Terminator Franchise FAQ

Everyone has a vice, an addiction, a compulsion, an itch - mine has always been the Terminator franchise. Ever since I watched the first instalment in 1990 upon hearing of its sequel entering production, I have soaked myself in information from the films; analysed every line, brokedown every scene and climbed every plothole. If Xeno_Alpha_07 is the Scified networks resident Alien expert, then I am it's Terminator expert. As such, and now we have our own forum, I want to start this FAQ thread to compile all the in-universe facts, paradoxes, trivia and info. Yes there is a wiki, and other forums out there, but they are quite frankly full of incorrect info and trivia.

Whether you want to test me or have a genuine question to ask, fire away with your questions below and I will add your question and it's answer here in the OP, thus building up, over time, a long list of Terminator FAQ's. As the Q and A's grow we'll catergorize them. All answers will be proven via scenes from the movies or movie related material (trailers, BTS featurettes, posters, concept art etc.).

Of course if you think I am wrong then please call me out and through healthy, mature debate we'll come to the truth or a healthy compromise on an acceptable, provable answer. 

NOTE: As with any film franchise worth its salt only the movies are considered canon to the universe; The comics, books and the TV series do not count.

Q and A's

Q. Why is the ground so hot after the sphere that brings connor's father from the future disapears? Oduodu

A. Shown in James Cameron's and Steve Burgs concecpt artwork for unfilmed scenes from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and in the trailer for the new Terminator Genisys when a Terminator or Human is sent back through time they are lifted into the air and enveloped in a supercharged ball of energy that through some, obviously unknown quantum science, swaps that point in space and time with another, hence the name Time Displacement Equipment. The Heat you refer to will be residual heat from the massive energies used in the process - you will note that the Terminators and Kyle Reese were also emitting a lot of body heat upon their arrival into the past.

Q. Why does sarah connor know that john is in danger prior to him reaching her? Oduodu

A. In Terminator 2 the character of Sarah Connor is somewhat of an overbearing parent in relation to her son John. Knowng the destiny that lies ahead for him she was determined to prepare him for it at any cost, including their relationship. This combined with the fact that nobody knows nor believes her about the Terminators, she feels that unless she is alongside her son that he is potentially in danger. Of course once the two police officers visit her at Pescadero State Hospital with recent photos of a Terminator she knows that John is in imminent danger.

Q. I think i saw the directors cut of terminator 2 the other day. was it ever released in threatres? Only a small part of it from where they stopp to overnight at the fuel station to just before the t 100o goes miles dysan's house to cyberdyne systems. Oduodu

A. The full, unedited version probably only exists in director James Camerons persona collection. In the UK the night before the official release of the movie my local cinema (which is no longer there anymore) did show what is known as the 'Special Edition' of the movie, in which the bulk of the extra material is during the desert set interlude of the movie in which Sarah tries to smash the Terminators chip with a sledgehammer and John attempts to learn the Terminator to smile; I am unsure if this is/was common practice among other cinemas. There are other scenes scattered throughout the movie but the two most interesting scenes are kept out of the movie. If you have the 'Skynet Edition' of the movie on DVD or Blu-Ray, these two rare scenes can be accessed by inputting the code 82997 (August 29th 1997).

In Special Editions of T2 Sarah experiences the 'Nuclear Nightmare' twice

Q. Why is the t1000 still called advanced prototype? Oduodu

A. Because in the time from which it was sent back from, which is 2029, the T-1000 was an advanced, untested prototype, much like the T-RIP that John Connor faced off against in the climax of Terminator Salvation (set in 2018). As explained in scenes in which Kyle Reese was questioned by Dr. Silberman in The Terminator the TDE facility was to be destroyed, Skynet would no doubt be aware of this and after seeing the resistance send a reprogrammed T-800 to 1994, it sent the only avaiable more advanced unit it could after it - The T-1000.

