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Terminator (character concept)
Encyclopedia
In the Terminator film series
, a terminator is an autonomous robot
, typically humanoid
, originally conceived as a virtually indestructible soldier
and assassin
, as well as an infiltrator
.
James Cameron
introduced the first terminator character in the 1984 movie The Terminator
, featuring a single cyborg
simply called "The Terminator", portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger
. When later Terminator movies introduced additional models, some sources retroactively gave Schwarzenegger's character a model number, leading to multiple conflicting names.
, copy the voices of others
, read human handwriting
, and even genuinely sweat
, smell
, and bleed
. To detect the Terminators, who are otherwise indistinguishable from humans, the human resistance uses dog
s to alert humans to their presence.
A trait persistent throughout the series is the faint red glow of the "eyes" when online, which dim to nothing when a Terminator shuts down. In all four movies, the lack of the glow has been used to show when one is out of action. The trait is so characteristic that light-up eyes are often found on Terminator merchandise, with some even replicating the dimming/reillumination effect that occurs during shut down or start up.
Guardian Terminator Cameron states to John Connor
in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "The Mousetrap", that Terminators' densities deny them the ability to swim. T-888 Cromartie demonstrated in the same episode, however, that they can survive submerged and walk along the bed to the shore. The prototype Terminator Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation did demonstrate the ability to swim, though he is the only one of his type.
s, crash through walls intact, and survive explosion
s to some degree. Repeated shotgun blasts have enough force to knock it down and temporarily disable it, while heavy amounts of automatic fire are able to compromise the organic disguise layer. In the second film, the Terminator says he can run for 120 years on his existing power cells. In the finale to Terminator 2, his power source is damaged, and he is able to find an alternate source, described on the DVD commentary as heat sink
s, harnessing the thermal energy from the hot surroundings. In the third film, the T-850 series Terminator operates on two hydrogen cells and discards one of them early due to damage. It explodes shortly thereafter with enough force to produce a small mushroom cloud
; the fact that many of them are powered by nuclear fuel cells is confirmed by the fourth film.
The endoskeleton
is actuated by a powerful network of electric servomechanism
s, making Terminators superhumanly strong
. For instance, in the third movie, Schwarzenegger's character was able to break through a cement wall, while being able to handle firing a machine gun
from the hip with one hand, while holding a coffin containing John Connor and a heavy cache of weapons, showing no signs of the extra weight being any real concern; in the second film, Schwarzenegger's character was able to resist the recoil of firing a minigun
without any noticeable difficulty. Late in the first film, the Terminator is stripped of its organic elements by fire. What remains is the machine itself, in James Cameron's own words "a chrome skeleton", "like Death
rendered in steel." In the later Terminator films, armies of endoskeleton-only Terminators are seen. They are visually identical to the one in the first film, and feature prominently in the "future war" sequences of those films.
Despite what Kyle Reese claimed in the first film of "cyborgs do not feel pain," in the second film it was revealed that they are capable of sensing injuries and "the data could be called pain", according to the Series 800 Model 101. In an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, "Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today," another cyborg, Cameron, revealed to have an intolerance to some degrees of temperature in its surrounding, as humans do. Unlike humans, however, being machines, they are capable of resisting or shutting off this sense of discomfort. In the following episode, "Complications", Cameron elaborates that Terminators can appreciate physical sensations such as the wind blowing through its hair and toes, and process them in a psychological manner.
is a room-temperature superconducting artificial neural network
with the ability to learn
. In Terminator 2, The Terminator states that "the more contact [it] has with humans, the more [it] learns." In the Special Edition, he says that Skynet "presets the switch to 'read-only
' when [Terminators] are sent out alone", to prevent them from "thinking too much". Sarah and John activate his learning ability, after which it becomes more curious and begins trying to understand and imitate human behavior. This leads to his use of the catch phrase
"Hasta la vista, baby." A line spoken by the Terminator at the end of the film: "I know now why you cry, but it is something that I can never do." Sarah muses in the closing narration that the Terminator had "learn[ed] the value of human life".
