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ORIGINAL: Emyr Thy King

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ORIGINAL: Marwood
The way I see it is that if further Terminator films have to be made then I just hope the filmmakers don't shit on the memory or legacy of the originals. T3 and Salvation are inferior but at least reasonably respectful to T2 (apart from essentially saying the events of T2 didn't really matter because Judgement Day is a destiny - bollocks) and I see them as good sci-fi action films...just not particularly good Terminator films.

Well the key mantra of the series is "there's no fate but what we make (for ourselves)". T3 doesn't really contradict the second film or 'shit on it' if you follow the line of thinking that at that point in time, Judgement Day was inevitable. The Connors came under the misapprehension that they had 'won'. Because Skynet had already come online possibly with the virus, it was too late. It spread through the internet and was essentially software. I thought that spin on it was brilliant because the premise of there being a 'system core' seemed a little archaic. Although admittedly later on, it will have a system core or location that houses its 'consciousness' so the Resistance can finally destroy it and end the war. Besides, the earlier films put forth the idea that John Connor has a 'destiny'.

I think if they don't bother with any more films, they can always carry on the series in animated form. It could give them more leeway in terms of characters. For instance the T-800/850 Arnie Terminator only needing to be voiced rather than be 'played' by an actor.

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ORIGINAL: Emyr Thy King

I know what you said and I don't need to re-read it or reconsider my opinion. I was speaking to the people who think that the third film defecated on the previous one(s) when I explained how it didn't, that's all.

The series was OK but it got a bit silly with a temporal war between Skynet and the Resistance. Cameron was an interesting character very well played by Summer Glau. And it hints at a possibly bizarre and un-natural relationship Connor may have with her in the future. The ambiguity of the T-1000 character was interesting and the FBI agent character could've been more interesting. Personally, I would've liked to have seen more of the future war.

I think if they are to carry on the Terminator series in film format, they ought to explore how the Resistance manages to capture and re-programme Skynet technology. The idea that they raid storehouses for terminators and the like is an interesting one. And of course shows how they manage to steal and scavenge in order to survive. My reckoning is that due to Skynet's ever growing global reach and strategic/technical dominance in the field and 'on the chess board'. That Connor transforms the Resistance into a more guerrila style outfit as seen in the earlier films. That's not to say though that he doesn't still utilise such things as helicopters and fighter/ground-attack aircraft (remember the L.A future war scenes were just glimpses of one battle) but that his approach is more nuanced than what we saw in 2018. Having taken on-board some harsh lessons following the events of TS. You can further that idea with a more de-centralised chain of command for instance. In addition to small units opertating semi/fully independently, living out in the field for weeks/maybe a month at a time. Scavenging whatever they can and attacking targets of opportunity to distrupt as much of Skynet's operations/network as possible. This is how I think they could make the war more interesting and I can easily envisage it with Bale as Connor, Yelchin as a more mature Reese, Connor's tightly-knit 'inner circle' (which could foster suspicion from some) and a more intimate portrayal of John and Kate Connor's relationship. Which was hardly touched upon in TS.

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ORIGINAL: Emyr Thy King

It's fine mate, I apologise if I was a little sharp or curt. I could've made my intended subject clearer too. I've read comments that TS didn't have a hint of the weaponry we saw in the future war of 2029. People seem to think that 'laser' weaponry will just magically appear out of thin air by 2029 when it's the result of on-going weapons development by Skynet. It's continually honing itself, pursuing more effective ways of eradicating humanity, very systematically like a machine would do. Resources will become more scarce (despite all that rusting metal strewn across the landscape) and so energy weapons would make more sense. Saves on having to build and maintain factories for production of shell casings and the like. Anyway, those Moto-Terminators and Harvesters had some kind of plasma/laser weapon(s) so clearly Skynet already had the technology, but haven't yet been able to miniaturise them so that the technology is small enough to fit into an assault rifle. I think the one bugbear people have is that the T-800 came into being much sooner than 'prophesised' in the original films. That's an understandable frustration but then seeing as even the date of Judgement Day changed, it will have an a knock-on effect on the timeline. I prefer to think of it as a temporal ripple.

