Deetfin

Trivia facts about Terminator 2: Judgement Day

><<

So, it's the end of the semester for me, so I decided to procrastinate by reading all of the trivia facts about T2 on IMDB... So now I post them here for you to procrastinate with.

The original script did not call for the top of the truck to be ripped off during the chase through the storm drain beside/beneath the freeway, but when they arrived on location they found that the cab wouldn't fit under the overpass so director James Cameron decided that the roof was going to have to come off.

More explicit shots of the arm cutting scene were removed.

Prior to making this film, Linda Hamilton received weapons training from technical advisor and former Israeli commando Uzi Gal.

SFX crew had to incorporate Robert Patrick's football-injury limp in their animation of the T1000. Next, they filmed the stuff with the T1000 pretending to be driving from the right-hand steering wheel (wearing a mirror-image police uniform), while the real driver was hidden under a black hood at the lowered real steering wheel. For the final film, the scenes were flipped left-to-right to make it all look right, and combined with footage shot with a normal truck driving in the drain. This was done so that Patrick could concentrate on acting rather than driving. They accidentally caught a street sign; after they mirror-imaged the scene, they digitally reversed the text on the sign so it would appear correct.

Filmed scenes not included in the theatrical release (but restored in the Special Edition): - Directly after the pre-med students peer into Sarah's room, the doctor reminds the orderlies to make sure she gets her medication. The cut scene was of the staff coming in to give her the pills. She refuses, so they smack her in the gut with their batons and force the pills down her throat, then kick her while she's on the floor doubled over in pain. - Another hospital scene was cut that took place after John Connor robs the ATM and heads for the mall. Sarah Connor was to have a dream where Reese appears and warns her that THEIR son is in danger. She has to save him, etc. They kiss and hug, but Reese disappears and walks out. Sarah chases him outside, to find herself in the same spot as the nuclear nightmare scene later in the movie. She sees the large white flash, and then she wakes up. This is the only scene that Michael Biehn was in, and appeared in some promotional trailers. Cameron cut the scene because he thought that audiences who had not seen the first movie would be confused by the appearance of Kyle. - A scene showing the T-1000 at the scene of the crashed truck in the canal, where he steals a police car. - After the T-1000 kills John's foster parents, he ventures outside to get the dog to shut-up. He reaches down and snatches the collar off the dog, thus killing the dog. On the collar is stamped the dog's name "Max". The T-1000 realizes he has been duped by John (actually the Terminator imitating John's voice) by calling the dog "Wolfie." - After killing the dog, the T-1000 goes to John's room to try to find any clues as to where John might be. He stalks around the room waving his arms and "feeling" things on the shelves, on the walls, etc. He eventually stops in front of a poster, realizes there is something behind it, rips it down and finds a box of mementos (pictures, and the like). This must be where the T-1000 figures out about the desert compound that Sarah, John, and the Terminator head to after the hospital. Director James Cameron decided to cut it because the T-1000's sampling abilities were already sufficiently conveyed in earlier scenes, so this scene became redundant (and because it made the T-1000 look too much like it had x-ray vision). This scene was NOT included in the SE. - At the abandoned gas station, a scene involved Sarah and John talking with the Terminator about learning. He tells them that his CPU was switched to read-only before being sent out. Skynet doesn't want them to learn too much while on their own. John asks if it can be reset. You then see the Terminator's face in a "mirror" talking Sarah through the procedure. A puppet was used for the foreground Sarah to work on and Linda Hamilton's twin sister Leslie Hamilton Gearren was in the mirror mimicking Linda's hand movements. After the CPU is removed, the Terminator shuts-down and Sarah places it on a table. She picks up a hammer and tries to smash it to render him inoperative. John stops her and says they need him. He starts to show authority for the first time and asks her how he is supposed to be a great military leader if even his own mother won't listen to him. They reinsert the chip back into the Terminator's head. - A scene at a truck stop before John, Sarah and Terminator arrive at the Salceda farm. John points out to the Terminator that he shouldn't be so serious all the time. He encourages him to smile once in a while. The Terminator tries to perform a smile, but the result is less than convincing, so John encourages him to practice in front of a mirror. - Directly after Terminator tells Sarah about Miles Dyson, there is a scene where we see Dyson in his private residence, where his wife tells him he is much too focused on finishing his microchip. - Some more dialog between John and the Terminator as they assemble weapons in the desert. John tells about his unusual childhood, and ask Terminator if he experiences emotions. - Before Sarah takes aim at Dyson, we see her approaching the house and setting up weapons. - A scene in Cyberdyne, where Dyson destroys the model of his revolutionary microchip. - In the steel mill, the T-1000 experiences some negative effects from being frozen earlier. It has difficulties maintaining his form when it touches other materials, like steel bars and the floor. This leads to another deleted shot, where John sees the two Sarahs and recognizes the fake one because its feet seem fused to the metal floor. - A scene in a Skynet-free future, with Sarah Connor as an older woman giving a monologue about how John became a senator. This scene was NOT included in the SE, because James Cameron felt it just didn't fit the dark, gloomy atmosphere of the rest of the movie.

