As with characters such as the Alien, Predator, Robocop and many of the characters from the Star Wars saga, the Terminator is one the most iconic characters of late twentieth century science fiction cinema. This Hollywood icon was made famous by the winning combination of one of Hollywoods most prolific directors James Cameron, Hollywoods greatest creature effects artist, the late, great Stan Winston and former Mr. Universe, Mr. Olympia, Governor of California, and action movie legend Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1984 low budget sci-fi action movie The Terminator, which also starred Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Linda Hamilton and the late Paul Winfield.
However the story of this iconic villains creation isn't as clear cut as one would think. It is well known that science fiction writer Harlan Ellison (no relation to Terminator Genisys' producers Megan and David Ellsion) took Cameron to court for plagarism and subsequently got an acknowledgement credit in the movies closing credits, after claiming that Cameron had “ripped off” two episodes of The Outer Limits of which Ellison had written; Soldier and Demon With A Glass Hand. And while it is known that Cameron has stated that he was inspired by a couple of stories, the debate goes on to this day as to whether or not Cameron did indeed “steal” ideas from Ellison's earlier, aforementioned work.
Soldier!
Soldier tells the story of a soldier from the future inadvertantly thrown into the past during a battle with his enemy in a post apocalyptic war. This soldier struggles to understand modern society due to having been conditioned only for war – he struggles to acclimatize to a world, a society that is alien to him. The Demon With The Glass Hand features another man sent, also from a post apocalyptic future whom comes to learn that he is in fact not human at all, but a robot sent back in time to protect the seeds of mankind from alien hands, thereby saving the human race. This episode deals with the main characters sense of identity and the lonely responsibility of a predetermined destiny.
Demon With A Glass Hand!
While The Terminator does share the element of time travel from a post apocalyptic future war seen in both of Ellisons stories, The Terminators story differs somewhat – A robot (the Terminator) is sent back in time to kill the mother of the future leader of the human resistance, while a man is also sent back to protect her, inadvertantly becoming the father of her prophecized son. The Terminator is actually a love story whereby the main character travels back in time to protect the woman he loves, a woman whom died before he was born. While the responsibility of a pretermined destiny are present, it isn't until the 1991 sequel that it becomes prevalent within the movies narrative. Yet the parallels regards the sense of identity were only used in a similar way in 2008's sequel Terminator Salvation. The only other elements similar to those previously created by Ellsion are the saving of the human race and that the main characters alienation from Soldier can also draw some parallels to Kyle Reese.
It is highly likely and probable that Cameron was indeed partly inspired by the two episodes of the Outer Limits written by Ellison; with other similarities found in the opening, future war sequences (pictured above) and in some dialogue of both The Terminator and the episode Soldier. But whether or not Ellisons claims of plagarism are valid is debatable; the post apocalyptic future war and the time travelling elements of both stories can also be seen way back in the 1895 novel The Time Machine by the legendary H.G. Wells. Also, the 1996 movie Independence Day shares more than a passing resemblance to the 1953 sci fi classic The War Of The Worlds (based on the 1898 novel of the same name, also by H.G. Wells), with many similar scenes, yet nowhere in the Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich blockbuster is any acknowledgment made. If anyone deserves an acknowledgment credit in The Terminators closing credits, it would be H.G. Wells, not Harlan Ellison!