Q. I heard a rumor of a scene in terminator where john ask arnie if the t 1000 can be killed. and he answers: unknown. is this true ?? Oduodu

A. Partially true, it is actually Sarah Connor whom asks whether the T-1000 can be destroyed, this is during the scene immediately after the Terminator and John helped her escape from Pescadero, and only exists in the Skynet Edition and in the trailer shown above.

Q. What does polyenegmatic mean ? what does that say about the t1000? Oduodu

A. The terminology is actual 'mimetic poly-alloy'. Poly Alloy is a shortened term for Polymer Alloy aka liquid metal, while the mimetic refers to the T-1000's ability to mimic simple objects and organic matter, such as human beings.

Q. Where does t 1000 store its memories? Oduodu

A. The inference in the movie is the the T-1000 stores all of ts programming, memories and anything else within the bonds between the mimetic poly-alloy molecules. This inference is shown in the various special editions of the movie when the T-1000 has pooled back together in the steel mill. Various scenes, omitted from the theatrical relase show the T-1000 glitching whenever it touches a new surface (see pic above).

Q. In the sarah conor chronicles is the role played by shirley manson is he playing the exact same t 1000 as in t2 or is t a a more advanced model. Oduodu

A. Short answer - Sarah Connor Chronicles is not canon to the Terminator franchise. Shirley Manson, lead singer of Garbage played the T-1001. Skynet does not allocate numbers to its Terminators in this fashion. A T-1000 that doesn't look like Robert Patrick would still be designated as a T-1000, its model number would be different - A series 800 Model 101 Terminator looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, whereas a series 800 Model 102 would not (see trailer below).

Q. Human thnking gets removed from all strategic planning ?? when and how did that happen? Oduodu

A. As alluded to in Terminator 2 and shown in Terminator 3, the idea of the Skynet Defense Network was to create an artificially intellgent guardian that could prevent human error and human nature resulting in the use of nuclear weapons to begin a nuclear war. The US armed forces are currently deploying remore controlled Raptor Drones in todays conflicts, unarmed surveillance drones are also already in use and are AI controlled; it is only a matter of time before Raptors become AI controlled. According to the Terminator franchise this will have happened already, by 2004.

Q. Is t 1000 able to interact with computer systems ?? is it able to receive radio frequencies? like wi fi? Oduodu

A. No. The T-1000 cannot interface with nor duplicate complicated systems. Its successor the T-X is the Terminator that could interact with computer systems and networks, either remotely or through the deployment of remote controlled nano-machines.

Q. In the sarah conor chronicles there was a epiosode where they destroyed some verybasic computer designed by a college kid. they destroy it i think. does this computer existed before dysan got his hands on the processot from the factory that squashed him? Oduodu

A. Again SCC is not canon to the franchise. What you are referring to is the 'Turk' a chess playing computer believed to be capable of advancing into Skynet. This was born from the writers of the series trying to understand the third movie, in which it is shown that Skynets development is an inevitability, and that our curiosity and tecnological understanding and capability to realise that inevitability would culminate by 2004. The writers of SCC understood the idea of inevtability but not the deadline - for if CRS had developed Sknet by that date then it is also feasible that someone else could also have developed a similar system.

Q. The Orlando's Universal Studio 3D movie from Terminator 2 is canon to the franchise? if not, which part of it would you prefer to be actual canon? Daniel009

A. The Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time attraction (shown below) that used to be Universal Studios in Orlando was more of a trailer for the second movie and a 'fun what if', and is technically not canon - The attraction featured Cyberdyne Systems creating Skynet, which was written out of the timeline from the events from the movie. The attraction also featured the exact same T-800, portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and T-1000 from Terminator 2, which were both destroed in the vat of molten steel at the end of the Terminator 2. The footage from the attraction did include some neat ideas from creator James Cameron, such as the mini-hunters, T-1,000,000 and Camerons vision of Skynets core, which may have appeared in the Terminator 3 he had originally planned to make, before he made Titanic that is, and subsequently abandoned the franchise.