For the sound of T-1000 passing through metal bars, Rydstom simply inverted an open can of dog food and recorded the close-packed food as it oozed slowly out.

Charlie Korsmo was offered the role of John Connor, but he could not accept the role due to obligations to What About Bob? (1991).

The Terminator uses the following weapons throughout the movie: – Colt 45 Auto – Browning 1887 Action Lever 10-Gauge Sawed-off Shotgun minus trigger guard – M79 ‘Blooper’ Grenade Launcher – Hawk MM-1 37mm 12-shot gas grenade launcher – GE-134 37mm 600rpm minigun On the other hand, Sarah uses the following weapons: – Colt 45 long slide auto – M4A1 Rifle (at Dyson’s house and at the truck) – Remington 870 shotgun (mill)

Director Trademark: [James Cameron] [feet] When the Terminator and the T1000 meet for the first time, the Terminator takes the gun out of the flower box and walks over the roses.

Director Trademark: [James Cameron] [feet] After donning the leather gear, the Terminator’s feet are the first thing shown.

Director Trademark: [James Cameron] [feet] When Sarah, John and the Terminator are chased by the T1000 through the psychiatric clinic, the T1000 walks over the sunglasses that the Terminator had discarded.

Most of Edward Furlong’s voice had to be re-dubbed by Furlong again in post-production because it changed during shooting. His young voice is left intact only in the scene where he and Terminator are talking about why people cry, because James Cameron wanted it to sound dramatic and thought it was better if left intact.

Linda Hamilton’s twin sister, Leslie Hamilton Gearren was used as a double in scenes involving two “Sarah Connors” (i.e., when the T1000 was imitating her), and in a scene not in the theatrical release (but on the DVD) as a mirror image of Linda.

It took two takes to get the van crashing into the Cyberdyne lobby, and they sprayed adhesive onto the floor to stop the van from skidding too much.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s young daughter screamed the first time she saw her father’s face made-up to show the robotics appearing underneath the skin tissue.

Director Trademark: [James Cameron] [feet] the terminator in the future crushes a skull with its foot.

Director Trademark: [James Cameron] [nice cut] during the opening credits: the cut from the playing children to the dark future.

Director Trademark: [James Cameron] [nuke]

One of the tag lines for the movie was ‘It’s nothing personal’. This was a play on many movies from around that time that had the tag line ‘This time, it’s personal’.

Identical twins Don Stanton and Dan Stanton played the hospital security guard and the T1000.

The mall scenes were spread out over two malls. The scenes shot outside the mall were filmed outside of the Northridge Fashion Center in Northridge California. This mall was closed for months after the Northridge earthquake destroyed much of it in 1994. Parts of the parking garage in the movie were destroyed in that earthquake.

Production took sufficiently long that Edward Furlong visibly aged during the shoot – he is clearly much younger in the desert, for instance, than in other scenes. His voice began to break and had to be pitched to one level in post-production.

Over 1 million feet of film was shot and printed.

The explosive (“polydichloric euthimal”) used to destroy the Cyberdyne building shares this name with a powerful hallucinogenic drug featured in Outland (1981).

The Terminator loses its left arm, and hauls itself forward with its right. The same thing happened to the Terminator in The Terminator (1984).

The Terminator says “I need a vacation”, which Arnold Schwarzenegger previously said in Kindergarten Cop (1990). This was not in the script, but ad-libbed.

The T1000 tells the helicopter pilot to “Get out!”. This is an interesting parallel to The Terminator (1984), in which the Terminator gives the same command to a truck driver under similar circumstances.

The badge on the T1000′s uniform reads “Austin” (named after producer Stephanie Austin), although it is not fully visible in the film. Austin is also the name of Robert Patrick’s daughter.