Terminators, being machines, do not value life, and pragmatically kill in keeping with its programming, i.e. to fulfill its mission. When discussing a variation on the Blade Runner
'tortoise test' in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode, "Complications", Cameron states that a tortoise
did not pose a threat and "We are not programmed to be cruel," implying that Terminators would right an overturned tortoise. Terminators had to be trained to torture - by humans, such as engineer/criminal Charles Fischer - as shown in "Complications".
Terminators appear incapable of "self termination"
, in Terminator 2 the badly damaged Terminator states this to Sarah before asking her to lower it into molten steel (so that his chip cannot be used to help create Skynet). The Cameron Terminator is however able to place a destructive charge next to its chip, and entrusts John with the button that would immediately destroy the processor if pressed. To prevent the possible reprogramming of defeated Terminators, as the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short" reveals, Skynet coats later chips with a phosphorus compound which cause them to self-destruct when they contact oxygen.
, including soft tissue and skin, as well as the ability to sweat, simulate breathing and produce realistic body odor. Although Terminator flesh does contain blood, it only displays very minimal bleeding when damaged and has never been shown to experience any kind of profuse bleeding even from massive lacerations and dozens of gunshot wounds. It is unknown what manner of circulatory system, if any, is employed, nor what biological processes take place to sustain the flesh covering. James Cameron's 1982 Treatment reveals, "it has to eat and breathe to keep the skin alive, though a lot less than us... and there's a little tiny heart and internal organs about the size of a chicken's in a recessed compartment." At least some Terminator models can consume sustenance
. Cameron eats a corn chip in the Sarah Connor Chronicles pilot
, and later a piece of a pancake. The liquid metal T-1001 is also shown to have this capability. The T-888s presumably consume food, given Vick Chamberlain's ability to maintain a human cover for years while married to a human woman.
Under 2007-era analysis Terminator blood is shown to be similar to human blood, using a synthetic oxygen carrier
rather than human red blood cell
s, as Terminator endoskeletons contain no bone marrow
. Terminator flesh heals by itself, and at a much faster rate than normal human tissue and has never been shown to bruise or discolor from trauma, even after several days. However, a Terminator's flesh covering can die if it sustains adequately massive damage, at which point it takes on a waxy, corpse-like pallor and begins to decompose.This process is seen in the later scenes of the original film where The Terminator, holed up in his hotel
room, is attracting flies and draws an inquiry from the janitor
as to whether the smell is coming from a dead animal. More advanced flesh use on T-888s appears to not suffer the effects of age or deprivation, as shown in the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode, "Self Made Man," where a T-888 known as Myron Stark is able to maintain his organic covering while sealed within a wall for eighty years; no explanation for this ability was provided. Terminator flesh lacerations can be repaired; the T-800 and Sarah Connor closed each other's wounds with sutures in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Cameron sealed her wounds with heavy duty staples in The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "Samson and Delilah".
Although clearly not the normal procedure, a bare T-888 endoskeleton was able to grow itself a new flesh covering using 2007 technology (with the assistance of a geneticist and its own knowledge of future formula) by submerging itself in a blood-like bath
. This improvised process resulted in a deformed covering that had the appearance of a burn victim and lacked its own biological eye
s, requiring it to steal those of the geneticist
and subsequently undergo cosmetic surgery to produce a more normal appearance. The theft of the scientist's eyes suggests that Terminator flesh is capable of accepting some degree of organ grafts from ordinary humans, that it can circumvent transplant rejection
, and is capable of sustaining the life of the grafted tissue via its own unknown biological process.
It has been shown that Terminators' flesh coverings are somehow grown identically, producing many multiple copies of exactly the same physical appearance, indicating the use of specific physical templates for different variations of a model or series. The most well known is that worn by multiple Model 101/T-800/850 units portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as a T-888 model known as "Vick Chamberlain" having a memory of facing a room (presumably in the factory where it was created) of several dozen units sharing an identical template to itself, naked
and moving in unison. Some terminators' outer coverings are custom-designed to copy the appearances of humans whom they are intended to kill and replace. Three such examples in The Sarah Connor Chronicles include Carl Greenway in "Automatic for the People", James Ellison in "Brothers of Nablus" and Cameron's pattern, Allison Young, in "Allison from Palmdale".
