, revealing the cybernetic mechanism beneath the surface of his skin. This looks so fucking cool. Yeah. I think the added detail of the fingers moving. Yeah. It keeps it very grounded in this world. Yeah. It's not just this doll arm, you know? Yeah. I forgot.

that this happened, this little visual of him fixing his arm. I just remembered what happens next. But seeing that, I was like, that looks really fucking good. And to get this little peek of what Reese said. Yeah. I got to say, though, as he's digging in his arm, I'm like, can that that is human skin. Can it still get infected? Because what instruments are we using? Right. That's a very good point. I didn't see any antiseptic or. Yeah.

You know, honestly, if they're going to make it, the machines to where he can get infected, you're doing too much. Yeah, I think. They've already done too much. I think that we're past that. But back at the police station. Reese sits handcuffed in an interrogation room, sat across from Dr. Silberman and a sentry, played by John Durbin, who conducts his interview. As the camera rises from Reese's cuffed wrists, Silberman clarifies that if Reese is a soldier, who is he fighting for?

Reese sighs with exasperation, recounting that he was with the 132nd under Perry from 21 to 27. Silberman confirms that he means the year 2027, and Reese tells him that that's right, adding that he was then assigned to recon and security the last two years under John Connor.

We dip behind the one-way mirror of the interrogation room to find Traxler and Vukovic watching the interview intently. Vukovic turns to his superior, commenting with a smirk that this is fucking great. Traxler, though, just smokes his cigarette. Silberman asks who the enemy was again, and Reese, frustrated and seemingly repeating himself, explains that they were fighting a computer defense system built for SAC NORAD by Cyberdyne Systems.

Silberman becomes distracted by his beeping pager apologizing before taking an exhausted drag of his cigarette. He then puts the cigarette out, clarifying that this computer that Reese is fighting... It thinks it can win by killing the mother of its enemy? Killing him, in effect, before he's conceived. A sort of retroactive abortion?

He takes a seat next to Reese as Vukovic cackles behind the glass, admitting that that guy Silverman cracks him up. But I'm like, Reese, you know how you sound, right? Yeah. You don't have to be so honest. I don't know what story he would tell. I don't know. But this isn't it. You know they're not going to believe you. But again, he's being honest. Yeah. He is a soldier. To him, he's just telling the truth. True. I mean...

I don't know. They really didn't have time, him and Sarah, to be like, look, we gotta hide some shit. We gotta get our story straight. And she didn't say, they're not gonna believe you. She's like, if you go out there, they're gonna kill you. True. That's true. But Vukovic starts to launch into a frighteningly disgusting story that happened last week with someone else that Silberman interviewed. But Traxler just tells him to shut up as he stuffs a stick of gum into his mouth.

But Silberman continues, asking why the computer didn't just kill Connor then, instead of concocting this elaborate scheme with the Terminator. Reese states concretely that it had no choice. Their defense grid was smashed and the humans had won. Taking out Connor then would have made no difference. He says that Skynet had to wipe out his entire existence. I was like, I thought it was Cyberdyne Systems. He's like, listen, I got a lot going on. That's just everyone's excuse.

Silberman recalls this part of the story, asking if that's when Reese captures the lab complex and found that, he checks his notes, the time displacement equipment. Reese lowers his head, confirming this, and adding that the Terminator had already gone through. He says that Connor sent him to intercept, and then they blew the whole place up. Silberman, feigning concern, asks how Reese is supposed to get back.

Reese laments that he can't. Nobody goes home and nobody else comes through. It's just him and the Terminator. I understand how illogical and unbelievable this story is. Yeah. But we do, and this is what I was saying earlier, we do have where we picked up Reese and Sarah. There is a crashed car with nobody inside of it. Yeah.

So at the very least, somebody was pursuing them. Yeah. This story may sound ridiculous, but there is somebody that's fucking out in the wind right now. Yeah, that's true. So. If nobody can go back, was the plan that he comes and stops the Terminator and then just lives? I guess so, yeah. In the present until he dies? He can't go back. He did it.

I had a nightmare once about that and I went back in time and I was like old me and like family photos. But everybody like I was older than our parents. It was really I was terrible. I had it when I was like 10 or something and I've never forgotten. I don't like it. So I see what Reese is. feeling so i identify with this is what i'm saying but we return to the terminator who's now moved into the bathroom of the apartment

I don't know if Skynet rented him an apartment. I was wondering the same thing. I thought he might have just like... Because he comes in through the window. That's what I thought, too. But then when all the instruments were laid out on the table, I was like, is this like the spot where you save your game and then rest and then go back out? All my stuff is here. Yeah, why is this here?

But with his arm properly bandaged, he reaches his hands beneath a rusty faucet dipping down to clean the blood from his eye and his cheek. He peers into the cracked mirror above the sink, pressing his fingers to his wounded eye and stretching his swollen lid open. He snags his rinsed utility knife, and we watch as he sticks it sharply into his socket.

penetrating the membrane of his eyeball. He digs into it, writhing the blade around in a circular motion, blood dripping from the surgical site and into the standing water in the sink, turning in a murky pink. In profile... We watch as he pinches his fingers into his socket, tearing the eyeball loose from its tendon and dropping it into the sink. He snags a very white towel from a rack, which is far too clean for this apartment. Yeah.

But he raises his head, staring down lens at us, where his left eye once rested in his head is instead the bright red light of a cybernetic camera, which whirs and refocuses, the small iris dilating as it does. He then reaches for a pair of sunglasses, which weren't there before, but are there now somehow. And he places them onto his face to cover his affliction.

He checks himself out in the mirror, fixing his hair a bit before exiting the bathroom and returning to the room proper, where he rolls up the mattress of the bed to find his assault rifle and shotgun resting there for him to grab. He loads and racks the rifle, clutching the shotgun underneath his arm as he climbs out of the window and down the fire escape. See, he was stocked up. Yeah. And I will say the sunglasses were a good touch because you can't go out there like that. No. It's the hair.

yeah him fixing the hair yeah dude that's the only thing that was amiss was his hair was a little messed up so you just gotta straighten it and then you're fine nobody will know and the style is completely different i think it must have been singed off because you remember it was longer when he arrived oh that's true yeah so these effects i loved yeah oh yeah i thought they were so fucking cool i read in that book that cameron had wanted dick smith for the effects

He did like so much just to name a few things. He worked on Death Becomes Her, The Exorcist, Tales from the Dark Side, Scanners. He wanted him to do the effects for this. So he meets with him and is kind of. telling the story and describing what they were going to need to do for the terminator and dick smith is like you don't want me

He's like, I can't do this. You want Stan Winston. He was like, I can't do this. And he was like, I don't want Stan Winston. I want you. He's like, no, you don't. You want Stan Winston. There was something that Gail Ann Hurd said that the financiers basically said you get Dick Smith or you don't have a film. Oh, so that's probably why he was like, no, I want you, I want you.

But he meets with Stan Winston and they hit it off. He had shown him there's another iteration that we see later on. Cameron had sketched out like that dream you were talking about. And he showed it to Stan Winston and. They immediately just kind of spoke the same language. They would communicate through sketches. Like, what about this? What about this? Just like passing stuff back and forth. And they did a lot. I mean, what they were able to accomplish in this film is.

staggering to me it's 1984 yeah um but for this scene here this is a puppet I mean, obviously, this was not Arnold Schwarzenegger. But this puppet took several artists six months to make. Wow. They did a clay mold. Then they moved on to plaster and urethane. Then they casted the mold with epoxy and fiberglass and reinforced it with steel ribbing. Then they sanded the pieces down. The pieces that like the metal of the.

cyborg right yeah they coated it with chrome so that it wasn't like i mean we see things happening later it's safer like these aren't pieces of metal that are in play you know what i mean But they were able to control the Terminator's head with a remote, the way that it kind of moves from side to side and everything. The face was sculpted out of silicone, clay and plaster. And this entire puppet weighed over 100 pounds. Good Lord. This thing was fucking like sturdy. Uh-huh.