Scenes in the screenplay but not filmed: – Extended Future War sequence where the resistance won and enter a SkyNet lab where they find the time-portal and a storage facilities of Terminators. You also see Reese talking to John. – Sarah’s ECT where Sarah is fitted for electro-convulsive therapy and voltage is pumped into her. – Salceda’s death sequence. Sal’s dog starts barking, Sal goes out tries to shoot the T-1000 and fails. T-1000 uses the pointed finger/sword trick to Sal’s shoulder blades saying “I know this hurts. Where is John Connor”. Sal curses him and his hands search around the ground near some crates that held grenades. He kills himself and hopefully the T-1000 with one. No luck. T-1000 head falls off but like the little piece in the asylum escape sequence, it oozes back into his boots. Yolanda sees this and hugs the baby as T-1000 steps closer. T-1000 picks up the baby and gets the info from her as where John and others had gone. – Gant Ranch. This section was a longer version of Sal’s and refers to Travis Gant, “crazy ex-Green Beret” that John mentions his mother seeing before she was caught. Longer and has romantic notions between the two. After Sarah, John and the Terminator left, T-1000 kills Gant as he did like with John’s “Mom”. Disguised as Gant’s lover, he easily stepped up to him and tortured him for answers before killing him. – Dyson’s Vision Sequence. Dyson, the creator of the new processor had a dream sequence before he died and dropped the device on the trigger. In it he saw a picture of his family before a nuclear explosion turned it to ash. He sees his family running and then a scene of the sun as it pulls back to reveal Dyson’s dying eye before he closes it and drops the book.

Out of all the time-traveling terminators in the series, the T-1000 is the only one that doesn’t have any first-person “terminator vision” moments.

Scenes filmed but not included in DVD or Special Edition releases: 1) After a resistance soldier destroys an endoskeleton, another soldier enters into view and picks up the plasma rifle. 2) When the T-1000 asks the location of the Galleria, the two girls giggle in disbelief. He replies, “I am kind of new here.” 3) After the Terminator injures the gatehouse guard, John says “Sorry” to that poor bloke. 4) The nurse asks the T-1000 (as Lewis) what he is carrying. He replies, “Just some trash.” before dragging the real body into the closet. 5) When the T-1000 arrives at Sarah’s cell, Douglas, the guard that Sarah beats up was screaming for his release. The T-1000 ignores him, changes back to his default form. 6) Sarah asks the Terminator whether the T-1000 can be destroyed.

In the ATM scene, the PIN code that John Connor types into the laptop is 9003

One of the main percussive sounds of Brad Fiedel’s score – the metallic beats of the Terminator theme – is not created by a synthesizer. It’s Fiedel striking one of his cast-iron frying pans.

A female passer-by actually wandered onto the biker bar set thinking it was real, despite walking past all the location trucks, cameras and lights. Seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger standing in the bar dressed only in boxer shorts, she wondered aloud what was going on, only for Schwarzenegger to reply that it was male stripper night.

The sound used for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shotgun is actually two cannons.

Linda Hamilton learned to pick locks for the scene in the mental hospital where she does precisely that with a paperclip.

11 cameras were used to capture the explosion at Cyberdyne HQ.

Due to the tight schedules, there were three editors involved – Mark Goldblatt, Conrad Buff IV and Richard A. Harris – who all worked on separate segments of the film.

It took three takes to properly capture the helicopter crashing on the freeway.

Sound designer Gary Rydstrom added some lion roars to the sounds of the tanker truck that the T-1000 drives down the freeway to add some extra menace.

The effect of the T-1000 freezing and breaking up was achieved through prosthetics attached to an amputee and with Robert Patrick’s real limbs buried underneath the set.

The steel mill effects were so convincing, some former workers from the plant (which had been closed for over 10 years) thought it was up and running again.

For Sarah’s nightmare of the nuclear holocaust, some of the materials used in the miniature Los Angeles model that mimicked all the destroyed masonry were Matzos crackers and Shredded Wheat.

After each take of this nightmare sequence, it would take on average two days to set the model up to shoot again.

A segment showing the design of the Time Displacement Machine which sent the Terminator and Kyle Reese back in the time in the first film was rejected for the sequel as it was too complicated and not necessary for plot development. The design ultimately resurfaced in 1997 as Jodie Foster’s space traveling device in Contact (1997).