, T-1001, T-X
, and T-1000000 machines employ a "liquid metal" mimetic poly-alloy that allows them to quickly shapeshift to achieve near-perfect mimicry and also rapidly recover from damage.
The T-1000 and T-1001 models, which are composed entirely of the substance, can quickly liquify and assume forms in innovative and surprising ways, including fitting through narrow openings, morphing their arms into solid metal shapes or bladed weapons, walking through prison bars, and flattening themselves on the ground to hide or ambush
targets. It can also extrude small, simple items from itself (such as a pair of sunglasses). It can change its color and texture to simulate flesh, clothing, and other nonmetallic materials. They are effectively impervious to mechanical damage, such as being dismembered, shot with bullets, or attacked with explosive devices. Wounds close almost immediately, and any detached parts simply flow back into the Terminator's body. Low temperatures can cause the liquid metal to freeze, which inhibits its ability to move or shapeshift.
Freezing also appears to have a lasting negative effect on its ability to shapeshift. In Terminator 2 - The Extended Special Edition, there are additional scenes that shows the T-1000 partially losing control of its morphing ability after is has recovered from being frozen by liquid nitrogen. One of its hands stick to a railing and while walking its feet attaches to, and morphs into the floor.
High temperatures degrade its ability to maintain a disguise. Only extremely high temperatures, such as molten steel are capable of disassociating its molecular structure and permanently destroying it.
The T-X model is covered by the mimetic poly-alloy, providing it the ability to mimic humanoid forms while enforcing the endoskeleton beneath.
Non-Humanoid Hunter-Killers are robotic versions of various vehicles, built with roughly the same technologies as the contemporary Terminators. The original film introduced a VTOL
gunship (HK-Aerial) and an HK-Tank. Terminator: Salvation also adds an armed motorcycle, a much larger transport aircraft, the massive Harvester walker and a small recon drone; other media introduce a plethora of other designs.
According to the first two films, terminators were Cyberdyne Systems models created after the war between man and machines started. In the altered timeline of T3 created by the destruction of Cyberdyne in T2, terminators were created by the Cyber Research Systems division of the U.S. Air Force to replace soldiers on the battlefield prior to Judgment Day, starting with the T-1.
In the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cameron Phillips establishes that modern terminators are made of coltan
for heat resistance, while previous models were made of titanium
.
and the female I-950 from T2: Infiltrator.
Terminator (franchise)
The Terminator series is a science fiction franchise encompassing a series of films and other media concerning battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network, and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race....
, a terminator is an autonomous robot
Autonomous robot
Autonomous robots are robots that can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance. Many kinds of robots have some degree of autonomy. Different robots can be autonomous in different ways...
, typically humanoid
Humanoid robot
A humanoid robot or an anthropomorphic robot is a robot with its overall appearance, based on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots...
, originally conceived as a virtually indestructible soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
and assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, as well as an infiltrator
Infiltration tactics
In warfare, infiltration tactics involve small, lightly equipped infantry forces attacking enemy rear areas while bypassing enemy front line strongpoints and isolating them for attack by follow-up troops with heavier weapons.-Development during World War I:...
.
James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
introduced the first terminator character in the 1984 movie The Terminator
The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
, featuring a single cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
simply called "The Terminator", portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
. When later Terminator movies introduced additional models, some sources retroactively gave Schwarzenegger's character a model number, leading to multiple conflicting names.
Physical characteristics
In the Terminator universe, the Terminator is a formidable "cybernetic organism", robotic assassin and soldier, designed by the military supercomputer Skynet for infiltration and combat duty, towards the ultimate goal of exterminating the human resistance. It can speak naturallyNatural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
, copy the voices of others
Sound alike
A sound alike is a person who is able to use their voice to closely resemble that of another person.In western culture, sound alikes find work as impersonators on television comedy programmes portraying famous individuals.-See also:...
, read human handwriting
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
, and even genuinely sweat
Sweating
Perspiration is the production of a fluid consisting primarily of water as well as various dissolved solids , that is excreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals...
, smell
Odor
An odor or odour is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Odors are also commonly called scents, which can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant odors...