But I just I am in awe. I loved this scene so much because it's like, again, you know, you're watching it and you're like, that's not Arnold Schwarzenegger doing this. But. it just adds so much to it because we are talking about something that is not human. And so this kind of showcases like this unreality of what the fuck is this? Like he's literally patching himself up, his eyes off. I just, I loved this. And it was, it was, I winced. Yeah. He was fucking with his eye. Oh, yeah. It does.

look pretty i mean because like you said we get the side view yeah but him still digging in his eye it's like oh don't do that it is hard to watch and like you said clearly it's a puppet But I didn't think about it like that. I just watched it and was like, oh, wow, that still looks pretty cool. But you're right. He's not human. So it doesn't really matter the way he moves because he is a machine. Yeah. So that's fine that he moves that way. And he's alone. He doesn't need to put on air.

for anybody. And there was something that the cinematographer mentioned in that interview of these cuts to like the blood dripping into the sink and this profile to kind of hide some of it. He said that a lot of people came away from it feeling like they had watched the entire search.

and you really don't yeah yeah but like you were saying earlier it's it's that trick of making you think that you saw more than you did and it works But we cut to grainy CCTV footage of Reese's interview at the police station, the tail end of the interrogation when Reese shares how he followed the Terminator back to 1984, and that now it's just the two of them.

The camera arcs from the television to reveal Vukovic standing at the side of Lieutenant Traxler, who occupies the seat behind the desk of his office. Silberman sits at the edge of the desk, watching himself on tape as he inquires why Reese didn't bring any advanced weapons with him from the future, asking if he has any ray guns at that point in time.

Sarah stands behind Silberman, peeking over his shoulder and watching the screen nervously as Vukovic bursts out laughing at the mere concept of ray guns. And Silberman meets his laughter with a chuckle of his own and a shrug. He's like, it just came. to me. But he glances back at the sentry who stands in the corner to make sure that he's laughing too.

But on the tape, Reese reveals that you go through naked, as there's something about the field generated by a living organism. Nothing dead will go. Silberman asks why, and Reese shouts that he didn't build the fucking thing. Sarah chews her fingernails as Silberman sits puzzled on screen, wondering how the cyborg got through if it's made of metal. But Reese corrects him, surrounded by living tissue, and Silberman offers on tape.

Oh, right, right. Just goddamn. You... suck like you like i don't like what kind of interview is this yeah you're just having fun just in his face being like yeah sure buddy he's all doing the jerk off hand motion like that's not how you it's just frustrating reese is like we have that in our time too yeah i know what that means but again

To me, it all, like what he's saying sounds very, like he's telling the truth. He's very committed to what he's telling. Yeah. I agree. That's the thing is whether it is the truth or not, he believes it. Yeah. It's the truth. But in the office, Silberman reaches to stop the tape, turning around excitedly, stating that this is good stuff and that he could make a whole career out of this guy.

He asks if they see how clever it all is, how it doesn't even require a shred of proof. He says that most paranoid delusions are intricate, but this is brilliant. In his defense, everything that Reese is saying, he has explained away the reason to not have any proof of anything. Yeah. He's like, no, no, no, only people can go through. And you gotta go through naked, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But he presses play on the interview, returning to his seat at the edge of Traxler's desk as his taped counterpart asks why the other two women were killed. Reese explains that most of the records were lost in the war, and that Skynet knew almost nothing about Connor's mother, including her full name or where she lived, only that they could find her in Los Angeles. He says that the Terminator was just being systematic. Silberman retorts, Uh-huh.

He then attempts to redirect the conversation to another question, but Reese interrupts him, fuming that Silberman has heard enough. He's answered his questions and now he has to see Sarah Connor. He really has answered all their questions to his own detriment. And it sounds like he's repeating himself. Yeah, because it sounds like he's trying to catch him in a lie or something. But Silverman tells him that he's afraid that that isn't up to him.

And Reese responds exasperated, demanding to know who's in authority here. When Silberman attempts to answer him, Reese shuts him up, staring down Linz directly into the camera and shouting, You still don't get it, do you? He'll find her. That's what he does. That's all he does. You can't stop him. He rises from his seat.

pulled away from the camera by the sentry as he continues screaming. He'll wade through you, reach down her throat, and pull her fucking heart out. Traxler whispers, Doc. Turn it off! Silverman snaps out of his trance and he does reach for the tape player to turn it off. You just had this interview. You knew this part was done. Like Sarah did not need to say, she didn't need to see that. He's like mouthing it. Reached out.

Turn it off. But this does feel like if, again, if this was a slasher, this is where it's like, oh, shit, this is serious. Yeah. Yeah. But Silberman offers a small apology to Sarah, who can only mutter a sigh. She asks if Reese is crazy, and Silberman does her one better, sharing that in technical terminology, he's a loon.

But Vukovic places a heavy tactical vest in front of Traxler, who tears the Velcro of it open as he rises from his desk, opening it up for Sarah to see, as he explains that a vest like this can stop a 12-gauge round. He assumes that this other individual, the Terminator, must have been wearing one of these under his coat. He urges her to feel it, and she does, but she asks Traxler to explain when the Terminator punched through the windshield then.

Vukovic posits that the Terminator was probably on PCP. Oh. Okay. Dude, what are you doing? He's got a lot of- stories yeah and I have to laugh because when I saw Vukovic put the vest in front of Traxler I thought they were going to put it on Sarah I did too to like make her feel more secure and they're like well this is what he was wearing take it back we're done with it

Just gaslighting. Patraxler offers Sarah the couch in an adjacent room to get some sleep, adding that it'll be at least an hour before Sarah's mother gets here from Big Bear. And this is when I remember that a lot has happened tonight, but her apartment is a crime scene. Yeah. Yeah, it is. God damn. Though Sarah insists that she can't sleep, Traxler implores her to try, taking her into the other room where she plops down on a very old-looking couch.

Traxler promises that though it might not look it, the couch is very comfortable, and as he drapes his suit jacket over her, he assures her that she'll be perfectly safe here with over 30 cops in the building. Sarah thanks him as he leaves the room. But at the front of the station, a desk sergeant, played by Bruce M. Kerner, buzzes Silberman out, and they bid each other goodnight. But just as Silberman reaches the front door, his pager beeps, and he turns away to look at it.

just missing the Terminator as he walks inside, breezing past him in a new leather jacket in his slick pair of shades. Are you fucking kidding? Silverman leaves, but the Terminator approaches the front desk. He announces through the glass to the desk sergeant. I'm a friend of Sarah Connor. He states that he was told she was here, asking politely if he can see her.

The desk sergeant tends to his paperwork, declining the Terminator's request, as Sarah is busy making a statement. Why would you confirm that she's here? Because you don't fucking believe anything that Reese said. Oh my god, but whether you believe him or- not two other Sarah Connors were murdered today that is true he's like oh she's right in there yeah just go ahead be my guest you can have her when we're done yeah I was like cringing

The Terminator asks stoically where she is, and the desk sergeant levels with him, noting that it might take a while, and suggests that he take a seat on one of the benches lining the walls. The Terminator peers around the room, surveying the entirety of it. right to left and above him before leaning closer to the glass and announcing, I'll be back. I promised myself I wouldn't cry. I know.

He turns right around, marching to the door and exiting the station, leaving the desk sergeant to continue his paperwork unabated. His pencil scribbles against the report in front of him in a tight shot, but suddenly...

Bright lights beam at him from outside of the station, and he watches in shock as a car plows through the front entrance, crashing through the doors, glass shattering and panels caving in as it smashes through his desk, pinning definitely... him and not a dummy in a police uniform to the wall.

This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It's so fucking funny. He came back. He did. He told you he would and he did. It's beyond hilarious. And I saw James Cameron had said he didn't know that this was funny when he. wrote it how not i don't know because it's fucking hilarious even just him i'm a friend of sarah all of this it's entirely too much it's too much well he's learned so he knows now look let me take a different approach

You get more flies with honey. I will say we have been talking a lot about iconic things that happened to come later that we thought were in this film. Right. I'll Be Back is at least here. Oh, yeah. That is the first one. But the crash awakens Sarah on the couch as she hears officers scrambling to ascertain the cause of the commotion out front.

But we watch as the Terminator climbs out of the wrecked and smoking car he just destroyed, clutching his assault rifle in one hand and the shotgun in the other. He pushes his way through splintered wood to enter the police station proper, laying waste to a confused and uncredited officer he meets in the hall.

Another uncredited officer cries out gunshot at the sound of the Terminator's weaponry, but the cyborg just stalks the halls, firing indiscriminately through every doorway he passes, killing each unfortunate officer occupying any of... the offices. Officers gather at the armory, speculating that it might be terrorists, as the Terminator continues his rampage, laying waste to a retreating officer that he follows through the wall with his infrared eye.

