1. How does the physical description of the Terminator connect to other such beings we have seen in the class? How are gender, race, and class involved in the physical makeup of this artificial person ?

2. Look at these three pieces of the dialogue, in which Kyle Reese describes again and again what the Terminator is, and what it does:

"Listen! And understand! That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with! It can't be reasoned with! It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!"

"Cyborgs don't feel pain... I do. Don't do that again."

"Pay attention. The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy. But these are new. They look human. Sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait 'til he moved on you before I could zero in on him."

How are these descriptions connected to other definitions of artificial people we have seen in this class? Think about something like "She cooks as good as she looks..." How do the verbal descriptions prepare or influence our response to the cyborg?

3. Think about the social landscape of the film. How is it represented in relation to technology? As with other films we have discussed, thinking about the Terminator as a representation of technology is only part of the story. What other machines and mechanical processes do we see in the film?

4. Think about the ending of the film. How is the death of this cyborg different or similar to other such endings we have seen in the class? For example, compare it to the end of Roy in Blade Runner and the death of the Gun Slinger in Westworld.

Production Information

In its original release, this film was accompanied by the tagline:

"The thing that won't die, in the nightmare that won't end."

Think about this in relation to the cyborg's point of view: Shots through the Terminator's vision show Apple 2+ assembly code, taken from "Nibble", a computing magazine. Other code visible is written in COBOL.

For all of his central presence in this film, Alnold Schwarzenegger's voice is used in exactly 16 lines, with 17 sentences spoken. The Terminator has two other lines onscreen, one with the voice of a police officer overdubbed, and one with the voice of Sarah's mother overdubbed. There are also many lines with the voice of Sarah's mother, and we learn that the terminator is actually saying them, but we don't see it.

At least two of his lines, "I'll be back" from the first film, and "Hasta la vista baby" from T2 became legendary!

Science fiction author Harlan Ellison filed a lawsuit against Cameron, claiming that Cameron plagiarized several of his short stories, namely "Soldier" and "Demon With a Glass Hand". The concept of "Skynet" could also have been borrowed "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". Newer prints of the film acknowledge Ellison.

A scene in which a person picked up the CPU of the terminator after it was crushed was filmed, but not included. We find out about this is T2.

Cast Information

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