, and bleed
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
. To detect the Terminators, who are otherwise indistinguishable from humans, the human resistance uses dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s to alert humans to their presence.
A trait persistent throughout the series is the faint red glow of the "eyes" when online, which dim to nothing when a Terminator shuts down. In all four movies, the lack of the glow has been used to show when one is out of action. The trait is so characteristic that light-up eyes are often found on Terminator merchandise, with some even replicating the dimming/reillumination effect that occurs during shut down or start up.
Guardian Terminator Cameron states to John Connor
John Connor
John Connor is a character appearing in the American science fiction Terminator franchise and he serves as the series main protagonist. Created by writer and director James Cameron, the character is first referred to in the 1984 film The Terminator and first appears portrayed by teenage actor...
in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "The Mousetrap", that Terminators' densities deny them the ability to swim. T-888 Cromartie demonstrated in the same episode, however, that they can survive submerged and walk along the bed to the shore. The prototype Terminator Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation did demonstrate the ability to swim, though he is the only one of his type.
Construction
As seen in the movies, a Terminator can withstand standard 20th century firearmFirearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s, crash through walls intact, and survive explosion
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
s to some degree. Repeated shotgun blasts have enough force to knock it down and temporarily disable it, while heavy amounts of automatic fire are able to compromise the organic disguise layer. In the second film, the Terminator says he can run for 120 years on his existing power cells. In the finale to Terminator 2, his power source is damaged, and he is able to find an alternate source, described on the DVD commentary as heat sink
Heat sink
A heat sink is a term for a component or assembly that transfers heat generated within a solid material to a fluid medium, such as air or a liquid. Examples of heat sinks are the heat exchangers used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems and the radiator in a car...
s, harnessing the thermal energy from the hot surroundings. In the third film, the T-850 series Terminator operates on two hydrogen cells and discards one of them early due to damage. It explodes shortly thereafter with enough force to produce a small mushroom cloud
Mushroom cloud
A mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by...
; the fact that many of them are powered by nuclear fuel cells is confirmed by the fourth film.
The endoskeleton
Endoskeleton
An endoskeleton is an internal support structure of an animal, composed of mineralized tissue. Endoskeleton develops within the skin or in the deeper body tissues. The vertebrate is basically an endoskeleton made up of two types of tissues . During early embryonic development the endoskeleton is...
is actuated by a powerful network of electric servomechanism
Servomechanism
thumb|right|200px|Industrial servomotorThe grey/green cylinder is the [[Brush |brush-type]] [[DC motor]]. The black section at the bottom contains the [[Epicyclic gearing|planetary]] [[Reduction drive|reduction gear]], and the black object on top of the motor is the optical [[rotary encoder]] for...
s, making Terminators superhumanly strong
Superhuman strength
Superhuman strength, also called superstrength, super-strength, or super strength, is an ability commonly employed in fiction. It is the ability for a character to be stronger than humanly possible...
. For instance, in the third movie, Schwarzenegger's character was able to break through a cement wall, while being able to handle firing a machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
from the hip with one hand, while holding a coffin containing John Connor and a heavy cache of weapons, showing no signs of the extra weight being any real concern; in the second film, Schwarzenegger's character was able to resist the recoil of firing a minigun
Minigun
The Minigun is a 7.62 mm, multi-barrel heavy machine gun with a high rate of fire , employing Gatling-style rotating barrels with an external power source...
without any noticeable difficulty. Late in the first film, the Terminator is stripped of its organic elements by fire. What remains is the machine itself, in James Cameron's own words "a chrome skeleton", "like Death
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
rendered in steel." In the later Terminator films, armies of endoskeleton-only Terminators are seen. They are visually identical to the one in the first film, and feature prominently in the "future war" sequences of those films.
Despite what Kyle Reese claimed in the first film of "cyborgs do not feel pain," in the second film it was revealed that they are capable of sensing injuries and "the data could be called pain", according to the Series 800 Model 101. In an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, "Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today," another cyborg, Cameron, revealed to have an intolerance to some degrees of temperature in its surrounding, as humans do. Unlike humans, however, being machines, they are capable of resisting or shutting off this sense of discomfort. In the following episode, "Complications", Cameron elaborates that Terminators can appreciate physical sensations such as the wind blowing through its hair and toes, and process them in a psychological manner.
