The Terminator – Where it all began
by Jordan – SCS Terminator Films Correspondent
First off, I’m a little too young to have seen the original Terminator in theaters, but not by much. I was always a big fan of the second and can’t believe my dad took me along to watch it back in 1991. Regardless, that film WAS Terminator for me for quite a while. We had the first one taped from TV and I had seen it and remember being disappointed that it wasn’t as action packed as T2. All these years later and tons of viewings later, the first Terminator now equals the second on my scale, but for different reasons. Let’s dive in…
The Plot: Absolutely incredible is one of the best ways to describe Terminator’s plot. A ground-breaking tale of time travel, action, romance, technology and one possible future is what makes the film so awesome even today. Simply put, a cyborg from the future comes back to 1984 to kill the mother of the future human resistance against those very machines. BUT a human from that same future was sent back as well to stop the cyborg from accomplishing his mission. The mother of the future resistance leader is impregnated by the man assigned to protect her. The terminator fails in its mission to kill her, but does kill her protector. What we have by the end is the origin of the same future leader that’s birth was trying to be averted. Okay, that wasn’t so simple…but if you can’t see the depth and amazing paradoxical nature of the plot there, then I don’t think I can make it any simpler without reverting to some kind of weird “chicken or the egg” lecture. The plot gets an A+
Casting: Who else could’ve been the Terminator but Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well, Lance Henriksen was considered, but that wouldn’t quite have worked for the time. At the time, Arnold was amazing and just coming off the success of Conan the Barbarian. Nobody could have portrayed that emotionless Terminator like Arnold at that time. Linda Hamilton portrayed the mother of the future, Sarah Connor, and she did a great job of playing someone thrust into a role of unbelievable responsibility. Not just anyone could have fit in that role, and Linda Hamilton was the perfect choice. Michael Biehn is one of my all-time favorite actors. I can’t think of a single role he’s played that left me disappointed, so he gets an automatic A+. Paul Winfield and Lance Henriksen make one of the greatest police duos to ever hit the screen. The banter and idle chit chat among the two provide some of the more quotable lines for my father and I. Casting gets an A+
Special Effects: If there’s one area I can mark down, it is special effects. Don’t’ get me wrong, the effects looked great for it’s time. The one scene that I and anyone else could nitpick is the eyeball scene. After the eyeball is removed from the good ol’ T-800’s head, we’re treated to a rubbery fake looking face. Once the sunglasses are back on, he’s Arnold again. Any fan would know exactly what I mean, and that’s the only part that takes me out of the movie just a little, but not enough to hurt the overall experience. The T-800 endoskeleton is well done, both in animatronic puppet form and stop-motion. It serves as a good way to see how effects have evolved. Look at the endoskeletons in T1, 2, & 3 and you’ll see what I mean. The make up on Arnold once the skeleton is showing is quite cool and looked excellent for its day. Effects gets an A-
Music/Sound: I’ll make this short. Even with its 80s kind of cheesiness (as one of my friends would call it), the music in T1 is excellent as far as I’m concerned. Wonderfully synthesized & composed by Brad Fiedel, the music stands the test of time. Even the hilarious music in the Tech Noir club is okay by me. The sound in T1 was only the tip of the iceberg for what the future movies and TV show would accomplish. In a word, the sounds are amazing! I prefer to watch it in the original monaural than stereo myself, so if you’ve only watched it in a special edition 5.1 surround or whatever, give the mono a shot. It’s beyond great! A+ for music and sound!
Well, that just about covers the most important stuff for me. The Terminator started it all in terms of a brilliant story, action, pacing, effects, paradoxical time travel theory, and thankfully an enormous franchise that we still cherish today. If asked to pick between T1 and 2, I really can’t decide. There’s no way to pick. I look forward to some of the references to The Terminator we’re sure to get in TSCC and T4. Here’s to T1 and avoiding that one possible future!
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