I will say, according to the Terminator wiki, this red haze is called Termavision, which is very creative. I thought he was looking for a date for Selma. I'm like, I bet Reese doesn't look so crazy now, does he? Yeah, you should have listened to him. But Traxler rushes into the room that Sarah's hiding in, locking the door behind him and ordering her to stay put as he rushes into his own office through the adjoining door.

Sarah stands fearful as the Terminator presses on through the halls, blasting a cop through his back before reaching the building's breaker, wrenching its door open and tearing a wire from the wall, shooting sparks as he dips the entire police station into darkness. The backup lights switch on, a small solace as the gunfire continues through the halls.

The sentry monitors Reese in the interrogation room, opening the door to the hall just as Vukovic passes, and he orders the sentry to keep watch of Reese. But just when Vukovic hustles away down the hall, Reese attacks the sentry. battering him to the floor i will say he needs him in the gut and for some reason this knocks him out i don't know if he was already lightheaded or something he skipped lunch today it was a bad decision

He's probably playing possum. He's like, oh, no, I hear all that. Honestly. And who could blame him? Yeah, he's like, just go ahead, free yourself. But Reese kicks his gun away and searches for the key to his handcuffs in the sentry's belt. A fire rages inside the breaker box as the Terminator wields both of his weapons, stoically stalking through the halls.

But as Sarah cowers behind the desk in the dark office that Traxler locked her in, Vukovic reaches Traxler at the armory, where he tosses him an assault rifle, brandishing one of his own as well. But the Terminator reaches the bullpen, arcing his firearm across the glass dividers of the cubicles, shattering them with a spray of bullets. But when he reaches the end of the magazine...

An officer takes this opportunity to return fire, only to immediately be blasted off of his feet by the Terminator's shotgun. Sarah closes her eyes in the office, the sounds of agony echoing across the halls of the station. as the Terminator lays waste to every officer he finds. He peeks into an office before pressing on, but as soon as he does, Traxler leaps from his hiding place, firing several rounds into the Terminator's back.

The cyborg turns to face him, unfazed, as he returns fire, Traxler catching a torrent of bullets in his torso. He clatters to the floor, where Vukovic leans down to check on him. He had one day until retirement. Naturally. I just love that all these detectives are like, I'm going to be the one to take this guy down. No, you're not. You're not.

Vukovic calls out to the Terminator, firing incessantly at his back, only for the Terminator to turn around yet again, making short work of Vukovic with both of the weapons clutched in his fists. But in the office, the score sizzles suspensefully as Sarah peeks around the side of the desk, but retreats swiftly when she sees a silhouette approaching from the other side of the door.

The knob shakes, and when the intruder can't gain access to the office, he crashes through the glass door to let himself inside. And in the low light of the room, he's revealed to be Reese. The score hums triumphantly as he calls out to Sarah, opening the door to Traxler's office in his search for her.

Relief washes over Sarah, who rushes from her hiding place to meet Reese, and as scintillating synth pervades in the score, Reese leads Sarah through the flame and smoke-filled hallways of the station. But as the Terminator continues his pursuit inside, we watch as Reese and Sarah abscond with the car from the parking lot, its tires screeching as Reese accelerates, speeding away.

But the Terminator rushes for the nearest exit, firing off a few shots at Sarah and Reese's stolen car as it escapes into the night. But the score chugs as the Terminator leaps over the railing and into the parking lot, marching forward to continue his pursuit on foot as the police station burns brightly behind him, and we fade to black.

So is the point here that we just have to run forever? I guess. Like there's no hiding and there's no defeating him. We are just on the run forever until I have this baby and like send him off or whatever. What is it? Because the plan is not we have to beat him. Right. The plan is just to save her. Yeah. The Terminator has a battery. I mean, I don't know how long that lasts. I think it's a Duracell. Oh, shit. Yeah, we're fucked. Not a sponsor, but we're open.

But he did. He went in there and tore shit up. Yeah. That was fucking wild. Yeah. And it was funny because Traxler was like, we got like 30 cops here. Don't have to worry about anything. But when we return, a tight shot reveals the fuel gauge of the stolen car resting on E, a radio announcer declaring the time to be 4.36 and beginning with the top story of the hour.

The largest single law enforcement mobilization in California history is currently underway. And the announcer states that the police in five southern counties are engaged in a massive manhunt. But we watch as the stolen coupe, its headlights beaming brightly, sputters to a stop on the side of the road. Reese and Sarah climb out of the car, snatching a flashlight and a first aid kit before putting the car in neutral and pushing it into the bushes.

The pair seek refuge underneath a bridge, but when Sarah begins shivering from the cold, admitting that she's freezing, Reese puts his arms around her. He is wearing a coat. I laughed out loud because I was like, I thought that he was going to take his jacket off her. But I'm like, he's human. He's cold too. He's like, come snuggle up. That was hilarious to me.

Sarah looks up at Reese, asking if he has a first name, which he reveals to be Kyle. Sarah repeats it, asking him what it's like to go through time. Reese remembers a white light and pain. comparing it to what it must feel like to be born. But as Sarah reaches her arms around Reese under his coat she pulls back her hands to reveal that they're covered in blood. She responds in shock realizing that Reese is wounded.

and he casually admits that he must have caught a bullet back there during their escape. But increasingly concerned, Sarah urges Reese to get to a doctor, but he refuses. She can't believe her ears, but she takes matters into her own hands, ordering Reese to take off his jacket and snagging the medical kit that they took from the car.

She assesses the wound on his arm, Reese offering that it's not that bad, considering, in his words, that it went right through the meat. Not the meat. But Sarah, sickened at the sight of it, asks Reese to talk to her about anything at all to distract her as she tends to it. When Reese isn't sure what to discuss, Sarah suggests that he tell her about her son, John. As Sarah gets to work,

Reese shares that John is about his height. But when Sarah's medical intervention hits a sore spot, Reese hisses in pain, only to look up at Sarah and meet her gaze. He then adds that John has Sarah's eyes. As she continues to clean his wound, Sarah asks what John is like, and Reese says that you trust him. He's got a strength. With sincerity, Reese pledges that he would die for John Connor.

Sarah just chuckles, relieved that at least now she knows what to name him. But she wonders if Reese knows who John's father is, just so she won't tell him to get lost when she meets him. She continues wrapping his arm in a bandage as Rhys tries to remember anything about John's father. He says that John doesn't speak much about him, but he knows that he died before the war. But suddenly, Sarah stops him.

realizing that she doesn't want to know. She asks if it was John who sent Reese here, but Reese reveals that he volunteered. He says it was a chance to meet the legend, Sarah Connor, who taught her son to fight. organize, prepare, when he was a kid and she was hiding before the war. Sarah just scoffs at the fact that Reese is discussing things that she hasn't done yet in the past tense.

She tightens Reese's bandage and he winces in pain as she admits that it's driving her crazy. She's unsure that Reese even has the right person. But when he expresses his certainty, Sarah is more than doubtful. She doesn't feel tough or organized, sharing that she can't even balance her checkbook. She rises up, putting her back to the wall on the other side of Reese, renouncing this honor that's been given to her, claiming that she doesn't want any part of it.

But Rhys counters that John gave him a message to give to her, and this immediately returns Sarah's focus. Rhys recites John's words. Thank you, Sarah, for your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to say that the future is not set. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive, or I will never exist. Pretty bold, and it's odd that he didn't call her mom, but that's fine. I do appreciate the small...

well, who's, who's his dad or who, whatever. So that I do keep an eye out. Cause that, again, that is something that I don't think ever. It's just like, you'll know. Yeah. How? It's like, please, please come. Yeah, how the fuck? Because if I'm in a bad mood, I'm going to tell him to fuck off. Yeah. And, you know, just a small, oh, well, we don't know. You know what I mean? He's like, okay, okay. Yeah. And I really like how they're planting the seeds for a pretty cool reveal. Yeah.