CPU
The Terminator CPUCentral processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
is a room-temperature superconducting artificial neural network
Artificial neural network
An artificial neural network , usually called neural network , is a mathematical model or computational model that is inspired by the structure and/or functional aspects of biological neural networks. A neural network consists of an interconnected group of artificial neurons, and it processes...
with the ability to learn
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
. In Terminator 2, The Terminator states that "the more contact [it] has with humans, the more [it] learns." In the Special Edition, he says that Skynet "presets the switch to 'read-only
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
' when [Terminators] are sent out alone", to prevent them from "thinking too much". Sarah and John activate his learning ability, after which it becomes more curious and begins trying to understand and imitate human behavior. This leads to his use of the catch phrase
Catch phrase
A catchphrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media , as well as word of mouth...
"Hasta la vista, baby." A line spoken by the Terminator at the end of the film: "I know now why you cry, but it is something that I can never do." Sarah muses in the closing narration that the Terminator had "learn[ed] the value of human life".
Terminators, being machines, do not value life, and pragmatically kill in keeping with its programming, i.e. to fulfill its mission. When discussing a variation on the Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
'tortoise test' in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode, "Complications", Cameron states that a tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
did not pose a threat and "We are not programmed to be cruel," implying that Terminators would right an overturned tortoise. Terminators had to be trained to torture - by humans, such as engineer/criminal Charles Fischer - as shown in "Complications".
Terminators appear incapable of "self termination"
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, in Terminator 2 the badly damaged Terminator states this to Sarah before asking her to lower it into molten steel (so that his chip cannot be used to help create Skynet). The Cameron Terminator is however able to place a destructive charge next to its chip, and entrusts John with the button that would immediately destroy the processor if pressed. To prevent the possible reprogramming of defeated Terminators, as the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short" reveals, Skynet coats later chips with a phosphorus compound which cause them to self-destruct when they contact oxygen.
Organic covering
The flesh-covering that is used on the majority of Terminator models has similar qualities to real human muscle fibre and dermisDermis
The dermis is a layer of skin between the epidermis and subcutaneous tissues, and is composed of two layers, the papillary and reticular dermis...
, including soft tissue and skin, as well as the ability to sweat, simulate breathing and produce realistic body odor. Although Terminator flesh does contain blood, it only displays very minimal bleeding when damaged and has never been shown to experience any kind of profuse bleeding even from massive lacerations and dozens of gunshot wounds. It is unknown what manner of circulatory system, if any, is employed, nor what biological processes take place to sustain the flesh covering. James Cameron's 1982 Treatment reveals, "it has to eat and breathe to keep the skin alive, though a lot less than us... and there's a little tiny heart and internal organs about the size of a chicken's in a recessed compartment." At least some Terminator models can consume sustenance
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
. Cameron eats a corn chip in the Sarah Connor Chronicles pilot
Pilot (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Pilot is the premiere episode of the American science fiction television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It first aired on January 13, 2008 in the United States.-Plot:...
, and later a piece of a pancake. The liquid metal T-1001 is also shown to have this capability. The T-888s presumably consume food, given Vick Chamberlain's ability to maintain a human cover for years while married to a human woman.
Under 2007-era analysis Terminator blood is shown to be similar to human blood, using a synthetic oxygen carrier
Blood substitutes
A blood substitute is a substance used to mimic and fulfill some functions of biological blood, usually in the oxygen-carrying sense...
rather than human red blood cell
Red blood cell
Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate organism's principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood flow through the circulatory system...
s, as Terminator endoskeletons contain no bone marrow
Bone marrow
Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...