Local residents in Lakeview Terrace held a protest outside the Medical Center when it was dressed to be the Pescadero State Hospital for the Criminally Disordered. They quickly realized it was in fact only a film set.

The damaged Terminator look in the climax of the film took five hours to apply and an hour to remove.

The film has over 300 effects shots which total almost 16 minutes of running time.

Industrial Light and Magic’s computer graphics department had to grow from six artists to almost 36 to accommodate all the work required to bring the T-1000 to life, which ultimately amounted to three minutes of screen time.

In the ATM scene, John uses an Atari Portfolio hand held computer.

The movie’s line “Hasta la vista, baby.” was voted as the #76 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

This is the only ‘Terminator’ film to win (or be nominated for) an Oscar. It won 4 (and was nominated for 2 others).

When the Terminator tells Sarah Connor about Miles Dyson and the history of Skynet, Arnold Schwarzenegger was reading his lines from a card taped to the car’s windshield.

The Terminator’s “point-of-view” scenes at the biker’s bar identify a Harley Davidson “Fatboy”, and a carcinogen in the cigar smoke.

The T-1000 has four arms while in the helicopter. Two for flying the helicopter and two for firing and reloading the MP-5K submachine gun.

Arnold Schwarzenegger said during the making of this film that he would never play another evil character again, but he later played the villain Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin (1997).

A “Terminator” is a parallel CPU usually found running OCCAM.

The date of the fictional Judgment Day – 29 August 1997 – is the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s first detonation of an atomic bomb in 1949.

The video game John Connor is playing at The Galleria is Missile Command, a game where you are supposed to stop nuclear missiles from hitting cities.

John’s foster parents are named Todd and Janelle Voight. This means that if he’d legally taken their name, he would have been Jon Voight.

Actor Trademark: [Arnold Schwarzenegger] “I’ll be back!”

The Minigun used in the Cyberdyne scene was so heavy that Arnold Schwarzenegger was in fact the only person on stage that could carry the gun. The movie’s sound department had to slow down the sound of the gun firing to be able to hear separate shots.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was given a slightly used Gulfstream III airplane (worth about $14 million) by producer Mario Kassar for accepting the role.

The name of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator is the Terminator Series 800 (shiny metal endoskeleton) model 101 (Arnold’s actual skin on that skeleton).

In all three Terminator films, the Terminator’s definition of “being back” means entering a building by driving a vehicle through it: In “The Terminator”, he drives a car into a police station after saying, “I’ll be back.” In “Terminator 2″, he drives a SWAT van into the Cyberdyne Building after saying, “I’ll be back.” In “Terminator 3″, he flies a helicopter into an airplane hangar, steps out and proclaims, “I’m back!”

According to James Cameron, Linda Hamilton suffered a permanent hearing loss in one of her ears during the elevator shootout because she had not installed her ear plugs after removing them during a trip to the restroom between takes.

The address given in the movie for the Cyberdyne Building is 2144 Kramer Street. This is likely a reference to Joel Kramer, the stunt coordinator for the film.

Cameo: [Joel Kramer] Stunt coordinator Joel Kramer appears as the guard in the hospital security room.

Robert Patrick mimicked the head movements of the American bald eagle for his role as T-1000.

Director James Cameron campaigned unsuccessfully for Linda Hamilton to be nominated an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Sarah Connor

><<

Special F/X guru Stan Winston and his crew studied hours of nuclear test footage in order to make Sarah Connor's "nuclear nightmare" scene as real as possible. In late 1991, members of several U.S. federal nuclear testing labs unofficially declared it "the most accurate depiction of a nuclear blast ever created for a fictional motion picture".

Held the world record for highest opening-weekend gross of an R-rated film (with $52,306,548) until The Matrix Reloaded (2003).

The pumps in the gas station forecourt, shown prior to the chip surgery scene, display the "Benthic Petroleum" logo. Benthic Petroleum was the company that owned the submersible drilling rig in one of James Cameron's other movies The Abyss (1989).

The liquid metal CGI effects of the T-1000 were rendered on a Silicon Graphics IRIS Indigo workstation.

The world famous phrase "Hasta la Vista, Baby" is translated to "Sayonara, Baby" in the Spanish version of the film.

The sound that the T-1000 makes when transforming was created by putting a condom over a microphone and dipping it into oatmeal.