And what do you do with this? You've been told this whole plan. And again, he sounds very sure of himself. Yeah. Yeah. So every time he's talking, he's saying stuff. It's like. it's very matter of fact and it's like what what am what am i supposed to do with this i ran from this dude who shot up the whole police station you've got to be telling the truth about something yeah because he didn't get hurt and he kept going yeah now you're telling me this about my kid

what the fuck? What now? It did make me laugh that he gave like a Miranda Priestly. That's all after the message. Like that wasn't the most, the heaviest fucking message that anyone's ever gotten ever. But putting his coat back on, Reese raises his arm, complimenting Sarah's field dressing. She smiles, revealing that she's never made one before.

But Rhys suggests that she get some sleep, as it'll be light soon, and Sarah agrees, taking her spot next to him again, but asking for him to talk to her some more, but about himself. Rhys shares that where he's from... You stay down by day, but at night you can move around. But you have to be careful because the HKs use infrared. Though he says that they're not too bright, and John taught them ways of how to dust them.

But this, he says, is when the infiltrators started to appear. The Terminators were the newest and the worst. We fade forward in time to the ruins of Los Angeles in 2029, a foul wind kicking up dust amongst the broken buildings. The events from the opening of the film play out once again, only now we're watching them through Reese's scoped rifle across the barren wasteland.

He's gathered with his group of soldiers, shielded by a rock wall, and listening to commands and communications over a radio. He and his squad then retreat to an underground bunker, out of sight of the patrolling HKs, descending even further below the surface of the city and eventually reaching a metal door at the bottom of a narrow staircase. Reese knocks on it. giving his name and ID number to the uncredited guards on the other side, who stand alert with their rifles at the ready.

Reese and his men are finally let inside the smoke-filled room, Reese petting a pair of guard dogs before making his way over to a desk in the corner, signing a document, and exhaling a sigh of exhaustion. He passes living quarters, sectioned off down a long corridor, where uncredited children their faces covered in dirt, peer out at him as he passes, some firing at him with toy guns, to which he jokingly aims back at them in return.

Uncredited families shovel slop into their mouths from small metal bowls, and Reese passes a mother and daughter who sit parked in front of an old television set. But when we see him pass them by from their point of view, we discover that the television is hollowed out, the screen and the inner workings all gone, and instead a warm fire burns at the center in their place.

God damn, that new show is fire. But no, this is really bleak. Yeah. This is terrible. It's rough. It's awful. I have to say that shot is fantastic though. It is. And there is something about it. I think the cool blue of the outside and then the glowing orange of the teeth. It's fantastic. Yeah.

But shabbily dressed citizenry rush past Reese in the hall, hacking coughs and tearful cries pervading the area as the music chugs in the score. But Reese finally reaches his quarters, resting wearily on the ground. He looks up from his seat, only to discover two teenage boys who proudly hold up a dead rat that they've clubbed for dinner.

Reese looks away, reaching for the shoulder of his fatigues and into a pocket he finds there, where he retrieves a small photograph, and once he unfolds it, we see that it is a well-worn picture. of Sarah Connor in the sunlight, the edges of the photo smudged with dirt, and the image itself quite weathered.

But out of nowhere, the front door to the living quarters swings open, and from behind a couple, a stoic man enters, earning the ire of the guard dogs. He then tears off a shawl that covers him. to reveal a long-barreled Gatling gun. The future Terminator, played by Franco Colombo, fires incessantly at the members of the colony, the guard dogs barking ferociously at him, and one citizen hilariously calling out, Terminator. It's a Terminator. No!

Reese places the photograph between his teeth as he readies his defenses deeper down the corridor, but the future Terminator lays waste to all those who stand in his way, his gun rotating as it fires round after round. I will say this weapon is confusing as shit.

because it seems like a gatling gun yeah but then very randomly there's also like these purple lasers too it's the future yeah but it's modded it's literally like and then so i don't know i don't know what's happening it's an upgrade every six bullet is a laser. But children scatter to safe hiding places as Reese races toward the danger, firing back at the future Terminator and taking cover when the cyborg returns fire with his confusing artillery.

An errant shot explodes objects behind Reese, sending him diving forward, and as he lies on the ground, he watches as the photograph of Sarah tumbles into the fresh flames, bubbling and burning before his very eyes. Through the smoke, A silhouette is carved out of the future Terminator through the dim light behind him. Two soulless red eyes pinpricked into the top of his formidable frame. That's another great shot. Oh yeah.

Sarah's photograph withers to nothing in the flickering fire, and we match cut to 1984 to find Sarah sleeping in the security of Reese's arms. She looked like a badass in that photo. She did. And so you're like, when, how do you, how do you have this? There's so many questions from this sequence. Yeah. I, I really enjoy that. It is bleak and you know, it's bad. The future. Yes. But.

Again, him getting in there, shooting, them fighting back, the photo getting lost, seeing him in the smoke, and then it cutting to her. I was like, that's fucking great. Yeah. But we hear the barking of dogs off in the distance, and as Sarah sits up and collects herself in the waking world, she tells Reese that she was dreaming about dogs. Reese shares that they used dogs to spot Terminators. Sarah retorting that Reese's world is pretty terrifying.

And we finally get the explanation whenever he went to the wrong Sarah's house. Yeah. That dog was barking at him. That dog was like, get the fuck out of here. But I think it makes sense for a dog to be like, there is something not right about that dude. Yeah. And I did appreciate that he finally gave Sarah his jacket. Yes. That is true. The pair then exit the tunnel where they spent the night walking through trees and dirt and into the morning sunlight.

Reese leads the way, bandaged up and carrying a pistol, as Sarah trails behind him in his long, dark coat, clutching the flashlight and first aid kit as they walk deeper through a veil of fog and into the trees. But back in the apartment, the Terminator sits on the edge of his bed, scanning Sarah's address book through his glowing red ocular cavity.

But his research is interrupted when out in the hall, a cleaning man, played by Norman Friedman, knocks on his door, dragging his makeshift cleaning cart next to him. The smoke billows from his cigar in his mouth as he leans closer to the door, calling out to the occupant, asking, Hey buddy, you got a dead cat in there or what?

The Terminator pans over to the door, the world perceived through his red haze, as he's given a list of possible responses, ranging from yes slash no to much spicier options. The Terminator's response flickers as it's chosen, and in a droning monotone, the Terminator recites his selection. Fuck you, asshole. The cleaning man accepts this. He shrugs it off and presses down the hall with his garbage can full of cleaning supplies.

I didn't expect him to answer. No. Because in my mind, you've broken in and you're like squatting here. No, he's like, I pay my rent like everybody else. What I do in my apartment is like, what is going on? He just learned the phrase he wanted to use. He did. He did. I will say again. How this could not be considered a comedy in some sorts. Like, this is hilarious. Oh, absolutely. And something that happens in a minute. Oh, my God. Yeah. I had to pause it. I was laughing my ass off.

The Terminator returns to his work, discovering a listing for Mom's cabin, as well as a corresponding phone number and address. Gathering all that he needed, he exits his apartment, his assault rifle raised at his shoulder, passing another tenant who can only manage to mutter when he sees him. God damn! That's fucking, it's so real because what else can you say? And I also love that you called it his apartment. At this point. It is.

But elsewhere, their shoes reaching the pavement as they exit a truck, Sarah and Reese find themselves at the Tiki Motel. Reese, clad once again in his coat, pulls several wads of cash from his pocket, asking if this is enough. Sarah forces his hand back down into his coat, assuring him that it's more than enough, but she's reluctant to ask where he got it. The pair cross a parking lot and approach a counter where a dog sits chained up.

Sarah then knocks on the front window as Reese pets the dog, telling the uncredited motel manager that they need a room, and Reese adds, with a kitchen. The pair arrives at their quaint room on the first floor, a small kitchenette at the far end, and Reese instinctively peers through the drapes to ensure that they weren't followed as Sarah plops herself down on the foot of the bed.

She sighs, expressing her need for a shower and a desire to check Reese's bandages, but Reese suggests that they can do this later, and after clearing the bathroom, he tells Sarah that he's going out to get some supplies. But before he exits the room, He hands off his revolver to Sarah, instructing her to keep it for protection. And as Sarah holds it nervously, we watch as Reese makes his way past the parking lot in a gas station, his head on a swivel as he treks down the sidewalk.

But sometime later, after her shower in the motel room, Sarah sits in her tied bath towel on the telephone with her mother. Sarah apologizes that she can't tell her where she is as she was told not to. but her uncredited mother's voice expresses her need to know where she can reach her. She says that after being told to hide out in the cabin like some fugitive with no knowledge of what's going on, she's worried sick.