. Terminator flesh heals by itself, and at a much faster rate than normal human tissue and has never been shown to bruise or discolor from trauma, even after several days. However, a Terminator's flesh covering can die if it sustains adequately massive damage, at which point it takes on a waxy, corpse-like pallor and begins to decompose.This process is seen in the later scenes of the original film where The Terminator, holed up in his hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
room, is attracting flies and draws an inquiry from the janitor
Janitor
A janitor or custodian is a professional who takes care of buildings, such as hospitals and schools. Janitors are responsible primarily for cleaning, and often some maintenance and security...
as to whether the smell is coming from a dead animal. More advanced flesh use on T-888s appears to not suffer the effects of age or deprivation, as shown in the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode, "Self Made Man," where a T-888 known as Myron Stark is able to maintain his organic covering while sealed within a wall for eighty years; no explanation for this ability was provided. Terminator flesh lacerations can be repaired; the T-800 and Sarah Connor closed each other's wounds with sutures in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Cameron sealed her wounds with heavy duty staples in The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "Samson and Delilah".
Although clearly not the normal procedure, a bare T-888 endoskeleton was able to grow itself a new flesh covering using 2007 technology (with the assistance of a geneticist and its own knowledge of future formula) by submerging itself in a blood-like bath
Bathing
Bathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity....
. This improvised process resulted in a deformed covering that had the appearance of a burn victim and lacked its own biological eye
Human eye
The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...
s, requiring it to steal those of the geneticist
Geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
and subsequently undergo cosmetic surgery to produce a more normal appearance. The theft of the scientist's eyes suggests that Terminator flesh is capable of accepting some degree of organ grafts from ordinary humans, that it can circumvent transplant rejection
Transplant rejection
Transplant rejection occurs when transplanted tissue is rejected by the recipient's immune system, which destroys the transplanted tissue. Transplant rejection can be lessened by determining the molecular similitude between donor and recipient and by use of immunosuppressant drugs after...
, and is capable of sustaining the life of the grafted tissue via its own unknown biological process.
It has been shown that Terminators' flesh coverings are somehow grown identically, producing many multiple copies of exactly the same physical appearance, indicating the use of specific physical templates for different variations of a model or series. The most well known is that worn by multiple Model 101/T-800/850 units portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as a T-888 model known as "Vick Chamberlain" having a memory of facing a room (presumably in the factory where it was created) of several dozen units sharing an identical template to itself, naked
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
and moving in unison. Some terminators' outer coverings are custom-designed to copy the appearances of humans whom they are intended to kill and replace. Three such examples in The Sarah Connor Chronicles include Carl Greenway in "Automatic for the People", James Ellison in "Brothers of Nablus" and Cameron's pattern, Allison Young, in "Allison from Palmdale".
Liquid metal
The T-1000T-1000
The T-1000 is a fictional nanomorph mimetic poly-alloy assassin and the main antagonist in Terminator 2: Judgment Day controlled by the series main antagonist Skynet. The T-1000 is portrayed primarily by Robert Patrick; however, being a shape-shifter, the T-1000 is played by other actors in some...
, T-1001, T-X
T-X
The T-X, also known as the Terminatrix, is a fictional character who appears in the 2003 film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which is part of the Terminator franchise. The T-X is a cyborg assassin with a human female appearance; the character was portrayed by Kristanna Loken...
, and T-1000000 machines employ a "liquid metal" mimetic poly-alloy that allows them to quickly shapeshift to achieve near-perfect mimicry and also rapidly recover from damage.
The T-1000 and T-1001 models, which are composed entirely of the substance, can quickly liquify and assume forms in innovative and surprising ways, including fitting through narrow openings, morphing their arms into solid metal shapes or bladed weapons, walking through prison bars, and flattening themselves on the ground to hide or ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
targets. It can also extrude small, simple items from itself (such as a pair of sunglasses). It can change its color and texture to simulate flesh, clothing, and other nonmetallic materials. They are effectively impervious to mechanical damage, such as being dismembered, shot with bullets, or attacked with explosive devices. Wounds close almost immediately, and any detached parts simply flow back into the Terminator's body. Low temperatures can cause the liquid metal to freeze, which inhibits its ability to move or shapeshift.
Freezing also appears to have a lasting negative effect on its ability to shapeshift. In Terminator 2 - The Extended Special Edition, there are additional scenes that shows the T-1000 partially losing control of its morphing ability after is has recovered from being frozen by liquid nitrogen. One of its hands stick to a railing and while walking its feet attaches to, and morphs into the floor.