When T-1000 is transforming and flowing like mercury, Rydstrom created its "metallic" sound by spraying Dust-Off into a mixture of flour and water, with a condom-sealed mic submerged in the goo.

In 78 years, this is the only sequel to win an Academy Award when the previous movie wasn't even nominated.

The Terminator states that 'Skynet' goes on-line on August 4th 1997, and becomes self aware at 0214 EST on August 29th 1997.

After his fight with T-800 in the Mall and throwing him away in the street through the glass pane, T-1000 looks suspiciously at the silver colored dummy head, which is quite similar to his own when having his natural, liquid metal appearance.

Linda Hamilton's stunt double Maryellen Aviano can be seen as the woman next to the tourist photographer in the mall.

The T-1000 morphing effects cost $5.5 million and took 8 months to produce for a mere total 3.5 minutes appearance on the screen.

The T101's bike jump into the storm drain was performed by stuntman Peter Kent. The motorbike was supported by one-inch cables, so that when they hit the ground, the bike and rider only weighed 180 pounds. The cables were later digitally erased.

Director James Cameron fought over the ending with executive producer Mario Kassar. Cameron wanted to end the film with the alternate Coda Ending (the older Sarah in future) as a bookend, but Kassar wanted to end the film in an another way (as a measure for possible sequels). He eventually relented when test audiences and Kassar himself reacted negatively over the coda ending, and he went the existing one.

James Cameron asked special effects creator Stan Winston to direct a teaser-trailer. Cameron didn't want the trailer to just be early footage, and so with a budget of $150,000, Winston created a trailer that showed a futuristic assembly line churning out copies of Terminators, all of which looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cameron was pleased with this trailer, as he had fears about audience reactions to trailers showing Schwarzenegger returning as a Terminator (after the Terminator in the first film was clearly destroyed).

Even though Robert Patrick got weapon training under technical expert Uzi Gal, director James Cameron was so amazed by Patrick's performance, particularly for the T-1000 shooting scene at the Galleria mall, that he used the actual footage shot, without speeding up the frame rate.

Given Arnold Schwarzenegger's $15-million salary and his total of 700 words of dialog, he was paid $21,429 per word. "Hasta la vista, baby" cost $85,716.

The make-up artists mixed KY jelly into Arnold Schwarzenegger's make-up for the Terminator in "normal" mode to give him a slightly synthetic look.

The Cyberdyne building in the movie is in fact a two-story structure in Fremont, CA. A phony third floor was constructed on top for the movie. Much of the structure was rebuilt after the filming and the building exists to this day.

The "forced medication" scene (Special Edition only) had to be re-shot several times because actor Ken Gibbel wouldn't hit Linda Hamilton properly with his nightstick. The scene was very physically demanding and Hamilton was furious with Gibbel because he repeatedly botched it. She got her revenge in a later scene where she beats Gibbel with a broken-off broom handle - the blows are for real.

According to the LAPD computer system that the T-1000 accessed at the beginning of the film, John Connor's date of birth was Feb. 28, 1985.

At the beginning of the film, the LAPD records indicate that John Connor’s arrest record is file #J66455705, and include allegations of trespass, shoplifting, disturbing the peace and vandalism.

John Connor’s legal guardians (Todd and Janelle Voight) live at 19828 S. Almond Ave., Reseda, CA.

Cameo: [William Wisher Jr.] Co-writer Wisher is the man taking pictures of the Terminator as it was thrown through the glass window in the galleria. Wisher also had a cameo as a cop who is violently robbed from his car in The Terminator (1984) (hence his look of recognition as he sees the Terminator get up).

Because of Edward Furlong’s small stature during filming, his stunt double, who was older and larger, used a bigger version of the dirt bike for filming the chase scene.

All the electrical cabling meant to light the five-mile section of freeway during the liquid nitrogen truck chase was stolen. Not having enough time to replace all of it, the company had to rent or borrow every wire connected to the lighting on the freeway. That lasted for 5 days.

Carolco studio executives were nervous and concerned when the original budget of $75 million ballooned up to $88 million, with more to come. In order to keep the budget manageable, they proposed to eliminate a few scenes, particularly the opening biker bar scene where the Terminator was introduced. They tried to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to persuade James Cameron to remove that scene, but Schwarzenegger turned them down, saying, “Only a studio guy would cut a scene out like that.”

James Cameron once owned a dog named “Wolfie”, short for Beowulf.

