Some Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Terminator

I recently watched a little movie called “The Terminator” and its sequel, “Judgement Day”. I really liked that movie, to the point where I did a little bit of research to find some cool facts that most people probably wouldn’t know about the franchise. We will only be looking at the first two movies and nothing after it because I haven’t seen them, and nor do I plan to (I heard they’re terrible movies).

So, here are some facts you didn’t know about Terminator and its sequel.

 

 

James… who?

James Cameron is possibly one of the greatest directors of all time. He made the top two grossing films in the world. So it might come as a surprise to some people that Terminator was his first big break. Before and while making the movie, Cameron was a nobody. He kept on getting fired and then rehired, and then fired again and so on from the sequel to the 1976 horror flick “Piranha.” He was also trying to get Arnold Schwarzenegger on the film, but he was too busy with “Conan the Barbarian.” So, Cameron had to move filming from the winter of 1983 to the spring of 1984. But even while making the film, Cameron didn’t do so well either. He was so broke that his car got repossessed and he was living off of McDonald’s coupons that were given to him by his mom!

Of course, with how big of a success Terminator became, all of that changed for the better. And now, Cameron has probably never eaten a McDonald’s burger in his life… hopefully.

 

 

The Gun Flip

“Terminator 2: Judgement Day” is one of those sequels that is so good that it is better than the original (the original’s better, in my opinion). One action scene involving the T-1000 chasing John Connor in a tight alleyway with Schwarzenegger on a motorcycle is so dang cool! One of the best parts has to be when the T-800 (Arnold’s robot) flips his shotgun in the air. The props team actually had to make a special gun to do that gun flip so that Arnold didn’t hurt any of his body.

Why? Well, one day on set, Arnold grabbed the wrong gun. He tried to do the gun flip and almost broke three of his fingers. Ouch!

 

 

Twins?!

To cut the costs of CGI, the Terminator movies use twins instead of morphing CGI. In Terminator 2, the T-1000 can morph into other people, and there are a couple of scenes where he does this. The second time he morphs into someone else is when he morphs into a security guard. When the T-1000 turns into the security guard, they cast the real security guard’s twin. Also, Linda Hamilton, who plays Sarah Connor, also has a twin. And she was used when the T-1000 morphed into Sarah Connor to try to trick John. The filmmakers used the actual Linda Hamilton for the T-1000 morph and put Linda Hamilton’s twin in the background.

Also, remember that one scene where Sarah Connor is playing with baby John Connor before all of California gets nuked? Baby John Connor is Linda Hamilton’s real son. There’s another thing you probably didn’t know!

 

 

Ballin’ Around

The special effects team for any movie play a crucial part in the movie. Not only do they make the movie look super cool, but they also have to remove certain body parts from the movie. And the fact that you time-travel NAKED in the Terminator universe, you realize why the special effects team need to be on-board with censoring certain male body parts. But, at one point in the movie, the team probably forgot or James Cameron hired the wrong people. When the T-1000 arrives to the year 1991 to kill John Connor, he kills a cop and steals his clothes. But after he kills the cop and before he puts on the clothes, you can actually see a little bit of the T-1000’s gunk!

And you don’t even have to look that closely to see it. I saw it before I knew this was a fun fact, or something like that.

 

 

“Just a Flesh Wound!”

Let’s step away from the sequel and jump back to the original Terminator. Did you know that Linda Hamilton actually broke her ankle before filming started? Yes. She did. And that’s not the best thing to do if your character is running for the majority of the film. To make it so that the ankle could heal in time, the filming schedule was changed, and the scenes where Hamilton had to run were shot after her ankle was close to healing.

But even with a broken ankle, Sarah Connor is still a badass!

 

 

No Stuntmen, Please

Linda Hamilton took her role of Sarah Connor pretty seriously. Not only did she do some crazy workouts in order to get in shape for the role in the Terminator sequel, but she also insisted on doing her own stunts. Well, more specifically, she wanted to pick her own locks. And if you are a mental institute patient and are planning on escape, picking locks is crucial. Hamilton did not want a stuntwoman to do it for her, so she learned how to pick locks so that she could do it herself.

