Terminator (character)
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The Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 is an android, programmed to kill, in the fictional universe of the Terminator movies. It is commonly referred to as Terminator or its series number T-800, though the latter name is never referred on-screen (but is used on the comics, video games and other media of the franchise).
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[edit] Description
The Terminator was to be the ultimate weapon devised by the military supercomputer Skynet to be used against the remaining human resistance. It was thought that a machine designed to the specifications of the human skeleton, and subsequently encased in specially-grown flesh and tissue, would be able to infiltrate military structures disguised as a human and, subsequently, terminate human life from within the outpost. Every aspect of this cybernetic organism is geared toward infiltration without detection. Not only does it look human, but it sweats, smells, bleeds and can even mimic specific human voices perfectly. However, animals can sense the presence of mechanical moving parts, and dogs were often used at guarded checkpoints to detect any entering the area.
To aid in its role as a killer, its endoskeleton is constructed from a hyperalloy to form a combat-chassis, and thus is rendered all but immune to 20th century small arms fire, although repeated shotgun blasts actually have enough force to knock it down. They can operate for up to 120 years without needing new power cells. If the power cells are depleted or damaged, the unit can access an alternate source of power that allows it to continue functioning for some time. In the books made on the basis of the Terminator franchise, it was said that the alloy used for construction was titanium-tungsten (Ti-W) steel.
The android foot soldiers, seen in the future war sequences in Terminator 2 and Terminator 3 were Terminator endoskeletons, but they were not built with living tissue.
The Terminators have the ability to learn, though this function was turned off by Skynet to prevent them from becoming too human and thus limiting their efficiency. In the extended version of Terminator 2, Sarah and John re-activate this ability, which leads to the unit quickly accumulating knowledge of human interaction and speaking more fluidly. A line of dialog at the end of the movie indicated that learning units may even grow to understand emotion ("I know now why you cry."). In addition, Sarah herself comments in the closing narration that the Terminator had learned "the value of human life".
A T-800 series, model 101 Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the main antagonist in the original Terminator film. Another Model 101, having been reprogrammed by the resistance in the future, is one of the protagonists in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, while yet another one is featured in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines as one of the main protagonists, also reprogrammed by the human resistance as he returned to save both Katie and John.
The original Terminator was sent to terminate a single target, Sarah Connor, in 1984, to prevent the birth of her son, John, the future leader of the human resistance. It was crushed in a hydraulic-press by Sarah at the end of the first Terminator film after a lengthy chase, having already had its human flesh incinerated and its endoskeleton legs destroyed. However, one arm and its damaged main CPU were not destroyed, and were recovered by Cyberdyne. These relics were used to dramatically advance the technological level and the direction of the research of Cyberdyne, ironically ensuring the creation of Skynet in the first place. At end of the second film, both new Terminators and the surviving components from the first were destroyed in a vat of molten steel.
A deleted scene from T3 reveals that the Model 101 used an Air Force Chief Master Sergeant William Candy (played by Schwarzenegger) as its physical template. However, this scene is uncharacteristically humorous for the Terminator films (even considering the escalating use of humor in the two sequels) and also explicitly indicated that the Terminators were developed by human beings before Judgement Day, rather than being purely creations of Skynet as previously indicated. This subplot contradicts information provided in the previous two films, such as that earlier T-600 model Terminators designed with rubber skin, which was easily detected by the human resistance. Such developments existed in Kyle Reese's future timeline before the development of the Terminator (see below). However, the fact that the scene was deleted suggests that its content was deemed by its makers to be either too blatant a violation of Terminator canon, too humorous in tone, or both.
An entirely different origin of the Model 101's physical and vocal templates was provided in the novel T2: Infiltrator (published prior to T3), in the form of former counter-terrorist Dieter Rossbach, who comes to work with Sarah and John Connor against the Infiltrator, an advanced Terminator designed to efficiently infiltrate human bases.
[edit] Naming
The end credits of all three Terminator films list Arnold's character as only "The Terminator". The character is widely referred as "T-800", even if the name is never referenced on-screen (although is used in the novelizations, and the Terminator 2 script describes an "800 series endoskeleton"[1]). In T3, Arnold's Terminator is a T-850, as stated in the merchandise and a scene of the novelization.
The Terminator film poster has the Terminator's left eye glowing the caption CSM-101. In the deleted scene where John and Sarah enable the Terminator's "learning" ability, when he reboots, a part of his HUD reads CSM-101 T-800 Version 2.4.[2]
[edit] References in other works
- The NES game Darkwing Duck featured anthropomorphic duck versions of the Terminator as enemies in the final level. Initially, they had feathers and leather clothes with sunglasses, and fire from one spot. After several hits they ignite, burning away the outer covering, leaving the robot to walk around. Further damage removed their legs, leaving them to hop around dangerously by their arms.
- In Revenge of Shinobi for the Sega Genesis one of the bosses is a homage/parody of the terminator. His skin peels off during the course of the battle to reveal the metallic skeleton of the Model 101 terminator.
- In Part 1 of the Beavis and Butt-head Christmas special, Beavis dreamt of the future in which he is the cyborg manager of Burger World, which strongly resembled the Terminator. After driving away/killing all the customers with his laser pistol, Cyber-Beavis said "I'm back" upon greeting Butt-head, an obvious play on the Terminator's catchphrase "I'll be back" (the phrase, "I'm back" was later used instead of "I'll be back" in Terminator 3).
- Parodies of Terminators can also be seen occasionally in Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series.
- In the final mission of Metal Slug 4, there are several enemies that, after receiving enough damage, have their skin vaporize, revealing a metal endoskeleton.
- The Discworld character Constable Dorfl, while mostly based on Robocop, also has elements of the "good" Terminator from Terminator 2, most notably at the end of Feet of Clay.
- In the computer game Ultimate Body Blows the final boss has to be defeated in two stages, on the first of which he appears in ordinary human form and on the second of which he fights in his more dangerous Terminator-inspired endoskeleton form. Predating the capabilities of the T-X from Terminator 3, the endoskeleton boss can also shoot projectile weapons from his limbs.
- A crushed Terminator can be found in Duke Nukem 3D episode 3, secret level Freeway, in a portrayal of the T-800's destruction in the first movie. When the player passes by, Duke utters a single word: "Terminated!"
- In an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures where Plucky Duck and Hamton J. Pig go to Hollywood, the Terminator cameos as a cab driver. As he delivers the two, he utters "I'll be back". Later in the episode, Plucky and Hamton are thrown at the sewers, and saved by the Terminator, that says "I said I would be back".
- The Neo_Geo_(console) game Cyber-lip Portrays a grim future like of that in terminator. It also has enemy cyborgs you fight against that look like the T-800
- In Jericho episode Winter's End character Stanley Richmond says to his sister Bonnie Richmond "I'll be back" using his best impersonation of the Terminator.
[edit] Trivia
- "Loading COMMAND.COM" message can be seen in a HUD view of the Terminator. In T3, Macintosh commands appear, such as "Remote Access", "Date and Time", "Multiple Users", "Keychain Access", "Location Manager", "Energy Saver", "Software Update", and "QuickTime Player".
- The Terminator is the only character in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains to appear in both lists (the "original" Terminator is #22 in the villains, while the reprogrammed one from T2 is #48 in the heroes).[3]