The 10-gauge shotgun used by Arnold Schwarzenegger during the majority of the film is a six-shot Winchester Model 1887. It was invented by gun designer John Browning and was the first commercially successful repeating shotgun. James Cameron confirmed that it is a 10-gauge shotgun, not a 12-gauge, in the commentary.

Cameo: [Van Ling] The DVD producer and FX Coordinator appears as Dyson’s assistant in the lab.

The artificial substance used instead of melted steel (which would’ve been far too dangerous to use, sometimes impossible) actually needed to be kept pretty cool to maintain the right density. This meant that the temperature on set was really quite cold, so the actors had to be sprayed with fake sweat in between takes.

Ranked #8 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest films in the genre “Sci-Fi” in June 2008.

In order to create the sound of bullets striking T-1000, sound designer Gary Rydstrom slammed an inverted glass into a container of yogurt creating a combo sound of hard edge and goop.

The wind sounds in the opening sequence began through the crack of an open door and were completed in the main mix room at Skywalker Sound by Gary Rydstrom using a Synclavier keyboard.

According to sound supervisor Gloria S. Borders, approximately 70% of the dialog, and most of the breathing, is ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement/Dubbing). General rule of thumb: the more action in a movie, the more ADR and Foley processing.

So extensive is the Foley teamwork in T2, just about every incidental movement on screen is replaced: the creaks of the Terminator’s leather jacket, his buckle clinks and footsteps. The entire sequence where Sarah escapes from her hospital bed using a paper clip to pick the strap buckle and door lock was nothing but Foley and music.

Because Edward Furlong’s voice grew deeper over the course of the 9-month shoot, dialog mixer Tom Johnson had to gradually raise his vocal pitch in order to maintain consistency.

Lead singer of heavy metal band WASP, Blackie Lawless, was considered for the role of the liquid-metal T-1000, although his height proved to be a problem. The role of the original Terminator had been written for a man of average stature, who could easily blend in to a crowd, and James Cameron wanted to apply that original concept to dramatic effect for the T-1000. In an AOL chat, Lawless explained: “Probably the biggest regret that I have, though I didn’t turn it down, was a part in Terminator 2 that Robert Patrick got. Schwarzenegger wanted me to do the part, but when he found out I was 6’4″, I couldn’t. I regret not being able to do that.”

The following products and brands can be seen in the film: Food – Dunkin’ Donuts, Miller Lite, Miller High Life, Miller Genuine Draft, Budweiser, Lady Lee Milk (Lady Lee was now-defunct Lucky supermarket’s house brand. In real life, Lady Lee package graphic design was completely changed immediately following this film’s release, probably due to the gruesome scene in which the milk appears), Pepsi, Subway, Lays; Video Games – Atari, Bally, Midway (Trog!, Space Invaders), Sega (After Burner), Williams (Hit the Ice); Magazines – Traditional Home, Interior Design, House Beautiful; Vehicles – Chevrolet, Toyota, Freightliner, Mitsubishi, Harley Davidson, Ford; Bands – Public Enemy, Guns & Roses; Other – Pentax, Pacific Bell (now AT&T).

Footage from this movie was used in a 2008 DirecTV commercial.

In one scene, Miles Dyson’s son is seen wearing a Minnesota Twins cap. The Twins won their first World Series in 1987, and the pitch that retired the St. Louis Cardinals in the ninth inning of the seventh and final game was thrown by relief pitcher Jeff Reardon – whose nickname was “The Terminator.”

When moving through a crowd, Robert Patrick patterned himself after a shark moving in on its prey.

The idea to destroy the Cyberdyne Systems building to prevent the future war was in the first Terminator movie but was cut from the final release (you can see it in the deleted scenes section of The Terminator (1984) DVD.) James Cameron said it was lucky that he chose to cut that scene in 1984 as it forms the “nucleus” of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

The Terminator is the only character to be listed in the American Film Institute’s 100 Heroes and Villains as both a villain (for The Terminator) and a hero (for Terminator 2: Judgment Day). Al Pacino and Arnold Schwarzenegger are the only two actors to be on the list as playing a villain and a hero but Pacino played two different characters. 13 other actors and actresses appear twice or more but either all as heroes or all as villains.