Bonus fact: when Terminator 2 made its way to London, the movie executives wanted the scene removed from the film. They feared that people would think that it’s a good idea to escape from a high-security prison like that. Okay, so the scene from the original Terminator where Arnold rips someone’s heart out is okay, but picking locks is a big no-no? Excuse me?

 

 

 

Good Guys Are Lame!

The original vision for the Terminator was that he could transform into an everyday man. You wouldn’t notice he was there, which is the total opposite of a giant, Austrian guy whose 6′ 2″. Originally, Arnold was going to take the role of Kyle Reese, but he wanted to be the Terminator all along. He thought the Terminator was a cooler guy than Reese. He also liked the fact that the Terminator was evil. So when it was revealed to him that the T-800 was going to be a good guy in the sequel, Arnold didn’t really like that idea. He didn’t think the Terminator would be cool enough.

So, he made a compromise with Cameron and the screenwriter. The Terminator could still be able to kill people until John Connor told him not to. Do you like the Terminator as a good guy, or do you prefer the Terminator to be evil?

 

Voice Crack

Many, many people have played John Connor over the years, but to some people, young Edward Furlong is the real John Connor (he’s also the hottest). But what most people don’t know was Furlong’s voice would crack throughout the film. You know, because of puberty. But when the second half of the movie started to film, Furlong’s voice had come back to normal. But Cameron wanted Furlong’s voice cracking to stay consistent throughout, so as to make him sound young and vulnerable. So, they looped the entire second half of the movie so that Furlong would have a voice crack. There are a couple of scenes were Furlong is un-dubbed, so not all of Furlong’s voice is changed.

Try to find John’s voice crack!

 

 

O.J. The Terminator

Let’s just put it this way: Arnold is THE Terminator. There is no one else can deny that fact. But way back when the Terminator was just a couple of drawings on a piece of paper, Cameron was trying to find an actor to play a crucial role to play the Terminator. And one of the names that popped up was… O.J. Simpson.

I’m not joking, look it up!

 

 

Acid Body

Let’s stick to the first Terminator for a little bit. In the scene where Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor were driving backward away from the Terminator, who has found a suitable spot on the car’s bumper, Arnold was smoking, as if he was about to catch fire (because, you know, he’s a robot). How did they achieve this effect? By pouring acid on Arnold. Don’t worry, it was harmless! I hope.

Watch to the middle to see the smoke effect!

 

 

Wireless Stunt

Another cool and extremely dangerous thing that Arnold did for one of the movies, this time the second movie, is jumping from a moving car onto a moving truck. With no wires. No safety ropes, no wires, no nothing. Cameron actually confessed that he would never let anyone do that kind of stunt without the proper safety. Arnold was a special case.

Go to Timestamp 2:00 to see the truck jump

 

Shot In The Ear

One of the scariest scenes in Terminator 2 has to be the scene where our main characters are trapped in an elevator being stabbed by the T-1000 from above. During this scene, the characters had to wear earplugs, because Arnold was shooting a 12-gauge shotgun while in an elevator. During one of the shoots, Linda Hamilton went to the bathroom in between shots. After doing her business, she forgot to put in her earplugs. And when Arnold started shooting the gun, Linda received a permanent hearing loss in one ear! Geez, Hamilton really likes to get hurt, doesn’t she?

 

 

Windshield Lines

During a driving scene in T2, Arnold may sound a bit more robotic than usual. That’s because he’s reading his lines! They were taped to the windshield of the car that he was driving in that scene. Come to think about it, it was a pretty long monologue, so you should give the guy a pass.

 

And that’s it for today! Did any of these facts surprise you? What’s your favorite fact? Did you already know these facts? Okay, I’m done. Gtg.