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ORIGINAL: rich

T2: No Fate
T3: Nuclear war is fate

This is the biggest problem, but there are lots of others. Another sequel should just get on with the war, and finally provide a finish with the time machine being used.

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ORIGINAL: rich

T2: No Fate
T3: Nuclear war is fate

This is the biggest problem, but there are lots of others. Another sequel should just get on with the war, and finally provide a finish with the time machine being used.

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ORIGINAL: ripperman
Interesting especially the Nuclear war is fate observation but I'm actually beginning to think that a terminator movie set in the future war set up will never work. TS was such a disaster in my opinion. The whole idea of the terminator as a presence is lost in that and will be lost should another one be made. One of the great strengths of the original films and yes even T3 to a certain extent was that these almost unstoppable things were here in our present and the characters had no idea how to destroy them. One enemy, in each of these films was infinitely more scary and intense than the entire army of cgi transformer bots in TS.

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ORIGINAL: Emyr Thy King

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ORIGINAL: rich

T2: No Fate
T3: Nuclear war is fate

This is the biggest problem, but there are lots of others. Another sequel should just get on with the war, and finally provide a finish with the time machine being used.

T2: No fate but we make
T3: This is the fate we made

They've mined all the can from terminators being sent for the Connors and TS rightfully got on with the future war. I think it's provided a platform sufficient enough to explore more of the war and really get to know more about John and Kate Connor, Kyle Reese, the Resistance, Skynet etc. I wouldn't mind seeing something take place outside of the continental United States. Seeing as this is a global war.

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ORIGINAL: ripperman
Interesting especially the Nuclear war is fate observation but I'm actually beginning to think that a terminator movie set in the future war set up will never work. TS was such a disaster in my opinion. The whole idea of the terminator as a presence is lost in that and will be lost should another one be made. One of the great strengths of the original films and yes even T3 to a certain extent was that these almost unstoppable things were here in our present and the characters had no idea how to destroy them. One enemy, in each of these films was infinitely more scary and intense than the entire army of cgi transformer bots in TS.

There's a different dynamic to the first three terminator films seeing as they're effectively chase films. Which is why any films subsequent to them, starting with of course TS feels different and so it should. I don't buy this idea that any film depicting the war will be a disaster (if you consider TS a disaster because of that). Terminators are still tough machines to kill, whether singularly or in great numbers. Actually, I would've thought that would be part of the challenge. As heavy weaponry will not always be available and it requires the Resistance to improvise. For instance we know Skynet will still send out individual terminators to eradicate human enclaves. I think that as a threat to Connor, his family and the Resistance would be an intriguing route to explore. It also shows Skynet's ruthlessness and greater sophistication in fighting humanity. Coupled with the bleak and desolate imagery of a future war, I think the future setting would definitely provide a satisfyingly darker experience. For me, the terminators are merely an extension of Skynet who's the ultimate enemy. So the fact that the landscape of a film would change doesn't bother me, because the same antagonist is there. It's just the battlefield which is different. One thing that's interesting about TS is how it showed that sometimes, man can be the enemy too.

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ORIGINAL: ripperman

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ORIGINAL: rich

T2: No Fate
T3: Nuclear war is fate

This is the biggest problem, but there are lots of others. Another sequel should just get on with the war, and finally provide a finish with the time machine being used.

Interesting especially the Nuclear war is fate observation but I’m actually beginning to think that a terminator movie set in the future war set up will never work. TS was such a disaster in my opinion. The whole idea of the terminator as a presence is lost in that and will be lost should another one be made. One of the great strengths of the original films and yes even T3 to a certain extent was that these almost unstoppable things were here in our present and the characters had no idea how to destroy them. One enemy, in each of these films was infinitely more scary and intense than the entire army of cgi transformer bots in TS.