After the release of The Abyss (featuring the infamous pseudo-pod scene), James Cameron felt he was ready to start working on this film. However, he knew that half of the film’s rights was owned by Hemdale (produced the first film) – ultimately went bankrupt – and the lack of funding prevented him from working. While working on Total Recall with Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna, Arnold Schwarzenegger learned of Cameron’s intention to work on the film and it was him who urged Kassar and Vajna to buy the rights from Hemdale. Finally, they bought it in February 1990 and Cameron would only start work the following month.

Despite the film’s R rating, numerous children’s toys were released based on it.

On the DVD, by highlighting “Sensory Control” and pressing the right navigation button five times until the words “The Future is Not Set” appear, then selecting the phrase, the menu will alter, offering the Theatrical Version of the film instead of the Special Edition for viewing.

Neither the T-1000′s point-of-view or HUD (Head-up Display) is shown, as opposed to the T-800′s.

The photos of the 1984 attack were still shots of a re-shoot. James Cameron had a hallway set built, dressed Arnold Schwarzenegger in his original Terminator outfit and had him recreate one take, from which they took the pictures. (Check out Arnold’s hair and facial structure to spot the telltale signs.)

For the early promotion of the movie, promotional material avoided showing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, the T-800, together with John Connor (Edward Furlong), in order to hide the fact that Schwarzenegger played a ‘good’ Terminator this time. Later trailers and pictures would reveal that he did not play the ‘bad guy’ this time.

Linda Hamilton turned down a part in another movie after hearing a simple outline of the plot by director James Cameron.

As the Terminator’s arm is being crushed by the gear, at the steel mill, you can see the initials “JC” written in blood on the Terminator’s exposed leg.

>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<
Trivia items below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.

SPOILER: When John and the Terminator rescue Sarah from the hospital, the Terminator says to her, "Come with me if you want to live." Reese said the exact same thing to Sarah after the nightclub shootout in the first film.

SPOILER: The Terminator makes good on his promise to not kill anyone before he even meets John; even when he first tears up the biker bar, the only character the Terminator "kills" in the entire movie is the T-1000.

SPOILER: For all of the mayhem and violence in this movie, 16 (at the most) characters actually die. Of the people we know get killed, there are three soldiers, the armored truck driver and his gunner, the cop, Lewis the guard, a mall employee, the trucker, Todd and Janelle Voight, a cop on a motorcycle, Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson, and the tanker truck driver. We're not exactly sure if the police helicopter pilot or the pickup truck driver dies (they both fall from a high place). The T-1000 is directly or indirectly responsible for most of the deaths. Surprisingly, the Terminator never kills anyone, only injures people.

SPOILER: In the final scene, the lines "I cannot self-terminate. You must lower me in the steel" were looped by Arnold Schwarzenegger in post-production, because a test audience didn't understand why Terminator needed Sarah to help him commit suicide.

SPOILER: This is the second time that Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) kills a Terminator by pushing a machine control button. She does this in every Terminator movie she is in (she is absent from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)). Each time, the Terminator is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

SPOILER: In each Terminator film the villainous character's death is greeted with the word "Terminated" in some way: - In The Terminator (1984) Sarah Connor says "You're terminated fucker" as she crushes the Terminator in the hydraulic press - In Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) John Connor asks "Is it dead?" (of the melted T1000) to which the Terminator replies "Terminated" - In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) the Terminator says "You are Terminated!" as it destroys the TX.

SPOILER: In the fight scene in the steel mill between the two Terminators, the set was liberally dressed with rubber so the actors wouldn't hurt themselves when being flung around.

SPOILER: James Cameron’s own screams are used for the death throes of the T-1000.

SPOILER: Michael Biehn was the first choice for the role of the T-1000, in a complete reversal of roles with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was now a hero. But this idea was abandoned as it was judged too confusing for viewers.

SPOILER: According to a biographical documentary, Arnold Schwarzenegger only agreed to do the sequel if his role is more family-friendly, hence the “No killing” rule written for his character.

SPOILER: The scene where the Terminator restarts after being ‘shut down’ by the T-1000 was not in the script and was added during editing because James Cameron felt that the audience will not be able to understand how the Terminator returns to deliver the final blow against the T-1000. According to the Arnold Schwarzenegger book ‘The Life and Times’, Cameron contacted Schwarzenegger, who was to go visiting his friend Bruce Willis for Christmas holidays to come back for shooting that crucial scene. Ultimately, Schwarzenegger had to cancel his holidays and filmed the scene. Therefore, the scene was the Terminator pulls the impaled metal rod off was shot on Christmas day itself.

><<