High temperatures degrade its ability to maintain a disguise. Only extremely high temperatures, such as molten steel are capable of disassociating its molecular structure and permanently destroying it.
The T-X model is covered by the mimetic poly-alloy, providing it the ability to mimic humanoid forms while enforcing the endoskeleton beneath.
Other Skynet battle units
As seen in the "future war" scenes from various Terminator media, Skynet employs robots not designed to appear as humans even while having access to those who are. This page primarily discusses the Infiltrator subfamily of Humanoid Hunter-Killer branch. Simple Humanoid Hunter-Killers (HKs) share the endoskeletons and combat characteristics with Infiltrators, but not the living tissue sheath. Instead, they serve as general infantry.Non-Humanoid Hunter-Killers are robotic versions of various vehicles, built with roughly the same technologies as the contemporary Terminators. The original film introduced a VTOL
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...
gunship (HK-Aerial) and an HK-Tank. Terminator: Salvation also adds an armed motorcycle, a much larger transport aircraft, the massive Harvester walker and a small recon drone; other media introduce a plethora of other designs.
Development of the Terminators
According to the films, the terminators were created by an artificially intelligent computer, Skynet, to wipe out the remains of humanity. Some models are designed to look exactly like humans in order to infiltrate their bases, progressing from fake rubber skin, to artificially grown human flesh over their electronics, to mimetic polyalloy able to mimic any person or object.According to the first two films, terminators were Cyberdyne Systems models created after the war between man and machines started. In the altered timeline of T3 created by the destruction of Cyberdyne in T2, terminators were created by the Cyber Research Systems division of the U.S. Air Force to replace soldiers on the battlefield prior to Judgment Day, starting with the T-1.
In the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cameron Phillips establishes that modern terminators are made of coltan
Coltan
Coltan is the industrial name for columbite–tantalite, a dull black metallic mineral from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral is columbite, hence the "col" half of the term...
for heat resistance, while previous models were made of titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
.
Models
The first terminator model shown, simply called "The Terminator", was introduced in the first film, with a new model terminator added for each subsequent film. In addition to those models shown on screen, other spin off sources have introduced more, including T-800s with different appearances from Schwarzenegger, the T-70 from T2 3-D: Battle Across TimeT2 3-D: Battle Across Time
T2 3-D: Battle Across Time is an attraction at various Universal Studios parks around the world including those at Florida, Hollywood and Japan...
and the female I-950 from T2: Infiltrator.
| Model | Portrayed by | Appearances |
|---|---|---|
| T-1 |
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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, commonly abbreviated as T3, is a 2003 science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken... Terminator Salvation Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by McG and starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. The fourth installment in the Terminator series, the film is set in 2018 and focuses on the war between Skynet and humanity, with the human Resistance fighting... |
| T-70 |
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T2 3-D: Battle Across Time T2 3-D: Battle Across Time is an attraction at various Universal Studios parks around the world including those at Florida, Hollywood and Japan... |
| T-600 |
Brian Steele Brian Steele is an American actor best known for playing many of Hollywood's favorite monsters and creatures.-Roles:On television, he played the Bigfoot called Harry in the series Harry and the Hendersons before moving on to play creatures in theatrical motion pictures, with roles like Mr. Wink in... Practical effect A practical effect is a special effect in which a prop appears to work in a situation where it obviously could not in real life . They do not use trick photography or post-production artifice. This type of effect is normally found in live theatre.In film, practical effect denotes an effect produced... s Computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media... |
Terminator Salvation Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by McG and starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. The fourth installment in the Terminator series, the film is set in 2018 and focuses on the war between Skynet and humanity, with the human Resistance fighting... |
| T-800/850/101
|
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011.... Franco Columbu Franco Columbu is an Italian actor, former bodybuilder and World's Strongest Man competitor.-Bodybuilding:Columbu was born in Ollolai, Sardinia . Starting out his athletic career as a boxer, Columbu progressed into the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, powerlifting and later bodybuilding, winning... Roland Kickinger Roland Kickinger is an Austrian-born bodybuilder and actor from Vienna. Standing 6-feet-4-inches-tall and weighing from 250-300 pounds, he has appeared in numerous bodybuilding competitions, fitness magazines and training videos... Stop motion Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence... Computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media... |