I will say I don't know when Sarah told her to do this because she was supposed to pick her up at the station in an hour. Yeah. I honestly forgot about that until you said that when you were going over that scene. I did too. Whatever. Yeah. Sarah relents giving her mother the phone number for the motel but we pan from it to a lit fireplace at the cabin in question panning from its golden glow across wooden furniture to the front door which leans off of its hinges.

with a large hole punched into the center of it. We reach the dining room table as Sarah continues that she's in room nine. her mother's voice confirming her daughter's whereabouts, as we glide over the light of a lantern and reach the telephone, only to find that seated at the head of the table and clutching the receiver is the Terminator.

Sarah ends the call, telling her mother that she loves her, and the Terminator responds, Sarah's mother's voice leaking from his lips. I love you too, sweetheart. God damn it. Maybe he's getting better, I think. Yeah. He's learning. But again, how scary is this now? And I know he did this already with the cop. But you're not stopping. You can imitate voices. You can, you know what I mean? Whatever. What the fuck?

yeah that's why apparently we're running forever yeah it seems like that's the plan and so he fixed himself up at this apartment that he rents and then he went he took an hour trek to big bear yeah killed her mom yeah this is wild he's like She'll tell her mommy. Yeah. But after Sarah hangs up, the Terminator's black gloved hands immediately dial the phone number that Sarah just gave him. And the manager's voice on the other end answers.

Tiki Motel. The Terminator requests the address. But Reese arrives back at the motel with paper bags filled with supplies. They're promptly torn open, mothballs and corn syrup tumbling out amongst ammonia and other materials. Sarah asks what's for dinner, and Reese responds, Plastique. Assuming this to be some kind of futuristic meal, I guess. Sarah eagerly asks what this is, but Reese answers that it's basically nitroglycerin.

And as he gathers the necessary materials, he explains that he learned to make it when he was a kid. And Sarah's face sours. So you didn't bring snacks? Yeah. You could have put some candy or something in there. Yeah. I've been around all night. You're human too, motherfucker. Yeah, I didn't even eat my pizza at the bar. I'm starving. Oh yeah, that sucks. I forgot. Yeah.

But out on the road, the Terminator rides a red motorcycle toward his destination, his headlight beaming a path in front of him through the encroaching darkness. But back at the motel... Reese sits at a table with Sarah, teaching her the proper way to construct a pipe bomb, and once it's completed, he instructs her to screw the cap on very gently. Sarah remarks sarcastically that Reese must have had a fun childhood.

but once the cap is on properly, Rhys determines that they'll need about six more, and then he'll get started on crafting the fuses for them. Sarah sighs, but we cut to later that night. Six pipe bombs with their fuses attached lining the length of the table in the dining room, and the camera pans across the darkness of the room and over to the bed where Sarah lies alone on her side. She worries that the Terminator will find them here, and Reese assumes that he will.

But Sarah rolls out of bed to take a seat in the adjacent chair, where Reese crouches shirtless by the window, peering through the thin white curtains and out into the parking lot. Sarah realizes that it will never be over. and she draws Reese's attention to her shaking hands, noting some legend, and muttering that Reese must be so disappointed. Reese denies this immediately as he turns away from his night's watch to lock eyes with Sarah.

She catches her breath, asking him about the women of his time, what they're like. Reese simply responds, Good fighters. But this isn't what Sarah meant, and she asks plainly if there was someone special in his life. Reese admits that there wasn't, and there never was. Sarah responds softly in disbelief. Never? And when Reese turns away from her, She apologizes sincerely for this fact as she traces her fingers delicately on the scars of his back. I feel like they had a lot.

going on yeah like they had more pressing matters that that's my comment it's like dude do you understand we were fighting to live all the time she's like you've never been on a date yeah like i'm embarrassed for you dude But she laments the pain that Reese has suffered, but Reese assures her that pain can be controlled. You just disconnect it. Her voice breaking, she takes this to mean that Reese feels nothing.

But he corrects this assessment, revealing that John Connor gave him a picture of her once. He says he didn't know why at the time. It was very old, torn, and faded. And in it, she was young like she is now. The tears in Sarah's eyes overflowing, Reese adds that in the photo, Sarah appeared a little sad, and he always used to wonder what she was thinking at the moment it was taken.

Sentimental piano sounds in the score as Reese reveals that he memorized every line, every curve. He turns to face her again, proclaiming, I came across time for you, Sarah. And he confesses that he loves her. He always has. Bit forward. But what an ego boost. Good Lord.

Reese breaks away from Sarah, leaving her to digest what he's just professed as he goes over to the dining room table, forcefully shoving the pipe bombs into a small green bag, regretting his confession. Hey, hey, hey. A little rub. You told me not to. Yeah, you got to screw the cap on gently, but you can throw them into the fucking bag. Well, I'm upset. Yeah, but she's like, dude, look, I'm into it. You got to calm down. Yeah, why did you walk away? I was tracing your scars.

But Sarah walks over to him, reaching softly for his face and pulling him closer in a gentle kiss. She pulls away for a moment, only to return, their kisses growing more passionate as they retire to the motel bed together, and the piano rises romantically in the score as they make it incredibly sweet. It's tasteful. Classy. It is. But I was like, man, what if the Terminator walks in right now? No, but good for them. Yeah. Good for them. They found love in a hopeless place. They did.

I am, though, in this moment, maybe starting to understand why you instinctively are so willing to lay down your life for John Connor. Okay. You know? Yeah. But we cut to the Terminator, who is still on his way, riding determined on his motorcycle through the night. Oh, so the Terminator's coming too. Oh, right. A little decorum. Oh. Just make sure everybody's on the same page. We are. But Sarah and Reese get dressed together and she jokingly tosses him the bag of pipe bombs with a...

Think fast before holding on to them as they share a laugh together. Yeah, that's not funny though. I know. You don't know how sensitive they are. You never made these in your goddamn life. Ah! But the jovial atmosphere disappears when they hear the barking of the dog outside, and through the red haze of his termavision, the Terminator stalks through the parking lot of the motel, assessing the dog with lines of computer code before continuing on.

bypassing a motel customer played by Greg Robbins, who cowers against his truck in the presence of the cyborg. That dog's like, and I am telling you right now. The Terminator finds room nine right in front of him on the first floor. And without hesitation, he kicks the door down, rapidly firing his weapon across the empty room.

When he discovers that no one is there, he rushes back outside. But Reese and Sarah have already made their way to the parking lot, carjacking the unfortunate motel customer out of his truck. And when the Terminator returns, Reese drives forward, plowing right... Right through him. That looked hilarious. Him being hit by a fucking car, dude. That was real funny. That's not going to hurt. Not at all. It just looked so funny. But the score here is so chaotic.

The synth goes wild, and the pair races out of the lot and onto the street, and as soon as the Terminator collects himself and his weapon, he mounts his motorbike in hot pursuit through the night. Reese drives evasively as the Terminator aims his weapon, firing, the tailgate of the truck catching several rounds as he swerves.

Sarah removes a pipe bomb from the bag, and she takes the wheel so Reese can light the fuse on the explosive. Sarah enters a tunnel, swerving around an 18-wheeler, with the Terminator catching up to them as Reese implores her to drive faster. He tosses the first lit bomb in the direction of the Terminator, and as the cyborg slides between two oncoming trucks, the bomb detonates behind him in a cloud of smoke.

Reese reloads, firing yet another explosive only to achieve the same result. When he's just as unsuccessful with his third attempt, Reese readies the fourth pipe bomb, leaning his upper body out of the passenger side window to throw it. Sarah guides them out of the tunnel, but the Terminator raises his forearm, spraying bullets through the back window of the truck, Reese recoiling as one finds a home in his torso, his lit bomb dropping and detonating in the bed of the truck.

Reese hangs wounded out of the window as Sarah screams his name, pulling him back into the vehicle by his collar. The Terminator abandons his empty submachine gun, reaching into his coat to retrieve a revolver. He fires at the truck as Sarah zigzags, shattering her side mirror. But when he gets too close on his motorcycle, Sarah pins him against the sidewalk, causing him to wipe out in a sea of sparks. And Sarah, too, crashes.

catching air from the concrete curb and overturning in midair as the truck takes a terrifying tumble to land on its hood in the center of the road. She immediately reaches for Reese, who lies on his back, wheezing and bleeding. But the Terminator, however, recovers quickly, reaching his feet in the middle of the street, only to come face to face with a speeding tanker truck, the driver of the tanker, played by Wayne Stone, colliding with him.

