Anyone remember the terminator movies by James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger? I just watched the first two recently, and they were great. They're part of the action sci fi genre, but I think the first was was scary enough that I got horror genre vibes off of it. The Terminator just would not die!

Since the second movie gives closure on the Skynet issue, and James didn't work on the later movies and TV series, I don't think I'll be watching the rest.

Did anyone else like it? Was anyone else kind of scared of the original Terminator? I know I'm a bit late watching these, since they came out in 1984 and 1991, but it's not like my parents were going to sit me in front of the first movie when I was 3, and even at 10 I was probably still too young to watch the second one. So i have an excuse.

I always loved the first two films, with the second being so disturbing to me with the nuclear holocaust scene that I find it almost too painful to watch. I kind of lost track after that; I thought, as you do, that the whole storyline was wrapped up more or less neatly (paradoxes notwithstanding) and so didn't need any more adding to it.

Incidentally, the whole "time travellers go back to prevent a war, only to inadvertently start that very war" plot was also given the Doctor Who treatment back in 1972. It has been speculated that Cameron may have seen it and been inspired, though it's quite a favourite sci-fi plot so probably not.

Forget Sci Fi. Hamlet is all about a man causing something to happen in his efforts to prevent it. That kind of thing is old.

Indeed. Don't recall Hamlet going back in time to do that, but I get what you mean.

They are both great films. I rewatch both of them every few years, and oddly enough just saw them again last month. My mom tried keeping T2 from me when I was a kid, but I wasn't going to sit around as the only kid that had not seen it. The first chance I got I spent what little money I had on it, and snuck it into the house to watch it. I loved it beffore I even watched it. Just figuring away to defy my parents was adventerous enough to make the movie memorable.

(May 4, 2014 at 11:02 pm)Stimbo Wrote: Indeed. Don't recall Hamlet going back in time to do that, but I get what you mean.

You haven't heard rumours of Shakespeare's lost works?

The Hamletnator was mentioned . . .

I've seen both of these films repeatedly (they were awesome), as well as sitting through the later films. T3 was an abomination with lots of eye-candy that simply paved the way for the fourth film. "Terminator: Salvation" was an interesting concept, but fell flat with poor acting and was plagued by issues all prequels share. Now they are bringing us "Terminator: Genesis." Not sure if I'll see this or not. Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as the ultimate killing machine at the age of 66 may be a bit too much weight to maintain the suspension of disbelief. Then again, they're doing amazing things with CGI these days. They've also re-cast Jason Clarke as John Conner. I'll definitely have to see more about the premise before I drop any more money on this franchise.

(May 4, 2014 at 11:39 pm)GalacticBusDriver Wrote: I've seen both of these films repeatedly (they were awesome), as well as sitting through the later films. T3 was an abomination with lots of eye-candy that simply paved the way for the fourth film. "Terminator: Salvation" was an interesting concept, but fell flat with poor acting and was plagued by issues all prequels share. Now they are bringing us "Terminator: Genesis." Not sure if I'll see this or not. Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as the ultimate killing machine at the age of 66 may be a bit too much weight to maintain the suspension of disbelief. Then again, they're doing amazing things with CGI these days. They've also re-cast Jason Clarke as John Conner. I'll definitely have to see more about the premise before I drop any more money on this franchise.

"Come with me if you want to live . . . but don't run too fast!"

The first one was great. The second one put on a good show, but you can already see the franchise setting sorry course for the third and forth.

I think giving storyline "closure" satisfy the fans who take the story too seriously. But it detracts from the power of the genera, which resides having an poorly defined, amorphous and yet implacable menace hanging over the audience.

This is why terminator 1 works. The antagonist is defined just well enough to maximize the threat and menace from the unknown. Same with the first alien movie.

Once the franchise tries to rationalize the story, the whole thing loses its potency and gradually degenerates into a largely brainless CGI pyrotechnic brain rotter.