The Terminator The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los... Terminator 2: Judgment Day Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong... T2 3-D: Battle Across Time T2 3-D: Battle Across Time is an attraction at various Universal Studios parks around the world including those at Florida, Hollywood and Japan... Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, commonly abbreviated as T3, is a 2003 science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken... Terminator Salvation Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by McG and starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. The fourth installment in the Terminator series, the film is set in 2018 and focuses on the war between Skynet and humanity, with the human Resistance fighting... |
| T-888
|
Owain Yeoman Owain Yeoman is a Welsh actor. His credits include The Nine, Kitchen Confidential and the HBO series, Generation Kill. He currently appears as Agent Wayne Rigsby in The Mentalist.-Biography:... /Garret Dillahunt Patrick Kilpatrick Robert Donald Kilpatrick, Jr. is an American character actor with over 85 film and TV appearances to his credit. He made his film debut relatively late in 1985 with The Toxic Avenger.-Life and career:... Todd Stashwick Todd Stashwick is an American film and TV actor. He played the role of Dale Malloy on The Riches until its cancellation. Stashwick actually preempted the official announcement that the show was canceled when he announced the cancellation on his MySpace blog on September 25, 2008... Chad Coleman Chad Coleman is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing the character Dennis "Cutty" Wise from The Wire.-Life and career:... |
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| T-1000/T-1001 T-1000 The T-1000 is a fictional nanomorph mimetic poly-alloy assassin and the main antagonist in Terminator 2: Judgment Day controlled by the series main antagonist Skynet. The T-1000 is portrayed primarily by Robert Patrick; however, being a shape-shifter, the T-1000 is played by other actors in some... |
Robert Patrick Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows.... Shirley Manson Shirley Anne Manson is a Scottish recording artist and actress, best known internationally as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Garbage. For much of her international career Manson commuted between her home city of Edinburgh to the United States to record with Garbage but now lives and... |
Terminator 2: Judgment Day Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong... T2 3-D: Battle Across Time T2 3-D: Battle Across Time is an attraction at various Universal Studios parks around the world including those at Florida, Hollywood and Japan... |
| T-1000000 |
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T2 3-D: Battle Across Time T2 3-D: Battle Across Time is an attraction at various Universal Studios parks around the world including those at Florida, Hollywood and Japan... |
| T-RIP Terminator Salvation Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by McG and starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. The fourth installment in the Terminator series, the film is set in 2018 and focuses on the war between Skynet and humanity, with the human Resistance fighting... Resistance Infiltration Prototype |
Sam Worthington Samuel Henry J. "Sam" Worthington is an English born, Australian actor. After almost a decade of roles in Australian TV shows and films, Worthington gained Hollywood's attention by playing Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation and the lead role, Jake Sully, in James Cameron's science... Practical effect A practical effect is a special effect in which a prop appears to work in a situation where it obviously could not in real life . They do not use trick photography or post-production artifice. This type of effect is normally found in live theatre.In film, practical effect denotes an effect produced... s Computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media... |
Terminator Salvation Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by McG and starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. The fourth installment in the Terminator series, the film is set in 2018 and focuses on the war between Skynet and humanity, with the human Resistance fighting... |
| T-X T-X The T-X, also known as the Terminatrix, is a fictional character who appears in the 2003 film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which is part of the Terminator franchise. The T-X is a cyborg assassin with a human female appearance; the character was portrayed by Kristanna Loken... |
Kristanna Loken Kristanna Sommer Loken is an American actress known for her work in both film and television, and as a fashion model.-Early life:Loken was born in Ghent, New York, the daughter of Rande , a model, and Merlin "Chris" Loken, a writer and apple farmer. All four of her grandparents were born in Norway... |
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, commonly abbreviated as T3, is a 2003 science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken... |
| Unknown models
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Summer Glau Summer Lyn Glau is an American actress, known for playing River Tam in the science fiction series Firefly and follow-up film Serenity, and for playing Cameron in the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.-Early life:... |
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| I-950 enhanced human |
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