which Terminators have you seen in the cinema

Me - 23456

saw T2 back in summer 91. it really doesn't seem too long ago. yet it really is. it was such an event - like Jurassic Park two years later or Batman in 89 (like the batlogo poster the T2 metallic logo and the Arnold bike poster was everywhere) . it seemed a much bigger deal than stuff like all the MCU movies of today even Endgame (which sort of have the feel of being rolled off a conveyor belt). people were DYING to see T2 as it had been SO long in coming and in that time Arnie had become the biggest movie star on the planet and Cameron had also done Aliens (which was another instant classic next to T1). might be hard to believe now but EVERY guy wanted to be Arnie and were hitting the gym and getting the spike hairdo! it was the biggest sequel of all time for quite a time (maybe the Pirates sequels, and several of the superhero sequels have since taken its title).

it was such a happy time - it was the first '15' id ever seen at the cinema (got in although wasn't yet 15) and the F bombs and hard core violence shocked me even though id already seen the 18 rated T1 on vhs a couple years ago, and although it was more of a huge action film than the horror film original (similar to Alien/Aliens) it still felt really scary and violent and the T1000 was extremely frightening - as much as Arnie was in T1. the idea of an unstoppable liquid metal shape shifter closing in on you and impaling you was terrifying (I remember having several nightmares after seeing the movies) Also the way the movie showed the nuclear war was like nothing anyone had seen before, the FX depicting it were horrific. (In fact at the time I think it became something of a deterrent in the media/politics).

Remember buying a load of T2 stuff - official Starlog movie magazine(think I first learned about T2 when saw this mag in the local comic store. can vaguely remember thinking whats 'T2'? not realising it was 'Terminator 2' then I was like 'oh wow theres a sequel coming out?!' cos i was just getting into all the R rated SF stuff like Terminator/Alien/Predator/Robocop etc and then got it before saw the film which wasnt out in uk until August so must've had everything spoiled as there was a photostory in the magazine. maybe at that point i figured it would be an 18 like T1 was and Total Recall the previous summer which wanted to see but couldn't (I can remember I saw the TotalRecall starlog magazine in the comic store and flicking through thinking it all looked cool) so prob thought wouldnt be able to see T2 either so fuck it i'll read the magazine. remember being fascinated by images of the damaged T1000 wondering what the heck it was and I remember i didn't quite understand that Arnie wasnt the bad guy (it looked as though he was playing 2 terminators from the magazine) - which everyone knew about from the trailers anyway but I hadn't seen), then after had seen the film also got the Marvel comic adaptation (in 3 comics or the delux trade pb- I started off with #1 of the comic then realised it was better to get the trade pb), the novel (& the T1 novel was out at same time by same author. Although there already was a T1 novel by a different author from '84), the making of book (where Cameron talked about things like the original idea for T1 was the shapeshifter but the FX tech wasn't there, and that the original T2 idea was Arnold vs Arnold - as seen in TGEN I guess), the big photoscreenplay book (like a big photonovel like they used to do with StarTrek - both the novel and screenplay book showed the end of war/time chamber scenes that wed finally see in TGEN). Even got a pack of T2 bubblegum cards with a stick of hard pink gum. there was even a range of toys! (yes R rated movies like T2, Aliens, Rambo got kids toys!) but I drew the line at buying T2 toys.

And then later that year you had the equally awesome Star Trek VI with the T2 FX for the floating zero G blood and Imans T1000 like shapeshifter. it was really the first movie to use that type of morph FX after T2 (abit like the bullet time stuff everyone was using after The Matrix) and they also developed an incredible CG explosion in the opening that just about every SF film has used since. its crazy to think that next time StarTrek & Terminator would cross paths the same year (2009) that Trek would totally blow Terminator out of the stars at the box office and with the critics!

and on a similar note who wouldve ever thought back at the time of T2 that a decade later thered be a Cameronless T3 that was like a redo of T2 instead of the 2029 future war? or a future war film that was more preoccupied with being MadMax vs Transformers than the 2029 future war? or a pg13 timetravel reboot that everyone kind of lol'd at, and even a belated direct sequel to T2 with Arnold, Linda and Cameron (sorta) that would be met with even greater disdain and indifference?! (and which bombed at the box office)