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T2: No fate but we make
T3: This is the fate we made

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ORIGINAL: Emyr Thy King

Thing is you've grown up with memories of experiencing the 'classic' Terminator films for the first time. So when a later film comes, even if it's to the same standard, it's not going to have that same shock/entertainment value. TS for me is a good film but it falls short of the bar set by the first two films, and frankly that bar is so high you'd need a Saturn V rocket to get up there. Of course I'm not trying to excuse a film's deficiencies and the film does contain some (the plot thread tying Reese and Connor together for instance) but I actually quite enjoyed the references to the other films. As it reminded me that they tried to keep to the spirit of the source material rather than slavishly follow suit. Even the end fight in the assembly plant was good and such things as the molten steel background and the shots of the T-800 walking up the stairs did make me reminisce. Funnily enough, I think Christian Bale just psyched himself up too much. It showed when he had a go at the poor DoP and he just made Connor to be an unrelatable arsehole frankly. I understand the idea that a leader cannot always be nice, but he just seemed to shout a lot in the film. We know Christian Bale is better than that. It's a shame that the relationship between John and Kate Connor wasn't explored. There was barely any intimacy there and seeing as though they were starting a family together, you would've expected there to be some tenderness or even vulnerability. Remember this is a film about the importance of not only saving humanity as a whole but not letting go of our own humanity. Perhaps the music could've been better, the musical beats of Brad Fiedel weren't greatly absent. Although the music for the end battle in the plant was decent.

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ORIGINAL: Private Hudson

Well said Rich.

Remember the alternate ending in T2? If they used that then no T3 or T4.

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ORIGINAL: Private Hudson

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ORIGINAL: ripperman

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ORIGINAL: rich

T2: No Fate
T3: Nuclear war is fate

This is the biggest problem, but there are lots of others. Another sequel should just get on with the war, and finally provide a finish with the time machine being used.

Interesting especially the Nuclear war is fate observation but I'm actually beginning to think that a terminator movie set in the future war set up will never work. TS was such a disaster in my opinion. The whole idea of the terminator as a presence is lost in that and will be lost should another one be made. One of the great strengths of the original films and yes even T3 to a certain extent was that these almost unstoppable things were here in our present and the characters had no idea how to destroy them. One enemy, in each of these films was infinitely more scary and intense than the entire army of cgi transformer bots in TS.

A few things:

1. The future war we saw in T1 and T2 did look pretty interesting.

2. Also the only reason one terminator is so unstoppable is because it was set in the past. In 1984 and 1991 they didn't have the firepower or technology to defeat the robots, but when we look at the future wars depicted in T1 and T2 there are clearly quite a few terminators. Also they have to develop the story and take it further. They can't just keep making it one terminator v the humans. That just becomes boring.

3. Terminator Salvation... I enjoyed it. When I saw it in the cinema I really hadn't read too much about it and actually really enjoyed it. I think it doesn't deserve the flak it has received and is miles better than the rather boring and redundant T3.

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ORIGINAL: kumar


I thought Salvation was pretty damn entertaining if a little bloodless. The end was decent, though it fell flat at the end with the heart transplant.

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ORIGINAL: rich

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T2: No fate but we make
T3: This is the fate we made

What? No. The entire point is that Sarah Connor prevents her atomic holocaust nightmare from coming true. And she does, they just didn't use that ending in T2. To be honest they should have stuck it on there just to prevent so much nonsense being produced afterwards.

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ORIGINAL: ripperman
As I mentioned terminators in our present as it was at the time and so much better for it. The crux of the movies essentially and why they work so well. If skynet has the technology to send a terminator back to a time of more primitive weapons etc then why not keep doing that. Extend the technology so that more terminators could be sent at a time. Better technology, more terminators invading the past = odds of human survival diminshing = more intense movie.
  I have to respectfully disagree. The 2 series of Sarah Connor chronicles showed that you could extend the universe in the present and keep it interesting and intelligent. So many cool storylines and possibilities to explore with that. Ok the series ended in the future war thing, but we had to assume that there would be more to come where the characters had  flashbacks of the past etc pehap. This maybe the only way another terminator movie could work in my eyes, a type of half and half.