Terminator

With all the hype surrounding the T2 Pinball release, I got caught up with the films which are without a doubt some of my favorite films growing up.

I'm of course talking about Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

But I also watched T3 and Salvation.

After Terminator 2, as a kid I wanted the third movie to be set in the future, and completely focused on the future war. It should have been a prequel, or a set of prequels, that told the story of sending Kyle Reese and eventually the T-800 back in time. Potentially it could have been awesome.

Instead we got T3. T3 is a joke in my opinion, quite literally. The entire movie from beginning to end is what I would consider a comedy; a parody of the first two terminator films. I like T3 as a guilty pleasure. It's a fun movie to watch, laugh, and enjoy. But I wouldn't consider it Cannon. In the same way that Dragon Ball GT is not part of the DragonBall/DragonBall Z story, but a fun watch non the less.

The future war flim eventually did happen, in 2009. I loved Salvation. Which is why I was so bewildered that it's no longer going to be a trilogy of flims. That's incredibly disappointing to me.

I started reading that Terminator Fans sight and I'm kind of bewildered by T5. I thought surely this was a joke, and just wild fan speculation but it is indeed confirmed Arnold is coming back for Terminator 5. And, it's yet another reboot? That potentially sounds horrible.

Why was the Salvation trilogy dumped? Was it that poorly recieved? Surely it could not have been more poorly recieved than T3: Rise of Mike Kripkey's Basement and Xenadrine EFX truck.

Yeah after T2 it all went downhill after that...

I'd guess the reboot is based off the popularity of the Sarah Connor Chronicles that "continued" the story after T2 and ignored the rest of the movies

but I try not to follow too much movie hype, it tends to be more of a let down than the movie itself.

T1 and T2 are the Terminator. I consider T3 and Salvation to be fan fiction. T3 bad fan fiction. TS good fan fiction.

Never saw the Sarah Conner chronicles. Any good?

It was more hit than miss.

A good play on the characters and what sort of life they would have lived after the whole experience of growing up with killer robots from the future trying to kill you.

Some typical TV melodrama, and Summer Glau.

I like all first 3, for different reasons. But salvation..... I cant get into that one. I dont count that as a terminator movie. As if anybody would care, lol.

netizen said:

Some typical TV melodrama, and Summer Glau.

Click to expand...

The show was...ok at best. She was really the only reason worth watching.

Dutch Pinball ball said:

I like all first 3, for different reasons. But salvation..... I cant get into that one. I dont count that as a terminator movie. As if anybody would care, lol.

Click to expand...

I care. What didn't you like?

There were definitely things I didn't like about it. That giant robot that rounds up humans was so very un-Terminator. As were the water Terminator leech drone things. I also thought the scene where they are trying to catch the half human/half Terminator guy was completely ridiculous (they blew up half their damn base trying to get him! Very smart destroying you're only sanctuary from the Terminators!) and I thought the CG Arnold could have been way better (should have had Arnold himself do the facial acting and the eyes that's where it get's lost).

I also thought the CG terminators were not as convincing, scary, or cool as the real-life, slow walking, but menacing as hell looking T-800's in the beginning of T2... actually, now that I think about it, nothing in Salvation is as cool as the beginning of T2!! Shame we never got a Camron-directed future war Terminator film...

MarkItZeroSmoky said:

The show was...ok at best. She was really the only reason worth watching.

Click to expand...

Agree. She's pretty easy on the eyes to put it mildly ;-) and it was a ok show, but nothing spectacular

Did not watch T3 or Salvation so I am not updated on the story, but if Arnold is coming back I believe the only way to make it believable is to have a story where Arnold plays a human that the machines based their Terminator look on. He's old and grumpy, been in captivation for 30 years and finally escapes ;-) If that does not conflict with the franchise, of course


I

Salvation plot was like a combination of the Matrix and Transformers with a little blackhawk down thrown in for good measure. The plot totally jumped the shark at the end with the AI as Helena Bonham Carter. Talk about a let down. The army of CGI Arnolds was almost a gag.

At least T3 had the humor aspect, plus a good set of actors and a witty dialogue.

canuck said:

T3 had the humor aspect, plus a good set of actors and a witty dialogue.

Click to expand...

Haven't seen SCC or Salvation, but I definitely agree on that. It was a fun movie to watch.

Salvation was a lot better than I thought it would be. Having said that,my guess is that the persons who now control the Terminator franchise saw how the last movie "underperformed" at the box office and took from that the notion that on order to relaunch the property - they needed the actor who helped make the property successful in the first place.

I'm that weird Terminator fan who likes the first movie LEAST. That's perhaps because I saw the movies out of order, T2 & T3 at release, then T1, then TS at release. T1 just doesn't do it for me. T2 is the greatest action movie of all-time, IMHO, just an incredible tour de force that succeeds on pretty much every level. I liked T3 a lot - Kristanna Loken certainly helped - and enjoyed Salvation a lot as well. I'm not worried whether a movie follows the canon or not, I just want to be entertained, ya know? And these movies all do that.

netizen said:

It was more hit than miss.

A good play on the characters and what sort of life they would have lived after the whole experience of growing up with killer robots from the future trying to kill you.

Some typical TV melodrama, and Summer Glau.

Click to expand...

Summer Glau is very nice, but I preferred the gal that played the Mom. Can't think of her name though.

I think she also played in Game Of Thrones? She's a good actor but I still prefer Summer

To answer (kind of) Marks initial points, the answers really revolve around property and licensing. Bankruptcy and litigation.

T3 was indeed a potential avenue but considering the huge gaping errors in Termintor lore founded by the previous films, fan fire was put out to say the least.

I personally feel that had that movie received more care, more movies would have continued.

So, Salvation arrives in an attempt to reboot with Mr Bale. An A lister if ever there was one, and an opportunity to pin an epic trilogy on his considerable abilities. Alas an opportunity begging.

Now we see a potential T5 with Mr S possibly. We see news and rumours of this being a new trilogy. Future war scenario? Who knows. With leaps in CGI, will a studio use T5 as a tent pole in 2015? Perhaps looking at Pacific Rim this year and Godzilla in 2014, those incomes could convince a studio to do just that

I really enjoyed Salvation, almost as much as T2. Must have watched it about 4 or 5 times now.

I could never watch salvation all they way through

T3 was ok, but yeah id consider cannon t1 and t2

I believe the first time i wated it i was at school...like insteadof an educational film

Kolchak357 said:

Summer Glau is very nice, but I preferred the gal that played the Mom. Can't think of her name though.

Click to expand...

Lena Headey?

T1 and T2 were brilliant - especially T2. T3 was ok, but Salvation felt like a complete mess to me.

I really enjoyed the Sarah Connor Chronicles - towards the end when it got pulled, it was getting really good. I'd love to see a film based on this which followed on with the story.

Yes, Lena Headey. Thank you
She was in the movie 300 also.

Totally agree with Sarah Conner Chronicles just getting good when it was cancelled. The last few episodes were truly the best.