As the Terminator is tangled beneath the tires, torn ragged and bloody, the driver screeches to a smoking halt, with the Cyborg grabbing hold of the rear bumper at the other end. Once the vehicle has stopped, The driver tells his driving partner, played by David Hyde Pierce, to stay put. What? Yes. I didn't... even notice him neither if it wasn't for imdb i would have no idea what the fuck i will say though it made me laugh because

this was tearing his ass up. Oh yeah. And it was the longest stop I've ever seen in my life. Do you think we hit it? Yeah. But the driver rushes out into the darkness, surveying the damage as he runs alongside the length of the tank. But as soon as he reaches its end, he's seized by the Terminator, who immediately trounces him. snapping his neck with his bare hands and tossing him to the ground.

Sarah watches in terror from the wreckage of their truck as the Terminator stalks toward the cab of the tanker, dragging his injured leg behind him until he tears the driver's side door open. The tanker partner appears relieved at first, but freezes in fright when it's the Terminator who climbs into the driver's seat, the flesh of his face hanging in ribbons on one side, giving way to the shining metal beneath the surface.

With one human eye and one beaming red pupil, the Terminator fixes his gaze on the partner, giving him a concrete order. Get out. You don't got to tell me twice. That's scary shit. Yeah. The way that he looks right here. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he met with Stan Winston, that he went to his studio and was shown sketches of this and that he was like trying to be as respectful as possible. But he was like.

I don't think this is possible to do. Not that I don't think you can do it. I don't think anyone can do it. I don't think that this is possible. And that Stan Winston was like, it is. We just need a lot of patience from you. And obviously they made it happen. Yeah, it looks great. Yeah, it really does.

But the driving partner runs for his life, and with the cab all to himself, and even though his red-filtered vision succumbs to static, the Terminator is still able to take control of the tanker, accelerating it forward and whipping a U-turn to head... straight for Sarah and Reese in the overturned truck.

Suspenseful music mounts and shots intercut between the cyborg and the pair of humans, with Sarah just able to rescue Reese from certain death as she pulls him through the other side of the truck, just before the tanker collides with the wreckage, sending it... skidding through sparks and crumpling upon impact. Kind of like his dream. Oh, shit, yeah. But Sarah and Reese take off running with the Terminator's tanker in pursuit behind them.

looming large over a hill as they dip into a tunnel. They make their way through, but when Reese stumbles and falls in the street, he pulls himself up, leaning on a nearby dumpster as he urges Sarah to continue on without him. While Sarah races for safety, Reese is able to snag the last pipe bomb from the bag, lighting it feverishly and tossing it into the tailpipe of the tanker as it barrels past him.

As Reese dives into the dumpster for protection from the imminent blast, the Terminator follows Sarah onto the sidewalk of the street as the fuse of the pipe bomb sizzles shorter and shorter. She zigzags back onto the street, and the Terminator plows through a parked car in his continued pursuit of her, only for the pipe bomb to finally detonate.

bursting into a bright ball of fire as it catches the oil of the tanker, exploding not only the cargo, but the cab of the vehicle with the Terminator inside. Sarah shields herself from the flaming debris as she rounds the corner, and Reese dives from the now smoldering dumpster and onto the asphalt, crawling away.

It was kind of funny to me that the dumpster caught fire. It's a dumpster fire. Yeah. He got him with the old banana in the tailpipe. He did. He did. But Sarah turns back to face the destroyed vehicle. And to her dismay and the accompaniment of sinister synth in the score, she spies the Terminator writhing wildly in the cab of the tanker, flames overtaking him as he steps out of the vehicle calmly and marches into the street.

But Relief finally finds Sarah when the Terminator collapses in the road, the flames melting his flesh down to the skeletal metal beneath as he lies motionless among the radiant rubble. So something very cool I learned from that featurette is the results of this explosion were filmed first. Okay. So her walking through the rubble and the Terminator getting burned and everything.

But what was filmed later to match all of that stuff was the tanker explosion itself. James Cameron wanted to explode a real tanker, but filming in downtown Los Angeles, you can't do that. Yeah. I feel like they've done enough. They've kind of pushed the limits. I would say, and it's really surprising once you know, but the explosion of the tanker is a one-sixth scale miniature. Shut the fuck up. It is not a real tanker at all.

It is a miniature with 42 individual separate charges rigged to explode. Oh, damn. It's seamless. Yeah. Beyond seamless. I never would have guessed that ever. That's. Really fucking cool to learn. Yeah, I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

something else that was really funny after this happened the composer of the film whenever he's watching the film for the first time he's watching it with james cameron and gail ann heard to try to see what the score in these sections would be yeah and he does not have the job yet But he's watching it. And after the Terminator falls into the fire and burns and he's motionless, he goes.

If that guy gets up again, I'm done. And he thought that he thought it, but he actually said it. And he's like, I really hope I didn't just toss myself the job. I blew it. But Sarah breathes shakily as she creeps her way past the remains of the truck, and through the flames, Reese returns, calling out to her. They embrace warmly, crumbling to their knees together in the middle of the wreck, Sarah emphatic and triumphant as she tells him, We did it, Kyle. We got it. But just behind them.

Rising from fire and over the ruins of the tanker is the Terminator.

the light of the flames reflecting against his shimmering endoskeleton, the entirety of his flesh burned away and the remainder of his clothing reduced to rags, which fall weightless from his sharp and frightening frame. I... love this yes oh yeah and them taking this moment to be like oh we did it and it right this is slasher 101 absolutely like literally yes Sarah cries out in disbelief as the Terminator's red eyes scan the area, and he makes stiff mechanical movements toward them.

Sarah snags Reese's shotgun from the pavement, leading him up a path and through the front entrance of the factory, bashing open a window to unlock a door and let themselves inside. The music grows frenzied as the Terminator traces their steps, dragging his injured leg behind him as he follows them through a corridor.

The pair finally find an open door and let themselves inside, Sarah and Reese struggling to force it closed just before the Terminator catches up with them in the hall. Once inside, Reese locates a series of switches, flicking them on, which brings walls of large computers to life around them. He tells Sarah weakly that this will provide cover so the Terminator can't track them, and we watch as an assembly line of equipment takes proper positions on the factory floor.

As the Terminator pounds a hole through the heavy metal door that divides them, Reese collapses onto the ground, and Sarah kneels by his side, screaming for him to get up. But when he meekly mutters for her to leave him here, Sarah responds gruff and determined, ordering, on your feet, soldier, and forcing him to summon the strength to join her. She knew how to motivate him.

She drags Reese with her through the factory machinery, bathed in red light from above as the Terminator finally smashes his way through the door. He pursues them, traipsing past hydraulic presses and massive mechanisms, the red eyes in his shimmering skull scanning for his assigned target, only to be distracted by innumerable instruments of technology, just as Reese had planned.

Reese snags a long pipe to defend himself and Sarah, but eventually they reach a dead end in their attempted escape. When they try to double back, they come face to face with the Terminator, the red lenses of his eyes widening above his skeletal smile. The pair are backed up to a tall metal staircase as the Terminator inches forward, and Reese puts Sarah behind him when they reach the scaffolding above, urging her to run.

Sarah refuses, but Reese pushes her over to an adjacent staircase leading down, repeating his order in a desperate scream. The Terminator approaches Reese slowly. and the man clutches the iron pipe in his hands, threatening the machine. Come on, you motherfucker! He clocks the cyborg several times across the jaw, only to be met in return with a bionic backhand, his pipe clattering to the floor below.

I don't know what you thought. It's very, this is very funny to me because he lets him bing his head a few times and then he's like, oh, that'd do it. He's like, that's enough. You thought? Yeah. But with his back to the Terminator, Reese reaches into his coat, readying the final pipe bomb, lighting this last resort and jamming it into the cyborg's chassis as Sarah attempts to climb away to safety.

