Orion Pictures released The Terminator to theaters on October 26, 1984. James Cameron directed the film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn.
‘The Terminator’ Synopsis
In the year 2029, a computer called Skynet fights a losing war against the humans who built it. While it nearly wipes out humanity, they manage to take the computer out. However, just before they do, Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah Connor, the future mother of John Connor, the Leader of the human resistance. This Terminator passes as a human, but it’s nearly impossible to kill it. Sent back to 1984, it will not stop until it kills Sarah Connor or she destroys it. Future John Connor manages to send back one soldier to protect her from the killing machine. Now, He must find Sarah before the Terminator does.
Read the full summary, and add the film to your collection today!
Follow Us
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our YouTube channel for all of our film reviews.
Disclaimer
Rate the Film!
Our Rating
Our Rating
Orion Pictures released The Terminator to theaters on October 26, 1984. James Cameron directs the film which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn.
Have any of you see Outer Limits episode Soldier that Ellison claimed Cameron ripped off? I mean the opening is similar to the opening of Terminator but the rest is so different. I think the reason he got a (rather small) settlement was that Terminator was made by a small studio and they probably didn’t have a team of lawyers. Studios today get sued for plagiarism all the time, and pretty much all those cases get thrown out.
That old LTMR of Terminator is pretty weird. Guess Matt, Sancho and Bill are long gone, but the way they ragged on it you would think it was just some cheesy 80s movie. Though back then it seems like most of your podcasts were mostly about making jokes about cheesy movies, so maybe they were just in that mindset.
Cool to see love for The Abyss. I wonder if it will get a podcast. If if does, I wonder which version would be reviewed. I get that that the director’s cut is better, but it’s so much different than the original, it would be like reviewing a different movie. Directors cuts can be cool, but they are sort of historical revisionism. The theatrical cut of Abyss did get Oscar noms, so if you’re doing the film’s legacy for a podcast on the director’s cut, it would be misleading to say that cut got any Oscar noms. And I’m sure all AFI lists deal with original cuts only. Directors cuts are sort of extra features to me, not an actual replacement to the original(warts and all, the film that was seen theatrically is the real film)
I never watched the “Outer Limits” episode, but I did read a 1950/60’s(?) short story in English Lit class in high school (1980) that had a very similar opening sequence of Reese in the wasteland shooting at flying robots. I remember a faint feeling of deja vu when I saw that scene in “The Terminator” in the theater. Maybe they were taken from the same source? Understood Cameron has been sued more than once for his film source material. Still, you gotta hand it to the guy for creating such amazing movies, with/without external resources. 😉 I guess there’s a reason for “Best Original Screenplay” and “Best Adaptation” at the Oscars (“Her” by Spike Jonez was a CLEAR rip-off of “Electric Dreams” but it was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Someone wasn’t paying attention.)
I think we all loved “The Abyss”, both the shorter and the longer versions. I see your point of reviewing one vs. the other isn’t necessarily fair to the original, and you’re probably right. But directors/producers have been re-releasing films for the past several decades (thanks, George Lucas! :-). Sometimes for the art, but mostly – it seems – for the money. I just wish they’d keep the originals and if they HAVE to release a director’s cut, do it as an extra feature BUT they need to release the original in the same package. Double-dipping seems desperate these days (Disney and their 3D Blu Ray releases out-of-country drives me CRAZY!!). I know we’ll be reviewing “Dune” in the near-future. In one of their “Ultimate” releases on DVD, they included both the original 2+ hour mess and the much better director’s cut that’s nearly 4 hours long. Will be interested to see which the gang thinks is better. Still wish I could find the original “Star Wars” trilogy without all Lucas’ “after” digital additions (abominations in my opinion) on DVD/Blu Ray. That’s my biggest gripe. Some of us oldsters tend to want to relive the original when we saw it in the theater, like you said above. 🙂 Have a great week, Eddie!