The Terminator reaches for it, but is too slow to seize it before the pipe detonates, exploding a skeletal frame to bits, the blast sending Sarah careening off of a ladder and twisting her leg as she clatters to the factory floor. She wrenches her leg free, painfully pulling out a piece of shrapnel embedded in her thigh from the explosion. Oof. Yeah. But once she locates Reese, she crawls over to him, turning him over.

only to discover his eyes staring lifelessly from his blood-covered face. But from the darkness lurches the detached torso of the Terminator. He crawls desperately for his target, over the body of Kyle Reese, dragging his dislodged spine behind him as Sarah cowers, desperately dragging herself through the factory equipment.

Tense music abounds as the slow chase allows Sarah to lead the Terminator right into the path of a hydraulic press. She's able to free herself, slamming a gate shut and trapping the Terminator underneath the encroaching equipment. As his skeletal fingers reach out at her through the bars of the gate, Sarah searches blindly on the opposite side of the control panel before her, finally finding the power button.

Blood leaking from her lips and the Terminator seizing his hand around her throat, Sarah seethes. You're terminated, fucker. As she mashes the button. the press whirring to life and descending upon the scraps of the cyborg, crushing him as he emits bolts of electricity that somehow don't affect Sarah at all. No, she's fine. It's cool. Yeah, she's good. And I was waiting on a good one-liner. She did not disappoint. It's all right. It's pretty good. It's all right. I love it.

But once the press reaches the bottom, the Terminator's chassis crumbles beneath the weight of it, his bright red eye growing dim until it burns out completely. There was something that I saw that really just was wild to me. It was on that featurette. I think it might have been Stan Winston. Okay. But whenever they completed principal photography, they did not have this shot of the Terminator being crushed.

Oh, wow. And so when they came back to do reshoots, they had to do it quick and cheap. And so they very quickly created a foam core press, and they remade a portion of the Terminator's chassis. that they just kind of wrapped in tinfoil. And so they have this really cheaply made Terminator and the smoke that you see when the Terminator dies is literally one of the people that were on the set blowing cigarette smoke. Wow. And this is the shot that ends up in the movie.

It looks good to me. It does. Yeah, incredibly. I... I think that instead of cigarette smoke, though, they were just pouring acid on Arnold Schwarzenegger just out of frame. Just again? Yeah, I think that's what happened. I wanted to talk a little bit about this endoskeleton. Yes. Because Stan Winston said, again, like I said earlier.

they would trade sketches back and forth and kind of yes and each other he said but at the end of the day it was so close to that first sketch that James Cameron did after his dream that it really just went back to that okay He said that they had thought at a certain point that it was just going to have to be stop motion. And there are a couple instances of it that are utilized, but they completely built.

the full endoskeleton and like i said it is urethane that was chromed so that when it blows up you don't have pieces of metal fucking flying everywhere and killing somebody yeah um but they built the full one that you know for full body shots then they built one that's just the legs that somebody is literally making walk for when it's like going up the stairs and stuff and they built

Just they built a torso that when he's walking around and we're kind of looking up at him and we only see his head and his shoulders and stuff. The endoskeleton, the torso is literally on a puppeteer's shoulders. And the puppeteer is just walking him along the floor and making him move like he's walking.

But it's fucking movie magic. Yeah. They said they made their first robotic hands for when he's grasping out. And when the torso is crawling along trying to get her, they're literally just pulling it from the graded floor underneath. I swear, man. It's incredible. I just love it so much. And last thing, they said that they actually made a giant eye area for the close-ups on that red eye. And that's just like a full camera lens inside of it.

Wow. Yeah. It works perfectly. Yes. But Sarah pulls herself away from the cyborg's clutches, catching her breath as the sirens of emergency vehicles wail just outside the factory. We cut to Sarah being loaded onto a gurney, wounded and tearful as she watches Reese get zipped up in a black body bag. She whispers, Kyle. as she's wheeled away and placed into the back of an ambulance outside.

That's so sad. But he said, you know, I'll die for you. You know what I mean? To protect you. John Connor said his father died before the war. Yeah. He sure did. And it's funny we can say now when he was like, well, he's about my height. Looks a lot like me. Your eyes, but like everything else looks like me. It's weird. He's gorgeous. I'd die for him, really.

But sometime later, the camera pans across succulents, dried branches and brush, and onto the open road, which appears hazy in the heat as a bright red jeep speeds toward us. Something else I heard on that featurette. This was the last shot that was filmed for the Terminator. Okay. Was this Jeep speeding towards us.

The very interesting thing about it is because they had to kind of film it in a guerrilla style because it was part of reshoots. Okay. This isn't Linda Hamilton behind the car at the start of this. It was a secretary assistant of Gail Ann Hurd. But the funny thing about this is that they went out in the middle of nowhere and it was like a skeleton crew. I think it was James Cameron, Gail Ann Hurd, Gene Warren, and his son.

But as they're filming, they're just filming in the middle of the road without a permit. And they have been here just empty, the open road. Nobody is driven by. Suddenly a cop drives by. Of course. and he stops and he tells them he's like you can't film here without a permit he goes into the whole spiel but gene warren makes up a lie on the spot and he says well my son goes to ucla and we're just trying i'm just trying to help my son film a student film yeah

And the cop believed him and he held traffic for them to get the last shot of the film. Oh my God. Thinking that it's for a UCLA student film, but it's for the Terminator. That's amazing. But what a nice guy to be like, all right, make it clear. You know what I mean? But Sarah's voice is heard as she speaks into a tape recorder. Tape 7, November 10th.

Sarah sits in the driver's seat of the Jeep as she admits to her unborn son that what's most difficult is trying to decide what to tell him and what not to. But peeking down at her pregnant belly, she expresses relief that it'll be a little while before he even understands these tapes, admitting that right now, they're more for her, just so she can get it straight.

A German shepherd rests comfortably in the seat behind her as she removes a revolver from her lap and stashes it away as she approaches a gas station. She climbs out of the driver's seat, and a station attendant, played by Tony Mireles, greets her. She asks him for gasoline in stilted Spanish, consulting an English-to-Spanish dictionary, and the attendant answers her in English.

But Sarah continues her tape, asking the unborn John if she should tell him about his father, admitting that it's a tough one, and she wonders if it would affect his decision to send him back here to the past, knowing that he is John's father. But if he doesn't send Reese, he'll never exist after all. But all of this was like making my head spin because like thinking about when she was like, well, at least I know what to name him.

Like, would she have named him John if she didn't know that his name was supposed to be John? Right. Yeah. How can he send Reese back if Reese is dead? How can like all of it is just like my brain is. Mush. I don't know. The other thing I was thinking is that it makes a lot of sense if John Connor gives Reese this photo of Sarah just before he goes back. But Reese has had it for a long time.

And so there's a reason that John would have given him this picture of his mother way before it's even determined that he has to go back to the past. So you think he... I think he had to have. Yeah, he had to. Well, they are the same height. I was thinking, too, like, is that why? Because he was like, you trained him, blah, blah, blah.

Because she knew she had to. Yeah. So it's like, it's like a paradox. Like, would that have happened if she didn't know that it had to happen? I don't know. I don't know either. Like, it makes my head hurt. Well, but if... It had to have or it has to play out that way because even if the Terminator doesn't come back, I feel like the future is still going to happen anyway. Things are still going to fall into place.

So, I mean, it has to. And he alluded to different... possible futures like i feel like yeah he did yeah he put a lot he put a lot on us and i i'm just kind of reeling still yeah but i i did appreciate this and her saying that because again you are dealing with this this did happen to you yes yes you're talking to your child but yeah this is more for me to process what the fuck I just went through yeah instead of it being like I understand everything now

I'm passing it on to you. No, I don't know what the fuck happened, dude. So I'm going to tell you what I think you need to know. I'm trying to help myself. I'm trying to be sane. I was literally serving tables. Yeah. Like I didn't ask for any of this. Yeah. In one day. Yeah. And you've only had, what has it been, six months to try to process it all? Yeah. But Sarah shares her bewilderment at the gravity of it all.

her hand resting on her belly and sentimental music in the score, Sarah is resolved that she will tell John. She owes it to Reese. She thinks it may help John to know that in the few hours that she had with Reese, They loved a lifetime's worth. I don't know about all that, but we'll allow it. Yeah, I wish I would have seen a little bit more of that. Yeah. But they went through a lifetime's worth. They did. But just then.

A boy, played by Anthony Trujillo, snaps a photo of Sarah behind the wheel of her car, the picture printing from his instant camera. He holds it out to her, speaking quickly in Spanish, which Sarah doesn't understand. But the returning attendant translates that the boy said that she's very beautiful, and he's ashamed to ask her for five American dollars for this picture. But if he doesn't, his father will beat him.

Sarah compliments the kid's hustle, haggling him down to $4, and the boy rushes off with a gracias after the transaction is complete. Sarah gazes down at the photograph in her hand, and unbeknownst to her... It's the exact photograph that John will someday gift to Reese, which will inspire him to fall deeply in love with her and travel back in time. I loved this so much. This full circle moment of this photo. And he said that he wondered what she was thinking about.

and it's him yeah him yeah while she's carrying his child I can't deal with it. It gave me chills. Yeah, I just got chills thinking about it. It's almost emotional. It is. It's really good. I loved it so much. And I think that they introduced... that photo so early that we're not thinking about it. And then when it happens, it's like, oh my God, that's right. Yeah. It was just, this was.

perfectly executed for me well that and we see it destroyed so it's like oh he lost it yeah it's gone and then we see here where it came from yeah yeah and just thinking what what what i wondered what you were thinking about It's you, dude. It's everything. I love it. It's so good. But she stashes it beneath her tape recorder as the boy points up to the sky, shouting out in Spanish as the wind whips around him.

The attendant translates for the boy again as he peers out at the horizon. He said there's a storm coming in. Sarah looks out to the open road, stern and certain, as she answers, I know. She puts on a pair of sunglasses, pulling her jeep away from the station and driving for the mountains off in the distance, right in the direction of the oncoming storm. We fade to black and the credits roll.

So, what did you guys think of The Terminator? That last shot, masterpiece. Love that. Yeah. This whole movie... I know I said at the top, I really love this movie. Talking about it and learning about it, what went into it, the things they did, the miniatures, the everything, the models.

I love this movie even more. This was very fun, and I really, really fucking enjoy watching this. It does make me feel like a kid again, and it does still bring back those feelings of... worry or dread or whatever and it's like oh my god but i know what's going to happen next but the movie's still so good it carries it carries it with it every time i watch it yeah this was a lot of fun

talking about it i think that this movie is really fucking great i think that the ending is absolutely perfect um I love the moments of humor. I know that some of them had to be intentional, but even the ones that aren't watching the Terminator get hit by that car.

it just made me giggle like there are so many moments like that the dude in the hallway that's like god damn it's like why did you even put that in here it's just it's just a lot of fun and it is this cautionary tale that we clearly did not have not will not listen to right um and like we said at the top it kind of being more topical than ever it is interesting to watch

Through a 2024 lens. We're only five years off. Yeah. Which is terrifying. But I think that for all of. And we talk a lot about forced. Like romantic subplots. I think this is the one movie that really, really needed it. Yeah. And I think you said earlier, T, I don't know if it was on mic or off mic that we that they could have used more. We needed.

And there was chemistry, I think, between the two of them, but we needed maybe more of an intensity. You know what I mean? I think that that if I had to complain about anything, it would be that is I feel like a lot of we complain. a lot when movies force it on us and i think that we really didn't get as much as we could have here and we're supposed to pretend like we did you know what i mean yeah yeah um I think that that is really my only drawback. I, I've said before too much, like.

senseless action my eyes glaze over I never felt that way during this I think that everything was choreographed really well the stunt driving was really good the makeup is incredible like I that really is my only complaint For the whole movie. I definitely agree. And I feel like that is for the fact of how important it needs to be. Yeah. If there had been a little bit more because they do spend the majority of their time just kind of running for their lives.

And then they are separated at the police station. Yeah. He does rescue her several times. Yeah. And I think for me, that's the only thing that I'm like, this happens, what, in a day? Yeah. So it's like, we don't really have time to do all that extra stuff.

We are going to get it in. Well, yeah, hold on. But, I mean, that's a necessity. They do get to know each other a little bit, and then she tries to throw pipe bombs at them. She's like, yeah, I gotcha. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Oh, what's that happening outside? But yeah, I think that's really my only drawback. I think that, you know...

The way that it unfolds and the story and the premise itself are just so fantastic. It makes you want to forgive that. Yeah. But I do still have that drawback of it. I think that. the chemistry though works very well. Yeah. And you do feel, especially in the moments of Reese's confession that he's been.

holding onto this love for a long time. Yeah. And that he did travel through time for her. But you do want to feel that a little bit more through their interactions. Yeah. But everything else, I mean, the set pieces. the stunts that they do driving, the work with makeup and visual effects and miniatures. The miniatures. Jesus. The cinematography. I think that it's, and this feeling of noir.

This is the tech noir that they tried to go for. Yeah. And it's a fucking horror film. Yeah. Yeah. I'm telling you, man. When you watch... judgment day on your own you know what i mean you'll see the difference in the tone from this to that okay and this one to me is sci-fi horror i wonder if the argument could be made i'm not gonna lie for judgment day yeah

you let us know let us know we'll see yeah i i think we can sign into ratings yeah because i i really do appreciate a lot of this film i i don't really think that anything i would say would be not repeating myself yeah i think the only other thing that was really fascinating to me that we did talk about a decent amount is the fact of just this slasher dna in this film

And things that happen, they follow the tropes of a slasher film in a lot of ways. They really do. It's something that I had not counted on, but really intrigues me a lot as I watch it. Yeah. And I have to shout out the music. Yes. It is so good. I love the hell out of it. There are like some synth tracks that are so wild that they almost remind me of Goblin.

Okay. I can totally see that. Which just only makes it even better for me. And you talking about it, it makes me think maybe this is where my love of synth came from. Could be. There you go. Yeah. Because you do. Yeah. But I just I think that the film is fantastic. And 40 years later, God damn, it is just as poignant, if not more poignant when we're talking about the discussion of the dangers of technology. Yeah.

But I think that that drawback of the romance subplot for how important it needs to be, it is kind of a shame that they don't flesh it out as much as they could. Yeah. But I think that as well, as I return to this more, I think my score would be higher as it continues. But for now, for me, out of 10 sinister cybernetic assassins, I am going to give the Terminator.

Eight sinister cybernetic assassins out of 10. I really enjoyed this movie. Okay. And I'm really excited to watch Terminator 2 Judgment Day. Yeah. And see the differences and see how this story continues. Okay. I'm excited for you to do that. Yeah. I, uh, yeah. I'll now open the floor to you. Um, I, I, I think.

we can already kind of guess what my score is going to be. But I do want to say, aside from me loving it, like I said, I had a lot of fun learning everything that went into it from you two. You know what I mean? You guys talking about it, us having the discussion, learning.

Again, I've watched this movie a lot, but looking into it and figuring out what's going on and the models and what's what, I wasn't going to do that on my own. You know what I mean? But learning about it is... it makes me love it more and it is something again i know i said before i was like you know it could be horror you know but the more we talk about it and see these elements that are in there it's like oh no this is yeah it is a sci-fi horror movie um but

Everything looks great. The acting is fantastic. Any of the things that you can say are models, Fooled me. Oh, yeah. Fooled me the whole time. You know what I mean? But damn, what a great fucking movie. I know the later films probably don't get a lot of love as the first two. But still, I mean, the first two, usually the second one. isn't better than the first right but the first two are like bangers period uh so for me on a scale from one to ten

Sinister Cybernetic Assassins, I'm going to give The Terminator 10. Really? Cybernetic Assassins. What? Yeah, no, I totally get it. I think the only thing I'm missing here, even my nitpicky thing about the romance or whatever, is having watched this.

more when I was young I think it would be don't even have to think about it it would be a 10 for me but honestly i think it would it could have the potential to even get there me watching it more like i said i watched this with you three or four years ago yeah um And I enjoyed it and appreciated it even more watching it now for the show. And then, like you said, you learn more about how all of this came together. And it's like, it's just.

It's just so good. I mean, I really fucking loved this. But I think I would just be repeating myself if I were to say anything further. I kind of said everything when we gave our impressions. A minute ago. So on a scale from one to ten, sinister cybernetic assassins. You got it. I gave the Terminator nine out of ten. Okay.

Sinister Cybernetic Assassins. This is just a fucking good time. I think it has... really something for everyone and I think that it should be talked about a little bit more as a horror film because I think that as we've ruled where's my gavel renee's court yeah we've done that in a while i thought that was canceled no no we're coming back 2025 we're coming back well that's all from us at podmortem What would you rate The Terminator and what should we watch next?

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